Utah Mighty Five

My husband and I did a big roadtrip to the mighty five in Utah in August of 2021. We packed the car for a week of hiking and a few nights of camping. This trip we glamped, camped and stayed in two different lodges/hotels. We always like to have a variety of where we stay on our big road trips.

To kick off the trip we drove from Portland to Boise which is about a 6 and half hour drive and stayed the night. Next we drove to Salt Lake City about a 5 hour drive and stayed the night with friends. We loaded up on some groceries then started heading south to begin our big adventure.

It was an amazing desert trip and I will definately be going back in the future. Here are some other posts about Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Capital Reef.

Day One Canyonlands

• Hikes: Mesa Arch & Grand View Overlook Trail
• Miles Hiked: 2 miles

We started the trip in Canyonlands National Park. This was unlike anything I've ever seen. After coming here it made me really want to go somewhere I haven't been yet, the Grand Canyon. We started with an overlook into Canyonlands near the visitor center, called Shafer Trail Viewpoint. This was a perfect little walk to stretch the legs after a few days of driving.

Next we headed to Mesa Arch. This was the first of many arches we would see on this trip.

Last hike of the day was a quick walk to do the Grand View Overlook Trail before the sun started to set. This felt a little like you were at the edge of the world.

After checking out the park we headed to Moab to check out the town and grab so ice cream. Then we made our way to Moab RV & Glamping Resort. We glamped in a RV park just outside Arches National Park. This was my first time glamping and it did not disappoint. There was a platform tent with a queen bed, air conditioning and a bbq outside to use. We made dinner on the bbq then relaxed and soaked up some stars.

Even though it was all really comfortable I slept really bad due to crazy canyon winds that blew all night. I thought the tent was going to blow away based on how loud it was. Later we learned this is normal to get these desert winds at night as the air temperature changes and it sounds much worse from inside a tent than it actually is outside.

Day Two Arches

• Hikes: Delicate Arch, Windows Viewpoint and Trail, & Balanced Rock
• Miles Hiked: 4 miles

We packed up the car and headed into Arches National Park for our second park on the trip. We started the day early and hiked up to Delicate Arch. This was a 3 mile round trip hike. The views along the way were really pretty.

Once at the arch there was a line of people waiting to take pictures under the arch, we opted for just walking around and checking out the area rather than waiting in line for a picture.

Next we drove to Windows Viewpoint and Trail. Here there were a few different short trails to walk on to see different arches.

It was really cool to see all the different rock formations just in this one small area. Arches definately lived up to it's name.

The final stop of Arches was Balanced Rock. We hung out here for a bit and ate lunch.

Then we headed out of the park and started the 5 and a half hour drive to Zion National Park for our next adventure. Details here on that part of the trip.