Canyon rim in the morning, the river by afternoon
Moab, Utah · 3 nights · Apr · May · Sep · Oct · up to 8
Moab sits between two national parks and a river, and the mistake is trying to do all three in one day. Give the mornings to rock — Arches early, before the Windows fill — and the afternoons to the Colorado, which is cooler and moving. April and October are the months this works; July is a health decision rather than a holiday. Dead Horse Point is half an hour out of town on a road nobody takes by accident, which is why one evening should have nothing else in it.
The ending
A neck of rock two thousand feet above a bend in the Colorado, with canyon dropping away on three sides, and the far rim losing its colour a long while before the near one does.
That is Dead Horse Point Overlook. See how private it is and when it’s open, or build the rest of the trip around it.
Do
- Arches National Park Hike
- Dead Horse Point State Park
- Canyonlands Island in the Sky
- Fisher Towers Whitewater Rafting
Eat
- Desert Bistro
- Sunset Grill
Stay
- Red Cliffs Lodge
- Under Canvas Moab
Arches or Canyonlands?
Both, on different days. Arches is short walks and famous shapes; Island in the Sky is the long view. Back to back in one day is how people end up remembering the car.
Does this work with eight people?
Yes. Red Cliffs Lodge is a working ranch on the river with room for it, and the overlook is a state park with a car park at the end of the road. This one scales without costing you the ending.