Hi all,
I'm a single Dad and would like to have some quality time with my 13 year old daughter over her summer break. I could use some good advice for planning a 10-14 day driving trip through the southwest U.S. What I envision is flying into Phoenix or Las Vegas, renting a car (or small RV) and spending a day or two at scenic sites, such as The Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Monument Valley, etc. We like easy hikes, guided horse riding, rafting, swimming, etc. I need to do this trip as cost effectively as possible without living in a tent. Rustic and simple is fine.
Have some good advice, itinerary I could use, where we should go, what we should do there, recommendations on where we could stay, etc? I would really appreciate whatever help is available.
Thanks.
I need help planning a 10-14 day driving trip around the Southwest US
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I've never been to Monument Valley so I'll leave that to others.
With 10-14 days you can see a lot.
To save on car dropoff charges you want to come and go from the same city.
I think you can easily start in Salt Lake City and do a loop that includes Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlanda and Arches National Parks. There are also some really cool sights along the way that are not in national parks.
The North Rim of the Grand Canyon would easily fit in though the South Rim would add more driving.
There are easy hikes in all of these places. Rafting in Moab (near Arches) and horseback riding in Bryce Canyon.
These parks are all very different so it's not like "seen one and seen them all".
The problem is that since she's 13 you'll be doing all of the driving and you'll do a lot.
I guess I should have asked at the beginning. Is this trip her idea? What are her interests? At 13 is she interested in doing a trip like this rather than testing with her friends all day.
I've gone to these places alone, with a friend and with my daughter. We all like scenery, moderate hiking and are into photography. So I enjoy it.
Let's let some others refine it a bit.
About lodging.
You're always better off inpark than not. However, you'll have to work hard for this summer. Once you have a plan you'll be calling every day for inpark cancellations.
Zion. You can stay in Springdale just outside the park.
Bryce Canyon. Ruby's is just outside the park. I would try to not stay farther than that.
Canyonlands. No inpark lodging but Torrey is a couple of miles to the west.
Arches and Canyonlands. No inpark lodging but Moab is closest town at about 5 miles.
Salt lake city is about 5 hours from Zion and a little more than 4 hours from Moab.
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OH, man, there used to be a WONDERFUL guidebook called "See the Southwest in 10-14 days! It gave tips about staying in colleges, etc. And in truth, my dog ate it!! Of course it would be out of date now, but really really a cool book. Hope you get good ideas.
We've booked our rafting trip through www.raftthecanyon.com. It's north west of The Grand Canyon in Page, AZ. It's much cheaper to book through them than going through Xanterra, the booking agent for The Grand Canyon.
For economy, do check possible places to do a loop from. We've used Vegas, Albuquerque, Denver and Phoenix, depending on what we wanted to see and cost. In the old days Vegas was much less expensive when you factored in rental car costs and flights. Lately I've also been looking at time of arrival and gas costs as well as flights and car costs.
You can do a nice loop (generally the cheapest for car rental) from any of the cities and there are some less expensive options of places to stay if you are flexible. That said, I would try to stay in the park at Grand Canyon if possible.
One nice trip would be to get into Vegas by early afternoon, head for Zion (3 hours) spend a day or two there, then go to Bryce for a day or two (maybe a horseback ride near here), then to Page for a smooth water raft trip, then to Grand Canyon south rim and then back to Vegas with a stop at Hoover Dam. Note, this trip could be done in the other direction too.
You could also do a great loop from Albuquerque or Denver too.
I would look for lodging with a pool for at least some of the trip.
There are lots of TRs here, one way to find them is to use the search box another is to click on the names of the people who answer questions about the area as they often post after trips.
Last summer I did a loop from Vegas that included Bryce, Grand Canyon North Rim and Zion. With 10-14 days you could add more parks but I would include those three. My trip report might give you some ideas - http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/water-in-the-desert-the-great-southwest-national-parks-trip.cfm (This was half of our vacation, we also spent a week in NM/Colo but we had to fly there and do a new car rental as drop fees were prohibitive. )
We could easily have used another night at Bryce to do another day trip (Willis Creek), another night in Zion (so much to do there) and a night or two in Page, AZ (we just stopped there en-route). So that would be ten days, not even counting a night or two in Vegas if you want.
Why do I have an odd feeling that to consult the daughter directly on the itinerary, and to reduce the (perceived by me) "17 countries in 14 days!" -like tone of the trip, would be extra meaningful for a father wanting no more than to bond with a 13yo daughter???
I don't envision you can do too much great bonding if causing yourselves to drive 500 miles a day, or whatever. A big 'loop' might be less ideal for this than would be 2 or 3 meaningful destinations.
And Phoenix and Vegas are hotter than blue blazes during the summer... and certainly Vegas is no grand idea for a 13yo.
While I agree on the Grand Canyon, perhaps Yellowstone or the mountains of Colorado might be a more suitable backdrop to such a shared journey.
You probably won't have too many chances to duplicate this, and to let her have a strong say in the planning is more important than is the final destination(s).
I totally agree with NorthwestMale. Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone. Maybe even somewhere like Redwoods/California Coast. Even somewhere "off the radar" like Lassen is a pretty nice place for 3 or 4 days.
For what you've listed, Flagstaff is probably your best start/finish location (Day 1). A half-hour north of Flagstaff is the trailhead for Humphreys Peak, the highest point in Arizona (12,633 feet) [http://www.summitpost.org/humphreys-peak/150241]. It is a moderately strenuous hike with outstanding views (you can see the GC from the top). This 10 mile hike will probably take a whole day, but lodging at the South Rim is less than 2 hours away up US-180 (Day 2).
When we visited the GC we spent about a day on the South Rim. We hiked down into the canyon a little (saw a massive condor), and had ample time to see everything we wanted. Our only disappointment was that we had to leave before dusk, when the colours truly come alive (Day 3).
From the South Rim it is 5 hours to Zion on routes AZ-64, US-89, and UT-9. Zion has tons of hiking, and you could easily spend a week here, but two days should give you enough time to connect with the park and enjoy a few good hikes (Day 4-6).
Cedar Breaks is just north of Zion, but you may want to head directly to Bryce Canyon to save time. UT-12, which goes from US-89/Bryce Canyon to UT-24/Capitol Reef, is a National Byway, the "best of the best" as scenic drives go. Additionally, it connects two National Parks you won't want to miss. Drive the two-hours between Zion and Bryce on Day 6, then spend some time visiting the park on Day 7. Day 8 you can drive to Capitol Reef. Google estimates just over 3 hours, but you may want additional time to stop for pictures. Spend the rest of Day 8 and the morning of Day 9 at Capitol Reef.
Because of the topography there is no direct route between Capitol Reef and Arches, so you'll have to spend some time on the slab of I-70 (UT-24, I-70, US-191). It's 3.5 hours to Moab, so you can either drive the afternoon of Day 9 or the morning of Day 10, depending on whether you want more time at Capitol Reef or at Arches. Arches is fairly driveable; you can see many of the formations from the park roads. Delicate Arch, however, is fairly remote. You can pick your battles for arches like this, Landscape Arch, and the Windows (Day 10).
Canyonlands is very close to Arches, but again you may want to skip it to save time for a more varied itinerary. It's a little less than four hours to Mesa Verde via US-191 and US-491, but I highly recommend you make a driving day of it and add some Rockies to your agenda. Heading south on US-191, split east onto AZ-46, which becomes CO-90 at the state line. Take CO-145 and CO-62 to Ridgeway, where the fun begins. Heading south on US-550 to Durango, this is the Million Dollar Highway through Red Mountain Pass, one of the most beautiful roads in the country. From Durango you head west on US-160 to Mesa Verde. At 6.5 hours, this becomes Day 11.
Mesa Verde is easily Day 12 all on its own. There are several "houses" or villages you can visit, with varying degrees of difficult to visit them. The architecture alone is astounding, notwithstanding the culture behind it. You can either stay in the park (if you have a camper) or just outside in Cortez (motel).
Driving back to Flagstaff on US-160, you should stop at Four Corners. It's a tourist trap to be sure, but it's just so much fun to sprawl yourself across four states. It's 4 hours from here to Flagstaff via US-160 and US-89, so depending on your time you might want to stop at Sunset Crater Volcano on the way. This is a little-visited but very interesting cinder-cone with easy hikes.
If it's financially viable, I'd recommend renting a camper. The trip I've outlined should be in the neighborhood of 1300-1400 miles, which is the accepted 100 mi/day that most rental places expect. Camping allows you to stay in parks (and therefore be closer to everything you want to do), and for very affordable rates. Most campgrounds are less than $25/night, with varied hookups. Plus, speaking from experience, cooking together and sitting around a campfire with your parent is as good a bonding exercise as anything.
Note that I have not visited all the parks I mentioned, so others may have better insight for individual locations. I have also not personally attempted Humphreys Peak but have heard good reports of the hike from friends.