europeannovice

Hello fellow fodorites.

My family is thinking of doing a national park tour possibly next summer and just like I did for Europe, I am coming to all you knowledgeable fodorites for help. It will be DH, DS and myself and possibly other relatives may join us at some point along the way. Once I figure out the basics, they can decide if they will join and at which juncture.

We are thinking of starting in Utah then possibly moving on to Arizona and Nevada and on to California to visit some other relatives before flying back home.

My rough draft sketch of an itinerary looks something like this:

Day 1--Torrey-Capital Reef National Park overnight stay

Day 2-3 Bryce Canyon two night stay

Day 4 Zion National Park one night

Day 5-6 Grand Canyon (DH and I have been but not DS. We did this on same trip as Las Vegas many years ago.) two nights

Day 7-8 Las Vegas--midway point to rest and do something different (DH and I have been there before but not DS--he is too young to gamble but there would be things for him to see and do there--Hoover Dam tour, Bellagio light show, Mirage volcano erupting etc.) Two nights

Day 9-10 Yosemite National Park. Two nights

Day 11-14 San Francisco (Again loads of things to do here and can spend more than a week and not see everything. DH and I have been before but this would be DS's first time here.) Four nights.

I am aware that there will be a lot of driving involved to get from each point to the next. I am trying to break it up though where we have at least a two day stay to account for the 4-6 hour drive and then to have time at least to view the major sites of each park. Obviously would not have time to fully immerse in any one but at least get a flavor for it.

In your opinion, is it too ambitious to tackle all of these. Should we leave out the Grand Canyon or definitely make the extra few hours drive from Zion to it before heading over to Las Vegas? Zion is closer to Las Vegas than the Grand Canyon so I am debating. Although they don't call it the Grand Canyon for nothing and it is worth seeing for sure.

Is Torrey Capital Reef National Park worth seeing or should we drive straight to Bryce from Salt Lake City?

Am I allowing ample time to see the major points of each park or would it be a real great rush and we should skip one of them and if so which one or two to skip?

I should probably start a new thread but where would you recommend to stay at each place that is clean and comfortable and within easy reach of the parks?

Myer

I think you're merging several trips into one.

I would keep this one as Utah with a possible stop in GC North Rim.

You can do a great loop from SLC to Moab (Arches, Canyonlands, Dead Horse Point), Goblin Valley, Capitol Reef (not one of my personal favorite), Lower Creek Falls, Devil's Garden, Willis Creek, Bryce Canyon, GC North Rim & Zion.

I did that 2 years ago without GC and Zion (was there the year before).

I'm not sure how much from your son will have in LV if he's too yound to gamble or gto to shows. I would save the money and return from SLC.

Wherever possible stay in-park. Bryce & Zion have inpark lodging.

Tricia

My family did a ten day trip similar to yours.
We flew in/out of SLC. Our first stop was Moab where we visited Arches & Canyonlands National Parks and the Dead Horse Pt. St. Park. We then drove to Page and stayed on Lake Powell. The north rim of the Grand Canyon was our third stop, then Las Vegas. After our Vegas break, we went to Zion and ended our trip w/Bryce NP.

I can tell you that I could go back and spend the entire 2 weeks in Utah alone. What a spectacular state!

We stayed inside the National Parks when we could. A highlight was a cabin at the north rim of the Grand Canyon, with deer right outside of front porch in the evening. A rainbow over the canyon during dinner was another highlight. We couldn't get a room inside Bryce, so we stayed at Ruby's. It was great - and the horseback riding in Red Canyon was a perfect last full day of vacation for us.

Have fun planning.

europeannovice

Well the real issue is that DS wants to go to California for sure to visit the relatives. DH and my thoughts were that instead of just doing San Francisco, we should attempt to visit the national parks since none of us have ever been to one although we have wanted to see them for a long time.

We first thought of just doing San Francisco and Yosemite which I think is only a 4 hour drive away but then instead of driving back to SF to get the plane back we wanted to see something else too. Then I decided to do San Francisco last on the loop that starts in Utah but it seems too ambitious.

That is why I am on the board to sort it all out.

spirobulldog

I am with Myer. I would stick with California or Utah/Grand Canyon. There is that much to do at these parks. I have been to every park in Utah except Bryce and every park in California except Channel Islands. I plan on seeing Bryce this next year. I normally spend 3-5 days in and around each place.

I would pick Utah if it is early summer(May thru early June). I would pick California for June or later.

Don't just scratch the parks off a list, actually experience them. There is a ton to do at each one. Hiking is endless, rafting, camping, canyoneering, rock climbing, 4 wheel drives, etc. I loved Arches and Zion. I also loved Sequoia, Yosemite, and Lassen. Yosemite really takes more than 2 days. You need at least 1 day each in- The Valley, Mariposa area, Hetch Hetchy, and Tuolomne Meadows. That is the bare minimum, IMOP. Moab Utah requires a minimum of about 4-5 days. I just returned from 3 days at Lassen and 2 at Redwoods NP and that wasn't enough. San Francisco need 3 or 4 days. Lassen is one of those great undiscovered places.

Search under my name and you will see some of my photos.
Myer has a lot of photos of Utah. www.travelwalks.com
This will give you a few ideas.

spirobulldog

I posted about the same time you did. Go to San Francisco. Add in 4-5 days at Yosemite. Take 2 days and see Point Reyes National Seashore. You might consider adding Lassen or Sequoia. Sequoia, in my opinion, has the best trees(better than Yosemite or The Redwoods, although they are great there also). Yosmite has killer waterfalls. Stay "in park", make reservations ASAP.

click on my name to see recent trip reports of Yosemite and Lassen, then follow link to photos if you like.

peterSale

Sorry to intrude, but I would like to do a similar trip in December 2011. We will have 4-5 weeks. Is this a more feasible time frame, knowing that there may be delays/exclusions due to snow? Cheers.

happytrailstoyou

Of all the beautiful drives in Utah, 12 between Bryce and Torrey is my favorite and 24 from Torrey to Hanksville is my second favorite.

Enjoy, HTTY

emalloy

peterSale, you might want to start another thread, December is a whole other trip. Snow is likely in the higher elevations. North rim of Grand Canyon will not be open, higher elevations in Yosemite will also be closed. South rim of GC will be open and may be beautiful with or without snow.

europeannovice

How many days does the typical traveler spend in each of the parks I mentioned? This would help me to narrow down my choices.

I have to get the guidebooks to read about some of the selected points in each area to decide which ones we really want to visit.

If we stick to California and save Utah for another trip, what are people's thoughts of Joshua Tree? Sequoia? Yosemite? Is that all doable in one trip? Let me know your thoughts

Myer

I spent part of 3 days in Arches (Fiery Furnace ranger led hike is about 3 hours itself) 4 altogether in Moab area, 1 in Capitol Reef, 1 in Zion (should have had 1 more), 2 in Bryce but I did an extra long hike (Navajo Loop, Peek-a-Boo, Queens Garden) the 2nd day.

spirobulldog

It is doable. What month are you considering? Joshua Tree can get very hot. Another thing that a lot of people do while visiting San Francisco is drive south along the coast towards Monterey and Big Sur. Sequoia and Yosemite are somewhat similar. Yosemite is much more crowded. They both have huge trees although the trees in Sequoia are more impressive. The waterfalls in Yosemite is unmatched.

The average person spends 4 hours in a National Park according to most statistics. Some of them can be done in a day, but most require 2-5 days. The Grand Canyon has a lot to do, but if you aren't going to raft or do some serious hiking down into the canyon, you can do it in a day. Myer is about right on the parks that he mentions(perhaps another day in each would be even better). Yosemite and Sequoia can be anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks each, depending on how much hiking you want to do. Don't rule out Lassen, depending on what month you are going to be there. Very interesting place and it even has a few Thermal Features(steamvents, mudpots, etc). A little mini yellowstone. You won't find many people there. It is probably 4-5 hours from SF. You could see the Redwoods, if you went there and the coast as well.

Yosemite is not to be missed, and I would allow 3 days minimum and really 5 would be better. Waterfalls are better in Late May thru the end of June.

Petersale,
you will encounter snow and and lot of the areas of the parks will be closed. You will be able to see some of the parks. What exactly do you have in mind? Might be better off to start your own post. Winter is very different than summer for the park in Utah and Californina.

Dayle

euro,

You are greatly underestimating the distances and how much there is to see, do and enjoy in our Natl Parks. I agree with the others - stick to either all California, or Utah and Grand Canyon.

EBZ

We did an 11 day AZ/UT trip this summer. We spent 2 nights at Bryce, 3 nights at Zion and 3 nights NRGC and 2 nights at Lake Powell. We felt 2 nights was good at Bryce, 3 nights in Zion was definately not long enough, could easily spend a whole week and 3 nights was fine at NRGC. Most would say 3 nights is too long at the GC but we enjoyed a more relaxed last few days of our road trip. But I agree with the others and think you should pick AZ/UT or a CAlifornia trip.

peterSale

Thanks, I will start a new post, but I am still in the very early stages of planning.

europeannovice

I thank everyone for their opnions. I think we definitely have to decide to either do California or Utah/Arizona. Since DS has expressed a preference we are leaning more toward California this time around but are not committed yet.

We will be limited to the school vacation period so anytime late June through end of August. I understand though that the waterfalls in Yosemite dry up sometimes in August. But June has the typical June gloom so not that appealing either.

spirobulldog

You won't be gloomy in Yosemite in June. Either area would be a fantastic pick. Utah might be a little on the hot side would be my only consideration.

jamie99

Good choice either way, that way you will not have to pay the very expensive one-way dropoff fee on your rental car if you flew into SLC and flew out of San Francisco.

europeannovice

Spirobulldog,

I read your Yosemite trip report and saw the pictures. They were great! Where did you stay in Yosemite?

If we wanted to go to Yosemite and Sequoia where should we lodge? It sounds like we should spend at least three days in Yosemite to get a flavor for it. Should we also spend one night by Sequoia or can that be a day trip from Yosemite which appears to be a few hours away?

babylon

We just did Yosemite and Kings Canyon National parks (just north of Sequoia; they're kind of attached) Depending on which exit you use from Yosemite it can take several hours between parks, and so I think it would be too much driving to go back to Yosemite for a day trip. Yosemite itself was so huge that there's lots of driving between areas in the park. We spent 4 days in Yosemite and 1 in Kings Canyon (KC was beautiful and without the crowds) Definitely reserve your in park lodgings now. We only got 1 day in Curry Village (a motel room) and it was fine. The other 3 days we stayed outside the park, and it was even hard to find available rooms.

The waterfalls were full during the first week in August, but that was due to an unusual late snowfall this spring.

Like most people we met on this trip we combined Carmel and Big Sur with the parks. If you left Sequoia you could drive west and then north along the coast to SF. Be aware that in Big Sur there's no crossroads to get to a highway and so you'd have to continue along the entire road before you could cut across to a highway to get to SF if you wanted to save time. It's such a beautiful road and some short gorgeous hikes down to the ocean.

Sorry to ramble on so long, so I won't mention how beautiful the Utah parks are. That's another trip.

About drop off fees: you really need to shop around. We picked up our rental car in Sacramento and dropped it off in Las Vegas. My husband called lots of rental companies because most charged around $2,000 for the 21 day trip, but Avis was only around $800. Last year we picked up our car at Glacier National Park and dropped it off in Missoula and only Hertz would let us do it.