Off-roading from Zion to Grand Staircase Escalante

Hey All,

My girl and I are doing a National Parks trip from Cali out to Utah. We’ll be staying at Airbnb’s for the most of it but I wanted to explore some off the Offroad areas and tent camp. Are there any off road routes that any of y’all could recommend going from Zion to Bryce Canyon or Grand Staircase Escalante?


Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated!

 

I've wheeled, hiked, camped, many times in those areas.
One I would suggest if you're okay being off the main road and only be on trails for a couple days is the Needles district. I don't have a link or anything like that but make sure to at least look it up and see if it's something for you guys to check out.
The San Rafael swells and the desert down on southern Utah is gorgeous man. You'll love it! Great places to see! Definitely stop in Moab, which has turned into a huge tourist town. Check out the Arches and stuff. Still cool, just not as cool when it was one lane each way and a couple gas stations and cafes was it

 

Oh my bad, if you're looking for specific trail names and stuff, I misunderstood. But you will still love the area hombre

 

Lol. So we’re actually just trying to plan a route from Zion to Bryce off road. We have the rest of the trip planned out. We have a couple of days between Zion and Bryce to camp and do some “overlanding”.

 

Oh gotcha, my bad

 

Burr Trail

take the Lake Powell ferry, it don't get more overland than loading your truck on a boat

 

Anyone try Hell’s Backbone?

 

Just curious when your planning this trip? Many of the roads you are looking for will be snow covered for another couple months.

 

We’re looking to go the first week of at so I think we’ll be good?

 

This sounds like a fantastic trip through some very special real estate! Good for you OP!

 

I'm only assuming you meant April? Could still be hit or miss on some of the higher elevation areas. If you haven't yet I would get on the national Forest website and park websites and order or look at some maps of the areas you want to visit and then search those roads with Google.

 

Run the Barracks trail on the east side of Zion. From Zion to Bryce you should head south of the Mt. Carmel junction along US 89 to the town of Kanab then continue East on 89 towards Page, AZ. About halfway between Page/Kanab head north on Cottonwood Canyon road which will dump you out on the south end of Bryce. Cottonwood canyon road can become absolutely nasty with bad weather so do not attempt unless it's been dry for a little while and there is no rain in the forecast. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

Oops! I meant May!

 

Subbed for information.

 

@Adoan, what time in May will you be making this trip? Myself and my wife will be traveling the area come the end of May as we work our way back home.