SW USA National Parks
The 'Grand Circle'

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Double Arches, Arches NP, Utah

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The Grand Circle is a commercially-coined term, but a useful one nevertheless, tying together southwest USA's most spectacular national parks, monuments and roads into a huge circle encompassing much of Utah, part of Arizona and smaller sections of Colorado and New Mexico. This area is geologically known as the Colorado Plateau and 300 million years ago used to be seas and dunes that dried and solidified into wild coloured sandstone that was then eroded into weird shapes - buttes, spires, arches, canyons and cliffs - by rivers and rains.

Geologically speaking the Plateau's youngest rocks can be seen at Bryce, the middle-aged at Zion and the positively geriatric at the base of the Grand Canyon.
The Plateau's first residents, known as the Anasazi ( aka Ancient Pueblo Peoples) arrived around 2,000 years ago, building into caves and alcoves of canyon walls. Examples of their structures and art can be seen in Canyon de Chelly pictures.

Zion Canyon, Utah

Visitors flying in to explore the great sights of SW USA could arrive at Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Denver, Phoenix but best of all Las Vegas for ease, convenience and entertainment, renting a vehicle on arrival. This is a must-drive route, public buses are just not going to do the job, though a fixed tour bus is an easy option.

Motorcyclists will be ecstatic about the rental Harleys available, the climate and the roads, car drivers delighted by the light traffic and heavy sights, but probably the most convenient form of transport on this grand tour - though not cheap - would be an RV (Recreation Vehicle, i.e. motorhome), giving maximum flexibility and mobility with minimum packing and unpacking.

Route 24 to Moab, Utah.

The Bug Crew used an RV (that one in the photo above) and roamed the area for six weeks; for a normal holiday-maker however, a one week trip is possible, a two week trip would be fine and three weeks would be perfect.

Even with 6 weeks time and moving fast it's not feasible to visit all the National Parks in the Grand Circle, so we have distilled The Circle into a two week trip-of-a-lifetime route of magical roads and fantasy landscapes, choosing our favourites and correcting some of our (logistic) mistakes.

This is only a suggested itinerary. Bearing in mind that the Bugcrew were primarily interested in demented visuals with moderate walks attached, had no 4WD available, nor a lot of time, but were RV based, our preferred parks reflect our situation. Locals or tourists with more time or differing inclinations may well prefer other parks, or to spend more time in fewer parks. This latter option is probably the most sensible way to go.

Bryce Canyon, Utah.

Here is a possible two week National Parks itinerary, including walks ranging from one hour to all day:

1 night in Las Vegas, Nevada.
2 nights in Zion Canyon NP (National Park), Utah.
2 nights in Bryce Canyon NP, Utah.
3 nights in Moab, Utah, after a long but stunning drive on Route 12 to/through Capitol Reef NP, Utah, and on Route 24 (mostly) to Moab. With Moab as base spend 1 day in Canyonlands NP, 1.5 days in Arches NP, and half a day in Sand Flats Recreational Area on a bike, ATV or Hummer hired/arranged in Moab.
1 night in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, part Utah, part Arizona.
2 nights in Grand Canyon NP, Arizona.
1 night in Las Vegas = 12 nights.
The other two nights could be spent in Las Vegas recovering from an international flight or throwing the pension down the toilet, breaking the long Route 12/24 drive at Capitol Reef, adding Grand Staircase Escalante NM (National Monument) or Canyon de Chelly NM to the trip, or participating in some extra activity time in Moab - white water rafting, for example. Or a hundred other possibilities.

The best time to drive this route is September, May or June as crowds will multiply astronomically during July and August and winter months can get chilly. All locations are open year round, except the Grand Canyon's North Rim which opens only in the summer months. Wild flowers bloom primarily from April to July.

Booking rooms or RV spaces ahead is essential on this tight schedule, even in off-peak months, though with more time you could afford to call and book only a couple of days ahead as you travel.

Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona