Santa Ana—When you’re from California, it’s easy to think that some of the world’s most beautiful and wild, rugged places are close to home. But the reality is that while the Golden State has plenty of incredible scenery to offer, both back in those “Wild West” days as well as right here and now, the landscapes found leading to it across America’s Southwest are some of the most spectacular to be found anywhere on the planet.
And while pioneers probably didn’t stop and take an extended visit, these days a road trip is a perfect way to see our favorite special spots in the Southwest.
Figuring out what to see on a Wild West road trip takes a bit of planning. Our version assumes you’ll begin in California and not try to do too much, so will only encompass our favorite spots in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. Come along to see ghost towns, hoodoos, natural arches, sandstone spectacles, dark-sky stars, and a really huge hole in the ground. We’ll even suggest a few places to sleep, eat and be merry as well.
Before you begin, consider purchasing an annual national parks pass at the first park you enter. That $80 pass gets everyone in your car into every national park for a full year. You don’t have to be an American citizen to buy the annual pass, either. And if you are an American citizen age 62-plus, buy your lifetime pass for $80 and never again pay to enter a U.S. national park. Considering that Zion National Park’s entry fee is $35 per car, getting the annual pass is something of a no-brainer.
Nevada: Ghosts, Gold, and Red Rock
While the lure of Sin City in Nevada is strong, there’s more to the Vegas environs than casinos and outlet malls. So sleep in Las Vegas to start your adventure if you’d like, perhaps in the comfortable beds at the all-suite Venetian Hotel, have a world-class meal at their estiatorio Milos restaurant, take in a show, and then let the real wild adventure begin as you exit that glitzy place.
Start with an easy ride to the Red Rock Canyon Park, where you will need a timed reservation to enter between October and May. It’s just 15 minutes west of the Strip, but transports you to a completely different world, a land of massive striated red rocks, where easy walking trails lead to ancient Native American petroglyphs and perhaps even a glimpse of the protected (and endangered) desert tortoise, who calls this arid place home. This small park is a great start to seeing the incredible rock formations that await in Utah and Arizona.
Red Rock is lovely, but our favorite Nevada stop is Rhyolite, a gold-rush ghost town northwest of Vegas. Founded in 1904, it grew to a city of 5000 residents and was abandoned by 1916. Today it is a delightful mix of art installations (begun in 1981)—think sculptures of all sorts and sizes—known as the Goldwell Open Air Museum and the abandoned brick homes, banks, railroad depot, and a famed house built of glass bottles of the ghost town. The combination is absolutely fascinating and well worth the drive into what seems to be the middle of nowhere.
Utah: Hoodoos, Arches, and Much More
Rolling north into southern Utah transports you into a world of contrasts, from vast arid deserts to densely wooded mountains, massive sandstone cliffs, amazing natural-stone arches, and seriously wacky rock formations.
Begin in Zion, Utah’s first national park, where most months you’ll need to park your car and ride the free shuttle from the visitor center into the park. This park is so popular, with famed sites like Zion Canyon, Kolob Arch, the Narrows, the Court of the Patriarchs, the Great White Throne, the Temple of Sinawava, and Angels Landing that massive crowds form, especially during the spring, summer, and fall seasons. It’s so popular because it is an incredible place, with hiking, rock climbing and the scenic drive highlighting the experience. Jump on and off the shuttle as often as you’d like, but know to not miss the last one, as you’ll be walking nine miles to get out of the park if you do!
Bryce Canyon National Park is probably the most eye-popping, mind-boggling place you will ever see, with its hoodoos (“irregular rock formations,” which barely describe them adequately) of every shape, size and structure. It’s the largest concentration of these magical forms anywhere in the world, and a true must-see, bucket-list destination. Stay in the small town of Bryce (with Best Western and Ruby’s Inn being the two no-frills main hotels) or try to get the tough reservation into the rustic Lodge at Bryce Canyon if possible inside the park. Make your way up the one-way road to see all of the incredible sights in this unique part of the world and hike down into the canyon for a closer look. Don’t miss going in at night to have a true dark-sky experience, with Milky Way stargazing led by a park ranger. Remember to always bring a warm coat along in this park, for the night (and early morning) temps here can be seriously chilly at any time of year.
Moving on to the northwest, encounter Capitol Reef National Park, a true undiscovered gem of Utah. You’ll be gobsmacked at the huge cliffs of bright, rainbow-colored sandstone looming high above you, with peculiarly shaped hoodoos hanging at perilously odd angles. Find hidden arches and petroglyphs, take a horseback ride or a hike and be sure to spot the iconic white sandstone U.S. Capitol building-shaped dome before you move on west to Arches National Park. Take Route 24 to get a real feel of what faced pioneers as they crossed these barren sand dunes, and be sure to stop into Goblin Valley State Park, another hidden gem of sandstone hoodoos (called “goblins” here), in a breathtaking valley setting. There’s even a disc golf course in this park!
You’ll probably have to wait to enter Arches, as it’s one of America’s most iconic natural places. See Delicate Arch, Double Arch, Balanced Rock, and Corona Arch once you make it in, seemingly delicate sandstone miracles of erosion. In nearby Moab discover the liveliest scene anywhere in this part of the world, so have a good meal, hit a bar or nightclub, and do some people-watching before you begin to go south toward Arizona and the Navajo Nation.
Approaching the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park on the Utah/Arizona border, the iconic landscape there is bound to be familiar if you’re a film fan, as it has served as the spectacular setting of numerous famous movies. Think “Stagecoach,” “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” and “Fort Apache,” for this is the place that John Wayne and John Ford turned into the world’s ultimate vision of the Wild West; later, “Forrest Gump” cemented it as an Instagram hotspot.
Monument Valley is owned by the Navajo Nation, so book a hotel room at Goulding’s Resort just outside, a scenic hotel that has welcomed visitors since the 1920s, and then drive in, paying $8 per person to see the Mittens, Elephant Butte, John Ford’s Point, Artist’s Point, and more on the loop drive within the park. Taking a Navajo-guided tour is an incredible way to learn more about this sacred place and the indigenous people who still call it home.
Arizona: Sunrise, Sunset, and a Flyover at the Big Hole
The last stop on our Wild West road trip is Arizona’s big hole in the ground, also known as the Grand Canyon. One of the world’s truly astonishing natural wonders, the canyon is the longest on the planet, but not the deepest, despite being over a mile down from the rims that mark where the Colorado River began eroding away the sandstone and limestone eons ago that created this eye-popping place.
Book way ahead to stay at the iconic El Tovar Hotel inside the park, for it’s the best way to see the sun rise and set right out your front door, the two best times to be hanging on the edge of the canyon and watching it change hues. Hike down into the canyon as far as you can go to see it up close, but do remember that climbing back out is a lot harder to do. For a once-in-a-lifetime thrill, hop on a helicopter via Grand Canyon Helicopters at the airport just outside of the south rim entrance and soar over the edge and swoop down into the canyon in a copter. Trust us, that is a moment you’ll never forget and a perfect ending to a Wild West journey filled with adventures and excitement – with not one shot fired along the way.
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