The 4th of July has landed on a Friday this year, giving us a four day week and a weekend packed with good weather, good food, and good company. It’s shaping up to be an excellent bank holiday, and we at The Lodge at Red River Ranch have the perfect recommendation on how to maximize your Independence Day. 

Just a five minute drive down the road from us is the locally famous Torrey Apple Days, a hometown festival tradition dedicated to the celebration of American Independence. The event runs from July 4th – July 5th, with activities starting in the evening on the 4th and running all day on the 5th. 

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Friday, July 4th, 2025

No one wants to cook on vacation. If you stop by the Torrey Pavillion, you can help yourself to a free dinner. Starting at 5 pm, and provided by the Torrey Town Council, it’s a great way to rub elbows with the locals while you plate up. 

Call it a night or pop into the local church to see an hour long patriotic program with the American Legion. 

Once it gets dark, you can attend the Star Party by Torrey Dark Skies. In a world of increasing light pollution, it’s becoming harder and harder to appreciate the night skies and clearly view the constellations. In and around Torrey Utah, we’re lucky to have limited light pollution and the ability to see some incredible stars. This is what Torrey Dark Skies is all about, giving you the opportunity to see the planets and Milky Way in full splendor. Catch them in the Town Park.

Next, get some good sleep, because the real fun begins Saturday. 

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Saturday, July 5th, 2025

The day kicks off with a 7am 5K. Considering how hot it can get in July, you’ll be glad of the early start. The entry fee of $35 covers the cost of organizing the race, and includes your own Apple Days t-shirt. Meet at the Town Hall to suit up and stretch. It’s a friendly race with friendly people, and the reward is an endorphin boost and lunges full of beautiful fresh air. 

You can refuel at the local church breakfast fundraiser, which is available from 6:30 to 9 am, and offers all the characteristics of a hearty American breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs—all the classics. Your money goes towards funding the church youth group’s camping and educational extracurriculars, so rest assured it’s going straight to supporting the community. 

By 10am we’ve reached the most celebrated part of Torrey Apple Days (and our personal favorite): the parade. Crowds fill both sides of Main Street, with people claiming their spots with blankets and camping chairs. No seats are provided, and it’s first come first served, so you might want to plan ahead and get there early. 

The parade has everything a parade should have. Cheerleader routines, classic cars, fire engines, cowboys, horses, floats, sports teams, beauty pageant winners, and the mayor, just to list a few. And of course, lots and lots and lots of candy. Bring a basket (or a pillowcase) to collect all the goodies. 

The parade lasts about an hour, but the fun continues. Local venders set up shop in Town Park selling everything from handmade jewellery to quilts, photography to wood carvings. Food trucks are also in operation, with tons of tasty 4th of July themed treats. Apple pie anyone? There is also a carnival for the little ones, with games, activities, and bouncy houses just for them.

For those who enjoy a good competition, be sure to check out the Pie Eating Contest. It starts at 12pm, and always draws a large crowd. If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, you can enter it yourself. The winner walks away with $100 and enough pie to keep anyone satisfied for the rest of the year. 

If that seems like a good prize, we can do even better. Make you way to the canal on Main Street for the Apple Derby. You can pick up your apple from the Chuckwagon store, also located on main. If you’ve never done an derby before, don’t worry, it’s very simple. The fastest apple down the canal wins! 

The prizes include a TV, youth bikes, a yeti cooler, gift certificates, and much more. It’s largely the luck of the draw, but you never know, you apple could come out in front. The derby starts at 3 pm, but you’ll want to have picked up your apple and have checked in before that. 

From this point in the day it will be very hot, so we recommend a break. A shower, or a nap even, to escape the heat of the day will be just what the doctor ordered. Our rooms at Red River Ranch have plenty of AC and soft towels, and since it’s only a quick drive away from Torrey Apple Days, it’s the ideal location for a regroup. 

For a relaxing evening, 7 am is Bingo at the Torrey Pavillion. For something a bit more lively, wander down to the The Big Apple for live music and dancing. Hosted by Borderline, you’re sure to experience the full gambit of small town charm and friendliness, as well as great music. Beginning at 8:30, it’s angled more towards teens and adults than little ones, and continues to 11 pm. 

But no 4th of July celebration would be complete without fireworks. In full patriotic spirit, the final event of the evening will be a full fireworks display, the perfect ending to a perfect day. 

And there you have it. Your own guide to Torrey Apple Days, and a chance to celebrate the 4th in true American fashion. Pick and chose your activities, or do them all. Either way it’s going to be a fantastic weekend. Happy 4th of July!

Thanks for waiting as we got everything ready to welcome guests back to the Lodge at Red River Ranch.

Online reservations are open for all available dates during this season. Here’s the link for our booking portal.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us via email at thelodge@redriverranch.com, or by phone at 435–425–3322.

As always, please use any of our resources as you plan your next Southern Utah vacation. We have itinerary suggestions, top ten lists, helpful blog posts, and more to help you make the most of your upcoming trip.

We hope to see you at the Lodge soon.

— The Lodge
at Red River Ranch

We love all our great national parks. And we love them even more when they’re free to enter! Every December the National Park Service sets a few days aside during the coming year when all entrance fees will be waived. And we get to explore the parks for free! It’s the perfect way to celebrate the ending of one year and the beginning of another.

Photo by Kush Dwived via unsplash.com

Which Days Exactly?

Okay, so for 2025, these are the free days at every national park and national monument in the country. It’s the same holidays as 2024, so no surprises there, but with some date changes. Here’s the list:

January 20, 2025: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
April 19, 2025: First day of National Park Week
June 19, 2025: Juneteenth
August 4, 2025: Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
September 27, 2025: National Public Lands Day
November 11, 2025: Veterans Day

What If My Park Is Usually Free?

Not all of the national parks charge an entrance fee. But four out of five in Utah do. The odd one out is Capitol Reef, which is always free to enter. However there is a scenic route in the park which does charge a toll. (Which you should definitely plan on doing!) This toll will be waived on the free days, just like the entrance fees at the other parks. Across the country there are similar situations at other free-to-enter national parks. Visit the official page of the specific park that you are planning to visit for complete details.

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We’re Still Getting Juneteenth

Just like 2024, the NPS is adding Juneteenth to its roster of free days. Juneteenth became a national holiday only a couple years ago, so in case you hadn’t heard, it commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States. The holiday’s name is a portmanteau of the words “June” and “nineteenth”, as it was on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War. (Thanks to Wikipedia for that snippet.)

Plan On It!

While most entrance fees aren’t going to break the bank on your road trip vacations, it’s still a good chance to save a few bucks. So start making those vacation plans now! We hope to see you all in the new year! Happy 2025!

Thanksgiving Day is tomorrow! And it seems like a good opportunity for us at the Lodge at Red River Ranch to express our gratitude for some of the amazing things in our lives. Let’s break it down so that you can all see what’s important to us, and how grateful we are to all of you, our guests.

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We’re Thankful for Capitol Reef National Park…

Capitol Reef is an amazing place! If you’ve spent any time on our site, in our blog, or at the Lodge, then you know that it’s the greatest spot on earth! (In our opinion.) We love everything about it, from the orchards of Fruita, to the vast overlooks of the Waterpocket Fold, to the secret southern canyons, and the towering monoliths of the north. Capitol Reef is a national park that grabs at your heart and won’t let go. And we are thankful to live every day near such a special, wild, and fantastic place!

Photo by John Fowle via unsplash.com

…and for the Beauty of the Greater Southern Utah Region.

But let’s not forget about the rest of Southern Utah! We are grateful as well for all the beauty in this part of the state. There are four other national parks, each (almost) as good as Capitol Reef: Zion with its massive walls and hidden gardens, Arches with its innumerable natural arches and bridges, the wilderness expanse of Canyonlands, and the weird, otherworldly appeal of Bryce Canyon. And that’s just the national parks! There are so many other amazing spots that stir the soul in Southern Utah! We’ve written about a bunch of them before, like Monument Valley, Lake Powell, or Horseshoe Canyon. Everywhere you look it’s wonder after wonder.

Photo by Danika Perkinson via unsplash.com

We’re Thankful for a National Park Service.

With so much of our gratitude directed toward the public lands of Southern Utah, we feel like we should also mention how thankful we are to the National Parks Service for keeping and preserving these lands. And it’s not just conservation work that NPS handles, they are the agency responsible for making sure we can have easy access to places that are often difficult to get to. For instance, even 50 years ago getting to Capitol Reef was mostly by dirt roads with few developments to the park. And without all the management and improvements to the parks, we at the Lodge wouldn’t have anyone to welcome to this area. Which brings us to our final point…

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Most of All We’re Thankful for Our Guests

The Lodge at Red River Ranch has been operating for over 35 years. And every year we get to welcome hundreds of guests to stay and enjoy this special setting. Many of you come back year after year. We are honored that you choose to stay with us, and that we have the chance to get to know you. You all are the reason that we are able to live in such a breathtaking place. So thank you for coming to the Lodge, we hope that we can make you’re stay an unforgettable one.

Happy Thanksgiving!

As you and your loved ones celebrate Thanksgiving this year, we want you to remember that we are thankful for you. We hope there is plenty in your lives that you are thankful for too. Happy holiday, from all of us at the Lodge at Red River Ranch!

Memorial Day is now in our rear-view mirror, which means it’s (unofficially) summer! We at the Lodge at Red River Ranch are looking forward to doing and seeing some cool things this summer. Here’s what we’ve got on our list so far:

Photo by Rainer Krienke via unsplash.com

Torrey Apple Days – Every year the town of Torrey puts on a Fourth of July party that is the envy of small towns across the country. The tree-lined streets are the picture perfect setting for the parades and events that celebrate Independence Day. Join us if you want a taste of classic Americana. This year Torrey Apple Days takes place on July 6th, 2024! Here’s a link to their official Facebook page.

Dark Sky Nights – We love star gazing! We look forward to the warmer nights of summer to go outside and observe the heavens. And it just so happens that Capitol Reef National Park is officially a Dark Sky Park. And let us tell you, there isn’t a better place in the United States to lay down and watch the galaxies spin above you. So if you’re a star-gazing enthusiast like we are, put this on your summer list.

Splash Around Lake Powell – Lake Powell and the larger Glen Canyon Recreation Area is one of our favorite summer destinations. Who doesn’t want to play in a huge lake on a hot summer day? Plus it’s beautiful, and there are myriads of little canyons to play in. We’ve written about Lake Powell here, so if this sounds like some where you want to go, check that post out.

Going Somewhere New – That’s the great thing about Southern Utah! There’s always somewhere new to explore! We’ve been living here for decades, and we still haven’t seen every amazing place there is to see. So every year we try to find someplace new to check out – maybe it’s in Capitol Reef or one of the national parks – or maybe it’s somewhere even more remote. We’ll let you know at the end of the summer what we discovered! Maybe you will find someplace new as well!

Photo by David Harraka via unsplash.com

Make Your Plans Too!

If you’re wondering where to start, we might be able to help. Check out this page for the Top Ten Things to do in Capitol Reef, and this page for itineraries for a few of Southern Utah’s best destinations. Have a great summer!

Capitol Reef National Park has been growing in popularity for years now. In fact, we get about 1.2 million visitors every year! So, as you can imagine, some of the infrastructure that was created decades ago to service the park isn’t quite up to the job anymore. And if you’ve driven on the Capitol Reef Scenic Drive recently, then you’ll know that this small, two-lane road can become a bit hectic during peak hours. It just wasn’t built to handle this kind of traffic. Luckily however, a fix is happening soon!

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Time for a Little T.L.C.

Starting in just a couple of days, on April 29, 2024, the National Park Service will begin a rehabilitation project for the Scenic Drive. This renovation is expected to last throughout the summer, concluding sometime this fall. There are four stated goals for the project:

1. Expand parking capacity and delineation of parking spots. This aims to improve safety and access while reducing the number of vehicles parked along the highway and Scenic Drive.

2. Improve drainage due to the area’s flood-prone landscape.

3. Slightly widen the road especially in tight curve areas; allowing larger vehicles to pass each other without leaving the road surface.

4. Make accessibility improvements including additional accessible parking spaces, sidewalks, and low-slope grading.

Hopefully this project will make the Scenic Drive a much easier way to access that part of Capitol Reef – without all the current drawbacks.

Photo by Camille Couvez via unsplash.com

Ok, But Can I Still Access The Trails on the Scenic Drive?

Well… no, not for long. We know that some of the coolest hikes have their trailheads on the Scenic Drive. (Shoutout to Cassidy Arch, still one of our favorites after all this time.) If you are heading to Capitol Reef in the next couple of weeks, you can still access the parking area for Cassidy Arch and Grand Wash through May 12th. On the 13th, however, the road will be closed entirely for the duration of the project.

Keep in mind, you can still access the Grand Wash from the trailhead on Highway 24 (updated map here), but you will have to backtrack to your car. You can’t have a vehicle parked on both sides like we usually recommend.

And you CAN still make it to Cassidy Arch after May 13th, if you hike from Cohab Canyon, across the Frying Pan trail, and connect to the Cassidy Arch trail. But again, you will have to backtrack the way you came. We don’t recommend this for a couple of reasons – it’s very hot, and very long. Most hikers are not up for it. Instead, we’ve got a couple of alternate ideas for what to do while the Scenic Drive is closed.

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What You Should See Instead

If you are visiting the park after May 13th, we have a couple of other suggestions for you. These areas of the park will be good substitutes for anything that you will miss on the Scenic Drive.

For a great scenic road tour, drive the Burr Trail –
Burr Trail
(Road Trip | 62 mile loop | 4 – 6 hours)

We’ve written a pretty descent guide to the Burr Trail already. So we’ll link to it here. For now, we’ll just say that it’s one of our all-time favorite things to do in Capitol Reef. You will get to see so much more of the park, including the Waterpocket Fold, the southern section that is much less visited. We highly recommend that you check this out. When you’re done, you won’t even care that you couldn’t see the Scenic Drive!

For a canyon hike like the Grand Wash, try Cohab Canyon –
Cohab Canyon
(Moderate | 1.7 – 2.9 miles one-way | 1 – 2.5 hours)

This is a great canyon hike! It’s more narrow than the Grand Wash, with lots of little side canyons that you can explore. It also has the advantage of an open road on either side of the trail, so you can arrange for a shuttle to take you back to your vehicle. Park one car at the Gifford House or Picnic Area, and one car at the Hickman bridge trailhead.

Check out this guide for more details.

For an arch/overlook experience, try Hickman Bridge and the Rim Overlook –
Hickman Bridge and the Rim Overlook
(Strenuous | 4.6 – 6.1 miles out-and-back | 4 – 5 hours)

Hickman Bridge is a short detour from the main hike to the Rim Overlook, so check that out first. The Hickman Bridge trail is probably the most popular hike in park, so expect some crowds – especially since Cassidy Arch is closed. After you wander around and under the bridge, head back and continue toward the overlook. We promise it’s the one of the best views in the entire park, and will more than make up for what you’ll miss from the top of Cassidy Arch!

You can get more info from this guide on Hickman Bridge and the Rim Overlook.

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We’ll Keep You Updated

The Lodge at Red River Ranch will keep an eye on any developments throughout the Scenic Drive Rehabilitation Project. We’ll let you know if anything noteworthy happens. And, of course, we’ll tell you the moment the Scenic Drive is fully open again! You can also get updates directly from the park’s website here. In the meantime, we hope you can still have a great trip to Capitol Reef this summer!

Southern Utah has become a pretty popular place. Over the last four decades, we at the Lodge at Red River Ranch have seen this part of the world go from relatively unknown to a world-famous travel destination. Part of that is due to the rise of social media and the prevalence of geotagging locations, and part of that is just because Southern Utah is so awesome. But the result is that you now have to plan ahead and make reservations in advance for your entire travel itinerary. So let’s talk about what you can do you to book your Southern Utah vacation!

Photo by Taylor Brandon via unsplash.com

Booking the Parks and Campsites

Many of the most popular parts of the national parks – think Angels Landing trail in Zion – now require online reservations. (And in some cases, like in Arches National Park, you need a reservation to enter the park at all.) Recreation.gov is the official government website that handles all the bookings for the National Park Service. So this is where you need to go to get your tickets. The site also handles all the lottery entries for places like The Wave and Vermillion Cliffs.

It is also the place you need to go to get your campsite reservations. It is next to impossible to find a spot at any of the national park campsites just by showing up and looking around. (There is one exception, which we’ll cover in a minute.) Even if you see empty spots, they are already held for people who have used recreation.gov to secure their place. All of which is to say: if you’re planning a vacation this year, head over to the site, and start making your bookings. Check on the national parks to see if you need timed entry tickets, enter the lotteries for any of the popular parts of the parks you hope to visit, and be sure to reserve any campsites you are hoping to stay at.

Photo by Katie Musial via unsplash.com

The Only Exceptions

Some of the primitive campsite in the national parks purposefully do not allow online reservations. As an example, the Cathedral Valley Campsite in the northern section of Capitol Reef National Park is still first-come-first-served. If you messed up and didn’t book in advance (presumably because you didn’t see this blog post in time) you can try heading to one of these primitive campsites.

Photo by Red River Ranch

It’s Good Advice for Hotels Too

As we might have mentioned, Southern Utah is a popular place. The national parks get booked out, but so too do the hotels that service the area. If you’re not much into camping, and you want to have a more comfortable and luxurious vacation, then you gotta get your Southern Utah hotels booked as early as possible too. Book as many months in advance as you can to avoid places being sold out. If you are interested in staying with us, you can make reservations for the Lodge at Red River Ranch here. But wherever you go, just be sure to finalize your plans, and make your reservations as soon as possible in order to have the best, and most stress-free Southern Utah trip!

You know what’s better than visiting the national parks? Visiting the national parks and getting in for free! And every year the National Park Service designates a few days during the coming year when the entrance fee is waived. And you can explore the great outdoors for free!

Photo by Yuval Levy via unsplash.com

Which Days Exactly?

Okay, so for 2024 here’s the list of free days at the national parks. The first one is this coming Monday!

• January 15: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• April 20: First day of National Park Week
• June 19: Juneteenth
• August 4: Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
• September 28: National Public Lands Day
• November 11: Veterans Day

What If My Park Is Usually Free?

Not all of the national parks charge an entrance fee. But four out of five in Utah do. The odd one out is Capitol Reef, which is always free to enter. However there is a scenic route in the park which does charge a toll. (Which you should definitely plan on doing!) This toll will be waived on the free days, just like the entrance fees at the other parks. Across the country there are similar situations at other free-to-enter national parks. Visit the official page of the specific park that you are planning to visit for complete details.

One Extra Day This Year!

If you track the number of free days that the National Park Service offers every year, then you will notice that in 2024 we are getting one more free day compared to 2023. Hooray! This year the NPS is celebrating Juneteenth for the first time by waiving the entrance fee. Juneteenth became a national holiday only a couple years ago, so if you want to read a little more about it check out this page. And be sure to celebrate it in style be hanging out in the national parks, for free of course!

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Make Plans!

Ok! Now that you know when the free days are, it’s time to make some plans to visit the national parks! If you plan on visiting on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, then you should consider some of the winter activities available in the parks. (We’ve written about that here.) And if you’re thinking about checking out any of Utah’s fine national parks, then we’ve got guides for all of them! Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, Zion, and of course Capitol Reef. The parks are beckoning, and adventure awaits in 2024! Especially on days that are free!

Another year is over! We blogged about a lot of things this year, and covered a lot of topics. This past year was a big one, so let’s take a look back at the some of the more memorable posts that we wrote in 2023.

This is the Blog at Red River Ranch: Year in Review.

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We Wrote About Film and Television

One of the big tent-pole cultural shows this year was season three of The Mandalorian. We watched it, you watched it, everybody watched it. But besides seeing the always-adorable Baby Yoda again, what we loved most about this season was seeing Lake Powell as the backdrop of the the Mandalorian hide-out. We wrote about it here in The Mandalorian Visits Lake Powell.

We also gave a shoutout to the 2002 DreamWorks animated film Spirit, which is set in the American West and Southern Utah. We detailed all the real-life locations used in the film, which you can read in our post Spirit: Film Locations.

Photo by the Walt Disney Company via disneyplus.com

We Covered the Big Events

There were two really big events at the Southern Utah national parks this year. And we wrote and posted about both. The first was the hundredth anniversary of Bryce Canyon National Park. (Happy birthday, again, Bryce!) The park had a big Centennial Celebration with live music and a birthday ceremony, and we wrote about it – as well as the history of Bryce Canyon – here in our post Happy 100th, Bryce Canyon!

The second big event the year was the annular solar eclipse. Most of Southern Utah had great views of the phenomenon, but Capitol Reef National Park was right in the path, and had was the best place to observe it. So we kept everyone updated on all the celestial happenings and the ways Capitol Reef was celebrating in our post 2023 Annular Eclipse. In Capitol Reef!

Photo by Mark Basarab via unsplash.com

We Talked About Hidden Locations

One of our favorite things is to write about the places that non-locals just don’t know about, and aren’t likely to discover without a little help. We did that this year too. In our post Sunglow Canyon we wrote about a little canyon tucked away from the main road, and located only a few minutes from us at the Lodge at Red River Ranch. Most people drive right by it, but we encouraged you to stop and check it out.

We also wrote about what is possibly the best place to bike in all of Southern Utah in our post Ride Gooseberry Mesa! Gooseberry Mesa has the best views of Zion National Park, with the best mix of slickrock and singletrack, and the best routes that we know about.

Photo by Tim Foster unsplash.com

We Hiked. A Lot.

Obviously we like to write about hiking. It’s kinda our number one thing. And this year we wrote about the 5 Best Spring Hikes in Capitol Reef, some of favorite trails in Arches National Park, short Labor Day Hikes, and the best hikes for autumn and winter.

And speaking of hiking, we made a public service announcement about how Google Maps finally made hiking in the national parks a priority with some much-needed improvements. Those changes should help us all hike better in 2024 and beyond.

Photo by Alex Holt via unsplash.com

We’re Excited About the New Year

Next year, we’ll be writing even more about the best things to see and do in Southern Utah. We’ll see you then! Happy New Year! And thanks for making 2023 a great year for us at the Lodge at Red River Ranch.

Zion’s Making Changes

Some pretty big changes are coming to Zion.

Starting next month, on January 5, 2024, Zion National Park will change it’s fee structure for all campgrounds in the park. The park will also switch to using recreation.gov as the only way to make reservations for canyoneering, backpacking camping, and all other Wilderness permits.

So let’s dig into this and see how it will effect everyone who is planning on visiting Zion in 2024.

Photo by Zach Betten via unsplash.com

Camping Fees Updated

Here is the break-down of the new prices that Zion will charge you to camp in the Frontcountry Campgrounds. As you can see some of these fees are going up about 175%. But as Jeff Bradybaugh, Zion National Park Superintendent said, “We adopted these changes to improve accessibility and visitor service. These changes are going to help us maintain essential facilities like restrooms and drinking water systems, rehabilitate campsites, and simplify applications for Wilderness Recreation Permits.”

Photo by NEOM via unsplash.com

Permit Updates

In addition to the camping fee changes, Zion is now making online reservations mandatory for booking any of their permits or entering any of their lotteries. These include both day-use and overnight permits. So if you want to explore any of the backcountry of the park, head over to Zion’s recreation.gov page and start booking!

These changes don’t effect the permit lottery system for hiking Angels Landing. It’s not in the backcountry, but it is too popular for it’s own good. So if you are thinking of going for that, check out this page for the latest information on how to enter the lottery in 2024.

But let’s look at the types of permits and the cost for each under Zion’s new system –

Day use applications and reservations 

Day Use permit fees 

Note: Only applicants who get a permit through a lottery, by advance reservation, or by walking up will pay the $10 per person per day fee. 
 

Overnight Use  

Permits are for overnight activity such as camping in designated Wilderness campsites, bivouac (bivy) camping on climbs, and at-large camping in authorized areas. 

Overnight use applications and reservations 

Overnight use permit fees 

Note: Only applicants who get a permit through advance reservation or by walking up will pay the additional $7 per person per night fee.