Avoiding crowded times in southern Utah national parks and monuments

Question

Frequent advice to avoid crowds when visiting national parks in the USA is to travel outside summer (example: (1), (2)). However, some parks have more visitors in May than in July or August. For example, in Canyonlands National Park, Natural Bridges National Monument, or Capitol Reef National Park, May is the busiest month of the year. Clearly, visiting in May is not necessarily effective in avoiding crowds in the Southwest². I suppose it's the climate motivating people to visit in May.

Is there any higher temporal resolution information to avoid crowds, specifically in southern Utah, in parks like Zion, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase-Escalante¹? In other words, might specific weeks in April or May be much more crowded than others? Official visitor statistics are monthly. I thought of avoiding spring break, but apparently “spring” break is in February (!) or March. National park week was 21–29 April 2012, 20–28 April 2013, 19–27 April 2014, and 18–26 April 2015, so will presumably be 16–24 April 2016. Memorial day is in late May. Apparently, teaching at universities ends in June, the same for other public schools. So, I'm confused how May is the busiest month — I wonder who all those visitors are, considering that neither students nor families can visit for more than a long weekend, and there anyway aren't any long weekends in April and May except for Memorial Day. How can I find a 2–3 week period around April/May where one can expect the least crowds in southern Utah?

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¹^{Of course, 6 parks is way too many for 3 weeks, but one reason to travel during a less crowded time is that one can hope to remain flexible and choose the specific park less than a year ahead.}

²^{I know this is a popular area, so asking for solitude is not realistic, but I suppose a park as large as Grand Staircase-Escalante should not always be as busy as central New York City, or at least not everywhere.}

Answer 1

In response to your confusion about how can May be busy, you have to keep in mind in terms of travelers, there are more singles, couples without children and retirees, than there are families. And these folks can take vacations as they please, such as spring or fall when weather is great in the southern Utah parks. Also the region surrounding that area is a popular place to live for snowbirds and retirees, all of whom can pop over whenever the urge hits them.

If your timeframe for visiting is only April May, then I would suggest hitting the popular parks (Zion, Bryce, etc) mid-week as crowds would be slightly less. Other parks such as Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Grand Staircase are huge, put your walking shoes on and you will find you have the parks to yourself.

Answer 2

The reason spring and fall are so popular in these parks is that the temperatures in the summer can can be scorching.

Some tips for avoiding crowds at any time:

1. Most visitors never go much farther than a few feet from the parking lot. If you walk for more than 5 minutes on any but the most popular trails, the number of people is significantly smaller. Ask a ranger at the visitor center for recommendations.

2. Get an early start to your day. The light is spectacular on the red rocks early in the morning.

3. Go to less visited but equally scenic sections of the parks - Kolub Canyon in Zion, Needles section of Canyonlands or Dead Horse State Park, etc.

4. The Fiery Furnace in Arches is only accessible on a ranger walk or with a permit. Not going to be crowded. Take a jet boat tour of the Colorado River from Moab.

5. Look into Lake Powell and Antelope Canyon. Also, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is a no-brainer addition to a Zion/Bryce trip (and less crowded than the South Rim).

6. State Parks and out of the way National Park sections are great also - Goblin Valley and Horseshoe Canyon of Canyonlands, Kodachrome Basin State Park, Valley of Fire, etc.

7. Go in winter. We once went between Christmas and New Year's and had a great time. Snow on the red rocks is incredible and Bryce has ranger led snow shoe hikes.