By Kim Merryman
I used to plan all my trips to Utah for spring or fall, when the weather is milder, and the crowds are smaller. However, this year, a family emergency forced me to cancel a spring break loop through Utah full of salmon-colored slot canyons, desert waterfalls, and walls covered in petroglyphs. So I’m crossing my fingers I can get to Utah in the summer, taking a slightly different route to avoid the heat in some of my usual springtime spots. Keep reading to find my favorite fun things to do in Utah in the summer:
Take A Break At Cedar Breaks National Monument
Cedar Breaks National Monument is a small national monument at 10,000 feet, so it’s covered in snow for much of the year. But in the summer, Cedar Breaks secretly wins the Utah landscape beauty competition, and at nice temperatures to boot. There is one campground with a few trails that seem like they are on different planets. They have fields and forests, an alpine pond, a red rock canyon, and the most wildflowers I’ve ever seen in one place. That’s probably why they hold an annual wildflower festival for a week in July. Remember, at elevations this high, you’ll want to get outside early because altitude often makes for afternoon thunderstorms.
Discover The Beauty Of Brian Head
Brian Head, Utah, is a secret I don’t tell very often for fear that I’ll start seeing another human when I stop here in the summer. Just down the road and 200 feet lower in elevation from Cedar Breaks is this tiny winter ski town. Don’t expect a bunch of amenities in the summer; the solitude and peacefulness here are the main draws. Though I hear the Brian Head Resort has some fun summer activities for families, including a mountain bike park and archery. You can drive to the top of Brian Head Peak for a sunset view. There are many unique, off-the-beaten-path hikes around Brian Head. I wish I’d had a Jeep camper to get to the eerie Twisted Forest trail. I’ve never found the supposed handful of restaurants in town, but I didn’t look very hard. I just picked up some provisions to cook on my camp stove at Apple Annie’s Country Store. They have a good local hiking and mountain biking map, so grab one of those, but watch out for the deer, Thunder, who often hangs out on the store’s porch looking for snacks.
Takeaway
If you’re trying to escape the heat or looking for fun things to do in Utah this summer, you have a whole bunch of activities and places to choose from. You can use the list of my favorite places to go above as a starting point; feel free to make it your own! For more ideas about places to visit in Utah, check out our guide to the ultimate Utah national parks road trip and our tips for visiting those national parks. Planning a Utah summer vacation? Rent an Escape campervan from our Salt Lake City camper van rental location and head up to Utah’s cool(ish) summer destinations! Feel free to contact us directly if you have any questions about our campervans, about where you can pick up a campervan, or about traveling through Utah in general.
