TOP 20 PLACES IN UTAH YOU NEED TO VISIT!

what is going on guys my name is kevin i am a photographer filmmaker and world traveler over the last five or six years i've been doing tons of world travels tons of road trips across the united states and i have spent tons and tons of time in utah so today i want to go over my top 20 places to visit in the state of utah i do have a video on the top 10 places that aren't national parks but for this video i want to dive straight in i want to tell you guys my best places i want to go into national park state parks hidden gems and all across the map and just share with you guys the best places in utah so number one is going to be promontory point and this geographically is not that far from salt lake city but it does look like it's an entire other world it is on the great salt lake but it is this little small section of the salt lake where there are pink and red huge salt lakes it kind of looks fake it kind of looks photoshopped but if you have seen this before on instagram or anything this is a very real thing it has to do with the minerals in the water so there are pink hues red hues white shoes and it lines up right next to the blue salt lakes so it creates for some incredible aerial photography and it is just a really beautiful place and it feels extremely remote out there [Music] number two is going to be cinder cone volcano and this is just north of snow canyon state park and this hike is going to be 1.7 miles round trip with 449 feet of elevation gain it is super beautiful because right behind it it is backdropped by the beautiful white and red rock and lava tubes of snow canyon state park it's right off the side of the road so if you drive past it you might not even know it's a volcano but it is so beautiful and it's even cooler that you can climb to the top of it and just enjoy the views in every direction [Music] number three is going to be corona arch and this in my opinion is going to be one of those places that is a super hidden gem of moab it's not in arches national park or canyonlands national park or dead horse it's kind of on its own area so there's corona arch and then right next to it is bow tie arch and this entire trail is going to be 2.4 miles round trip with 480 feet of elevation gain it's super beautiful it is just like arches national park it's probably bigger than delicate arch and the coolest part is that not nearly as many people know about it so you'll likely have the place to yourself number four is going to be bryce canyon national park and this is in southwest utah it is an extremely unique national park and it's known for its infamous bright orange hoodoos and hoodoos are these unique rock-like structures that kind of stand straight out of the ground it's extremely unique and it kind of feels like you're on another planet some of the best spots to go there are sunset point inspiration point rainbow point and wall street and then there's lots of fun activities to do outside of the park for example this is my buddy hayden skiing this is about 15 miles northwest of the park near losey canyon and we did some backcountry skiing and it has hoodoos just like bryce canyon it is just an incredible area to visit number five is going to be bensonite hills and this is a place that i get asked so much about about where it is and where exactly geographically this spot is located and what's interesting about this spot is that there's not one specific location that is the bentonite hills they are all over the state of utah and if i'm being honest i've seen these rock formations in pretty much every state of the southwest including arizona wyoming california and utah there are tons of these clustered around the state of utah in the southern part and especially near caneville and hanksville it's a super cool place to visit and it is awesome for aerial photography number six is going to be temple of the sun and temple of the moon and this is in capital reef national park it is definitely probably the least traveled national park in utah and this place has these unbelievable fin-like rock structures that stick right out of the ground it is an all-around amazing spot and right next to it just a side note to check out is a place called glass mountain next up is going to be amethyst lake and this is going to be in the high uintas and wasatch wilderness in northern utah now this hike is no joke this is going to be 13 miles round trip with 2 300 feet of elevation gain but when i did it it was more like 16 miles and you just have these beautiful beautiful lakes and amethyst lake is one of my favorites in the uintas next up number eight is bald mountain also in the high uintas wilderness and this is a 2.7 mile round trip hike with almost 1200 feet of elevation gain and you're doing a summit that is almost at 12 000 feet so it is an incredible vantage point of the surrounding mountains [Music] number nine is bonneville salt flats apologies ahead of time if i'm pronouncing that wrong i'm not a local of utah however this place is unbelievable it's some of the coolest salt flats i've ever been to in my life you know depending on the time of year you go you can either get water on the salt flats and you just have these beautiful mirror like reflections or you could have the salt cracks like hexagon shape and it is all around just a very cool experience you can camp there and it is just an awesome place to kind of hang out and it's awesome because it's only about two hours from salt lake city but it feels like you are so much further out there than that next up number 10 is going to be druid arch and this is a 10.4 mile hike with 1600 feet of elevation gain this is in the needles district of canyonlands national park in my opinion it's probably the most underrated spot in canyonlands and one of the most unique arches i've ever seen to be honest it kind of looks like something from star wars i i really enjoyed this hike uh it's no joke you're kind of scrambling lots of route finding a little bit of rock climbing all easy stuff you don't need technical equipment for but it is no joke of a hike but highly recommend this one in canyonlands number 11 is factory butte and this is pretty much in the center of utah in hanksville this is probably one of my favorite places in utah it absolutely feels like you're on a different planet and you have these crazy crazy rock formations where there's just so much abstract and detailed patterns it's amazing for landscape photography aerial photography the best part about it is blm land so you can go out there you can camp you can drink you can ride your dirt bikes you can rent atvs it is such a fun place number 12 is going to be mount olympus and this is a 8 mile hike with 4 200 feet of elevation gain and this is pretty much the mountains that you can see right from salt lake city so if you're in salt lake city or provo it's probably going to be less than a 10 minute drive to the trailhead but you definitely have to be ready for this one it is almost a straight vertical hike with some class 3 scrambling towards the top so this hike is definitely not for the faint of heart however it gives you some unbelievable views of salt lake city provo and the surrounding mountains now i did this hike in winter so i had some crampons i had an axe and i had poles i would not recommend this in winter unless you have some winter climbing experience and some safety equipment number 13 is going to be back in the uintas and this is going to be whiskey island lake which is a 5.4 mile hike with 895 feet of elevation gain heads up right off the bat this is a super gnarly road to get to so you absolutely need high clearance and four wheel drive my van could not make it so i had to hop in my buddy's car once you actually are able to park you there is no trail so you are just bushwhacking until you get to the lake so you also definitely need to download the offline all trails map to help you navigate but it is super worth it this is a beautiful lake and we had it all to ourselves [Applause] number 14 is going to be one of the most classic utah hikes and this is going to be angel's landing in zion national park it is a 4.4 mile hike with 1600 feet of elevation gain this is not for the faint of heart you're gonna be hiking on extremely slick sandstone rock there's gonna be chains in place for your hands it's very fun in my opinion i am a very adventurous spirit so i do not recommend this unless you are up for a serious adventure but it does give you some incredible views of the valley below and here are some photos i took on some of my hikes up to angel's landing [Music] number 15 is going to be navajo knobs and this is a beautiful hiking capital reef national park in the center of the state of utah this is a 9.1 mile trail with 2100 feet of elevation gain but it is beautiful you pretty much get above the entire national park and you have views in every direction you pass the hickman bridge and it is just kind of incredible views the entire way of the hike and it's a great way to see a lot of capital reef national park because there's a lot of hikes that i don't think are that well known about in this park so this is a great way to see [Music] it number 16 is mars research station and this is going to be a little bit west of hanksville utah in the center of the state and this is just super unique because the mars research station is actually there because they are studying the landscape around this area because it is most comparable to the landscapes on actual planet mars so the mars research station here is actually researching and studying this rock and landscape and air dry environments to compare it and conduct scientific research for mars itself so this is a really unique place it's definitely a place worth checking out if you're in central utah [Music] number 17 is cove of caves via parade of elephants hike in arches national park this is a 1.1 mile trail with 270 feet of elevation game one of my favorite things about this hike is that nobody knows about it i've done it three times and i've had it to myself every single time it's a super unique arch that is actually just behind double arch so when you're at double arch and you're with a thousand other people trying to take the exact same photo if you just hike around double arch and a little bit back further you're gonna be taken to this beautiful arch with absolutely nobody there and you're also going to get a really cool advantage point of the backside of double arts which is super unique and something you don't always see photos of number 18 is going to be mesa arch and this is a 0.7 mile hike with 90 feet of elevation gain in canyonlands national park this is in the island in the sky district it's probably the most popular hike in canyonlands national park and probably for good reason the sun rises behind the lasalle mountains so when it comes up it just absolutely lights up this arch and the surrounding canyons however if you're gonna go obviously sunrise is the best time of day but just know ahead of time you're gonna be there with probably ten thousand other tripods not actually but just a heads up it's a super busy place number 19 is gonna be back in zion national park and it's the infamous narrows hike so if you're gonna do this entire hike top down it is 15 and a half miles with a thousand feet of elevation game but the way most people do it is you take the shuttle in zion to the end of the road in the valley and then you just start hiking and you pretty much go as far as you want i think bree and i did maybe three or four miles and the entire way that you're hiking through the water there are incredible views of zion and these beautiful slot canyons and the rapids that are going through the canyon it is amazing for photography it's also a great way to beat the summer heat and it's just a really fun adventurous hike so definitely take water shoes and a towel if you have it and last but not least number 20 is going to be mystic hot springs and this is a beautiful hot spring that is a little bit commercial so to come here you are gonna have to book a reservation it's 25 for adults and 12.50 for children 12 and under but it is a super unique hot spring experience because you have these natural geothermal pools that are built into the rock and they have built these bathtubs that capture the water so it's funny because it looks like you're taking a bath in the wild but it's really just these incredible hot springs so definitely worth checking out but that is going to wrap up this top 20 of utah guys i hope you enjoyed if you saw my first top 10 places in utah that aren't national parks i hope this gave you some more places to explore and to add to your bucket list either way if you have any questions let me know in the comments and if you are not already please like and subscribe to the channel for more videos like this and i hope to see you guys in a future video thanks so much you

Channel: Kevin Eassa

Views: 368,901

Keywords: pink salt lake, bryce canyon, temple of the sun, cathedral valley, amethyst lake, mount olympus, bonneville, navajo knobs, capitol reef, druid arch, canyonlands, moab, bentonite hills, utah colorful patterns, zion, narrows, corona arch, mesa arch, utah, top 20, top 20 utah, dji, utah state parks, travel, hidden gems, life on the road, things to do in utah, best places in utah, hidden places in utah, badlands, best of the us, travel bucket list, national parks, utah 4k, top utah

Id: syxsvczgxqA

Length: 14min 20sec (860 seconds)

Published: Wed May 05 2021