The Southwest Loop

Written By Madison Miller

After our first weeklong road trip seeing so many beautiful National Parks northwest, we were already planning our next big loop before we got home.

Our road trip south is definitely my favorite so far because we hit five amazing National Parks in nine days and we had absolutely perfect weather the entire time. We ventured through southwest states the first week in April to hit these National Parks:

National Park maps are given out at the entrances of each park or the Visitor Center

  • Arches National Park

  • Bryce Canyon National Park

  • Zion National Park

  • Grand Canyon National Park

  • Great Sand Dunes National Park

Along with seeing the parks, we found some cool stops on the way that filled up this nine day road trip even more! Here’s some of the places we got to explore:

  • Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park

  • Las Vegas

  • Seven Magic Mountains

  • Antelope Canyon

  • Horseshoe Bend

  • Monument Valley

While I’m writing this blog post - it’s hard for me to pick my favorite part of this trip because we got to see and do so much!

Hiking in Zion AKA real life Jurassic Park!

I know that hitting all of this as quickly as we did isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. We feel like we’ve gotten to see and experience major things at each National Park and these road trips help us decide where we want to visit again. I’ve broken down roughly how we drove 3,000 miles in nine days for you to get an idea - I promise we’re not that crazy!

Day 1: KCMO - Denver, CO

Day 2: Denver, CO - Arches NP - Bryce Canyon NP

Day 3: Bryce Canyon NP - Zion NP

Day 4: Zion NP

Day 5: Zion NP - Las Vegas, NV

Day 6: Las Vegas - Grand Canyon NP

Day 7: Grand Canyon NP - Antelope Canyon

Day 8: Antelope Canyon - Great Sand Dunes NP

Day 9: Great Sand Dunes NP - KCMO

Okay, maybe we are a little crazy but I promise the excitement of seeing everything outweighs the drive time!

During this nine day trip, we tracked our expenses using the EveryDollar app. I swear by this app and have been using it personally for the last 6 years! From our hotels, to Airbnbs, gas, travel snacks, restaurants, guided tours, caffeine stops - it’s all accounted for. We spent a total of $1,996.22 on two people in nine days! It was definitely a bigger splurge than our first road trip which was during the height of covid. Gas prices were no longer at $2/gallon and our trip was two days longer so we had more to pay for this time.

For us, we were happy with what we spent and kept our trip within a comfortable budget. At the end of the day, the pictures and memories we made cancel out the money I’ve now forgotten about.

Do you have these National Parks on your list to check off? If so, head over to my store where you can find the Southwest Loop itinerary! This instant download is packed with direct links for where we stayed, what hikes/tours we did, how we accomplished our vacation on our budget, what we packed, and more!

The work is done for you, all you’ve got to do next is get on the road and get outta town!

Madison Miller
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