My friend just did something similar this last week. Her husband is an awesome trip planner, I'll ask her if there is anything she would change. She sent me their itinerary, here is a copy and paste with some identifying things removed.

Saturday 10/24
– meet @ noon at Bryce Canyon visitor center

- Rent e-bikes and ride Bryce Canyon NP trail (brycecanyonezriders.com)

- Stay Bryce Glamp & Camp

3. Sunday 10/25 – Bryce Canyon NP

- Hike Tropic trail into Bryce Canyon NP

- Stay Bryce Glamp & Camp

4. Monday 10/26 – drive to Escalante after hikes and sights:

- Escalante Grand Staircase

- Grosvenor Arch

- Willis Creek slot canyon

- Kodachrome Basin SP

- Stay tiny homes in Escalante

5. Tuesday 10/27 –Escalante UT

- Devil’s Garden/Metate Arch

- Hike Peek-a-Boo and Spooky Gulch

- Stay tiny homes

6. Wednesday 10/28 – drive to Boulder UT w/ stops along the way:

- Lower calf creek falls OR drive Hell’s Backbone Rd

- Singing canyon

- Stay Boulder Mountain Guest Ranch

- Eat Sweetwater Kitchen

7. Thursday 10/29 – drive to Moab w/ stops along the way:

- Capitol Reef NP

- Goblin Valley SP

- Stay Moab Springs Ranch

8. Friday 10/30 – Moab

- Arches NP

- Hike Corona Arch

- Stay Moab Springs Ranch

Here's a link to my recap of our vacay: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6568953/ut-co-train-vacation-recap#n=50

SLC, we did not see temple square at all as it was under major construction and some of it is closed...doing structural changes to make it more earthquake proof. I'm sorry we missed it. Also we did not have time to venture to the Great Salt Lake -- only saw it from the plane. I would've liked to have done that if we had time, just because it's there. We did enjoy seeing the botanical garden and the natural history museum. The capital building is also interesting to see and has a great view of downtown from there. But we were only there for one day before we moved on to Moab.

In Moab, we stayed at an ok place -- but not one to write home about. (Hoodoo Moab) It was a nice location as it was a short walk to the food truck park and to downtown shopping which is a lot a souvenir shops and restaurants.

We did enjoy the train ride through the rockies! Highly recommend! It was 2 days, but you got off the train and stayed in Glenwood Springs overnight -- where we dunked ourselves in several of the hot spring pools. The scenery was fabulous and we were in the luxury part so the food was excellent...had our own bartender, chef and 2 servers!

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

We went to SLC/Park City for Thanksgiving last year, the opposite direction from where you are going.

My only recommendation is to get a brisket burger in SLC. It is a hamburger patty, topped with thinly sliced brisket. Crown Burgers has been around a while so we went there.

Like AD, we did not get to see Temple Square because of the construction. Check to see when they have choir practice.

ETA:

Thursday Night Rehearsals:

• When: Thursday nights at 7:30 p.m. MST.
• Where: The Salt Lake Tabernacle (or Conference Center during summer months).
• Details: Open to the public to watch the choir practice.

why did i not only think you had been, I could swear i saw pics of you there!?

Have you been to Zion NP? By far my favorite of the parks in that area.

We stopped in Grand Junction on one of our cross country drives. We planned to hike on Grand Mesa. It was exactly this time of year. It was about 60 and sunny in town. Drove up and there was about 8 inches of fresh snow everywhere and temps in the 40's. We were unprepared to hike in the snow. Drove back down and had lunch at one of the wineries instead.

Glenwood Springs is a great place to stop if you can. Right on the Colorado River with a bunch of different places to hot spring.

We have been to Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, and Boulder, Estes Park, Denver and Red Rocks.

I tend to lump them all together I guess!

One other thought, Moab is on the Southeastern side of the state with Arches and Canyonlands. Alternatively, on the Southwestern side we have Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. Capitol Reef National Park is sort of in between them. Have a mentioned how lucky we are to have so many beautiful national parks?

Prickly, thank you, this is great info. We have been to Bryce and Zion. So looking forward to seeing these other parks.

A friend has convinced me to skip Grand Junction and just drive back to SLC (or Park City) and fly home from SLC. So maybe we do 2 nights in SLC at the beginning and 2 nights in PC at the end.

It has been over 10 years since we did this same trip, but it still remains one of our favorites. We had spent almost 2 weeks in Zion Bryce, the North Rim and Kanab, Escalante and Capital Reef after starting in Vegas, and decided it was too much to go there for one trip. So we went back a year or two later in the fall starting in SLC. We did go to Temple Square and it was very pretty and clean. There were several old homes you could visit nearby that were part of the history of the settlers. And at the time college music students performed organ recitals almost every day in the tabernacle and anyone could attend for free.

Arches had some of the best hikes. We hiked to Delicate arch in the evening for the sunset. I’s not a long trail but slightly difficult toward the end just before you get to the arch. If you do this, take a flashlight. The last mile back down gets fairly dark. We did a ranger-led hike in the Fiery Furnace which was exceptional with lots of arches you can’t see from anywhere else. and I think the other was about 4-5 miles out of Devil’s Garden. It was colder and windy that day so we turned around, but the number of arches we saw tht day was stunning. One of them collapsed unexpectedly a couple of years later.

Canyonlands is actually quite large and you can drive to several sections and see different scenery, plus bison, elk and just about any wild animal you can think of. We did that and drove to Dead Horse Point, which as PricklyPear pointed out is a must-see. One day we took a 4-wheel drive guided tour through a section of Canyonlands that was fun and we saw lots of petroglyphs. Another day we did a horseback ride at a nearby ranch that was just north of Moab.

I’m sure there is even more to do now that more and more people are visiting the parks. At one time Moab hosted a lot of big bicycle races, so be sure one of those isn’t being held. There are many more places to stay there now and it has been too long so I won’t even try to recommend anything.

And i meant to say, outside SLC, Deer Valley is a rather bougie place to ski that is close to Park City and the area has many good places to eat if you want to drive there for the food.

@OutsidePlaying was it Moab Springs Ranch by chance? I stayed there with friends in highschool to celebrate a friend's sister's wedding. It was really lovely in the fall.

I can’t recall but could have been. i’ll try to dig up my old travel journals and photos and see if i can find it.