Timezone confusion

Question

I’ve been sat trying to work this one out for longer than I care to admit….

We are travelling from the UK on 23 October for an 18 night roadtrip. I’m struggling to work out timezone differences and don’t want to be late for any of our prebooked tours etc! This is the section that is causing some confusion with both area timezone changes and clocks changing for daylight saving:

Saturday 1st November - drive Vegas to Zion NP Sunday 2nd November - Zion NP

Monday 3rd November - drive Zion NP to Page/Lake Powell

Tuesday 4th November - drive Page to Grand Canyon Village

Wednesday 5th November - drive GC to Lake Havasu

Thursday 6th November - drive Lake Havasu to LA

Would be grateful for any help!

Thanks

Answer

Traveling through Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and California in early November can definitely be confusing because of the combination of time zone differences and the end of Daylight Saving Time (DST). Here’s a clear breakdown to help you plan your itinerary without worrying about missing prebooked tours.

Important points to note:

Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. ends on Sunday, 3 November 2024. At 2:00 AM local time, clocks fall back one hour.
Arizona (except the Navajo Nation) does not observe DST and remains on Mountain Standard Time (MST, UTC-7) year-round.
Neighboring states like Utah, Nevada, and California do observe DST, so their clocks will fall back on 3 November.

Now, breaking down your itinerary:

Saturday 1 November – Drive Vegas to Zion NP: Las Vegas is in Pacific Time (PT, UTC-8 with DST still in effect). Zion NP is in Mountain Time (MT, UTC-7 with DST still in effect). Since DST has not ended yet, there is a 1-hour difference. So when you leave Vegas at 10:00 AM PT, it will be 11:00 AM MT in Zion.
Sunday 2 November – Zion NP: No DST change yet, so time in Zion is Mountain Daylight Time (MDT, UTC-6). Zion will still be 1 hour ahead of Las Vegas.
Monday 3 November – Drive Zion NP to Page/Lake Powell: DST ends today at 2:00 AM in states that observe it. Utah falls back to MST (UTC-7). Page, AZ is in MST, but note that the Navajo Nation (just northeast of Page) does observe DST. Most visitors to Lake Powell around Page remain on MST. Essentially, from this day onward, the times in Utah, Nevada, and California revert to standard time, so the time difference with Arizona disappears (Page and surrounding AZ areas remain UTC-7).
Tuesday 4 November – Drive Page to Grand Canyon Village: Grand Canyon Village (South Rim) is in Arizona MST. No changes needed; Page AZ and Grand Canyon Village are the same time.
Wednesday 5 November – Drive GC to Lake Havasu: Lake Havasu City, AZ is also on MST, same as Grand Canyon Village. No time changes.
Thursday 6 November – Drive Lake Havasu to LA: Los Angeles is in Pacific Standard Time (PST, UTC-8). So when you arrive in LA, you will be 1 hour behind Arizona. For example, if you leave Lake Havasu at 10:00 AM MST, it will be 9:00 AM PST in LA.

Summary of time zone rules for your trip:

Before 3 Nov: Nevada (Las Vegas) and Utah (Zion) are on DST, Arizona is standard time; Nevada is 1 hour behind Zion.
On/after 3 Nov: DST ends, all states except Arizona revert to standard time. Arizona and surrounding areas (Utah, Page, Grand Canyon) are now on the same UTC offset (UTC-7), except California, which is UTC-8.

Tips to avoid confusion:

Check each hotel’s local time when booking tours or arrivals.
Consider setting your phone to update automatically with local time.
When crossing state lines in early November, double-check local time, especially around 3 Nov when DST ends.

Following this guide, your itinerary should remain consistent, and you won’t miss any tours or reservations due to time changes.