Hi Mike,

Good to hear from you again and that you’re possibly interested in my custom trip planning once again. I’ll email you separately to dive into ideas. Thanks.

Hi Sheila,

Read the short overviews of each trip and click on the links to the full stories about each one, but all of these trips are in either Utah or Arizona.

To clarify, I don’t offer guide services or hiking tours but I do offer Custom Trip Planning, where I’ll help you plan any trip you read about at my blog. You can email me at info@thebigoutsideblog.com with any questions you have about that.

Thanks.

I want to see some or all of this but am presently only average fitness. I will be in West Virginia and can fly to another state to pick up the guided tour. Do you have a 2-5 day hike tour?

I am not used to camping but I could spend a nite or two in a lodge between seeing waterfalls and wide expanse.

Travelling into WV in mid August. I want to see waterfalls. Never seen them before.

How can you help me plan?

Thank you!

Hi Katie,

Thanks for the nice words. Depending on how far you’ll hike every day, and whether the road to the trailhead is already open (I’m guessing it would be), check out my story about backpacking Dark Canyon.

Thanks for this wonderful article! A shot in the dark that you will respond prior to us leaving, but my partner and I are looking into a 2 or 3 night backpack trip in SE UTAH. We’re driving from Taos and will be having a dog with us. I am a little overwhelmed with all of the options in Utah, and with some requiring permits! Do you have any (last minute) dog on a leash friendly backpack trips in mind for late May?

Katie

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the best Southwest backpacking trips, James. I also backpacked Bullet Canyon to Kane Gulch some years ago and would like to return to it to get a fresh experience and photos so I can write about it. As you know but to inform other readers, those canyons are tributaries of Grand Gulch in southeastern Utah’s Cedar Mesa region, known for its remoteness and abundance of ancient rock art and ruins.

Thanks, Michelle, and have fun in southern Utah.

Hi BW,

You should check out my stories “The 12 Best Hikes in Utah’s National Parks” and “The 10 Best Hikes in Zion National Park.”

Good luck and have a great hike.

I’m looking for two superb dayhikes anywhere in the Southwest for the last week in April. I’m about spoiled from the Grand Canyon type of hike but I’m hoping that there are other options as well.

Any suggestions?!

Thank you so much!

Thanks, Lianna. Enjoy your trip and get back there as much as you can. The Southwest is magical.

Thank you so much!! I’m so excited to hear down there!! 😊 I’ll definitely be back in the late summer and do some of those water hikes! Again, great article

Hi Lianna,

Well, that’s a broad question, but I’d say you could at least consider any of these hikes that don’t involve hiking in water and that are accessible by road at this time of year, such as hikes off the Grand Canyon’s South Rim or in Canyonlands Needles District. But those parks require permits so you’ll be trying for a first-come permit, which can be hard to get. Spring Canyon in Capitol Reef is a beautiful hike that’s easy to get a permit for: Show up at the visitor center and you’ll walk out with a permit.

Good luck.

Thanks for the nice words, Ellie. I certainly agree about these hikes representing nature at its finest.

This is Mother Nature: at it’s finest.

This is beautiful stuff.

It’s wonderful family time together:

Exploring, discovering, experiencing the natural terrain, the natural environment: of our beautiful planet earth.

Thanks for sharing: your incredible stories.

Ellie

And actually the Kanab Creek hike in Kanab Canyon was spectacular and perhaps deserves a place as well. :). Having done both Kanab Creek and Paria Canyon, I would rate Kanab Creek as a little better overall.

You’re welcome, Ron.

Thanks very much Michael. I will take a look at your website and get in touch.

Best,
Ron

Thanks, Ron. Mid-March is still winter in much of the Southwest. Still, while you could have sub-freezing temps at night, many trails will be snow-free and you’d probably have moderate daytime temps.

Two shorter trips that can be made into two-night hikes and don’t require a permit reservation are Coyote Gulch and Spring Canyon in Capitol Reef National Park, both of which I’ve backpacked in late March, when it was quite comfortable. You’d have to be prepared for hiking in shallow, very cold water in Coyote Gulch.

You’re late to apply for a permit for the trips on this list that require one, but if you’re lucky—and some permits are still available because it’s so early in the season—I have backpacked The Maze District in Canyonlands in early March, when we had freezing nights, pleasant days, and dry trails. I’ve also hiked in The Needles District of Canyonlands in late March, when it was quite comfortable.

There are certainly three- to four-day trips off the South Rim of the Grand Canyon that are accessible in mid-March. Although you would have to be prepared for cold weather and likely snow and ice at the rim, trails will likely be dry in the middle and inner canyon. There may not be permits available to reserve, but again, given the lower demand in mid-March, you could get lucky.

See my my Custom Trip Planning page to learn how I can help you plan your trip.

Thanks for the question and good luck!

Many thanks,
Ron

Thanks, Ken.

I’m glad you found my blog, too, Rich, thanks. Yes, you do have a lot of great hikes in the Pacific Northwest, I’m very familiar with that region. Check out my All Trips List.

Keep in touch!

I’ll be signing up.

Olyrich

Hi Justin,

Thanks for that question and your nice words about my blog. Yes, popular permits like Aravaipa Canyon are hard to get without applying as early as they accept them for specific dates, especially for trips where you can expect good weather. Given the normal temps and possible wet weather or snow and short days of December, I would avoid any Southwest canyons that are particularly narrow, where you might be walking in cold water and get no sun.

The first place that comes to mind is the Grand Canyon, where demand for permits drops dramatically from December through February, so it’s not hard to reserve one last-minute. It will be cold and possibly snowy at the South Rim—and you won’t be able to access trailheads at the North Rim—but you’ll probably find moderate temps once down in the canyon. You’d still have to prepare for chilly nights and very short days.

See my e-guides to backpacking trips in the Grand Canyon and otrher parks. And I can help you plan a last-minute trip, suggesting a route that would be ideal for what you want at that time of year. See my Custom Trip Planning page to learn how.

Thanks for the comment and keep in touch.

I hope you can get some free time soon to do what you enjoy, Tom. Good luck.

Good stuff. I’m a seasoned backpacker myself . Stuck truck driving these days, but waiting to retire in about a year.
Tom Fox

Hi Angee,

It’s a beautiful hike down Chimney Rock Canyon into Spring Canyon. The water in Spring Canyon is reliable and should be plentiful but I’d filter it. A ranger can confirm the water situation when you pick up your permit. Good luck!

Thanks Michael, and always good to hear from you. December is a difficult time of year to backpack in much of the Southwest, because many places, including many in this article, are at high elevations and getting wintry weather. The Grand Canyon’s South Rim is accessible, but upper sections of trail are often snow-covered at this time of year, requiring traction devices. In fact, the South Rim just received over 1.5 feet of snow, shutting down roads for a while. Narrow canyons like Paria and Zion’s Narrows would be very cold, even if water levels were low enough and there wasn’t a threat of flash flood, which is possible during and right after a storm.

The short days only compound the challenges of storms and freezing temps. For many of the trips highlighted in this article, I’d recommend waiting until February or early spring.

But you could try farther south in Arizona, where it’ll usually be a bit warmer. I will tell you that I recently heard from a friend about a place I’ve added to my own bucket list, the Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness in southern Arizona, between Tucson and Phoenix. It looks beautiful in photos, and a friend who recently backpacked there said it’s fabulous and was warm in early November. I know it’s under BLM management, a permit reservation is needed, and they permit only 20 people/day. There are no designated trails, campsites, signs, or facilities within the wilderness. You’re often hiking in shallow water, on sand, gravel, and cobblestones. It’s just 12 miles long but there are apparently many side canyons to explore, so I believe many people base camp and dayhike. I hope to get there eventually.

Good luck in your plans. Keep in touch.

Awesome article, thanks! Do you have suggestions for which of the above and/or any other trips offer favorable weather conditions this time of year? My wife and I have extended time off over the holidays and a 3-7 day backpacking trip would be perfect!

Could also be a great idea for a future article as well…maybe Top 10 Winter Backpacking Trips or something similar. I know I feel cooped up this time of year and some guidance from a pro would be appreciated.

Thanks for your help!

Hi Lily, thanks for asking a good question. The prime seasons for all of these trips are spring and fall. That said, sections of some of these hikes, including parts of the Zion traverse, are at higher elevations that may not be safe to attempt in spring until snow and ice melt out in May. Water also tends to be more abundant on some of these hikes in spring than in fall. Check out the stories linked in each trip description above for much more detail on planning each of them.

Thanks, Megan, I’m glad you found The Big Outside. The Sequoia trip you did really is outstanding. This list of the 10 best backpacking trips in the Southwest will keep you busy and psyched for quite a while. Thanks for subscribing, by the way (https://thebigoutsideblog.com/subscribe-now/), and keep in mind that I can help you plan any trip you read about at my blog. See my Ask Me page: https://thebigoutsideblog.com/ask-me/

Keep in touch!

Hey Mitch,

That’s a great list. I’ve had Deer-Kanab and Nankoweap on my to-do list for a while, gotta get over there. I hadn’t heard of the Galiuro Mountains, so you’ve added something to my list! Thanks for the ideas.

I put together a new blog post called Take a Hike: 7 of the Grandest Adventures in the Southwest. It highlights the best 7 backpacking trips in the southwest, in my humble opinion (lol). I’m sure many if not all of them you’ve been on.

http://www.southwestdiscoveries.com/take-a-hike-7-grandest-adventures-in-the-southwest/