Utah & Arizona, Part 2

Antelope Canyon X

With our next accommodation being over 4 hours drive away, Antelope Canyon seemed the ideal choice to break that journey up. Well, Antelope Canyon X, should I say. Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon that can only be seen by tour, and i’m not the biggest fan of group tours. However, as I was keen to tick this off my list, I got googling which was the best to book. After doing some research, I found out that Canyon X, a practically identical canyon to the popular Antelope Canyon, was a lot less known and therefore a lot less crowded. Win win! I ended up booking with Taadidiin Tours which cost $105 for both of us (Roughly £82). See my thoughts on the tour below.

What to know about this tour

- If you are travelling from Utah, you will dip into Arizona for this tour meaning the time will go back an hour. We didn’t realise this like the silly sallys we are and arrived an hour early. Luckily I had a crate of warm La Croix in the back to keep us hydrated.
- The total time of the tour will take 90 minutes in total, including the travel time to and from the canyon. The guide drives your group to the slot entrance in a minivan from the meeting point.
- To get down into the canyon, you have the descend down a big old staircase - something to look forward to climbing up at the end of the tour. You’ll be happy to know that the rest of the tour is flat but sandy - if you wear white socks, prepare for them to be permanently stained orange as if they’ve been dropped into a giant bowl of wotsits (or Cheetos for y’all Americans).
- You will cross paths with the earlier groups at a couple of points along the way but this didn’t bother me too much as once you pass them, the canyon didn’t feel busy at all.
- Try to time your tour on a sunny day. We unfortunately landed on a cloudy one with some rain so lighting was a challenge when it came to photos.
- Following on from my previous point, if you are a photographer serious about getting good shots, tripods are no longer allowed in the canyon, and for good reason. You only really get few minutes at each spot and it’s a challenge trying to get a photo without another human getting in the way of things.
- Belongings aren’t allowed and must be left in your car at the car park. Cameras and bottled water are the two necessities here that they allow.
- Sadly I can’t remember his name but our tour guide was a legend. He was a Navajo local and knew everything you needed to about the area. He was a dab hand at iPhone cameras - my word did he know his angles and filters. The tour wasn’t the best thing i’ve done but tipping at the end was a must if not just for the incredible guides themselves.

Autocamp, Zion

Wow - where to begin. I’d been eyeing up Autocamp for a while. They’ve got locations all over Northern America, from California to New York State, but making plans to stay at one hadn’t crossed paths with my travel plans… until now. The price to stay was slightly out of our price range so I reluctantly started to look at alternative accommodation options (must of taken my sensible pills that morning). About a week or so later, I clocked that Booking.com had a sale on so, with that, I grabbed my credit card (not so sensible) and booked us three nights in one of their classic airstreams - what a day to be alive. Spending three nights at Autocamp was truly the rise AND fall of our last few days in Utah. The rise being that it’s one of the nicest and coolest places i’ve ever stayed in my life. The fall being that the second we arrived, we didn’t want to leave - goodbye itinerary.

What stood out

- Autocamp is located in Virgin, sat right alongside the Virgin River (they even have a little ‘beach’ area by the water), about a ten minute drive from the entrance of Zion National Park - the perfect location for exploring.
- The Clubhouse - the main hub of the ‘campground’. This is where you’ll find the general store, where food & drink is served, where boardgames are provided and where you can sit around a communal campfire at any time of day.
- The general store deserves its own bullet point. I was a sucker for this cute little clubhouse shop. Here you can stock up on snacks, drinks, suncream, t-shirts, hats and even camping gear.
- The airsteams themselves. We opted for the Classic Airstream over the Premium as we couldn’t figure out the difference. They were spotlessly clean, cosy but also spacious. Each airstream has wifi so at night, you can snuggle down in bed with your tv hooked up to any streaming device you want - watching 10 Things About You in bed, in an airstream, in the middle of Utah was a personal highlight of the entire trip.
- When you arrive at Autocamp, there are little trolleys at the entrance to cart your luggage to your accomodation as the trails around the campground are gravelly and dusty - it’s the little touches that count.
- As well as three communal campfires, each airstream and cabin also has their own fire pit and seating area. I STRONGLY recommend buying one of the BBQ packs from the clubhouse store to have for dinner in the evening. There’s the choice of chicken or steak (go for steak - no brainer) - both of which come with generous portions of beans, mac and cheese, asparagus, sweet breads and a s’mores kit. I’m salivating at the memory. Cooking this meal over a campfire, followed by roasting marshmallows under the stars was an experience in itself.
- What better way to chill after a day of exploring the sweltering Utah heat then with a dip in the pool - surrounded by super comfy loungers to sunbathe, read a book, or enjoy a can of Olipop (look it up bitch). The pool can only be accessed using your key card so it’s exclusive to guests only. There are clean towels provided each day to use and return upon leaving.

What could of been better

- I’m struggling to find any negatives here. Booking to stay at Autocamp is pricey but I believe it was worth every penny. Autocamp isn’t your average stay - it really is an experience in itself and I can’t imagine doing Utah in any other way. Basically, this negative has turned into a positive, that’s how good they are!
- I may be wrong, but your airstream or cabin isn’t cleaned during your stay, nor are fresh towels provided. This may bother some people but it worked fine for us.

To sum up - I stress you book a stay at one of Autocamps nine locations as soon as you can. What a place.

Sand Hollow State Park

The next day started on a high - we finally got our tyre fixed. No more tense, bum clenched drives for us (shout out to Big O Tires). With a fresh wheel and a Del Taco iced coffee in hand, we headed to Sand Hollow State Park for a mornings paddle board. Sand Hollow Park is a man made reservoir of clear blue waters surrounded by red sand, rocks and dunes. Utah is darn sweaty in the summer, so when I read up about an oasis where we could cool off, I was there in a hot flash.

What to know
- Entry fee is $20 per vehicle during the week and $25 Friday - Sunday (Both amounts are $5 cheaper for Utah residents).
- During the summer months, the park is open between 6am - 10pm.
- Head straight to Sand Hollow Rentals, like we did, to hire out SUPs, kayaks, canoes, jet skis, boats and more! If you are visiting over a busy period, i’d recommend booking ahead! We rented a paddle board each for two hours and it cost $80 plus tax - a little on the steep side i’d say but we loved being out on the calm water early on a hot summers day, so, no regrets.
- We didn’t spot anywhere to get food within the park, so I recommend taking some snacks and bottles of water is a must!
- Cliff jumping is a big thing here. If you park up in the main carpark and heard north along the top of rocks, you will be sure to come across groups jumping off into the deep blue waters.
- If you aren’t feeling brave enough to enter the water from great heights, there are also various beaches around the reservoir. My mind was blown by the orangey red sand. If Mars had a beach, this would be it.
- The dunes and rocks heading down into the water are pretty steep and insanely slippery. Avoid flip flops and go for something like Tevas or Crocs.

Things to know about Utah

- Most important point first for all the boozy brits - Utah is a mormon run state which means there are certain restrictions when it comes to alcohol. I don’t know the full ins and outs but what I do know is that you can’t find it in any corner shop and petrol station much like the motherland, but only in state-run liquor stores or in licensed restaurants and bars.
- Whilst on the topic of alcohol, if you are passing through Navajo Nation (which in our case, covered our night stay near Monument Valley), be aware that alcohol is banned, therefore it’s not sold at all in shops or restaurants. Learn from Joes embarrassment of asking for the alcohol section at the local supermarket.
- If you are planning on visiting multiple National Parks, I recommend purchasing a National Park Pass which will save you a lot of money, not just in Utah but across the states (check out the list of which parks you can use the pass for beforehand).
- When heading west from Moab to Hurricane, you will most likely want to tick off Antelope Canyon. If this is the case, bear in mind that you will dip into Arizona which has a one hour time difference. Again, learn from our mistakes and don’t turn up for a tour an hour early!
- You need to pre book a time slot for entering Arches National Park. This doesn’t apply to all National Parks but it’s worth a research beforehand.
- Come prepared. It’s me and Joe all over to turn up to a two hour hike in 40 degree heat with one bottle of water between us. I’ve said it once and i’ll say it again - learn from our mistakes! Likewise with suncream, might I add.
- Early mornings and late afternoons are your friend when it comes to visiting the parks. Peak times are busy, hot and stressful.
- Don’t let your fuel run low before filling up! The roads out in Utah are long and sometimes very desolate, where you won’t come across a station for miles. If you’ve seen The Hills Have Eyes, you’ll take this point extremely seriously.
- Before reaching Utah, i’d highly recommend making a list of the parks you wish to prioritise and then do some research on the distance between each. The map at a quick glance can be a bit deceiving and you may not be able to cram in as much as you’d hoped in the time you have.
- Once we’d reached Autocamp, we were ready to hang up our car keys and succumb to the pool and sun loungers for three days. Unfortunately, this meant our plans of a day in Zion and Bryce got pushed to the side - something I do slightly regret as I doubt i’ll visit Utah again in my lifetime. If I could redo our time here, i’d get up at the crack of dawn to tick these two famous sites of our list to then enjoy our accommodation after. We live and we learn.