Visit the Mighty Five: National Parks of Utah

Aug 27, 2025

Did you know that Utah has a whopping 5 National Parks? That’s right! Each of these incredible parks is iconic in its own right, but together they’re known as “The Mighty Five”. At each park, you’ll find unique plants and animals and remote wilderness offering peaceful landscapes that are downright awe inspiring. Along your journey to exploring each of these magnificent parks, you’ll also find charming small towns and several national monuments. It’s one of our personal favorite states to visit for exploring our country’s incredible park lands. So, what are you waiting for? Hop in your new car from Classic of Waukegan and let’s hit the road.

Arches National Park sprawls across 72,234 acres of land featuring magnificent stone and earthen structures including sandstone fins, towers, ribs, balanced rocks, and the infamous arches. Popular arches include the Double O Arch, Broken Arch, Landscape Arch, Windows Loop, Tower Arch, and Delicate Arch which features a 65-foot arch! In fact, there are 2,000 sandstone arches which is how the park got its moniker. March through October are the most popular months to visit the park, but you can beat the crowds if you arrive in the very early morning or late afternoon. Popular activities include hiking, stargazing, nature and wildlife photography, guided ranger tours, and there’s even a singular campground offering a comfortable stay within the park.

While you’re in the area, we highly recommend exploring the city of Moab which is just about 5 miles outside of the park’s entrance. In Moab, you can charter a specialty flight that takes you on a scenic tour over both Arches and Canyonlands for a brand new perspective, or book a rafting trip along the Colorado River. Moab is also world-renowned for mountain biking and hiking, and keep your eyes peeled for Native American rock art and even some paleontology finds while you’re out there! The outstanding Moab Giants roadside attraction offers a 5D paleoaquarium, a 3D movie, and a massive T-Rex statue that we promise is fun for all ages, even the kid at heart! And of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t let you know that the Museum of Moab has a great dinosaur exhibit, too

Bryce Canyon is rife with red rock hoodoos and dark green alpine forests making the landscape utterly indelible in your memory. The contrast between the natural sculptural structures and those wildlife studded trees is to die for! This alpine forest environment is home to dozens of species of birds and mammals, so keep your eyes wide open as you take the park’s 18-mile scenic drive so you don’t miss a thing. The hiking and biking trails are plentiful, and no matter if you’re a newbie to the pastime or you’re an expert who loves a multi-day backpacking jaunt, you’ll have a great time. Looking for a unique view of the park? Check out the equestrian trails and book a guided horseback ride through the park. While it’s a wonderful place to visit when the sun is up, it’s night time that the park really shines, literally! As an accredited International Dark Sky Park, this is the unique destination for world-class stargazing thanks to its lack of noise pollution.

Canyonlands National Park offers an immense amount of variety when it comes to exploration. Visit the more remote areas of the park for a more secluded, peaceful stay, or mark your itinerary with the most popular hikes and landforms so you don’t miss a thing! This park deserves its time to shine, so plan to spend a little extra time here on your visit to the big 5. There are two visitor centers and a ranger station to help you navigate through the park and pick up your travel permits. This park has a unique geological history thanks to hundreds of years of erosion. You’ll find the bedrock has been carved into steep cliffs, impressive pinnacles, flying buttresses, canyons, and domes. You’ll also note the stunning horizontal strata of sedimentary rocks with clearly visible layers featuring Navajo Sandstone, Kayenta Formation, Wingate Sandstone, White Rim Sandstone, and more. It’s very important to adhere to posted trail signs here so you don’t “bust the crust” – a single misstep outside the designated trails can cause immeasurable damage to the environment. You’ll notice rock cairns or rock piles to help denote the trail markers, but please do not disturb or dismantle them or add any new ones to prevent fellow hikers from getting lost or injured. The park is also known for its extreme heat where temperatures can spike higher than 100º during the peak of summer, so it’s best to opt for long hikes for early mornings and evenings to stay cooler.

Capitol Reef is one of the least crowded destinations on our list today, but it is no less wondrous to behold. You’ll find its seclusion quite welcoming, and there are numerous campsites to choose from for a relaxing respite away from your usual travel spots. The scenic views in this park are unparalleled, offering seemingly endless skylines and glorious red rock landscape far beyond what the eye can see. It almost feels like a space exploration to a martian planet, just magnificent sweeping vistas and miles and miles of hiking trails through the slot canyons. Canyoneering is also very popular, but it’s important to note that while some can be traveled by foot, others may require special equipment and be very narrow to navigate. The Temples of the Sun and Moon are a pair of dramatic rock formations jutting out from the flat landscape with great gusto as if you were in a real life Star Wars environment! Want to get a better view of the park? Pack up your pals in your comfy new car and explore the Cathedral Valley Scenic Byway or Notom Road Scenic Byway for some gorgeous scenic overlooks and viewpoints.

Zion National Park may be last on our list alphabetically, but was actually Utah’s first national park! It features a one thousand foot deep red rock canyon surrounded by pinyon-juniper woodlands, ponderosa pine forests, grasslands, and desert landscapes. It has historically been the home of Ancestral Pueblo, Fremont, and Southern Paiute peoples for centuries. The best time to visit is the autumn, as the temperatures are the coolest and the weather most even. Zion is well-known for its sweeping vistas, crystal clear pools of water, natural arches, and narrow canyons. Rock climbing and canyoneering are popular pastimes here and we strongly recommend that if you enjoy this type of activity, hire an experienced local guide for safety’s sake. Zion Canyon is also a top notch spot to do some stargazing as another International Dark Sky Park on our list, especially perfect if you book a campground to spend the night!

We could truly go on and on about these incredible, unique National Parks of Utah, but we want to save some of the excitement for you to uncover yourselves! Feel free to let us know your favorite spots to go in a comment on our social media.