Have you ever wanted to take an RV vacation?

We had the opportunity to take a our dream RV trip through Nevada, Utah, and Arizona this past winter. We visited a few National and State parks, and had plenty of fun adventures along the way! Being able to enjoy fewer crowds and much cooler weather in late February/early March made this a great time to visit the parks.

This post is a quick summary of our daily itinerary to help guide you plan YOUR dream RV trip! We did find that this was a jam-packed itinerary, and if we did it again, we would have spent a lot more time in each spot. However, if you are looking to try to do and see as much as possible, this itinerary is for you! Ideally, I think a two-week trip would’ve allowed more time to enjoy each place we visited. Keep in mind, RV’s drive a bit slower and take longer than GPS routes show.

Day One: Arrive in Las Vegas

-Arrive in Vegas in the morning

-Take Uber to El Monte RV.

Total time at El Monte for pick up was about 2.5 hours

-Walmart grocery pick up

We scheduled our grocery pick up in advance. Pre-planning a week of meals is helpful for stocking the RV with everything you’ll need, and nothing you don’t (there’s limited storage, after all!) Grocery pick up and putting things away took about 45 minutes.

-Drive to Poverty Flats (about 1.5 hour drive from Vegas)

Poverty Flats is an excellent boondocking area with beautiful views! We encourage you to arrive before it gets dark out so you can actually see where you are driving, don’t be like us.

Day Two: Valley of Fire State Park

-Hike the Fire Wave

The Fire Wave hike is 1.5 miles round trip, and a pretty easy hike for young children. We recommend going early in the day for cooler temperatures, but make sure to bring water and sunscreen! We had our Lillebaby Carrier for our 2 year old, and our Piggyback Rider for our 5 year old for when their legs got tired.

-Picnic lunch at Seven Sisters Picnic Area

-Drive to Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon National Park is about a 5 hour drive from the Valley of Fire State Park.

-Campsite at Ruby’s Inn RV Park

We arrived late in the day and found out that our planned boondocking sites were not accessible in winter. OOPS! For the sake of time and rest we decided to pay for a campsite here with water and electric hookups and Wifi for $45.

Day 3: Hiking Bryce Canyon National Park

-Visit Bryce Canyon Visitor Center

At the visitor center, we were able to get information about the trails and pick up Jr. Ranger books for kids.

-Hiking in Bryce Canyon

We started at Sunset Point, hiked the Rim Trail to Sunrise Point, through the Queens Garden Trail and ended with the Navajo Loop up Wallstreet. Whew! All in all it was a 3 mile, fairly difficult hike through the snow and mud (we visited in late February with snow, ice, and also mud!)

-Camping at Sunset Point

We stayed in the park at Sunset Point Campground for $30/night. FYI there are no hookups or facilities available in the winter, and you’ll likely have snow on the ground. The perk to staying here was a quick hop over to the main parking area to watch the sunrise at Sunrise Point!

Day 4: Drive to Moab, Utah

-Watch sunrise at Sunrise Point in Bryce Canyon

-Start drive to Arches National Park (5-5.5 hours)

-Stop halfway at Mystic Springs in Monroe, Utah

Monroe, Utah is a little hippie town with a fantastic hot springs to relax in and take in the views! They have a pool and a few tubs to soak in on their property. We stopped at Mystic Hot Springs for about 2.5 hours, which broke up the drive time nicely! Prices are $15/adult, $7.50 for kids 10 and under.

-Camp at Willow Springs Trail 

Willow Springs Trail is another boondocking location we stayed at, just outside Moab. It is convenient to both Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. We absolutely loved this location for it’s fabulous views!

Day 5: Hiking Arches National Park

-Visit Moab ER

Well, this one wasn’t part of our original itinerary, but it happened. Lily fell off the bunk in the RV at 6am and ended up with 8 stitches on her face. But FYI, there is a great ER in Moab if you need one! We certainly hope this doesn’t make your trip itinerary.

-Visit Arches National Park Visitor Center

Even with an early morning trip to the ER, we were still on the trails by mid-morning! We picked up our Jr. Ranger books and talked to a park ranger about our hiking trail options.

-Hike Delicate Arch trail

This trail is 3.1 miles, and is listed as a “difficult” hike. Our kids completed it, using great caution in some parts, with no problem. We did not think it was too dangerous for them, and saw people of all ages completing the hike. The view is worth it!

-Hike Landscape Arch trail

This trail is 1.9 miles and an easy hike!

-Camp another night at Willow Springs Trail

Day 6: Drive to Page, Arizona

-Drive to Page, Arizona (5.5 hours)

-Stop in Monument Valley for pictures

-Stop at Horseshoe Bend

The entrance fee for Horseshoe bend is $10 per vehicle. The roundtrip hike is 1.5 miles and is an easy hike!

-Camp at Lone Rock Beach

Yes, you can park ON the beach at Lake Powell. This is dry camping and you must pay for the state park entrance fee ($15). This was our FAVORITE campsite of the trip. We parked right on the beach and the views were absolutely incredible. We would certainly go back and stay here for a few days! Lone Rock Beach camping is about a half hour drive north from Horseshoe Bend.

Day 7: Antelope Canyon and Drive to Grand Canyon

-Lower Antelope Canyon Tour with Dixie Ellis’ Tours

This is a must-do experience. The canyon is absolutely breathtaking! The prices are $40/adult, $28/8-12 year olds, and $20/2-7 year olds. The tour was very informative of the geology and science behind the formation of the canyons, and the cultural history of the land. The total distance of walking was about 1.1 miles round trip, and includes descending/ascending ladders. I had Lily on my back in a carrier, but the older kids made the trip without issues. The entire tour lasted about 2 hours from the time we arrived, waited for the tour to start, until it was finished.

-Drive to Grand Canyon 

This was about a 4 hour drive. We arrived with just enough time to watch the sunset!

-Dinner at Yavapai Lodge Restaurant

 This was our ONLY dinner out! It was pricey but pretty good, and a nice break from cooking meals in the RV.

-Camp at Long Jim Loop

This spot wasn’t all that special, but it was free and that’s all we needed!

Day 8: Grand Canyon and Drive back to Vegas

-Visit Grand Canyon Visitor Center

We picked up our Jr. Ranger Books early in the day. We had enough time  to actually complete all of the requirements in the book for the kids to earn their Jr. Ranger Badges! We returned later to be “sworn in” by a park ranger.

-Hiking around Mather Point  

We chose not to do any hiking in the Grand Canyon because there were snowy/icy spots and we were limited on time. We did stroll the paved parts of the Rim Trail and that was good enough for us!

-Drive back to Las Vegas 

This took about about 5 hours with stops.

-Hoover Dam

Unless you stop to visit the Dam, you cannot actually see the Dam from the car! We chose not to stop because of time.

-Drive through Historic Route 66 from Seligman to Kingman. This was pretty cool! We did take quite a big detour to actually find a Route 66 sign on the road to stop and take pictures. This added about 2 hours to our drive.

-Visit 7 Magic Mountains art installation outside of Vegas. This was also an unnecessary stop, but I wanted to see it since it’s only up until the end of 2021. We arrived right after sunset, with just enough light left to see.

-Camp at KOA Sam’s Town Journey

Our original plan was boondocking in a Walmart parking lot. This was actually NOT allowed at this location (even though our research said it was ok) and we were in a terribly unsafe part of Vegas. It was late, we were all tired after a VERY long day and our lack of proper planning was stressful!

We ended up camping at another RV park- The KOA at Sam’s Town Journey in Las Vegas. The facilities were great and the people were very nice! We had a basic site with hookups for about $40/night, using a discount we had from El Monte RV.

Day 9: Return RV and Fly Home

-Return RV at El Monte (this process only took about 20 minutes) and Uber back to the airport to hop a flight back home!

We hope you enjoyed this quick and easy itinerary for planning your future trip! Just FYI, there are affiliate links in this post. By purchasing something from these links, we may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our travel fund!