Of the five Utah National Parks, which is the best? It depends on what you value and why you’re going and maybe who you’re with.

I spent five weeks visiting every Utah national park, which they call the “Mighty Five.” My visits were for hiking solo. This is my impression of the parks as someone who likes to hike and enjoy the solitude of the wilderness. If you want those things too, you’ll probably like the same parks I did. If you like carnivals and driving over hiking, you’ll probably like the ones I liked least more than I did.

Though I must preface this post, there is no worst park. Each of Utah’s Mighty Five is incredibly magical, and I’m grateful and glad to have visited each one.

My Least Favorite Utah National Park

5. Arches National Park

The first time I visited this Utah national park, I was dismayed. I joined a massive line of vehicles at Arches National Park, turning around to find something else to do. The park was closed due to overcrowding, which often occurs for a few hours daily. Once the visitor’s parking lot is full, they stop letting people in until there is room again.

Read the full post about Arches National Park.

When I returned in the evening, I waited in line for about 20 minutes before gaining entry. But to what? I wondered nervously about the crowds.

Crowds Galore at Arches National Park

I like hiking for the nature and solitude. Waiting in line and jostling for a position to see the great outdoors does not appeal to me. It feels off.

Arches National Park welcomes approximately 1.5 million visitors each year. In contrast, Zion National Park, the second most visited park, attracts around 4.9 million visitors. Bryce Canyon National Park draws in about 2.4 million visitors, while Capitol Reef National Park has approximately 1.4 million. Nearby Canyonlands National Park sees significantly fewer visitors, with only about 818,000 each year.

Arches National Park comprises 76,519 acres or 119 square miles, while Zion has 229 square miles and 124,462 acres. The difference is Zion has a shuttle system and Arches does not. It felt like trying to get a parking spot at the Mall in the 1980s during Christmas.

By comparison, other popular parks, Great Smoky Mountains had 12.1 million visitors and Yellowstone had 4.7 million visitors in 2024. Since my visit, Arches has adopted a timed entry system.

The Long Road into Arches

The drive was slow as I joined the long line of cars heading into the park. The road switched up a red rock mountainside, taking you into an expanse you can’t see from the entrance. Once beyond the mountain, you look past the other drivers and people clustered in the parking lots. You see glorious red-orange formations.

With more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches, the park has the world’s highest density. You can get up close and personal with many formations since they each have a nearby parking lot. From your vehicle, you can take a short walk to get a closer look at most of them.

But plan to circle the parking lot repeatedly. You’ll do it multiple times, waiting for a spot to open. It reminded me of my mom at the mall during Christmastime in the years before online ordering.

This is a beautiful park. It’s rare to a bizarre extent and won’t last forever. This place should be seen, despite the crowds and the atmosphere.

They say the park is great for auto touring, hiking, bicycling, camping, canyoneering, and rock climbing. Once parked, there are crowds to contend with.

Everyone seems to be competing. To take a picture, a better position on the trail, a parking spot, and the line at the bathroom. As a solo person, the groups very nearly trampled me. There was little trail etiquette, camaraderie and shared happiness in the park’s glory that you typically find among hikers. It was the Hunger Games.

Sandstone Formations at Arches

Still, you’ll drive by petrified dunes and Balanced Rock. The latter is the size of three school buses balanced on top of a thin pedestal. It looks like it’s near toppling.

You’ll marvel at Delicate Arch, Double Arch and the Windows. It is fascinating to see these massive red sandstone structures that seem to defy gravity and nature itself. They call these pathways “hikes,” but they are more like mad dashes across the concrete. Few people lingered.

If You Visit Arches National Park

If you plan to visit Arches this year or anytime soon, I suggest planning a route. I’d start with Delicate Arch since that will be the busiest. Go very early in the morning – like 5 a.m. – or very late in the evening – after 7 p.m. This way, you’ll avoid the worst of the crowds and enjoy this beautiful place as intended.

Pro tip: You can see sandstone arches at almost any other Utah park, just not many of them in one place.

Cost: $30 per vehicle, or free with an $85 park pass that gets you into every national park free thereafter.

Arches National Park is usually open year-round, 24 hours a day. Find it north of Moab, Utah. From Interstate 70 (Crescent Junction), drive south on US 191 for 22 miles.

4. Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park is beautiful, and the hoodoos are spectacular. Still, it only ranks fourth on my list of best Utah National Parks. Granted, you won’t find another park like it. But visiting is like attending a music festival without music, and everyone brought their kids.

I ranked it only fourth, not for lack of beauty, or rarity – it has both in spades. Rather, I was entirely unable to find a place to be in nature. Isn’t that the entire point of national parks? It was loud and crowded, and I was constantly jostled by other hikers.

Hoodoos are so Rare. Maybe it’s Worth it?

The geologic features of Bryce Canyon are known as “hoodoos.” A hoodoo is a tall, thin spire of rock formed by a unique combination of geologic happenings. Bryce has the most extensive collection of hoodoos in the world. Other Utah National Parks have some too, but not at this scale. At Bryce, they’re clustered in patterns and arrangements that leave you breathless and amazed.

Many people say Bryce and Arches are their favorite parks. If I ranked on beauty alone, they might be mine too. But it’s hard to see the beauty through the massive crowds and all that comes with them. I’ll take a small bit of solitude in nature any day.

Consumer Culture Overtakes Nature

Bryce and Arches seem to have the wildness taken out of them. Both felt like consumer objects more than places to explore nature.To enjoy the park more deeply at Bryce, you can stay at a campsite (with a few hundred other campers). People come, gobble up whatever there is to see, and head off to the next landmark.

But, man, it is pretty. And humbling. Maybe that’s all we need to take away from this Utah National Park. They exist against the odds and remind us of the wonders possible in our world. At Bryce National Park, standing next to those hoodoos, you are so small. It reminds you of your size in the universe and what time can do. It will have to be enough.

If You Visit Bryce Canyon National Park

Go before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m. when the crowds are thinnest. Map out your trails in advance. Combine several small trails into one and the less you have to play parking lot tag.

Cost: $30 per vehicle, or free with an $85 park pass that gets you into every national park free thereafter.

Find Bryce Canyon National Park off Highway 63, Bryce, UT 84764.

3. Canyonlands National Park

I loved this Utah national park right away because it’s less crowded and, dare I say, maybe more beautiful. It may not be on your shortlist, but after visiting for a day, Canyonlands should top your list.

Why? I liked the solitude of nature. Hiking and listening to the sounds of the animals and the wind. Because Canyonlands National Park is less crowded, you can enjoy the park rather than battle the crowds. It has arches and hoodoos, just like those other parks.

Driving to Canyonlands from Arches

To get to Canyonlands, I drove 30 miles down a side road off the highway. I was the only car for miles. At the start of the road, it is open desert land without much to see. After about 10 miles, the landscape begins to change.

Canyonlands is known for its dramatic desert landscape carved by the Colorado River. The rock mesas are so giant and towering they appear like elephants. Canyon rock mountains line either side of the road. It’s like driving in the middle of the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Not that you could do that, which makes this park even better. I made frequent stops at the pull-outs to take in the view of the massive red and orange mesas.

Rock Formations at Canyonlands

The formations are layers of red and white. They provide a mesmerizing landscape that seems hard to figure out and impossible to stop staring at. They are incomparable to many things but reminiscent of the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon National Park.

The Needles section here is similar to the hoodoos, just in a smaller concentration. Nearly the entire park at Bryce is hoodoos, but here it’s just one section.

You’ll see arches too. There is the Wilson Arch on the highway before you enter. It’s a massive sandstone structure with nobody around. In the park, you can hike to Mesa Arch.

I did a few short hikes. Despite what the rangers said about it being busy, it didn’t seem to be. I was mostly alone on the trails, passing only a few people. There were several cars parked at each trailhead, but the people spaced themselves out.

Canyonlands offers red rock, towering mesas, hoodoo formations, epic hikes, and even arches. It’s a great, underrated park to visit.

If You Visit Canyonlands

Go before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m. when the crowds are thinnest. Bring twice as much water as you think you’ll need. Ensure you have a full tank of gas – there’s nowhere in the park to get any in the park.

Entry fee: The cost is $30 per vehicle. A National Park pass is $80 for a year and gets you in free after that.

Canyonlands National Park is usually open year-round, 24 hours a day. Find it off UT 313, about 22 miles southwest of US 191 near Moab, UT 84532.

2. Capitol Reef National Park

I loved Capitol Reef National Park. To think, I wasn’t going to visit it at all. I’d never heard of it before I came to Utah. I couldn’t find a lot about it online. It didn’t seem to have any special features. But then it dawned on me: nobody goes to this park. That’s what made me go, and I’m so glad I did.

The thing I loved most about this place was the crowds. There aren’t any. My other reason is history. Oh, and the pie. Who am I kidding? It’s because of the pie.

Capital Reef National Park doesn’t have one special feature like arches, hoodoos, or monuments. It’s so geologically diverse that it has them all. But, it’s also historically fascinating, and some of that history is alive.

It’s in the south-central part of Utah, not too far from the more popular Bryce Canyon National Park. It’s broken into two different sections. This is because it surrounds a long warp in the Earth’s crust known as the Waterpocket Fold. This “fold” created tilted layers of golden sandstone, canyons and various rock formations. There are reds, whites, blacks, browns, and gold rocks. Each section of the park’s 242,000+ acres is different from the others.

Fun Fact: The park’s name “Capitol” is from the white sandstone domes that look like capitol buildings. “Reef” because it forms a 60-mile-long rock barrier.

Capitol Reef is a Park in Two Sections

The park is divided into two sections: one requires a pass and the rest you can drive right through. The section you can go through for free has designated hikes and maintained trails.

The actual park has a 10-mile scenic drive, and you must pay to enter or have a parking pass. Because this park gets so little traffic, it’s still managed on the trust system. When I went, there wasn’t anybody staffing the entrance.

You’ll “enter” the park long before you actually enter it along Utah Highway 24. There are miles and miles of highway along the fold. You’ll see marked turnouts and trailheads as you get within a few miles.

Historic Orchards and Pie in Capitol Reef

Upon entering the scenic drive, you’ll be in the “Fruita” section. On the right, you’ll see cherry, apricot, peach, and apple orchards. These historic orchards can be found throughout the park. I love that they just call it “fruita.” Keep it simple.

The grove is hundreds of years old and was started by Mormon settlers in the 1800s. Read the signage to learn it’s excellent history.

In recent years the park has repopulated the orchards, and now they grow a ton of different kinds of fruit. If you arrive when the fruit is ripe, you can even pick your own for a fee. And the best part? They make and sell pies!

Gifford Farm in the Fruita Valley

In the Fruita valley, you’ll find the Gifford farm in the 200-acre Fruita Rural Historic District. The park service has refurnished the Gifford farmhouse to showcase what an early Mormon settlement was like. There’s also a barn, a smokehouse, a blacksmith building, a school and some other cabins. It’s very nearly like one of those historical reenactment places – but in a national park – say what?!

The district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Capitol Reef Park Districts

Because of the many different geologic aspects of Capitol Reef, there are a lot of options you can choose from. Hiking, canyoneering, rock climbing, backpacking, camping and bicycling are some of the activities you can do in the park.

This Utah national park is big and has many different sections to showcase its various aspects. There are the Cathedral Valley, Waterpocket District, Burro, Cottonwood and Sheets Gulch, and the Sulphur Creek area.

These sections feature river hikes, three slot canyons, monoliths, climbing areas and more. There are 15-day hiking trails along Highway 24 and Scenic Drive. I did a few short ones, and they had excellent historical aspects and great beauty.

If You Visit Capitol Reef National Park

This is a park you could easily spend a couple of days exploring. If you want to camp, this is one I’d put at the top of the list. There is much more to do and see, like the Cassidy Arch, petroglyphs and so much more. This park is a true gem.

Cost: The entry fee is $30 per vehicle. A National Park pass is $80 for a year and gets you in free after that.

Find Capitol Reef National Park, at HC 70, Box 15 Torrey, UT 84775.

1 Zion National Park

This proves that I am a hypocrite. This park is crowded. Yet, despite the crowds, it’s my favorite of the Utah national parks is Zion, a true “hikers’” park. It’s also where I spent the most time since I stayed 30 minutes away for a month.

I loved that it’s all about hiking. The best views are found by using your own two feet. You must get out on a trail to see the best of the park.In Zion, the rock is such a bright red-orange that it glows when the sun hits it. This view makes it so famous and causes people from around the world.

If you’re not down for hiking, there’s not much for you to do here. Because of the shuttle system, you can’t even drive into the most popular spots in the park.

It’s still pretty to drive through the Zion Scenic Drive. The road traverses a series of switchbacks on Route 9 and the famous Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel. Still, there aren’t any big pullouts, so there’s little congestion.

I liked Zion so much I wrote individual posts about the different hikes I did, including:

• Narrows
• The Watchman
• Angel’s Landing
• Overlook Trail
• Emerald Pools

There are still crowds here on the trails, but if you like hiking, you’ll be among your brethren. For hikers, it’s a bucket list park.

Visit Zion’s Sister park, Kolob Canyon

Plus, Zion has a sister – the Kolob Canyon – right around the corner.

And you know the best part? While Zion is packed with thousands of people each day, the Kolob Canyon is almost empty. Dare I say, just as beautiful. Plus, it offers the hiking you dream of, long walks amid rare and exquisite scenery.

OK, maybe it’s not so secret. The park does mention on the visitor’s map. But hardly anybody goes there. I spent several hours one day to find out why. What I found is a great park with excellent views and few incredible quiet hikes.

The sister canyon is tucked away in the northwest corner of Zion. You can’t get to it from the Zion; you must take a long way around. The park is a narrow box canyon cut into the western edge of the Colorado Plateau. It forms the classic Zion majestic peaks and features 2,000-foot cliff walls.

Of all the Utah national parks the one-two punch of Zion and Kolob is a hiking national park lover’s dream. That’s why it’s my favorite.

If You Visit Zion National Park and Kolob Canyon

To access the popular trails, you’ll have to arrive by 5 a.m. or after 4:30 p.m. to catch the mandatory shuttle. The shuttle starts at 6 a.m., but the line will already be hundreds of people long by then. The last shuttle to the trails ends at 5 p.m. By then, the park is reaching normal occupancy levels.

Cost: The entry fee for this Utah national park is $30 per vehicle, good for a week. A National Park pass is $80 a year and gets you in free after that.

Find it at 1 Zion Park Blvd., State Route 9, Springdale, UT 84767.

Read more detailed posts about each Utah national park here.

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