Carr Best of the Southwest

The Canyonlands Travel Guide for a One Week(or Two Week) Trip of a Lifetime
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5439-2895-2
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 200 Seiten

I worked for 15 years for the U.S. Forest Service on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and spent almost every weekend exploring the wonders of the American Southwest. My last trip was in the summer of 2017, to check and verify each recommendation in this book. This is the second book in the best of the Southwest guide book series. It is a 7-day to 14-day 'how to' travel guide out of the hub city of Salt Lake City, Utah, covering a large swath of southeastern Utah called the Canyonlands. The Best of the Southwest series gives you very few choices. I lived in the Southwest and explored the Canyonlands for fifteen years. I know it like the back of my hand. I know the best places to eat, stay, visit, and hike. And if you were doing the trip with me, we would follow my itinerary to the letter. That's why you paid for the book: to find out the best things to do and how to do them in a logical way, given the limited time you will be vacationing. I have provided handy URL links to each attraction listed in this book, so you can find additional information and get the up-to-date prices and conditions. As an added bonus, I am going to fill in your days with many helpful 'Insider Tips' that will give you information about the places you visit that few people know about. And I will also show you how the save your hard-earned money! I will take all of the guesswork out of your exciting and fun trip to the Southwest. So, just load this trusty guide onto your smartphone or iPad, follow my handy dandy directions, and the Canyonlands will come alive beyond your wildest dreams.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Carr, Steve

Leseproben

Getting There

I usually fly to Salt Lake City after work on a Friday, so I can save a day of holiday leave and utilize two weekends for the trip. You can book your flight through a website like Kayak to get the best deal, but I always fly Southwest Airlines. They are the biggest airline in the Southwest, hence the name. You can expect to pay about $500 per person round-trip (RT) from the east coast. Southwest is the only airline that does not charge for the first checked bag or your carry-on bag.

• Arrive in Salt Lake City by 3PM because you have a long drive after your flight.

What to Bring

• Clothes for warm and cold weather for hiking, camping & checking out towns
• Wool cap & gloves
• Sweater or fleece top
• Swimsuit
• Towel
• Hiking shoes
• Casual Shoes
• Flip flops or sport sandals
• Rain gear (good poncho)
• Sunscreen (Bullfrog Waterproof)
• Glasses/Contacts/Sunglasses
• Hat & bandana
• Quart water bottles (4)
• Moist towelettes to clean yourself
• Doc Bronner’s soap + washcloth + large beach towel
• Day pack or large hip pack
• Telescoping walking stick
• Matches or a lighter
• Resealable plastic baggies
• Smartphone
• Camera
• Tablet/iPad
• Chargers
• Earbuds or headphones
• Plug adaptors
• Small flashlight
• Earplugs
• Small lock and metal cord to secure your luggage in the trunk
• Good book
• Airline reservations
• Driver’s License or passport
• Rental car voucher
• Hotel confirmation
• Cash ($20 bills)
• Credit/Debit cards
• Health insurance/medical records
• First-aid kit
• Notepad & Pen
• Tissues
• Travel alarm/watch
• Sewing kit
• Good maps (many can be downloaded off the Avenza website an app that provides geopdf’s topographic maps that work without an Internet connection and which can be downloaded to an Android or iPhone.

  https://www.topo-gps.com/

Camping Gear

• Tent (lightweight)
• Inflatable pillow
• Sleeping bag rated for 0 degrees (the temperature rating is usually at least 25 degrees warmer than it really is because they assume you are wearing lots of clothes)
• Garbage bags
• Thick ground pad, preferably a Thermarest air mattress
• A reflective space blanket to use under your tent as a ground pad
• An absorbent camping towel to wipe the dew off your gear in the morning
• Moist towelettes to clean yourself
• Doc Bronner’s soap + washcloth + large beach towel
• Toilet Paper
• Water purification tablets
• Small shovel to dig your 7”-deep cat hole for human waste if you are primitive camping
• Several stuff sacks to store gear
• Head lamp
• Spare batteries
• Lawn chair & Cooler (buy @ Walmart)

Another option, is to try the Lost Campers company who will rent you a small camper RV (RV rentals usually will run you about $100 a day, not including gas). They have an office in Salt Lake City and might be just the ticket if you would just like to rent a bed on wheels that would allow you to avoid costly hotels or carrying a lot of camping equipment.

If you want to camp and don’t want to schlep your heavy camping gear through airports, there is a nationally-renowned rental company in Salt Lake City called REI that will rent you a tent, sleeping bag, ground pads and everything you will need to sleep out under the Milky Way.

https://www.rei.com/stores/salt-lake-city.html

When to Go

The best time to visit the Southwest is in the spring or the fall. Summers can be excruciatingly hot, and winters are bitterly cold. Spring temperatures are nice but there are three disadvantages: it can be windy, the night time temperatures are still chilly, and the water in places like Lake Powell or the Green River will still be cold from the spring runoff. Fall (September - October) is the best time for your visit. The lakes and rivers are still warm, and the swimming is great. The night time temperatures are delightful. There are no bugs. The weather tends to be nice and dry. And the aspen leaves turn the mountains a bright yellow. So, I would book your trip in September, after the school kids and families have all gone home.

Please keep in mind that regardless of the season, a change in elevation can change the weather dramatically. A good rule of thumb is this: the higher the elevation, the colder and stormier it can be. When I was doing the recon for this book in August of 2017, it was 100 degrees down at the lower elevations in places like Arches, but I ran into snow driving over the Manti-La Sal and Uinta mountains.

Rental Cars

• You should rent a Sport Utility Vehicle. They are not that much more expensive than a passenger car and they will give you lots of space for coolers, lawn chairs, food, and luggage. And given that you will be going off-road at times, it is always wise to have a vehicle with high clearance. SUV Rental (7 days) - $500 (does not include gas).
• Salt Lake City International Airport offers a variety of rental car providers and convenient access to rental car services. Rental car counters are located on the ground floor of the parking garage, directly across from the terminal buildings. For assistance, contact the airport ground transportation desks at [phone] or [phone].

Accommodations and Meals

The hotels and restaurants listed in this book are not necessarily the best places to stay or eat. But these are the places where I stop. I chose them because they are clean, conveniently located, and reasonably priced. I assume that the travelers using this book are not looking to spend a lot of money. If you like, you can probably find more lavish accommodations or fancier places to dine. I have tried to strike a reasonable balance between expensive and cheap. So, you can find other options on either end of the cost scale. That said, in the smaller and more isolated towns, the choices are limited, and my selections are going to be your best bet. But in places like Moab, you can spend a lot more to eat and stay in luxury. In short, my recommendations are for the average traveler on a limited budget, trying to keep their costs down while still enjoying themselves.

How to Use This Book

There are some great Southwest guide books on the market. But they all share one common, and rather annoying, trait: THEY OFFER TOO MANY CHOICES. If your guide truly knows the area in question, then why do they fill their books with a lot of superfluous information?

The Best of the Southwest series gives you very few choices. I lived in the Southwest and explored the Canyonlands for fifteen years. I know it like the back of my hand. I know the best places to eat, stay, visit, and hike. And if you were doing the trip with me, we would follow my itinerary to the letter. That’s why you paid for the book: to find out the best things to do and how to do them in a logical way, given the limited time you will be vacationing.

Rather than give you a list of restaurants in each town organized by cuisine and price, I tell you where I would eat. And instead of listing all the hikes in a park organized by their difficulty and length, I steer you to the best hikes. Hotels are always a subjective and budgetary consideration. I don’t spend a lot of time in the hotel. I sleep there and then leave and maybe use the pool. So, I don’t need luxury. You might feel different about that, and that’s fine.

In the end, this is your vacation and you should do whatever you like. If you don’t feel like doing a hike or eating where I suggested, that’s cool. Your mission is to have fun! Don’t let the book turn your trip into a job. Take time to relax...