Post by Lisa Petrison on Jul 24, 2011 8:26:53 GMT -5
I’ve been through Utah a few times and have spent a few weeks total in the southern part of the state. With a few exceptions, I’ve had very good experiences.
I've always traveled here in my RV.
ST. GEORGE AREA: GOOD (4)
This is a medium sized city about two hours from Las Vegas. It’s very hot in summer. I spent about a week here in June 2011.
In general, as cities go, the town itself felt good to me. There’s a variety of restaurants, including a Vietnamese place I liked a lot. The best grocery is Harmon’s, and there’s a decent health food store and two Starbucks (both felt okay). My feeling is that the water in this town isn’t great (it comes from the Virgin River). (4-GOOD)
Snow Canyon State Park is terrific, and only about 15 minutes from the closest Starbucks (on the edge of town). The air quality there was excellent and the shower in the campground felt good to me. There are two types of camping choices: RV park style in a row with electricity and water at the sites, and campground style with room to put up a tent. The views throughout the park are lovely and there are a number of hikes of various difficulties. There’s no cell phone or Internet service at the campground, but driving a few miles in the park gets a weak signal. The water here seemed good to me (there are springs in the park). (5-EXCELLENT)
There are a couple of RV parks in Leeds, which is about 10 miles north of the city. This is an agricultural area though, with alfalfa being grown right next to the parks. (4-GOOD)
ZION NATIONAL PARK: EXCELLENT (5)
I drove through here in June 2011 but didn’t stay overnight. It felt really good to me though, and I’d like to go back. The national park campground is crowded but felt pleasant. It always fills up, but there are non-reservable spots open every day.
Springdale, a little town just outside the park, is touristy and busy in summers. It felt good and seemed like a pleasant place.
Note that to do things in this park, you have to take the shuttle buses.
This is at a low altitude, so it’s hot in summer.
BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK: EXCELLENT (5)
I spent a few nights here in June 2011 and liked it a lot. It’s a high altitude and cool in summer, and the campground is wooded and pleasant. It felt much less crowded than Zion. I got a pretty good Verizon signal right at my site, allowing me to use Internet.
Bryce is a long way from civilization though. There’s a small touristy area just outside the campground. The RV park has fee showers for people not staying there, and I sat in the Ruby’s Inn lobby and used their electricity and Wi-Fi service for my computer. I was unimpressed with the restaurants.
I stayed at the KOA in Paguitch (about half an hour away) one night. This region felt good to me in terms of air quality, but the KOA shower wasn’t great.
On the road from Zion to Bryce, I hit one little area along a river that felt problematic to me. I wish I’d had the bedding in my RV covered to protect it, since I slept somewhat less well than usual that night.
ESCALANTE REGION: EXCELLENT (5)
I stayed for a few nights at the Kodachrome State Park in June 2011. This is beautiful and has superb air quality, and the showers felt good to me. Some of the campsites have electricity. It’s at a moderate altitude, warmer than Bryce. Unfortunately, during my visit, there were a lot of gnats.
Kodachrome is very isolated. The nearest place for an Internet connection or cell phone service seems to be Tropic, which is a half hour away and has a couple of restaurants and a small grocery store.
I also stayed for two nights at Goblin Valley State Park in July 2011, which is even more isolated. This is a lovely place which seems to be a magnet for large groups of 10-year-old boys (due to the interesting rock formations that look a little like goblins). It was a 45-minute drive from I-70, so it was a commitment! The closest tiny town is Hanksville, but I don’t know if there is cell phone or Internet access there. The showers aren’t vented, and I can’t vouch for how they’d be for people who are really reactive to mold (I wasn’t during that visit).
CEDAR CITY AREA: EXCELLENT (5)
This is a small city about an hour north of St. George. It is best known for its Shakespeare Festival (with what I consider reasonably good quality productions) in the summer. The theater with the Shakespeare plays is outdoors and very pleasant. There also are non-Shakespeare plays performed indoors in a building that felt fine to me.
I was here in the summers of 2009 and 2011, and the town felt okay to me. There’s one Starbucks, a decent health food store and some restaurants. The KOA in town is really overpriced. The water seems really good (it’s from the mountains and they brag about it in their city report), and thus perhaps worth the 15 cents a gallon (plus $15 dump fee) the KOA charged me for it when I was staying elsewhere. (4-GOOD)
Up in the mountains (8100 feet) west of the city on Hwy. 14 are some campgrounds with (I thought) superb air quality. The closest (12 miles) is Cedar Canyon, which is a pleasant BLM campground. In July 2011 it seemed to be having maintenance problems -- the water was broken and the whole park closed one Saturday night.
Cedar Breaks National Monument (similar to Bryce Canyon in formations) is about half an hour from Cedar City in these same mountains. It has a fairly crowded campground that I would have stayed at had it not been full that same Saturday night.
CENTRAL UTAH: EXCELLENT (5)
Fremont Indian State Park is on I-70 just east of I-15, and made a good break driving through (July 2011). The mountain campground is lovely, nestled in the Fishlake National Forest. The visitor center has interesting displays and trails with petroglyphs. There is cell phone service (Verizon) here, and it all felt good to me.
MOAB AREA: MIXED
I’ve been to this area several times (July and September/October 2009, July 2011) and have come to know it pretty well.
Based on several people’s experiences (including Erik’s and mine), Moab itself is a problem due to the same “stuff” that makes parts of Lake Tahoe a problem. It seems to have gotten worse over the past couple of years. (3-FAIR)
Thus, the extent to which people can go to Moab even to buy groceries may vary. To my knowledge, the closest other towns to the area are Grand Junction (maybe 90 minutes away) and Green River (about 45 minutes). The nearby parks do not have food service or other concessions.
For those who can go to Moab, it’s a charming tourist town. Unfortunately though, I never found a coffee shop that was a good place to hang out. (Chain businesses, except hotels and the main supermarket, are not welcome in this town.)
The KOA is about four miles outside the city, and there are a number of inexpensive BLM campgrounds with lovely scenery on Hwy. 128 along the Colorado River. I felt fine in all of these in October 2009, but I’m not sure how they are now.
The area surrounding Moab has always been terrific for me. (5-EXCELLENT)
Arches National Park (about 20 minutes from I-70) probably is my favorite national park, with amazing rock formations and lots of good hikes. There’s a great campground that always fills up (get there really early in the morning to obtain one of the non-reservable sites). I could get a Verizon signal here.
Dead Horse State Park has great camping with electricity. It is on the outskirts of Canyonlands National Park, with hiking on the rim of the canyon and amazing views. (There was a vendor selling sandwiches and coffee drinks there during my last visit.) The nearby Horse Thief Campground also is very nice -- less expensive without electricity. A problem with both of these campgrounds is that they don’t have water. (Dead Horse SP has a dump station.) I could get a weak Verizon signal in both of these places.
Canyonlands is huge but certainly worth visiting at least for a bit. I had one of the best entertainment experiences of my life here, at an outdoor concert during the Moab Music Festival.
NORTHERN UTAH: FAIR (3)
I stayed overnight in Provo and in Salt Lake City in August 2008, and then drove through Salt Lake City in October 2009. My best guess is that compared to other big cities, SLC is better than many but still pretty problematic, especially in winter. Provo felt a little better than SLC to me, during my one visit.
I’ve driven from SLC to Reno twice, in August 2008 and October 2009. Hwy 80 through Nevada is terrific, but the part in Utah (especially near Salt Lake) felt much less good.
I've always traveled here in my RV.
ST. GEORGE AREA: GOOD (4)
This is a medium sized city about two hours from Las Vegas. It’s very hot in summer. I spent about a week here in June 2011.
In general, as cities go, the town itself felt good to me. There’s a variety of restaurants, including a Vietnamese place I liked a lot. The best grocery is Harmon’s, and there’s a decent health food store and two Starbucks (both felt okay). My feeling is that the water in this town isn’t great (it comes from the Virgin River). (4-GOOD)
Snow Canyon State Park is terrific, and only about 15 minutes from the closest Starbucks (on the edge of town). The air quality there was excellent and the shower in the campground felt good to me. There are two types of camping choices: RV park style in a row with electricity and water at the sites, and campground style with room to put up a tent. The views throughout the park are lovely and there are a number of hikes of various difficulties. There’s no cell phone or Internet service at the campground, but driving a few miles in the park gets a weak signal. The water here seemed good to me (there are springs in the park). (5-EXCELLENT)
There are a couple of RV parks in Leeds, which is about 10 miles north of the city. This is an agricultural area though, with alfalfa being grown right next to the parks. (4-GOOD)
ZION NATIONAL PARK: EXCELLENT (5)
I drove through here in June 2011 but didn’t stay overnight. It felt really good to me though, and I’d like to go back. The national park campground is crowded but felt pleasant. It always fills up, but there are non-reservable spots open every day.
Springdale, a little town just outside the park, is touristy and busy in summers. It felt good and seemed like a pleasant place.
Note that to do things in this park, you have to take the shuttle buses.
This is at a low altitude, so it’s hot in summer.
BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK: EXCELLENT (5)
I spent a few nights here in June 2011 and liked it a lot. It’s a high altitude and cool in summer, and the campground is wooded and pleasant. It felt much less crowded than Zion. I got a pretty good Verizon signal right at my site, allowing me to use Internet.
Bryce is a long way from civilization though. There’s a small touristy area just outside the campground. The RV park has fee showers for people not staying there, and I sat in the Ruby’s Inn lobby and used their electricity and Wi-Fi service for my computer. I was unimpressed with the restaurants.
I stayed at the KOA in Paguitch (about half an hour away) one night. This region felt good to me in terms of air quality, but the KOA shower wasn’t great.
On the road from Zion to Bryce, I hit one little area along a river that felt problematic to me. I wish I’d had the bedding in my RV covered to protect it, since I slept somewhat less well than usual that night.
ESCALANTE REGION: EXCELLENT (5)
I stayed for a few nights at the Kodachrome State Park in June 2011. This is beautiful and has superb air quality, and the showers felt good to me. Some of the campsites have electricity. It’s at a moderate altitude, warmer than Bryce. Unfortunately, during my visit, there were a lot of gnats.
Kodachrome is very isolated. The nearest place for an Internet connection or cell phone service seems to be Tropic, which is a half hour away and has a couple of restaurants and a small grocery store.
I also stayed for two nights at Goblin Valley State Park in July 2011, which is even more isolated. This is a lovely place which seems to be a magnet for large groups of 10-year-old boys (due to the interesting rock formations that look a little like goblins). It was a 45-minute drive from I-70, so it was a commitment! The closest tiny town is Hanksville, but I don’t know if there is cell phone or Internet access there. The showers aren’t vented, and I can’t vouch for how they’d be for people who are really reactive to mold (I wasn’t during that visit).
CEDAR CITY AREA: EXCELLENT (5)
This is a small city about an hour north of St. George. It is best known for its Shakespeare Festival (with what I consider reasonably good quality productions) in the summer. The theater with the Shakespeare plays is outdoors and very pleasant. There also are non-Shakespeare plays performed indoors in a building that felt fine to me.
I was here in the summers of 2009 and 2011, and the town felt okay to me. There’s one Starbucks, a decent health food store and some restaurants. The KOA in town is really overpriced. The water seems really good (it’s from the mountains and they brag about it in their city report), and thus perhaps worth the 15 cents a gallon (plus $15 dump fee) the KOA charged me for it when I was staying elsewhere. (4-GOOD)
Up in the mountains (8100 feet) west of the city on Hwy. 14 are some campgrounds with (I thought) superb air quality. The closest (12 miles) is Cedar Canyon, which is a pleasant BLM campground. In July 2011 it seemed to be having maintenance problems -- the water was broken and the whole park closed one Saturday night.
Cedar Breaks National Monument (similar to Bryce Canyon in formations) is about half an hour from Cedar City in these same mountains. It has a fairly crowded campground that I would have stayed at had it not been full that same Saturday night.
CENTRAL UTAH: EXCELLENT (5)
Fremont Indian State Park is on I-70 just east of I-15, and made a good break driving through (July 2011). The mountain campground is lovely, nestled in the Fishlake National Forest. The visitor center has interesting displays and trails with petroglyphs. There is cell phone service (Verizon) here, and it all felt good to me.
MOAB AREA: MIXED
I’ve been to this area several times (July and September/October 2009, July 2011) and have come to know it pretty well.
Based on several people’s experiences (including Erik’s and mine), Moab itself is a problem due to the same “stuff” that makes parts of Lake Tahoe a problem. It seems to have gotten worse over the past couple of years. (3-FAIR)
Thus, the extent to which people can go to Moab even to buy groceries may vary. To my knowledge, the closest other towns to the area are Grand Junction (maybe 90 minutes away) and Green River (about 45 minutes). The nearby parks do not have food service or other concessions.
For those who can go to Moab, it’s a charming tourist town. Unfortunately though, I never found a coffee shop that was a good place to hang out. (Chain businesses, except hotels and the main supermarket, are not welcome in this town.)
The KOA is about four miles outside the city, and there are a number of inexpensive BLM campgrounds with lovely scenery on Hwy. 128 along the Colorado River. I felt fine in all of these in October 2009, but I’m not sure how they are now.
The area surrounding Moab has always been terrific for me. (5-EXCELLENT)
Arches National Park (about 20 minutes from I-70) probably is my favorite national park, with amazing rock formations and lots of good hikes. There’s a great campground that always fills up (get there really early in the morning to obtain one of the non-reservable sites). I could get a Verizon signal here.
Dead Horse State Park has great camping with electricity. It is on the outskirts of Canyonlands National Park, with hiking on the rim of the canyon and amazing views. (There was a vendor selling sandwiches and coffee drinks there during my last visit.) The nearby Horse Thief Campground also is very nice -- less expensive without electricity. A problem with both of these campgrounds is that they don’t have water. (Dead Horse SP has a dump station.) I could get a weak Verizon signal in both of these places.
Canyonlands is huge but certainly worth visiting at least for a bit. I had one of the best entertainment experiences of my life here, at an outdoor concert during the Moab Music Festival.
NORTHERN UTAH: FAIR (3)
I stayed overnight in Provo and in Salt Lake City in August 2008, and then drove through Salt Lake City in October 2009. My best guess is that compared to other big cities, SLC is better than many but still pretty problematic, especially in winter. Provo felt a little better than SLC to me, during my one visit.
I’ve driven from SLC to Reno twice, in August 2008 and October 2009. Hwy 80 through Nevada is terrific, but the part in Utah (especially near Salt Lake) felt much less good.