overland

Utah/Arizona in November

Paulmon

Trail Grom
Joined
Aug 23, 2021
Messages
1
My wife and I are looking to travel to Utah and Arizona in November for my 50th for 6 or 7 nights. We're looking at rental options of Overland rigs, we're not huge off roaders. Current thinking is starting in Flagstaff and working our way up and back from Moab stopping at anything cool along the way. Primarily want to be off grid camping. Not sure on vehicle yet, since we intend to rent. Looking at everything from Jeeps to Tacoma's and Overland Sprinters. Just after great scenery, with easy trails that won't get us into trouble.

Given we don't have any ideas where to start, can someone suggest some must sees and provide suggestions on where we should start?

Thx
 

OTG Ben

OTG Principal Explorer
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Admin
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Apr 24, 2021
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470
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So many choices in Northern AZ and Southern UT! In my humble opinion, 6-7 days may seem like a lot of time, but with the ground you're hoping to cover/see, you'll likely only check off a fraction of the items on your list. My recommendation would be to focus on two areas at most, and try to get the most out of each while considering travel time in between.

Since you'll be starting in Flagstaff, I'd recommend the North Rim Grand Canyon, which has a fraction of the crowds compared to the south rim, along with some absolutely exquisite and awe inspiring viewpoints and campsites. You could easily spend 2-3 days exploring from the North Rim Visitor Center working your way up to Freedonia and then continuing on through Utah. Most of the roads are relatively non-technical in nature, so you should be fine.

I've gone ahead and listed some other options that we have for published routes on the site that may interest you. My recommendation would be to read through each one and see what pique's your interest. Lots of options to bail part way through a route and continue on your way. I'd also recommend looking into Capitol Reef. We've been sitting on a Cap Reef route for sometime, and we'll probably publish it next year. If you're looking to get away from the crowds of Moab, Cap Reef is probably a good option as long as the weather holds up. Happy to make some route recommendations and POIs to check out along the way if it seems of interest to you.

Since you're looking at starting near Flagstaff, you might consider doing half of the Sedona Backcountry Trail, specifically the section starting from Kachina Village. The viewpoints of Sedona are second to none and you can easily shoot north to I-40. Just keep in mind that you'll see a lot more people on the trail than the North Rim.

I'd also recommend checking out the Cedar Mesa Heritage Trail, that basically runs from Moab through Bears Ears NM and down to the Valley of Gods. You'll want to skip the Elephant Hill section as it's pretty technical up there. You could start from the south and once you hit Blanding, skip the rest of the trail.

White Rim trail is always a popular one in moab, you'll just need to secure your camping permits in advance as they can be difficult to come by. Expect a lot of trail traffic (4x4s, mountain bikers, and hikers) throughout the route.
 

JJntheLees

Trail Grom
Joined
Sep 14, 2021
Messages
3
First time post! Great to see an admin replying to posts in these forums! OTG Ben, the wife and I are actually looking to do our first official overland trip this Thursday actually, 9/16. We were very interested in the Capitol Reef route that you guys have tentatively posted. If I could get those route recommendations and POIs we would LOVE it! We only have about 3-4 days so not too long. Thanks! Excited to join this community as well.
 

OTG Ben

OTG Principal Explorer
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Admin
Joined
Apr 24, 2021
Messages
470
Location
NorCal
First time post! Great to see an admin replying to posts in these forums! OTG Ben, the wife and I are actually looking to do our first official overland trip this Thursday actually, 9/16. We were very interested in the Capitol Reef route that you guys have tentatively posted. If I could get those route recommendations and POIs we would LOVE it! We only have about 3-4 days so not too long. Thanks! Excited to join this community as well.

We've posted the link to the GPX download page on the route page. The guide likely won't be written up for another 1-2 weeks, but the current gpx and kmz files have all of the POIs and discovery points. Enjoy and please post a trip report if you make it out there :)
 

JJntheLees

Trail Grom
Joined
Sep 14, 2021
Messages
3
We've posted the link to the GPX download page on the route page. The guide likely won't be written up for another 1-2 weeks, but the current gpx and kmz files have all of the POIs and discovery points. Enjoy and please post a trip report if you make it out there :)
Awesome! Thanks for the info. We will gladly do a trip report!
 
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