Muriel, Isabelle,
I’ll go over our itinerary again and give some details on how tough the hikes were.
Day 1 – The White Domes: We took the Water Canyon route, which is steep and really works your calves, but you can also go via Squirrel Canyon. That adds 2–3 km to the climb and makes the elevation gain more manageable (8 km round trip for 550 m of gain). By camping on-site to enjoy the gorgeous early-morning light, it turns into two short hikes.
Day 2 – The Subway: The hike is long (16 km), but except for the final climb on the way back, it’s all flat along a river. Scot2021 recently posted about it, and his two young kids managed to do it.
Day 3 – Coyote Buttes North: The Wave isn’t far, but to get to Top Rock, The Alcove, and Melody Arch, it’s a climb. You might just want to stick with The Wave and Second Wave—the two most stunning spots—stopping by Ginger Rocks and The Rock Fins along the way.
Day 4 – Coyote Buttes South: The central area is easy to access. In summer 2022, Maxime managed to join us on crutches with partial weight on his leg to cover the 7–8 km in the Cottonwood Cove sector. The Beauty is much more remote, but the extension has very little elevation gain.
White Pocket: Just a few hundred meters of approach.
Day 5 – Wahweap Hoodoos – Sidestep Canyon – Colourful Canyon – White Rocks
A few weeks after we passed through, Marido (Diamina), who hates hiking, unknowingly took the full BLM 431 route, which was previously closed to the public to protect the Wahweap Hoodoos and Sidestep Canyon from crowds. She didn’t see any "no entry" signs and made it all the way to the end of BLM 431, enjoying the views of Colourful Canyon and Sidestep Canyon from the rim.
Route map:
http://ouestusa.fr/utah/whiteghosts/whiteghosts.php
It seems a judge lifted the driving ban, and since then, several people have managed to visit the Wahweap Hoodoos without breaking a sweat by taking this now-reopened route. From the "new" parking lot, the approach to the Wahweap Hoodoos or the east entrance of Sidestep Canyon is now less than 2 km! That said, we didn’t regret doing the long loop—it let us pass through the Colourful Canyon area and the White Rocks.
Day 6 – Reflection Canyon: Most people do this hike over two days, camping overnight. That makes it 13 km per day with almost no elevation gain. Avoid summer to cut down on water weight—the slickrock reflects so much heat that in July or August, it must be scorching.
Day 7 – Coyote Gulch: One of the two truly tough hikes of the trip because of the final scramble to get out of the canyon.
Day 8 – The Volcano: A short, easy family hike (10 km) with no elevation gain.
North Caineville Mesa: A tough hike due to the steep elevation gain over a short distance.
Day 9 – The Needles: Squaw Canyon – Lost Canyon – Druid Arch – Chesler Park combo
Outside of summer, the Chesler Park hike (16 km) is long but doable if you start early and skip the extension to Druid Arch, which adds too much distance.
Day 11 – Grand Canyon descent: The second tough (or even very tough) hike of the trip. Don’t attempt it unless you’re sure you’re in good shape. That afternoon, early on the Bright Angel Trail ascent—with 1,200 m of elevation gain still ahead—we passed a family of four: two bored teens about 100 meters ahead of their parents, a mom who seemed fit, and a dad, a bit stocky, who was completely exhausted and moving painfully slow. They didn’t have any camping gear to stay at Indian Gardens... We figured he’d never make it to the top that day and thought it was totally reckless to overestimate his physical abilities, putting his family at risk...
Day 12 – Hopi-Navajo day: No particular difficulty.
Day 13 – Upper East Zion (coming up): Doing all three hikes in one day is tough, but if you take it easy and stick to one or two, it’s doable. Each hike has about 250–300 m of elevation gain, so it all depends on how well you handle back-to-back climbs and how your knees handle the descents...
Hope this gives you the confidence (or not!) to try some of our routes. 🙂