The best red rock parks in Utah, without the crowds

07.06.2024 - 15:25 / thepointsguy.com / Bryce Canyon

As I lounged in the hot tub on the deck of my cozy cabin at Red Cliffs Lodge just outside Moab, Utah, I watched the Colorado River rush by just a pebble's toss from my feet. Then, I realized that if I could scale the sheer rust-red cliffs beyond, I'd find myself in the world-famous Arches National Park.

If I chose to visit the park, which was just a few miles away as the crow flies, I could see sandstone formations like Delicate Arch — so famous it adorns the Utah license plate. However, I was not planning to go to Arches. I prefer to savor the drama of nature away from crowds.

To enter Arches National Park, you must purchase a timed reservation months in advance, and there's a long line of cars perpetually snaking toward the entrance. This convinced me to turn my hiking boots in other directions. After all, the forces of earth, wind, water and ice that carved and chiseled this sandstone plateau worked their magic far beyond the boundaries of the best-known parks.

Instead of heading to Arches, I hiked to the foot of a sandstone arch just as high and delicate as its better-known neighbors. I sat under its span, framed against the deep blue sky, without another soul in sight ... or in my photos.

On the way, I stopped to place my hand inside dinosaur tracks, and I admired multiple enormous panels of 2,000-year-old petroglyphs so complex that archaeologists are still struggling to decipher them. I also got to hike in solitude among dense clusters of rock spires equally as otherworldly as those that draw throngs to wildly popular Bryce Canyon a half-day's drive away.

On our trip, we also slipped into candy-striped slot canyons, navigated the challenges of so-called slick rock on mountain bikes, swam in pools under hidden waterfalls and amassed hundreds of photos — all without spending a moment in a line with other visitors.

Utah also boasts the highest concentration of International Dark Sky Places in one state. Call up an astronomer's map of ambient light across the continent, and you'll see most of the state blanketed in the inky blackness that's coveted by stargazers. To take full advantage, you'll want to choose a hotel that's away from the lights of town and consider the moon's phases in your planning; your sky viewing will be far better on nights when there is little or no moonlight.

Here is a guide to seven national and state parks and government-managed lands where you'll find echoing chasms, chiseled towers, knobby hoodoos and otherworldly landscapes. As for stargazing, four of these parks are officially designated International Dark Sky parks; those that haven't yet won this title are still just as isolated from city lights. You can road-trip between parks and camp within them; or you can save