Intro and Itinerary

This is a journal of a one-week road trip we took through Southern Utah and Northern Arizona, in the region near Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon, and Lake Powell. We were travelling with our dog, Libby, a 60-lb German Shepherd, and since the national parks don't allow dogs, we had to find other places to go. This turned out to be a plus because we explored off-the-beaten-path areas that we never would have found otherwise. Our best day (Day 5) was driving through Grand Staircase National Monument on dirt roads, one of which was an obscure 4WD road.

Welcome to Grand Staircase National Monument

Apparently, Grand Staircase, a huge amount of land near the two national parks and Lake Powell, was recently made into a National Monument. And you can take dogs in national monuments. We drove by but not into Bryce and yet still found a short trail that was technically in the park but outside the park proper (at least outside the area that you pay to get into). We did stop in Zion itself and walked along the one tame trail where you could take a dog, but had more fun along the eastern entrance road where we got out to take pictures of swirling rock formations. We were allowed to take Libby with us on a power boat in Lake Powell, although in the end, Libby may have wished dogs weren't allowed (see Day 3). Still, we were able to find lots of interesting things to do even without going into the big attractions. We're both amateur photographers, so a lot of our focus is on finding places with beautiful scenery and taking pictures.

Day 1: Bay Area to Cedar City, Utah
Day 2: Grand Staircase National Park, Utah
Day 3: Boat trip on Lake Powell
Day 4: Drive to North Fork of Grand Canyon
Day 5: Grand Staircase National Park, Utah
Day 6: Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Zion, to Las Vegas
Day 7: Las Vegas to Bay Area

Next   (SF to Cedar City, UT)