Quick Detours to Add to Your Grand Circle Trip

Grand Circle Trip Detour #1 – Capitol Reef National Park

I’m writing this list as though you are going clockwise from Las Vegas through Utah. With that said, the first detour worth stopping at is Capitol Reef National Park. This national park is technically a part of the Grand Circle, but it tends to get overlooked because it lacks the big sights of some of more well-known parks.

Capitol Reef is one of two places on this list I wish we could have had more time at. The desert scenery here is so vast and hauntingly beautiful. Of all the places we visited, it felt the most like a remote desert to me (which was what I was looking for during this trip).

If you have time, you should at least plan to do one hike or drive the 7.9-mile scenic road. We chose to do the Hickman Bridge Trail which can be accessed right off of Utah Highway 24. It is only 2-miles round trip and relatively flat so it can be done pretty quickly if pressed for time.

The other option for a fast visit is to do the scenic drive. Even though it’s only 7.9 miles round trip, the National Park Service recommends around 1.5-hours since you’ll want to stop at some of the viewpoints. An additional consideration is that the scenic drive requires a $20 fee whereas many of the hikes along Highway 24 are free.

For a more extensive itinerary of what to do during this road trip, check out my guide to the Grand Circle in 12 days!

Grand Circle Trip Detour #2 – Goblin Valley State Park

The next spot you can visit on your way across Utah will be Goblin Valley State Park. This was one of my favorite places on this list, especially considering how much it packs into its small size.

Lots of places in Utah are described as otherworldly. Goblin Valley is the one location that I feel really merits this description. In fact, it was featured in the sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest when they needed a rocky landscape for one of the movie’s climatic scenes.

Goblin Valley is a valley in the middle of the desert littered with thousands of hoodoo rock formations. The hoodoos here come in all shapes and sizes. It’s amazing to behold the variety and number of hoodoos here.

The best part of Goblin Valley is that you are not restricted to a single trail like most parks. Since the hoodoos sit in a vast valley, you are free to wander around at your own leisure to explore the different formations. I felt like a little kid in a playground while exploring here.

The only downside to the park is that it is kind of out of the way, adding about an hour total to your tip to Moab from Bryce Canyon. The park also charges a fee of $20 on weekdays and $25 on weekends or holidays to visit.

Grand Circle Trip Detour #3 – Canyonlands National Park

As I alluded to above, Canyonlands is the other location on this list that I wish I could have spent more time visiting. As it is, we only made it to see the sunset at Grand View Point Overlook.

But wow! what a sunset it was. We saw some stunning sunsets on our trip at Zion and the Grand Canyon, but this one was the best. The colors across the canyon floor with the La Sal Mountains in the far distance were beautiful.

If you plan to stop at Canyonlands, you might want to do some hiking instead to get more up-close experiences of the park. However, if you are arriving towards sunset, I don’t think you should skip this opportunity.

There is a fee of $30 to enter Canyonlands National Park unless you previously purchased a National Park Pass.

Several stops along the Grand Circle require a fee to enter. If you’ll be doing this trip, you’ll want to look into purchasing the National Park Pass!

Grand Circle Trip Detour #4 – Monument Valley

Leaving Moab to go into Arizona on your way to the Grand Canyon will take you through Monument Valley. Monument Valley is the easiest of all these stops to see. You actually drive directly through the valley, so unless you are driving with your eyes shut – which I wouldn’t recommend! – you will see the grandest sites of Monument Valley without having to stop.

There are several places to pull off the road to step out of your car and take in the panoramic views. Fortunately, the road is totally straight and flat so its easy to see any cars coming if you want to get the iconic photo looking straight down the road towards the rock formations.

If you have extra time and booked ahead, you can do some hiking in the valley with a Navajo guide. This is to ensure that their land remains protected as it is a sacred place to them. The price for these guides varies depending on what exactly your hiking plans are.

Make sure you set your GPS to take you along Scenic Byway 163. If not, your GPS might take you on a slightly more direct southerly route to get you into Arizona.

Grand Circle Trip Detour #5 – Page, Arizona

Page is a logical stop between Moab and the Grand Canyon if you don’t feel like driving six hours through the desert. It helps that Page has several great attractions that make an overnight stop worthwhile.

Horseshoe Bend

Perhaps the most well-known of these attractions is Horseshoe Bend. Horseshoe Bend is just outside of Page making it a very convenient stop. It costs $10 per vehicle to visit.

Horseshoe Bend was another gorgeous geologic formation. Despite that, I was a little underwhelmed by it. Reflecting back, I don’t think I was underwhelmed by Horseshoe Bend itself but rather the whole experience of visiting it. It felt very touristy between the large parking lot, the paved “hike” to get to the overlook, and then how many people were packed into the small overlook area.

If you can get to Horseshoe Bend either very early or later in the evening when there are less people, I think you’ll have a much better experience than I had.

Hanging Gardens Trail

In a way, Hanging Gardens is nothing amazing. After seeing so many grand sights on your trip so far, the smallness of this trail can be a little underwhelming.

This is actually what I enjoyed most about the short, 1.2-mile hike. It’s nice to do a hike where there aren’t lots of people and the destination is more intimate. It’s also neat seeing all of this lush vegetation growing together on the side of the rock wall in such a dry landscape.

Adding to the value of this hike is a short spur that takes you up on a small hill giving you sweeping views of the surrounding desert.

Morning Kayak Tour of Lake Powell

Another local gem is taking a morning kayak tour of Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell before the lake gets crowded with other tours and boats. We used Hidden Canyon Kayak for our trip. Our tour guide, Shook, was great! If you’re able to request a guide, I would definitely ask for him to guide your trip if he’s still there.

We left early enough that we were the only people out on the water until our return from the canyon. After doing so much hiking, it was a nice change of pace to be able to see some of the southwestern landscapes from the water.

Grand Circle Trip Detour #6 – Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam was pretty uninteresting to me, but since it’s an American icon, I feel like I had to stop to see it. If you like engineering marvels, then you’ll definitely appreciate the Hoover Dam. To me, it was just a big dam even though I know there is more to it than that. To be fair, we only viewed the dam from the bypass bridge so maybe had we done a tour I would have enjoyed it more.

Accessing the bypass bridge requires a $10 parking fee. If you want to do a tour it costs $15 for the power plant and $30 for the dam tour.

Even if you aren’t driving the entire Grand Circle. You may still want to consider a day trip to the Hoover Dam from Las Vegas.

Grand Circle Trip Detour #7 – Lake Mead

Last but not least is a visit to Lake Mead just 30-60 minutes outside Las Vegas (depending on where you decide to stop). We stayed the night at Lake Mead RV Village with a spot right near the water. The views of the cliffs across the lake while relaxing next to a fire were a fantastic way to end our trip.

You don’t have to stop at the same place as us to appreciate Lake Mead. Anywhere you stay is certain to give you the opportunity to relax after spending the past several days hiking and driving.

Resources to Book Your Trip to the Grand Circle

Whether you’re looking for tours, hotels or flights, here are some tools to help get you started planning your trip to the Grand Circle!

Look for activities and tours offered through GetYourGuide or Viator!

Still can’t find what you’re looking for? Check out my travel essentials pages for more of my recommendations.

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