Photo Ops in Salt Lake City Vacinity

I will be in Salt Lake City from May 15th through May 19th. I will be there on business but will be renting a Jeep and hitting some National Parks. I am trying to decide between Bryce Canyon, Zion and Canyonlands for a day trip. I suppose if there is anything right around SLC I could just stay there as well. Can you well travelled photographers make any recommendations?

Thanks,

Jeff

I have lived by Zion/Bryce my whole life. You could do both in a day. Shoot Bryce in the morning, drive to zion over lunch (and harsh light) and do Zion in the afternoon. Or 1 a day each.

They are pretty incredible. BOTH parks are full of Europeans for a reason - its a unique worldwide location, duplicated NOWHERE. If you go, be prepared to be among the only english speakers =D

Oh, and Salt Lake is boring, I never get farther than 200 miles from the arizona border, in case I have to make a run for it.

Hi Jeff,

I just came off a Utah roadtrip with my sons and I could recommend all of the parks you mentioned and add Capitol Reef National Park. Dinosaur NM is closer to SLC (I think) but honestly I think that any of the other spots you mentioned are far better choices.

Sean D also makes a good point about being able to hit Bryce and Zion within a day. You could also hit Arches and a portion of Canyonlands in one day as well. I say a portion because there's three different sections to Canyonlands, one of which is within 45 miles of Arches. Plus, Moab is a cool little town to visit.

Keep us posted as to your decision.
~Brian

You can get from Bryce to Zion in like an hour, maybe 1.5.

Unfortunately it is 270 miles from SLC so the drive will take up alot of my day. I will have to decide when I get there if I will be willing to drive all the way down or try to find something on Antelope Island or some of the local Wasatch trails. I am planning to take a wide angle (17-40 f4L) and a zoom (100-400L). Hopefully that will get me through. Thanks for the advice.

There are lot's of things in and around SLC...
There are the Wasatch Mountains that are green with some remnants of snow.
There is downtown too. You can't forget the Great Salt Lake.
I hope you have a great stay here!
Brian

I will be local for several days and intend to shoot as much as I can inside SLC. Maybe I will need the 70-200 f4L also. My bag just keeps getting heavier!!