We are already planning a trip out west for next September! We would like to start in Denver, maybe some day hikes in Vail, Rocky NP, head to either Durango or just not sure as we would like to do the south rim of grand canyon with hikes and maybe rafting???? And end up in Sedona for a relaxing few days at a nice resort then fly out of Phoenix back home...

We have two weeks to explore but just not sure what route to take to make the most of the trip!

Thank you!

"...do the south rim of grand canyon with hikes and maybe rafting...and end up in Sedona for a relaxing few days at a nice resort then fly out of Phoenix..."

I suggest, for 2 weeks, you do the part of your proposed itinerary I've quoted above so you actually have time to do them at a reasonable pace. You might add a visit in Flagstaff between the 2 locations, on your way to or from Sedona. You can fly in and out of Phoenix.

If you must include Colorado too, I think you should add another week.

The rafting part is going to take the most planning so start with that. There's really no rafting in Colorado in September as the water flow is just not there. You could probably find a float trip but it's not the same as rafting.

But it sounds more like you want to do a rafting trip in the Grand Canyon? There are half to full day float trips out of Page going down the Colorado River, but again those are not really rafting, just floating. To really do a rafting trip, you'd need to book a trip with a commercial outfitter through the Grand Canyon. I believe the shortest trips (3-4 days) are all on the lower canyon. Upper/middle canyon trips are closer to a week or longer.

So the big first question is: which kind of rafting trip are you thinking about and how long do you want to spend on that?

Since that rafting trip could eat up at least 4 days of your time (factoring in the drive time to get there) I think you'll need to figure out if you want to do rafting or not before working on the rest of the itinerary. Plus you'd want to figure out dates and get a multi-day rafting trip booked so you can start planning everything else around it.

WhereAreWe is absolutely correct. When a segment of any trip anywhere has one element with limited availability, the trip must be built around that element or risk having to not do it. I made that mistake once and had to wait for another year to do it.

Rafting in the Grand Canyon is popular and the trips fill up early so now is not too early to investigate specific dates. I have a friend who always does the Sierra Club rafting/camping trips but they sell out faster than the others, so check commercial companies too.

But your request sounds casual so maybe it isn't all that important to you, in which case you might want to hike to the river from the rim, stay a night or 2 and hike out. That, too, requires advance planning to get a spot at Phantom Ranch to sleep and it may be too late already, but check: http://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/lodging/phantom-ranch/

Or is it casual day hikes you have in mind? If you can be more sprcific about what you have in mind it helps.

Rafting was something that we thought about but hiking is most important and that is fine with us. I would like to include a place like the phantom ranch and will check on that today. We thought 2 weeks would be enough time to explore both!

Thank you!

Rafting the Colorado through the entire GC is a trip of a lifetime. Best vacation I ever had. A normal, non-motorized trip takes a full 2 weeks. Motorized can be as short as 6-7 days.

You can do an upper or lower only 1/2 trip which last 1 week each. Requires you to either trek in or out of the Phantom Ranch area depending on which half.

My ideal hiking trip if I only had a few days would be rim to rim in a day. Rest up for a day at the north rim, then do the same trip back. Haven't done it, but it's on my to-do list. 24mi each way, with +5000-6000' elevation gain. You may prefer a shorter hike.

Phantom Ranch requires a serious hike in and out, so do your research and train for it. Reservations open up 13 months ahead of time so you are already behind on that. There may be openings but you'd have to check for your specific dates. I would not go for less than 2 nights, 3 would be even better (I think 3 nights is the maximum allowed). 1 night is simply not enough.

This website has a lot of good info on the Grand Canyon, hiking and Phantom Ranch. It's one of the most comprehensive sites out there for people that intend to do some hiking and exploring at the Grand Canyon.
http://www.hitthetrail.com/

If you don't want to do the hike down you could ride a mule, but from what I've heard that will leave you sore and tired as well. That's also best done as a 2 night trip to give yourself time to explore and recover from the trip down.

There are a lot of topics on here about Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park, southwest Colorado (Durango, etc.) and Sedona. You may need to give more info on what you want to do and see and what your fitness level/hiking experience is to get some good specific recommendations on an itinerary. For now, I'd say you'll probably want to split your time up into four 3-night stays (3 nights in Estes Park, 3 in Durango, 3 at Grand Canyon and 3 at Sedona). That's assuming you do a 2 night hike to Phantom Ranch with another night on the South Rim beforehand. That leaves you a couple nights that are free as you're driving from one area to the next (maybe spend those in Vail?).

Alternately, you could spend a few nights in Moab if you feel like cutting time somewhere else. If you are not doing the Phantom Ranch hike and aren't doing any extensive day hiking at the Grand Canyon, then one night at the South Rim is usually sufficient. Moab would be a good substitute for those other two nights, and it's not too far out of the way. So maybe RMNP 3 nights, Vail 1-2 nights, Moab 2-3 nights, Durango 3 nights, Grand Canyon 1-2 nights and Sedona 3 nights?