Zion National Park Alternatives 

Kolob Reservoir Road: This scenic drive skirts Zion National Park and the northern, Kolob, section of the park as it climbs the hillside toward Kolob Reservoir. Due to the park’s closure, it is unclear what access visitors will have to trails and pullouts along the drive. Kolob Reservoir, has primitive camping in a spectacular environment.http://www.americansouthwest.net/utah/zion/kolob_reservoir.html

Best Friends Animal Shelter: Stunning red-rock vistas against expansive blue skies. The sweet smell of sage. Nestled in gorgeous Angel Canyon, it’s a sight to behold and a place of compassion unlike anywhere else on earth – it’s the nation’s largest animal sanctuary. With thousands of acres of open space and a delightful creek, it is a miraculous place of love and caring for homeless pets. And 1,700 adoptable pets are eager to show you around their home-between-homes. Here, they’re given love, medical care and the chance to be adopted. Free tours of Best Friends Animal Sanctuary are offered daily or explore one of the many walking paths or hiking trails. Volunteers are always needed, and the experience is always a magical one.http://bestfriends.org/

Brian Head Ski Resort: Brian head is Utah’s premier southern Utah winter resort in the winter, and mountain playground in the summer. During the summer and fall months visitors can enjoy mountain biking, hiking, scenic chairlift rides, disk golf and geocaching. Southern Utah isn’t all about the red rock, it’s also about our mountain peaks offering family adventures for all. www.brianhead.com

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park:Venture onto a shifting sea of red sand. Changed by winds, these mountains and hills of sand can move as much as 50 feet per year. With areas for off-highway vehicle enthusiasts and those with non-motorized pursuits, the dunes offer adventures for all.www.stateparks.utah.gov

Dixie National Forest: The Dixie National Forest, with headquarters in Cedar City, Utah, occupies almost two million acres and stretches for about 170 miles across southern Utah. You can experience the solitude of hiking in the Wilderness, enjoy camping in developed campgrounds, or in the backcountry. The forest is also a prime location for fishing, hunting, horseback riding, mountain biking, OHV opportunities, and winter activities such as cross-country and downhill skiing opportunities.www.fs.usda.gov/main/dixie/home

Gunlock State Park: Surrounded by rustic red rock and extinct black lava cinder cones lies the 240 acre Gunlock State Park & Reservoir. The park offers year-round boating, water sports and quality fishing for bass and catfish. Facilities include boat launching ramp and pit privies. The reservoir is two miles long, one-half mile wide, 115 feet deep and provides a pleasant setting for swimming, boating and fishing. Camping is allowed but there are few amenities. The park is just 15 miles northwest of St. George. The reservoir, built in 1970 and fed by the Santa Clara River, also provides excellent fishing for bass, crappie, and catfish. The banks of the reservoir are lined with pine and juniper trees, with a backdrop of red and pink Navajo sandstone cliffs to the west and ancient lava beds to the east.www.stateparks.utah.gov

Kanarraville Falls: Meandering hike thorugh a rugged canyon bottom culminating in a short, but spectacular slot canyon. Located between the entrance to Zion National Park and Cedar City, the Kanarraville Falls hike makes for a great half-day adventure. The moderate hike is dog and kid friendly with many options to stop and enjoy a picnic lunch along the way.http://www.utah.com/hike/kanarra-creek-canyon-trail

Markaguant High Plateau Scenic Byway, Highway 14: An amazing, 40-mile journey through the Dixie National Forest, the Markaguant High Plateau Scenic Byway connects Interstate 15 and Highway 89 through beautiful southwestern Utah. Beginning in Cedar City and climbing steeply through narrow Cedar Canyon and into the Dixie National Forest, catch glimpses of Cedar Breaks National Monument through gaps in the dense aspen, pine, and spruce forest. Camp, bike, or hike at numerous stops along the way, in these elevated outdoors. Learn of the history and settlement of the area. Breath-catching views throughout invite you to delve deeper.http://byways.org/explore/byways/2021

Quail Creek State Park: The park provides excellent year-round camping, picnicking, boating, and fishing. The 40,000 acre reservoir sits in the red desert at the bottom of the 10,000 foot expanse of Pine Valley Mountain and with views toward Zion National Park. The park is easily accessible just 14 miles north of St. George near Interstate 15. Surrounded by red rock vistas, the park offers excellent camping, boating, kayaking, swimming, sunbathing, and fishing. The reservoir is fed by the Virgin River and is well-stocked with rainbow trout, bullhead catfish, crappie, largemouth bass, and bluegill. There is a fish-cleaning station on site.www.stateparks.utah.gov

Sand Hollow State Park: Locally called “Little Lake Powell” with its warm, blue waters and red sandstone landscape and brilliant orange sand beaches, Sand Hollow is a recreational haven for boating, wake boarding, fishing, camping, four wheeling and swimming. Modern campgrounds and picnic areas have been developed adjacent to the beaches for RV or tent camping. The sand beaches are a part of the massive dunes of Sand Mountain – a huge off road recreation area open to ATVs, sand trails, motorcycles and dune buggies. OHV enthusiasts consider the 6,000 playable acres of red sand dunes some of the best off-road terrain around. The park also boasts biking, hiking and equestrian trails, and a modern RV and tent campground with electric, water, and sewage hookups.www.stateparks.utah.gov

Snow Canyon State Park: Snow Canyon State Park is a ruggedly beautiful 7,400 acres of black lava-capped cliffs, winding red canyons, soaring sandstone arches, ancient cinder cones, lava caves, sand dunes, and scenic overlooks. The park offers abundant opportunities for hiking, rock climbing, horseback riding, mountain biking, wildlife watching, camping, and photography. The spectacular vistas have beckoned everyone from Ancestral Puebloans and Paiute Indians to Mormon Pioneers and Hollywood execs. The park’s rugged splendor has even provided a backdrop for films such as The Electric Horseman and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Bring your camera and take time for a walk along the paved trail or a hike into the backcountry. www.stateparks.utah.gov

Bryce Canyon National Park Alternatives

Calf Creek Recreation Area: A premier stop along Scenic Byway 12 in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Calf Creek Recreation Area is a desert oasis including a 13-site campground, a day-use picnic area, and trailhead. The campground provides small sites nestled along Calf Creek on a first-come, first-served basis. Lower Calf Creek Falls Trail is an almost 6-mile moderately strenuous round-trip hike to a stunning 126-foot waterfall.www.scenicbyway12.com/the-byway/byway-waysides/calf-creek-recreation-area/

Cottonwood Canyon Road Scenic Backway: This route features strangley eroded rock formations in Cottowood Canyon and Kodachrome Basin State Park. A popular feature is Grosvenor Arch, a soaring pastel buttress located about ten miles east of the Kodachrome Basin turn-off. In Cottowood Canyon, the sandstone colors are particularly stiking. The Paria River and the rugged upthrust of the Cockscomb formation are also prominient features of this journey.http://www.brycecanyoncountry.com/scenicdrives.html

East Fork, Sevier Scenic Backway: This backway is located in a broad valley scattered with Ponderosa pine. Panoramic views open in all directions. Red rock formations and other geologic features are visible along the road. Mid-route is Tropic Reservoir providing fishing, boathing and camping. This route follows the east fork of the Sevier River which meanders near the road. At the backway’s end is the Podunk Guard Station, built in 1928.http://www.brycecanyoncountry.com/scenicdrives.html

Escalante Petrified Forest State Park:Escalante State Park has nature trails through the remnants of a petrified forest, where hikers can view fossils, petrified wood, fossilized dinosaur bones, and artifacts left by ancient Fremont Indians who inhabited this area nearly 1,000 years ago. Nearby Wide Hollow Reservior provides boating, canoeing, fishing and bird watching opportunities.www.stateparks.utah.gov

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument: A vast and rugged, yet easily accessible national monument. Divided into three regions: Canyons of the Escalante, Grand Staircase, and the Kaiparowits Plateau, scenic and recreational opportunities abound within the monument. Scenic Byway 12, a federally designated, All-American Road, between Boulder and Bryce, and US 89 between Kanab and Big Water provide easy access to the graded dirt roads that crisscross the monument. Enjoy an easy hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls, or a more intense exploration of the slot canyons off the Hole in the Rock Road (dirt road, check for current conditions). Visitor centers are located in Kanab, Escalante, Cannonville, and Big Water.www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/grand_staircase-escalante.html

Kodachrome Basin State Park:Kodachrome Basin is a spectacle of massive sandstone chimneys and pillars, ranging in height of six – 170 feet, which change from gray and white to shades of red depending on the light and shadows of the day. The park offers camping in solitude and desert beauty immediately adjacent to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument with several hiking, biking, and equestrian trails.www.stateparks.utah.gov

Red Canyon: Twelve miles outside of Bryce Canyon National Park on Scenic Byway 12, Red Canyon beckons with a similar red rock landscape. Like Bryce Canyon, Red Canyon’s hoodoos were sculpted from Claron limestone over eons from wind and water erosion. Red Canyon is part of the Dixie National Forest, and follows Scenic Byway 12 for about four miles. The hoodoos can be explored with short hikes along many of the trails that run throughout the canyon, or along the paved, five-mile Red Canyon Bike Path.www.brycecanyoncountry.com/red-canyon.html

Scenic Byway 12 – Utah’s All-American Road: Passing through some of the most spectacular scenery and natural wonders seen along any rural route in the nation, this exceptional 124 mile route negotiates an isolated landscape of canyons, plateaus, and valleys ranging from 4,000 to 9,000 feet above sea level. You’ll encounter archaeological, cultural, historical, natural, recreational, and scenic qualities while driving this exhilarating byway. http://www.scenicbyway12.com/

Scenic Byway 143 – America’s Patchwork Parkway: This national scenic byway climbs past the colorful Vermillion Cliffs through Parowan Canyon, rises to forested heights of 10,000 feet, then drops down to Panguitch. Scenic Byway 143 is fondly referred to as the Patchwork Parkway because of a significant historic event, where early pioneers saved themselves from starvation by using quilts to cross the deep winter snows of the plateau. Places of interest include Brian Head Peak, Panguitch Lake, Markagunt Plateau forests, and the town of Panguitch-listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The colorful aspens and maples in mid-September make this a perfect autumn drive.http://utahspatchworkparkway.com/

Kane County Office of Tourism

78 South 100 East, Kanab

435-644-5033

We hope this helps with your travel plans!

Happy trails….

Jane & Jim