Moab for me was a idyllic destination, surrounded by national parks, nature and adventure! So, when we were deciding what to do before my daughter’s Denver soccer camp, we decided we’d fly to Salt Lake City and rent a car to spend a few days. That gave us the chance to stay in Moab before heading to Denver and create this Arches Canyonlands Rocky Mountain Itinerary. It worked out great as we had just been to Colorado’s southern 3 national parks last year, but not Rocky Mountain National Park. Below is our itinerary. Also, my wife and I had just been to Park City, Salt Lake City and Timpanogos Cave in the fall.
*Last updated August 14th, 2025
Arches Canyonlands rocky mountain Itinerary
Great Salt Lake and Drive to Moab
We started with an early flight into Salt Lake City, arriving about 8am. After picking up our rental car, we made a quick stop at the Great Salt Lake visitor center. It is home to one of the saltiest lakes in the world. Additionally, we took a swim in the salt lake and you are very buoyant (easy to float) as it is much more salty than the ocean. Interestingly, there are no fish and only two animals can survive the high salinity. One is the brine fly and the other is the brine shrimp.
After leaving the Great Salt Lake, we drove to our hotel in Moab to enjoy a little relaxing time in the pool and get to bed in preparation for an early start at Arches. If you are looking for more information on visiting Salt Lake City and Park City, be sure to visit our itinerary from our trip there the previous fall.
Arches National Park
We took advantage of still being on Eastern time and woke up about 5am to get to the Windows section of Arches by sunrise. If you arrive between 7am-4pm, a timed entry pass is needed, but not if you arrive before or after.
Arches is a relatively small park, but there is so much to see that you can easily fill up an entire day. After hiking the Windows loop and Double Arch, we drove to the back of the park. There, we hiked Devils Garden to Landscape Arch, which is the longest rock archin the US. It is only about 6 feet at its narrowest and has a high probability of collapse, so see it while you can!
There are over 2000 arches in Arches National Park, so there are a lot of options! After Devils Garden we did a couple shorter hikes to Skyline Arch, Sand Dune Arch and to a view of Broken Arch. Additionally, we drove to the Fiery Furnace Viewpoint. However, you need a permit to enter the area.
Additionally, there is more than arches and you can’t miss the Balanced Rock that is right along the main road. However, if you want to get closer there is a short trail that surrounds the rock.
Finally, we did the overlook of Delicate Arch, which is on the Utah license plate. The overlook is pretty far away and you need binoculars or a good telephoto to get a good view of it. Also, there is a longer 3-ish mile trail, but the first half is all uphill. However, my daughter and I came back the next night and hiked up to Delicate Arch and it is definitely worth it! Delicate Arch is the picture at the the top of this page.
Canyonlands National Park – Islands in the Sky (& Delicate Arch)
There are four districts in Canyonlands and two are most popular for visiting, Islands in the Sky and The Needles. We left again early and arrive at Mesa Arch in the Islands in the Sky district at sunrise. That is right, even Canyonlands has some arches!
Afterwards, we drove to the Grand View Point Overlook and then hiked to the White Rim Overlook. After hiking out to see the overlook, one of my daughter’s described it as “unreal”. I agree.
There are so many amazing overlooks to stop at so take your time. Finally, we drove up to hike part of Aztec Butte Trail to the Indian granary. We struggled a bit to find the trail, but eventually found that it goes up and over the top and made it to the rock structure built into the wall.
After, we drove by Whale Rock and hiked to the overlook of Upheaval Dome. It is believed to be created from an asteroid impact. It is an uphill hike and my kids were definitely starting to get tired so that was our last longer hike.
However, since we came in before the visitor center had opened, we made our way back up to visit. We also stopped at the Shafer Road Viewpoint, which is fun to watch the 4x4s make their way up the one way road. Also, across from the visitor center is another nice viewpoint.
I had read good things about nearby Dead Horse Point State Park, which you pass on the way to and from Moab. It is famous for many film locations, including the canyon scene in Thelma and Louise. However, we will have to save that for our next visit! Additionally, we stopped back to Arches in the evening to hike to the Delicate Arch.
Canyonlands National Park – Needles District
We noticed something as we switched from Arches to Canyonlands Islands in the Sky to Needles. Each day was getting less and less crowds! Arches is really busy for a national park, including numerous international visitors, which is why the reservation system is in place. Islands in the Sky was definitely less crowded, but still a lot of people. However, if you are looking for solitude, you will find it in Needles!
Since it is a further drive from Moab, we got in a little later than our previous days and stopped first thing to the visitor center. Additionally, we made our main hike the Chesler Park Trail starting from the Elephant Hill Trailhead. This is a few miles roundtrip to see the overlook of the “Needles”. It is a wonderful hike and highly recommended.
Afterwards, we drove to the Big Spring Canyon Overlook and then hiked the Cave Springs Trail. Cave Springs is named after a sacred Indian spring along the trail. Additionally, there are remnants from an old cowboy outpost. You can either do the short hike to the spring, or do the slightly longer loop that includes a couple of ladder sections.
On the drive to and from Moab, you will come across the Newspaper Rock, which is a large slab with hundreds of petroglyphs and is definitely worth a stop.
Denver, Rafting and Wings Over the Rockies Aviation Museum
So, this probably won’t be part of your itinerary, but we had a club soccer camp in Denver for the week, which is why we added some extra days to our trip. However, we did have a free day mid-week and rafted on the Clear Creek, which is a beginner-friendly whitewater rafting trip. I-70 has some construction just before Idaho Springs, so on the return we drove the Loveland Pass, which has some nice views.
Additionally, we had a day and a half extra at the end of our trip, so spent a few hours at the Wings Over the Rockies Aviation Museum. There are a lot different planes and jets, various films and a flight-simulator that will go upside-down, which my kids enjoyed.
Finally, we had saved our last day for visiting Rocky Mountain National Park, listed below. The previous year we visited the other three more Southern Colorado national parks: Mesa Verde, Great Sand Dunes and Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
Rocky Mountain National Park
Rocky Mountain was a great finish to our vacation. It was not nearly as hot as Arches and Canyonlands. Additionally, we saw a good amount of wildlife including mule deer, marmots, elk and moose. However, the last two were from a bit of a distance at the Alpine visitor center requiring binoculars. But, they were still fun to see.
We started our day in Rocky Mountain with a reservation at Bear Lake. Reservations are required for Rocky Mountain and an additional reservation time is need for Bear Lake. We parked at the park & ride and took a shuttle to Bear Lake. We arrived around 9am and the parking lot was nearly full.
We did the short walk to Bear Lake, but did not do the loop around. Instead, we hiked up to Nymph Lake and Dream Lake. The trails were very busy that time of day, so it might be better to get an earlier start, or maybe try later in the afternoon. However, the lakes were still pretty to see. After hiking down, we considered hiking to Alberta Falls, but didn’t think we’d have enough time.
Afterwards, we drove Trail Ridge Road to the Alpine Visitor Center. Additionally, it is the highest elevation visitor center in the US! Also, Alpine Visitor Center is where we saw a moose and elk.
The drive there has some beautiful views as well. Also, we saw some marmots up on the rocky tundra. However, we had an evening flight home, so we made our return. We had a wonderful trip and I’d love to have more time in both Moab and Rocky Mountain!
