I wouldn’t call it a mid-life crisis. It’s not like I went out and bought a Porsche. But for the longest time I’d had a hankering to resurrect the white-line fever of my youth. Get out on the road, feel the wind in my hair and drive through wide-open spaces.
But I wanted to do it differently this time: not in the “always-on-the-verge-of-breaking-down” cars of my youth but in a recreational vehicle with all the bells and whistles (or at least a lot of them).
During my college days, I worked summers in Las Vegas. Nothing even remotely cool; I washed dishes at the airport. And on days off, I headed straight away to the constellation of national parks that lie within half-a-day’s drive of Sin City.
I fell head over heels for southern Utah, especially Zion and Bryce Canyon. I’d hike during the daytime and sleep beneath the stars at night. I have this distinct memory of lying wide awake at Bryce Canyon and wondering what it must be like exploring national parks in a vehicle with its own bathroom, kitchen and air conditioning.
It wasn’t until the post-pandemic world – and a newborn attitude that you only live once – that I finally made the leap from daydreaming about an RV vacation to actually making it happen.
Strategizing with my wife and two daughters, we agreed on southern Utah. Not just the two parks that I had already explored but three incredible places that I’d missed before. Five total: Bryce, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Arches and Zion in that order.
HITTING THE ROAD
Arriving in Hurricane, Utah after the long drive across the Mojave, we picked up a 28-foot Four Winds “Thor” motorhome (on a sturdy Ford truck platform) from Red Rock RV Rentals. Orientation took around an hour and then we were off, heading up the 15 to our first stop.
That was supposed to be Bryce Canyon National Park. Given how popular national parks became after the pandemic, we had left it way too long to book an overnight spot inside the park. Nowadays the campgrounds in many national parks are scooped up six months prior to arrival through the online site Recreation.gov. So much for the spontaneity of my college days.
But not to fear! Because the Utah State Parks system is one of the nation’s best. Some are so spectacular they would surely be National Parks in other states, and many are located close to the National Parks on our bucket list. Even before leaving home, we had confirmed our state park camping places.
RV ROOKIE ADVICE
Before I detail our ramble across southern Utah, it behooves me to impart some wisdom about the RV adventure. For those of you who are already veteran motorhome, trailer, fifth wheel, pop-up and truck camper enthusiasts, you can skip this part. But RV rookies like me should definitely take notes.
Before leaving home, we prepared an entire cooler’s worth of meals (like chili, lasagna, fixings for tacos and burritos) that we could prepare in the RV kitchen and packed another entire cooler with drinks for the trip.
Occasionally we ate out, usually at local places that looked interesting – like Milt’s Stop & Eat in Moab and Kiva Koffeehouse near Escalante. And we did one supermarket restock along the way. But for the most part, our meals took shape in Thor’s kitchen, the portable gas-powered barbecue that came with the rental or the adjacent campground firepit.
In some respects, piloting a 27-foot RV was easier than expected. You can’t get around the fact that it’s much longer and heavier than what you probably drive at home. However, the Ford V8 engine generates much more power (and speed) than I expected on the interstate and going up hills. It didn’t have the instant response of that Porsche I never bought. But overall, the driving (thanks to the automatic transmission) was easy-peasy.
My biggest fear was accidentally running into something while turning, especially in gas stations and parking lots. The remedy was dispatching my youngest daughter as a spotter outside the vehicle whenever we were in a tight situation.
Did Thor have a healthy appetite for gas? For sure! The thing weighs something near 14,000 pounds. The tank takes 55 gallons. The vehicle averages 12-14 miles per gallon. Ultimately, that meant I only had to fill up three times during the entire trip, but each one was a dent in the wallet.
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1. (Photo by Joe Yogerst) 2. (Photo by Joe Yogerst) 3. (Photo by Shannon Yogerst) 4. (Photo by Joe Yogerst) 5. (Photo by Chelsea Yogerst)
DON’T TAKE MY KODACHROME AWAY . . .
Located around a half-an-hour drive from Bryce Canyon, our first overnight stop was Kodachrome Basin State Park.
It was named by members of a 1948 National Geographic expedition who thought the intense red, orange and ocher rock walls and spires were just as intense as the new color slide film they were using. It certainly lives up to its name, especially if you hike the park’s Panorama Trail at dusk or dawn when the colors are most intense.
State Highway 12 – which is an official All-American Road and a Scenic Byway – took us deeper into the twisted geological wonderland of south-central Utah.
A lakeside campground in Escalante Petrified Forest State Park provided a base for exploring Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The park boasts hundreds of miles of remote backpacking and mountain biking trails across a huge chunk of wilderness that reaches all the way down to Lake Powell. There are also really cool (and easy to reach with an RV) short hikes like the Devil’s Garden and Lower Calf Creek Falls.
Because there’s no state park near Capitol Reef National Park, we spent the night at Sand Creek RV Park in the little town of Torrey. Our main activity inside the national park was day hikes – through the colossal Grand Wash and up to Cassidy Arch. We also made time to pick apples in the Fruita pioneer community heirloom orchards that were established by Mormon pioneers in the 1880s.
CANYONS, CLIFFS & ARCHES
A long drive via Green River and a short portion of I-70 took us to Dead Horse Point State Park, which perches on a super-narrow mesa overlooking Canyonlands National Park, the Colorado River and the spot where the final scene of “Thelma & Louise” was filmed.
Despite my email confirmation, the front gate at Dead Horse Point had no record of our reservation. And both campgrounds were fully booked. But the rangers conversed among themselves and decided that we could crash at a primo site normally occupied by the campground host.
Dead Horse Point was memorable for two reasons. Sunsets from the edge of the park’s westside cliffs were epic. And it’s where I (sort of) learned how to use a dump station, the place where you empty an RVs septic tank.
From there we roved into nearby Canyonlands and Arches national parks. Arches is one of those parks that has gone from relative obscurity to overnight popularity in recent years thanks to social media. The Park Service limits the number of vehicles that can enter each day. To make sure we gained entry, we arrived at the front gate before sunrise.
We wanted to reach the iconic Delicate Arch for sunrise. But we were not alone. Hundreds of people were already there, scoping out the best photo spots and waiting for the first rays of a new day over the Utah desert.
Forget sunrise – the people-watching at Delicate Arch was off the chart. A marriage proposal, dudes who were already guzzling their first beer of the day, a couple with a tiny dog they had hauled up the trail in a backpack and influencers in designer wilderness wear striking selfie poses beneath the famous arch.
Our final overnight stop was K.O.A. Moab, a totally tricked-out campground with a swimming pool, sauna, camp store and even a bike wash and repair station – quite a shock to the system after the comfy but basic state park camps.
By then our pre-prepared meals were finished and it was nice to be in a town with multiple dining options. We did a lazy float trip along the Colorado River through red-rock country before Thor took us all the way back to Hurricane.
- Joe Yogerst