Which national parks to visit for a week in mid-April?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about Sequoia and Yosemite? We have family in the area so are considering that route.

We did both of those in 2021 and it’s a good itinerary. Might still be some snowpack on the ground in mid April.

Sequoia was still closed in late May this year and some of Yosemite's roads were being plowed well into June. They did have crazy snow this year though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great time to visit Utah. Arches, Canyon Lands, Bryce, and Zion. Can also mix in in SLC, Mesa Verde/Durango or Las Vegas depending upon your flights.

You really should attempt all this in 7 days. Either do Arches/Capitol Reef/Canyonlands or do Zion/Bryce. They’re on opposite ends of the state and gigantic parks - there’s too much to see to them and they’re too far from the Arches side of Utah to cram in both. If you want to see Vegas you could fly in and out of there and drive 3 hours to Zion. If you want to do Arches you could fly into SLC or the other small airport in Colorado, I forget its name.

We did Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce and Zion in a week last April. Had a very good time. Alot of driving but alot of the landscape is pretty incredible to drive through. We only had a day or two at each but that was OK for us. Depends on what kind of trip you want to have. The parks were all very different from one another which was kind of amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you haven't already done Grand Canyon, or Yellowstone it's a no-brainer to do one of those.

If not, we went to Zion a couple of years ago and it was amazing, but we went in Nov and it wasn't crowded; I hear it can get very crowded during spring break and summer and that that can be an issue with enjoyment of that park. Good thing about Zion is you can easily drive to Bryce as well (or even Grand Canyon).

I love the suggeston from PP of Sequoia and Yosemite -- I want to do that trip next.

Probably the most beautiful place I've been is Monument Valley; it's a Navajo park. But really only one day of a visit.

Good point about crowds at Zion. We went in April and it was ok but DC's April break was late last year which I think made a big difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Joshua Tree - Mojave Désert - Death Valley - Sequoia

This can be a lot of driving because of the geography/roads. Death Valley to Sequoia is like 8 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great time to visit Utah. Arches, Canyon Lands, Bryce, and Zion. Can also mix in in SLC, Mesa Verde/Durango or Las Vegas depending upon your flights.

You really should attempt all this in 7 days. Either do Arches/Capitol Reef/Canyonlands or do Zion/Bryce. They’re on opposite ends of the state and gigantic parks - there’s too much to see to them and they’re too far from the Arches side of Utah to cram in both. If you want to see Vegas you could fly in and out of there and drive 3 hours to Zion. If you want to do Arches you could fly into SLC or the other small airport in Colorado, I forget its name.

NP. This is a fair point, although I did all 5 of these in 8ish days many years ago. But it was just two of us, no kids, and we did a lot of driving, and had to pack the two most exhausting hikes at Zion into one day. I’d recommend Zion/Bryce, with a day in whatever city you fly into. Zion is absolutely stunning. Apparently you have to get lottery passes to do Angels Landing now, so if you’re interested in that, look into it ahead of time.

You can go most of the way up Angels Landing without the ottery pass. It's scary af btw.

[Anonymous]

Here is what we did last year for spring break- it was awesome!
Day 1: Fly to Vegas spend night
Day 2: Drive to Grand Canyon South Rim, spend night at Grand Canyon (Maswik Lodge). Hike south rim, sunset at Mohave point
Day 3: Hike Grand Canyon, leave early afternoon to drive to Kanab, Utah. Stop at Horseshoe Bend on way. Stay at La Quinta Inn in Kanab for 2 nights
Day 4: Sand Boarding at coral pink sand dunes, moqui cave hike
Day 5: ATV ride to slot canyon, canyoneering tour (booked through kanab tour company)
After your drive to Bryce Canyon, stay at ruby’s inn. Late hike/ sunset at bryce
Day 6: morning/ early afternoon in bryce, queens garden and Navajo loop trail. Drive to Zion. Spend 3 nights in Zion at cable mountain lodge
Day 7: rent ebikes and spend day hiking and biking in Zion
Day 8: more hiking in morning, horseback tour in afternoon
Day 9: drive to vegas and spend afternoon in Vegas, fly home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you haven't already done Grand Canyon, or Yellowstone it's a no-brainer to do one of those.

If not, we went to Zion a couple of years ago and it was amazing, but we went in Nov and it wasn't crowded; I hear it can get very crowded during spring break and summer and that that can be an issue with enjoyment of that park. Good thing about Zion is you can easily drive to Bryce as well (or even Grand Canyon).

I love the suggeston from PP of Sequoia and Yosemite -- I want to do that trip next.

Probably the most beautiful place I've been is Monument Valley; it's a Navajo park. But really only one day of a visit.

A lot of Yellowstone will still be closed/hard to access in April. That’s a better summer trip.

[Anonymous]

We spent a week based in Vegas last Spring Break doing day trips from it to:

- Red Rock Canyon State Park
- Valley of Fire State Park
- Death Valley National Park
- Hoover Dam

In the West, state parks are often just as nice as national parks.

We recently visited Great Basin National Park which is one of the least visited and most remote national parks in the U.S. You could add this to your itinerary. It is a 4.5 hour drive north of Vegas. Check out the Hidden Canyon Retreat which is where we stayed. I would suggest 2 nights there.
http://www.hiddencanyonretreat.com

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is what we did last year for spring break- it was awesome!
Day 1: Fly to Vegas spend night
Day 2: Drive to Grand Canyon South Rim, spend night at Grand Canyon (Maswik Lodge). Hike south rim, sunset at Mohave point
Day 3: Hike Grand Canyon, leave early afternoon to drive to Kanab, Utah. Stop at Horseshoe Bend on way. Stay at La Quinta Inn in Kanab for 2 nights
Day 4: Sand Boarding at coral pink sand dunes, moqui cave hike
Day 5: ATV ride to slot canyon, canyoneering tour (booked through kanab tour company)
After your drive to Bryce Canyon, stay at ruby’s inn. Late hike/ sunset at bryce
Day 6: morning/ early afternoon in bryce, queens garden and Navajo loop trail. Drive to Zion. Spend 3 nights in Zion at cable mountain lodge
Day 7: rent ebikes and spend day hiking and biking in Zion
Day 8: more hiking in morning, horseback tour in afternoon
Day 9: drive to vegas and spend afternoon in Vegas, fly home

We were considering something similar, but doing Grand Canyon at the end and then flying out of Flagstaff rather than back to Vegas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is what we did last year for spring break- it was awesome!
Day 1: Fly to Vegas spend night
Day 2: Drive to Grand Canyon South Rim, spend night at Grand Canyon (Maswik Lodge). Hike south rim, sunset at Mohave point
Day 3: Hike Grand Canyon, leave early afternoon to drive to Kanab, Utah. Stop at Horseshoe Bend on way. Stay at La Quinta Inn in Kanab for 2 nights
Day 4: Sand Boarding at coral pink sand dunes, moqui cave hike
Day 5: ATV ride to slot canyon, canyoneering tour (booked through kanab tour company)
After your drive to Bryce Canyon, stay at ruby’s inn. Late hike/ sunset at bryce
Day 6: morning/ early afternoon in bryce, queens garden and Navajo loop trail. Drive to Zion. Spend 3 nights in Zion at cable mountain lodge
Day 7: rent ebikes and spend day hiking and biking in Zion
Day 8: more hiking in morning, horseback tour in afternoon
Day 9: drive to vegas and spend afternoon in Vegas, fly home

What was the weather like?

[Anonymous]

There was a year we did southern Arizona and stayed in Tucson. In Tucson we did saguaro national park, Sabino canyon national forest, horseback riding in the desert, the Desert Museum (like a zoo), and Old Tucson (movie set with stunt shows etc.). We did a day trip to bisbee and toured the old copper mines and went to Kartchner Cavern state park. You can do collosal cave national park but karchner is a better cave.

[Anonymous]

For all those saying Yosemite, you're going to be limited to the Valley at Spring Break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did Olympic National Park in Washington for a spring break. It was a little cool and a bit wet a couple days, but it was fantastic. Spectacular scenery and not too many crowds…highly recommend.

Utah parks are another option for spring break. Can be cool, but crowds are less than in the summer.

PP, here. Forgot to add, favorite thing about Olympic is it’s like going to three or four different parks- beaches, rainforest, mountains, lakes…

Olympic is incredible, but that is one I would save for summer.

In April i would hit one of the places mentioned that would be unbearably hot in summer- most of Utah- Arches, Canyonlands, Zion.

[Anonymous]

We did it last year, flying to and from Las Vegas, so cheap! We did the counter clockwise tour - valley of Fire State park (everyone's favorite), Horse Shoe Bend, Monument Valley, Arches, Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion. One thing to keep in mind is that we hit 90 degree weather in Las Vegas and 20 degree weather in Bryce. Some of Bryce was still closed due to snow. Made it hard to pack with carryons but not impossible. We had a 7 year old with us and Junior Range programs was a HUGE hit with the kiddo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about Sequoia and Yosemite? We have family in the area so are considering that route.

We had booked this for April 2020. Had to cancel for COVID of course, but they also had 3-4 feet of snow fall at Sequoia/KC the dates we would have gone. So we wouldn’t have been able to access it anyway.