Utah/Colorado/Arizona/California (Sep/Oct 2024)

Tom & I spent four weeks in south-western USA primarily Utah, Colorado & Arizona. The main goal was canyoning but we ended up with quite a bit of hiking as well and even some via ferrata!

I have a list of things we learnt from across our 3 trips (2013/2017/2024) which might be helpful to any Australians planning a canyoning trip to Utah.

Day Date km Driving Time Overnight at…
0 Fri 6 Sep 10 Las Vegas, NV
1 Sat 7 Sep 300 3h 21 Watchman Campground (Zion NP), UT
2 Sun 8 Sep 156 2h 17 Lava Point Campground (Zion NP), UT
3 Mon 9 Sep 170 2h 16 Point Supreme Campground (Cedar Breaks NM), UT
4 Tue 10 Sep 107 2h 18 Panguitch Lake Campground (Dixie NF), UT
5 Wed 11 Sep 336 3h 27 Dispersed camping, UT
6 Thu 12 Sep 85 1h Green River, UT
7 Fri 13 Sep 185 2h 8 Dispersed camping, UT
8 Sat 14 Sep 0 0 Dispersed camping, UT
9 Sun 15 Sep 186 2h 45 Green River, UT
10 Mon 16 Sep 210 1h 56 Grand Junction, CO
11 Tue 17 Sep 141 2h 1 South Rim Campground (Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP), CO
12 Wed 18 Sep 119 2h 12 Amphitheater Campground (Uncompaghre SF), CO
13 Thu 19 Sep 11 23m Amphitheater Campground (Uncompaghre SF), CO
14 Fri 20 Sep 12 27m Amphitheater Campground (Uncompaghre SF), CO
15 Sat 21 Sep 120 1h 44 Friend’s place, CO
16 Sun 22 Sep 142 2h 27 Morefield Campground (Mesa Verde NP), CO
17 Mon 23 Sep 440 4h 43 White House Campsite (Grand Staircase-Escalante NM / Vermilion Cliffs NM), UT
18 Tue 24 Sep 205 2h 20 Big Water, UT
19 Wed 25 Sep 27 20m Buckskin Gulch, UT
20 Thu 26 Sep 270 2h 51 Flagstaff, AZ
21 Fri 27 Sep 72 1h 6 Flagstaff, AZ
22 Sat 28 Sep 12 20m Flagstaff, AZ
23 Sun 29 Sep 190 2h 15 Christopher Creek Campground, AZ
24 Mon 30 Sep 393 4h 53 Tucson, AZ
25 Tue 1 Oct 237 2h 42 Ajo, AZ
26 Wed 2 Oct 453 4h 57 Blythe, CA
27 Thu 3 Oct 195 2h 22 Ryan Campground (Joshua Tree NP), CA
28 Fri 4 Oct 51 55m 29 Palms, CA
29 Sat 5 Oct 315 3h 30 Plane

Total – approx 5,150km