Trip to South Dakota,Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and Colorado ,need tips

Hi
I'm a bit confused by your request. Are you wanting to go through Utah to get to Colorado? Why not cut through Wyoming? Or do you want to go via SLC and pick up I-70 further south? I think you need to give more of a clue to your route plan.

I just reposted and thanks for the quick reply. Hopefully I'm clearer now.

Help!!!Novices planning a trip to SD,YNP, GTetons,Utah, CO w/ 13 year girl Posted by: TriptakerJen2009 on Jul 4, 2009 at 03:47 PM
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We would appreciate any advice on planning our 2 week crosscountry adventure. We are novices at planning anything of this type in the US. And to keep our sanity, have a 13 year old horse-loving, bug-hating daughter we would like to keep engaged along the way as well. Is this plan scheduled well for a family that's never travelled together? Please feel free to comment with any suggestions.

Here's what we have planned so far:

Day 1 (25th Sat):12 hr trip to Rapid city
Hotel in Rapid City HoJo

Day 2(26th Sun): Spend day around Black hills
Mt Rushmore
Black hills
Horse Sanctuary

Day 3(27th Mon): 8 hr trip to Yellowstone
Day 4,5,6,7 (28th, 29th 30th, 31st, Tues Wed Thur Fri)

Spend days in Yellowstone and Grand Teton
Including a raft trip on snake river

Day 8 (Sat 1st): Drive 5 hours to Flaming Gorge Lodge in UT
Spend rest of day hiking/on water there

Day 9 (Sun 2nd):

Drive 2 hrs to Dinosaur National Monument, spend 4-6 hours here

Drive 3 hours to Grand Junction CO



Day 10 (Mon 3rd): Spend day in and around Grand Junction
Colorado National Monument

Day 11 (Tues 4th)
Drive 3.5 hours to Buena Vista, stopping somewhere like Vail or Aspen to look around

Spend 3-4 hours visiting with a friend in Buena Vista
Spend 1.5 hours traveling to Vail CO

Day 12 (Wed 5th)
Spend day somewhere around Vail (top of the Rockies)

Drive 2 hours to Denver/Boulder to sleep

Day 13 (Thur 6th)
Spend day in Rocky Mountain National Park (1.5 hr trip one way)
spend night in Denver or Boulder

Day 14 (Fri 7th): Drive 15 hours home from Denver

If you're going to be spending so much time in/around Vail, and you have a horse loving 13 yr old (and don't mind a somewhat bumpy road to get there - you don't need 4 wheel drive but it isn't a paved/groomed road) try to the Piney Lake area for the remoteness of wilderness that is just 12 miles outside of Vail. They have horse back rides, there is also canoeing kayacking on the lake there. You may even see a beautiful wedding take place as we did the day we were there.

If you want a taste of Colorado Wilderness just outside of glitzy/upscale Vail, this is the place. Seems like no one really knows it is there.

http://www.coloradodirectory.com/pineyriver/

If I were you I would stay closer to Boulder to minimize your drive time to Rocky Mountain National Park. If you are budgeting for lower priced accommodation, try to search in Superior, Broomfield, Longmont or Erie.

If you get to Boulder in the day or have time for a hike, Chataqua Park is an awesome place to view the flatirons.

Reviews:
http://www.igougo.com/attractions-reviews-b16803-Boulder-Chautauqua_Park.html
http://www.lilaguide.com/reviews/chautauqua-park-479226.aspx

Rocky Mtn Natl Park - Due to thunderstorms that roll in most days, it is better to be coming down/on the way back b4 those hit. You will be in a high alpine environment (above treeline - no shelter) and if you want to get to see all the awesome sites/views in safety start early. We were there last week and just as they say, the weather can change rapidly - and it did. We stopped for lunch and ate on the folded out tailgate. Within minutes it was nice an sunny, a little bit of wind, but rapidly dropped 10 degrees as the fast moving storm came in from the "Never Summer Mountains" (beautiful snow capped mtns. Lots of wildlife visible in the summer.

If you stay near Denver, then perhaps a visit to see the Red Rocks Amphitheater. Yes it is a place for concerts but they have an awesome visitor center that is free to go in and see. They have some guided tours too but you can get a lot just going through visitor center. Since they do have concerts throughout the summer, it is possible that they close visiting access to the center on show nights. And people don't realize what an awesome view of Denver there is up there, day or night.
http://www.redrocksonline.com/index.asp

Couple of other suggestions.
Consider staying near Glenwood Springs - rather than Grand Junction - about same drive time. Then you could easily travel to areas such as Hanging Lake,
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g33446-d258799-Reviews-Hanging_Lake_Trail-Glenwood_Springs_Colorado.html

Glenwood Canyon nearby too.
Also, from Glenwood, you could go south through to Aspen (highly recommned the Maroon Bells in the White River Natl. Forest). You could go through Aspen and up towards the town of Independance (an old mining town - a short self guided walking tour around old cabins) and then over Independance Pass (on CO-82) through beautiful scenic Twin Lakes and then on to Buena Vista. Independance pass is only open in the summer but it is a pretty spectacular drive to Buena Vista.

And then if you want to go back up towards Vail area, from Buena Vista take US-24 through Leadville then maybe CO-91 towards Copper Mountain and into the Frisco/Silverthorne area. I suggest Frisco/Silverthorne area to stay and then you can venture easily to Vail, Keystone, or Breckenridge. The lake there is beautiful. And then you have the option of sampling Vail's resort atmosphere (don't miss Betty Ford Alpine Gardens - free! gorgeous!) and you can go into Breckenridge for its more living western mountain town (family friendly and just full of life). There is an abundance of hiking, fishing, ice-cream eating, horse carriage riding, gondola riding to the top of the slopes, lots of activities.

Colorado Road Conditions phone #'s: (you can call these to get real time information - good for the mountain passes and I-70 backups)
303-639-1111 or 877-315-7623 in-state, dialing 511 also works

Can you tell I love Colorado? I moved there 4 years ago from Florida and there is so much to see and do. It is hard picking which things. I hope this helps!

In SD you should consider driving to see Crazy Horse Monument and the wildlife loop in custer state park--not far from Mt Rushmore. Crazy Horse doesn't take a lot of time--you can even see it from the road going to Custer (the history of the creation process is very interesting), and our entire family loved the wildlife ride--saw many animals every time (we kept going back). Also try to see Rushmore at sunset when the lights come on at sunset. If you pass thru or near Cody Wy on your way to GTNP or Yellowstone, it's worth a stop at the museum (something for everybody's taste) and taking the tour train (stops outside the museum--fun presentation on the area's development thanks to Buffalo Bill and his vision for the town).

Thanks for continuing to help with all the awesome suggestions! Still planning and getting very excited!

Jen

We just got back from Yellowstone and GTNP. Suggest you plan for road delays as there was significant construction around Madison junction and the Rockefeller Hwy that connects Yellowstone and GTNP.

For Yellowstone, suggest you focus on Old Faithful and Grand Canyon areas and do some of the hikes here. The Yellow Bus tour was fun and different. We did the Firehole Basin tour.
Saw all manner of wildlife, including a black bear at Tower Falls area.

Down in GTNP, we stayed at Colter Bay. Suggest you stop by here for some cheap and fast Mexican if you like that type of food. The lake is great, so suggest you spend some time on Lake Jackson. We did the float from Pacific Creek and Deadman's and saw tons of wildlife, best to go in early morning or late evening. We did horseback riding out by Pacific Creek, it was a bit of a drive but well worth it. The guides go out only with a single family and take you high up above Emma Matilda lake so that you can see a stunning view of the Tetons. Suggest that you don't miss the hike at Jenny Lake. Take the boat across and then hike the 0.9 miles to Inspiration point, can even keep on the trail further back to see even more stunning views, this was my favorite part of the trip! Jackson Lodge does a poolside BBQ each evening by the pool, so this is nice for kids and not overpriced.

Suggest to stop by Jackson for a few hours, pretty neat place. If you like tons of great breakfast food at a great price, try Jedediah's House of Sourdough. Huge servings and great sourdough pancakes. There is a chuckwagon in Wilson just outside of Jackson that is excellent as well.

Went to RMNP two years back and loved it! We took the road from Granby to Boulder in a day. Suggest that you take in Bear Lake, we did the ranger led walk there, one of our top experiences in any National Park. A ranger came up with a fairly well known childrens book here and they tell you the story at the end. Favorite part of RNMP is when you reach the summit and Rock Cut, spend some looking around at the alpine visitors center and the flora and fauna here, stunning views all around of 14K mountains. Only downside is that there was some construction we set in for 2 hours that curtailed all we could do in a day, so we came back the next day for more RNMP adventures.

Will second what I've experienced of templeta's advice.

Jackson is well worth a visit. There are good suggestions outlined on this thread by me and others:

http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/help-for-a-trip-to-jackson-hole-this-summer.cfm

And Jedediah's does do great sourdough pancakes.

The Old Faithful and Grand Canyon areas of Yellowstone are indeed great and should be a priority here. And the Jenny Lake/Hidden Falls/Inspiration Point hike at Grand Teton is a must -- and continuing on at least partway into the canyon beyond is well worth it. You can also hike some enjoyable trails at Colter Bay, specifically the Swan Lake/Heron Pond Loop (part of the larger Hermitage Point Trail) and Lakeshore Trail -- plus you can do a cruise on the lake.

Oh thanks these suggestions are just wonderful. We've changed our plans slightly reflecting all your suggestions and hopefully to what makes sense. We are booked in GTNP Jackson Lake Lodge for our stay in YNP and GTNP, so we are excited to try your ideas on floating, horseback riding and big breakfasts! Every day I get a little more ecited about the trip adn less apprehensive from reading your reflections on your trips! Can't thank you enough!

Jen

oops I just read the replies to your post, Bachslunch, on Jackson lake Lodge being too far to day trip into YNP everyday. I think our reservations are set in stone however at this point. We may be disappointed at the drive time as stated. We made reservations late and found ourselves limited in choicces. Live and learn I guess!
Thanks ,

Jen

You will not regret taking this trip to a very beautiful part of the US. A must-see when in South Dakota is the Mammouth Site in Hot Springs. http://www.mammothsite.com/
This is an interesting place to visit no matter what age you happen to be. Enjoy!

Spent a week in SD last fall. I would recommend staying in Hill City at the Holiday Inn Express (great hotel in a quaint western town). Here you will have easy access to Mt. Rushmore, Needles Highway (beautiful, scenic drive), Crazy Horse, and Custer State Park (a must). Also near by is Wind Cave NP. Sorry, but I wasn't at all impressed with the Mammouth Site in Hot Springs. Also doable day trips from Hill City are the Badlands, Devil's Tower and Deadwood. You are headed to a beautiful part of our country. Have a wonderful time!

Go to the Badlands east of Rapid City. Stop in Deadwood - it's a fun place!
Definitely drive the Needles Hwy, see Crazyhorse and Mt. Rushmore. There is a whole lot to see in Yellowstone, so I would spend more time there if you can get lodging. We did a tour in Wind Cave and it was good.
If you get to Cody, the Cody Nite Rodeo is great fun for kids or anyone! In Cheyenne, there is a museum that covers the history of rodeo and the west, and a lot of fun; there is a huge rodeo there every year in June.
Have a great trip!