My dad and I are planning a trip to Utah this summer, probably the first week in June.

We have just started planning and are open to any suggestions. So far the plan is to fly into SLC and take it from there.

We would like to do some day hiking/exploring and just have a good time.

Parks, restaurants, gun shops, ranges, good spots to shoot in the desert, any and all suggestions are welcome. Neither of us have ever been to Utah and I have spent very little time in the west.

Both myself and my dad are planning to bring our carry guns.

Bridal Falls is lovely.

You should visit Antelope Island while here. But uh, keep in mind it's really buggy. As in lots of bugs. I took Compass to see it when she visited.






I also recommend visiting Ruth's Diner for some of their famous Mile-High biscuits. It's a long wait usually, but man are the biscuits worth it.

Rent an RV and tour the national parks in the southern part of the state, Zion, Bryce, arches, canyonlands etc.. Plenty of hiking and exploring with jaw dropping scenery even on the mundane drives we take for granted. Rent a side by side in Moab and get some sand in your teeth on the local trails.

Are you looking more at serious hiking or just casual adventures a little off the beaten path?? I can suggest some strenuous hikes.

the Uintas have some beautiful hikes, great camping and fishing.  plus its federal land so if you wanna take your guns up there, tons of places to shoot.  Ruth lake is a nice hike up there and make sure you check out mirror lake as well. Both are easy hikes.

I am open to any type of hike as long as its a day hike and able to be done without any special equipment. (no rappelling etc.)



Whats the policy for shooting? I know its more open than here in VA. We can only shoot at specific ranges on state land or private property with owner's permission of course. Any resources for out of towners to find a good place to do some casual shooting?

In a Federal Forest you can pretty much shoot anywhere as long as you follow the rules.  Needs to be at least 150 yards away from a road, trail, campground or structure, or any occupied space (you can primitive camp in many places up there, so make sure no one has setup camp close by)
Also, only paper targets, don't bring tannerite or TVs :)

If you head up there, stop at the ranger's ofice and ask for some suggestions on places to shoot.  There are just 1000s and 1000s of acres up there to find places.  Sometimes we go on hikes for half a day and don't run into anyone.  

Here is a link to check out

Forest FAQ

Target shooting info at the bottom of page

Here is a picture of the views fishing at Ruth Lake, elevation 10800 Ft



And check this out for State land Target shooting info

Link to Utah Target shooting

http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en.html

Much of Utah is public land, managed by the bureau of land management (blm). Lots of good info there.

This is a good place to start
Look up Lake Blanche, Mount Timpanogos, and cecret lake for the wasatch.
For the uintas, look up bald mountain, lofty lake loop, and the mirror lake area. (uintas are my favorite)
If you are planning on a lot of driving and such, make sure to check out devils garden in Arches Ntl Park, and Zion is awesome, but can get hot so check the weather.

Rumor has it that this is a good place to fish just a lil ways downstream

Favorite places to eat:
Lucky 13- Burger bar near bees stadium.
Pie Pizzeria- Local Chain with several locations.
The Egg and I- good egg place
Eggs in the city- another egg place
High West Distillery- good food and good whiskey in Park City

Best Places to get a beer
Beer Hive
The Bayou
Squatters
Epic beer is amazing, but get it from the brewery, not the restaurant.

There is a list of gun ranges at the top of the forum.

The first week of June may be a little cold and wet in the Uintas.  I have experienced blizzard conditions up there in mid June and haven't experienced a week in June up there when it didn't rain half the time.  Much of the area is more suited for extended camping and hiking so I would suggest some lower elevations and locations closer to populated areas.

Any canyon along the Wasatch Front (from Ogden to Nephi) has wonderful hiking.  Many ski resorts have summer time activities and trails available.  Some even run the lifts so less fit hikers can ride up and hike down.

Shooting also depends on what type of shooting you want to do.  There are several indoor and outdoor ranges for casual plinking and training.  If you want some longer ranges then I would suggest a trip out to the west desert.  One popular location, Lone Rock at N  40.707047° W 112.687236°, is just a vast open area where 2 mile shots are possible.

Go up the canyon to Bridal Veil falls. Take pictures and shit.  Then, go a bit further up and head towards Sundance. Go up to Stewart Falls.  Both are easy hikes and very pretty, especially in June.  Check out the BYU Creamery, just don't stay on the premises for too long else someone will try to convert you to LDS. There's awesome fishing up by Heber/Midway out towards Duschne at Strawberry Reservoir. Then go a bit further to Park City. There's a LOT to do up there; Alpine slide and other rides, they open the slopes to mountain bikes during the summer.  Eat lunch at Squatters and enjoy some good local beers.

There's other stuff but this is all I can think about right now is hiking and beer.

You could spend a week traveling southern Utah.  Bryce, Zion, Moab, north side of Grand Canyon,etc.  

Flying into St. George or Cedar City would get you pretty close to all of that stuff and there's commercial airline service.  Flying into Las Vegas would be even closer than SLC for that stuff.

Besides the Uintah Mountains I find the northern part of the state to be bland.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I am sure I will have more questions when I do some more planning and research.

Utah is great for outdoor activities.

For hiking, tons of trails and all in pretty close proximity of Salt Lake; Donut Falls, Cecret Lake, Ensign Peak, Dog lake, Desolation...
Gotta hit the National Parks down South and then if you wanted to, hit up Las Vegas since you're in the West. lol.
Shooting area, try Stansbury Island or West side of Utah lake.
Gun shop. Gallenson's, Get Some, your Cabela's or Scheels.
Places to eat: Copper Onion, Forage, Park Cafe, Takashi, Market Street Grill, Cafe Trio, The Bayou, The Dodo, The Blue Plate Diner... And tons more

How is the Browning Museum in Ogden?

its amazing. They have the inventor model and first off the line for every browning that JMB designed.

Great. Its on the list

Zion is awesome

I'll be in Salt Lake City next weekend and will definitely have to check out this out

UNION STATION
2501 Wall Avenue
Ogden, UT 84401
801-393-9890
MUSEUM HOURS
Monday - Saturday
10:00am - 5:00pm
Closed New Years Day,
Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve & Day

Museum linky thingy

Well I missed out on the museum today, so I'm here in downtown Salt Lake City rt now checking out the local action. Anyone have any suggestions on where to eat down here, places of interest, meet large Amazon like single women

I like squatters for a beer. Food is ok
best burger in town is at lucky 13 by the bee's ballpark
good coffee is at salt lake roasters
if you are near trolley square check out desert edge brewery

edit: Almost forgot Red Rock Brewery. good food, good beer

My dad and I completed the trip with minimal problems and much enjoyment.

I am no photographer but I took a ton of pictures and would like to share some.

We flew into SLC and stayed a hotel near the airport. Nice 70ish hotel with a pool and a Korean restaurant in the lobby. Service was good. Ran into a guy wearing a Brownshirt t-shirt in the lobby, vacation was off to a good start.

Driving from the hotel to Walmart/REI to pick up some supplies. We are definitely not in VA anymore.



We went from the SLC area (never did anything in SLC, perhaps next time) to Antelope Island and found some Bison. Bison! This was a first for me.



and one sneaky antelope!



Off  to the Union Station Browning Museum!



1911 .45 ACP



Colt Woodsman



A gas operated prototype



Browning



I am kicking myself now. I saw some examples of the Ithaca Model 37 and I apparently did not take any pictures. I have a 20 gauge Ithaca Model 37 Featherlight and its a great gun. My first gun actually. It was given to me as a gift at 15 by a distant uncle. That gun got me into shooting and is the point in which I started forming my firearm/political/life philosophy. My buddy and I used to go to Dick's and try to find the cashier who looked the most clueless and would sell us shotgun shells. We were 15 at the time and got most of them to sell us the shells and off a blastin we went

More pics to come.

Off to the Uintah Mountians.

We hiked up Shingle Creek due to snow further up RT-150 which prevented our original plan. This is my awesome hiking get-up.



The Hill People Gear Recon Kit Bag was fantastic. If you can't have a pistol on your belt, and I can't comfortably with the Camelbak Transformer (concealed anyways) , then I highly recommend one of the Hill People Gear kit bags. The main pouch requires the addition of a pistol holster of your choosing which provides some flexibility. I used a kydex holster for my G19/APL combo in the Hille People Gear kit bag.

The end of the Shingle Creek hike.



Off to Moab and Arches.

This is Landscape Arch. Pretty cool. Definitely worth seeing.



The Colorado River

I've never been to the JMB museum, should make it out sometime.  I live a few blocks from the picture you took on the freeway.  

I had some friends that were there to witness nature at work years ago. Skip to 2:00 mark for some old video ( Was not filmed by the people I know )

Video

Yep, done with Walmart and headed to REI!

Very cool. They had some pics from the film of that collapse there at the park.

The Colorado River right outside Arches National Park. Worth driving by if visiting Arches.


RV campsite toilet along the Colorado River. Unfortunately I did not have to go.



The Apache Motel in Moab. I wish I had taken more pictures in Moab. We were wrecked from all the up at 7 and hiking all day stuff and didn't take enough town pictures.



The hike up to Delicate Arch. Very busy.



Delicate Arch. I got to the top and sat down on a ledge. I don't like heights and was a bit dehydrated this morning so I enjoyed Delicate from a comfortable seated position.)



My dad and I at The Windows. This was one of the most impressive arches that we visited. If I was to spend only one day in Arches Park I would recommend The Windows, Delicate, Landscape, and Balanced Rock.





Some alien landscape on the way to Coral Reef.



The Castle at Coral Reef



My pack putting in some miles.



This Chinese cat snuck into our hotel room in Tropic? I can't quite remember which hotel we were at. The cat was meowing in the hallway and my dad scooped her up and brought her in while we figured out where she needed to go. I called the front desk and told them a cat was wandering around the halls. While I was calling she was trying to eat our pizza.

The front desk lady came up to get the cat but there was some sort of confusion between her and the next shift and the cat went missing again. It turns out the cat belonged to a Chinese family who had been looking for it for several days (actually stayed several days extra) and eventually left. If I had known she was several days without food I would food I would have been more willing to share the pizza. She was a friendly cat. I hope she found her way home.



Fairyland Loop trail in Bryce Canyon National Park

Looks like you got to see some great places while here.

Looks like you enjoyed our state. I love it here. I don't think I'll ever want to move out of state. I do want to move to the country though. Just have to figure out how.

This is the last installment of pictures:

Rainbow Point in Bryce Canyon National Park


I don't like heights so this is as close as I got




So this guy and his girlfriend were taking pics next to the edge. He went over to the edge and waited for her to setup the picture.


This is as close to the edge as she was willing to get.


Entering Zion Park through the one mile-ish tunnel. I do not like enclosed areas.


Tunnel.


Watchman Trail



Grafton Ghost Town Cemetery


Grafton Geocaching


Grafton Ghost Town


Cinder Cones




Storm along Rt 15 on the way back to SLC


The trip was great. We hit a lot of the famous parks all within eight full days. The next time I come through I plan to visit SLC, which we did not cover at all, and perhaps some of the more less known areas.

The state of Utah was much different than anything I had seen before. I have been all up and down the east coast, California, Colorado (Golden area) and Washington state.

The Utah desert was different and interesting but by the end of our trip I was ready to get back to the green trees.

Thanks again for the recommendations and advice for the trip. I will be visiting again with my wife when we take a proposed future road trip.

I visited Moab/Arches/Canyonlands earlier this month. I've had the bug since then: I'll be moving to Utah ASAP.

Monitor & Merrimac trail in Canyonlands: