Our Month Living in Southern Utah
Visiting Utah was high on our travel bucket list! We have had many friends visit and tell us of all its beauty, and it was time for us to see it in person.
After lots of researching, we decided St. George, UT seemed like a great area to try out. It is about an hour away from Zion National Park and two hours from Bryce Canyon National Park. We were wanting to stay in a campground because we weren’t sure if it would be too hot to stay on the public lands, and I am glad we did because it hit 95 many days we were there.
We found Southern Utah RV Resort in Washington, UT. They have a great monthly rate. They have a pool, pickleball court, ice bath, clubhouse, two dog parks, and more. It really was a resort compared to most campgrounds we have stayed at!
The best part about the campground though? It was a seven minute drive to In N Out. Can’t beat that! Priorities.
We enjoyed St. George and want to go back already. It was easy to stay entertained with lots of (free) outdoor activities around. Plus, I spent any moment I could at the pool.
Our time in St. George was our most active time in the camper by far. We went on seven hikes, which is practically unheard of for us.
Hikes we went on:
Location: St. George
Length: 3.5mi
Pretty easy hike with beautiful views! Don’t hike this in the middle of the day.
Location: St. George
Length: 3.6mi
Relatively easy hike with real dinosaur tracks in the rock!
Location: Washington, UT
Length: 3.7mi
A nice paved trail, but the hill at the end almost took me out.
Location: Zion Canyon
Length: 3.2mi
This hike was moderate, lots of incline. It has absolutely stunning views at the end!
Location: Zion National Park
Length: 0.9mi
Perfect sunset hike, pretty easy with a few scary spots if you are afraid of heights.
Location: Kolob Canyon, Zion National Park
Length: 1.2mi
Very easy and the view at the end doesn’t disappoint! Would be a good picnic spot.
Location: Bryce Canyon National Park
Length: 0.4mi
Not really a hike, but a slight walk to the point. 100% must see if you are in the area!
What you should know about Zion:
I quickly learned that visiting National Parks takes more research than I anticipated. Each one has its own unique set of guidelines or restrictions. With Zion, you have to get there very early or after 4pm in order to get a parking spot inside of the actual park. Otherwise, plan to pay a steep parking fee in the town and take a (free) shuttle. Another confusing part, was the shuttle schedule in general. You can only access Zion Canyon by the shuttle, and they stop running at 7pm. What worked out for us, is that Martin got off work at 3pm. Which meant we usually were getting there after 5pm and we always had a parking spot at the Visitor’s Center.
We only visited Zion Canyon once. It was absolutely gorgeous! The shuttles are free which is nice, but warning: they get packed full. Especially towards the end of the day when everyone is headed home. If we would’ve had more time we would have loved to do more of the hikes up in the canyon!
I highly recommend going to Zion for sunset. We hiked the Canyon Overlook trail for sunset. I packed a picnic for us to have dinner when we got to the top. It was such a gorgeous hike! And fairly simple too. Your biggest challenge will be parking.
Another tip: You can walk into Zion from town. There is a pedestrian bridge entrance right next to the Zion Canyon Visitor Center. We discovered this on the hunt for dinner one night! You can walk directly from the Visitor Center parking lot to the Zion Canyon Brew Pub, which is where we ended up eating. A nice, cold pitcher of beer and buffalo wings were the perfect ending to our day exploring.
Our Bryce Canyon experience:
The top suggestion for Bryce Canyon was GO FOR SUNRISE! I can confirm, you should do it. We woke up at 3am one weekend to make it to Bryce for sunrise. It is a two hour drive from St. George, and Bryce Canyon did NOT disappoint. It was well worth the early wake up call.
We walked up to Sunrise Point and waited for the sun to light the hoodoos. Wow is all I could say!
We didn’t have a ton of time in Bryce Canyon because we had to get back to the dogs before too long, and we had a two hour drive home. Which meant hiking was out of question. We drove the entire road and stopped at every pull off along the way. Every single stop I was breath taken. I still can’t believe this was Planet Earth to be honest. The landscape in Bryce Canyon was among some of the wildest looking natural formations I have seen. When we got to Rainbow Point, my brain could not comprehend the beauty laid out in front of me. It truly felt like I had stepped into another world.
We went back to Bryce Canyon one other time for sunset. We took a different route on the way there and it took us up over a mountain pass that also blew our minds. At one point we were standing on top of an overlook that showed Zion from afar and it was mind boggling thinking about how vast the area was.
Thoughts on St. George:
I thoroughly enjoyed our time in St. George and was sad to leave. I felt like there was plenty to keep us busy if we didn’t feel like driving far.
Our Favorite St. George Spots:
Silver Reef Brewing Company: Did not expect the brewery to have the best food we would eat in St. George, but they did! They have a scratch kitchen. Absolutely delicious!
Cafe FeelLove: We worked from this coffee shop a few different times over the course of our time. It is well decorated with great coffee and yummy pastries.
Spiritual Cocktail Bar: Around the corner from Cafe FeelLove, Spiritual is a must go to if you’re in the area. Their drinks are top notch, and the vibes are spot on for a speakeasy feeling.
Bonrue Bakery (formerly Farmstead): We ate breakfast and got treats here probably too many times. #treatyoself
River Rock Roasting Company: Good coffee and great views, this shop is literally built into the cliffside. I wanted to go back and read on their deck.
The Corn Dog Company: Judge me if you want, but I love a good corndog. And this was, no joke, the BEST corndog I have ever had in my life. Don’t skip if you’re a corndog fanatic like me.
In N Out: It is worth the hype! Get your burger animal style.
Red Hills Desert Garden: Beautiful gardens to walk around overlooking St. George!
All that to say, I hope we can return to St. George one day! It was a beautiful place and in the perfect location for what we wanted to do while in Utah.
Headed to St. George? Let me know if you go to any of these spots!
