The Route Through Utah (And A Bit Of Arizona)

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I said awhile back I'd put up the route, some idea of the costs, etc for the trip but I've been lazy and hadn't gotten around to transcribing the route that was drawn on my printed maps in Google Maps. Google Maps limits the number of points you can add so I'll have to do it in pieces. Above is more or less the route laid out for me by some motorcyclists I met in Logan, UT. Before reaching Spanish Fork I entered via 89 (The Oregon Trail Scenic Byway that passes near Bear Lake) and went to Logan, then Ogden to Salt Lake City and hit the interstate down to Spanish Fork. The route was later validated by Judy and Ralph who I met in Salina, UT. They also filled in the Arizona portion for me. This route takes you through some of the most beautiful country in the US. You go through a ton of national forest and will swing by Bryce Canyon, Zion, Monument Valley, and Arches along the way.

As for the cost, I mostly stayed in hotels only camping two nights. I intended to camp more but further north it was very cold at night, my tent was too small to be comfortable for anything but sleeping, the availability of the motorcycle made me feel like I could be out of the middle of nowhere and into town in 30 minutes, and its kind of boring to sit by a fire by yourself. I would have camped more had more people been along on the trip and I had a bigger tent.

So anyway, camping for a night means paying the park entrance fee at state parks plus the camping fee. That comes to at least $15 and probably more like $24. I had a national parks access card ($80) so I could get in the park for free but if I remember correctly camping at Bryce was just shy of $20 for one night. Of course in Utah you could find plenty of out of the way places to camp for cheaper or even free. Some camp sites along the side of the 89 were $3 per night. Hotels, on the other hand, were anywhere from $50/night to $109/night in Moab where all the hotels were full. The average was probably close to $60. For two weeks that comes to $840 (yes that's expensive...). Gas was pretty cheap and I was getting about 52mpg thanks to long winding roads with no stops. At home in the city I only get about 45mpg but I like to get up to speed fast.

I didn't carry alot of food around with me so I mostly picked up meals at cheap restaurants. Seems on average it was about $8/meal. That's about $400 in food. I don't eat fast food though so you can go cheaper.

Other than that there's not much in the way of expenses. I didn't buy any souvenirs of value, just some postcards and things. There were other incidental costs, $5 here and there for getting into places like Monument Valley, toll roads, etc. All of this did make for the most expensive trip I've been on though. It'd be better and cheaper to get 3 or 4 people together and camp a lot more, cooking on the camp fire and that sort of thing.