Charleston SC to Arizona by small plane! Need ideas!

[Guest]

My fiancée and I are planning a 3 to 4-week adventure from our home airport, out west and back in June. A southern US route out… up to Utah/Idaho and a northerly loop back.

We’re 50-somethings and like active outdoor and nature excursions. We love food and drink but probably not NOLA or Vegas-level. But hikes, caverns, scenic places, National Parks and foodie towns!!

Think “road trip” (just higher-up!) so of course we’ll rent or ride from small airports.

Looking for YOUR ideas on stop-and-stay spots along the southern leg. A day or a few…

[Dominic]

Definitely hit Sedona, fly over the painted desert, petrified Forest, meteor crater and up to monument valley then over to Page, AZ and the famous horseshoe, antelope canyon North and South. also the Grand canyon on your way to Zion national Park Bryce canyon Moab and Mesa Verde

[Sharon]

The White Mts. In eastern Arizona. The Sedona area north of Phoenix.

[Inge]

Definitely Sedona area and Bryce National Park. Moab is nice too.

[Tommy]

I flew to Southern Utah with a friend in his Cessna 210 a few years back. He does it annually. We only stopped once in the midwest to refuel, but once we got into Arizona and Utah, we stopped at little airports for their uniqueness such as Monument Valley, Sedona, Escalante, and Kanab.

We didn't go any further north than Kanab in Southern Utah. We go to Zion National Park nearly every year for landscape photography and flying into Kanab, renting a car, makes for a short drive to Zion. With the other airports, Escalante gets you close to grand staircase Escalante national park.

Monument valley airport isn't right next to monument valley NP. Sedona has so many opportunities for hiking.

[Sharon]

Don’t rule out NOLA. It doesn’t have to be done on an extreme part level. Natchitoches, Louisiana is a darling town on the Cane River that is often overlooked. Steel Magnolias was filmed there and was home to the author. Palo Duro Canyon in Amarillo, Texas is a great place to explore.

[Kim Kile]

We just did a wonderful tour outside Savanna called Backwater Adventures, kayaking through the Blackwater swamps of the Ebenezer Creek. Look it up. Super different and fun.

But Arches and MOAB a must