Denver to Yellowstone in June
 

We are 4 young 60 yr olds travelling from UK to Denver in June. We've planned circular route starting in Denver, to Grand Junction, Moab, Bryce, Zion, SLC, Jackson, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons if possible, Billings, Sheridan, Rapid City, Cheyenne, Denver. We have 17 nights but wonder if this route is a bit ambitious as although we obviously want to see as much as possible we dont want a whistle stop tour. Should / could we miss out any of these stops to give us some extra time in Yellowstone. At present we have 3 nights marked for Yellowstone. Does anyone have any better routes or suggestions?
Thanks.

You could save many miles on the rental vehicle if you dropped Rapid City, Cheyenne and Denver. Fly to SLC where the rentals are cheaper. Travel no farther east than Grand Junction or perhaps Glenwood Springs.
Are there things you must see in Denver? I don't remember anything of note in Cheyenne. Rapid City has Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument. These things pale in comparison to Yellowstone or the Southern Utah National Parks.

Think it depends on how much you want to drive and how often you change locations. IMO your route is doable, ambitious, but doable.
If you can I'd add at least 1 more night in Yellowstone.
You could do a loop from SLC skipping Denver and Grand Junction but keeping the other locations. If you go east of Yellowstone be sure to consider driving Bearthooth Highway from Cooke City to Red Lodge or go via Cody and Chief Jospeh Highway into red Lodge. Also, the Little Big Horn battlefield is worth a visit.

I would drop Billings, Sheridan, Rapid City, Cheyenne, maybe skip SLC. None of them impressed us, but we live in the Rockies and aren't easily impressed!

Spend more time in your other chosen locations. Especially Jackson Hole, the Tetons and the Colorado Rockies.

Ditto what PeaceOut said. Jackson Hole, the Tetons and Yellowstone combine to make one of the most unique areas of the planet.

The Utah parks you have on your agenda are incredible and worth many days. I'd focus on that and Yellowstone / Tetons, totally different regions and true jewels. A night en route stopping in some small, funky non-touristy town (like ... shudder ... Rock Springs) might inject some western USA flavor to your trip, but don't go so far out of your way to Rapid City or Sheridan.

Have a great trip whatever you decide, you'll see some fantastic sights.

Day 1 Denver to Moab (6-7 hr drive)

Day 2 Moab/Arches National Park
Hike to Delicate Arch, Hike to Landscape Arch, See Double Arch, See Balanced Rock, maybe do a 4 wheel drive tour. Everyone hikes to Delicate Arch @ sunset. It is much more pleasant hike(cooler) in the morning and only a handful of people(if any). I have done it both ways and far prefer the morning(others will tell you I'm crazy on this). You can do Arches in a day. I don't know the capabilities, but the hike to Delicate Arch is moderate. It is uphill, but the return is easy. Expect it to take 2 hours up and 1 hour back. The hike to Landscape is easy and about 30 minutes each way. Double and Balanced are bothe very easy.

Day 3 Moab to Bryce, Stop @ Goblin Valley for an hour or two
Stop @ Capitol Reef (pick fruit and eat pie at The Gifford House)
Maybe stop @ Devils Garden/Escalante
You could overnight in Boulder or in Bryce
This is a long driving day, but you can stop at many places along the way to break it up. Calf Creek Falls is a good hike, but it will take a half a day or so for the hike. It is a moderate hike, but in sand, so slower going. Goblin Valley and Devils Garden are both easy.

Day 4 Bryce National Park--Stay @ Bryce Lodge
Hike Queens Garden/Navajo Loop Combo, Take a horse ride on Peek A Boo Loop overnight @ Bryce Catch both a sunrise and sunset while at Bryce. You can do Bryce in a day. The hike I mention is another moderate hike. You can always just do the horse ride.

Day 5 & 6 Zion National Park
Stay @ Zion Lodge
Definately hike The Narrows-you will need to rent shoes and maybe pants from Zion Adventure Company. Don't do this hike if rain is threatening or water is high-check with Visitor Center First. There are many other great hikes in Zion. Angels Landing is not to be missed, but it is a strenuous hike(my parents are 60 and I don't think they would be up for it). Emerald Pools is another hike that you might consider.

Day 7
Drive to & 8 Grand Tetons/Jackson
10 hr drive. You could stop at Salt Lake for a couple of hours to break it up. I wouldn't spend a whole lot of time in Salt Lake though. Maybe just see the Temple. If you started the day very early, maybe have dinner in Jackson.
Overnight at Jackson Lodge, Signal Mountain Lodge, or Colter Village Cabins.

Day 9 Jenny Lake Boat ride and hike to Hidden Falls/Inspiration Point. Snake River float ride(maybe do a dinner float trip)

Day 10, 11, 12, 13
Yellowstone
Overnight @ Old Faithful Inn (2 nights)
Roosevelt Lodge (1 night)
Lake Hotel (1 night)
One of the days above Drive The Beartooth Highway(if it is open)

Day 14
Drive to Estes Park Colorado, with a stop in Cheyenne.
This is a long driving day 10 hours or so.
overnight in Estes Park

Day 15
Rocky Mountain National Park
Overnight in Estes Park

Day 16 and 17 are extra days or travel days

This plan basically has 2 long driving days and another 1/2 long driving day.

Buy a National Park Pass and save some money
Get lodging at all the National Park Lodges NOW/ASAP. You may already be to late for some.

I would expect hot days and cool night in Utah. You could even run into a bit of snow at Yellowstone in June. I like to move around from lodge to lodge at Yellowstone(it's that big). Others might tell you to stay put.

You are going to need to leave some of the things off your lists. But you can definately hit the big highlights and do it nicely. Rapid City is to far out of the way and you need several days there, not just 1.

I like spiro's plan, except before you leave Moab take a few hours to see Canyonlands Island in the Sky District and if you need to cut some time skip Goblin Valley. Goblin Valley is interesting but not nearly as awesome as Canyonlands IMO.

Do try for in park lodging where it is available. If you are planning on this year you are a bit late to make reservations, but people really do make them a year in advance and then cancel when time gets close, so call and keep calling.

Have a wonderful trip!

Goblin Valley is one of my very favorite things in UT. You are driving right past it and you can spend an hour or a day there. I agree that Canyonlands is good too. I have even been to the Horseshoe Canyon in Canyonlands detatched section. A flyover of canyonlands with slickrock air is pretty cool. I managed to get a pilot who had recently retired as the cheif ranger for canyonlands. It was a 4 seater plane, so my daughter got to copilot.

I had an extra day or two. Two days at Moab would give you more time and a day to visit Canyonlands too.

While I like Rocky Mtn National Park (I was just there Saturday), I would skip it and spend more time at the Utah parks.

RMNP would remind you of Switzerland, which I assume you can visit from the UK. There is nothing like the Utah parks in Europe

Would agree going to the parks in Utah and then Yellowstone gives you the best scenery/most efficient route. You might consider overnighting in lovely Park City (see their Main St - from the Silver mining days) - about 45 minutes east of SLC - on your way to Yellowstone.

Here is some info on Park City - and you could have a memorable dinner at Stein Erickson's ski lodge in nearby Deer Valley.

http://www.parkcity.org/ and http://www.steinlodge.com/

On 2nd thought, I like skipping Rocky Mountains Too. I was just thinking it is on the return to Denver. But yes, do spend more time in Utah or Yellowstone/Tetons.

Thanks for all helpful suggestions. The difficulty is flights if we don't fly into Denver. Looking at inbound to Rapid City and out at LV with a day of r&r before home - very expensive though but does allow us to spend more time in Yellowstone, Grand Teton down to moab bryce & zion without doubling back. Mixed reviews about SLC, but will need a stopover so may go with TomSD's suggestion of dinner at Lodge at Park City. It all does sound amazing!

Hope you have a good trip - and my best advice is start early every travel day. We usually also buy a styrofoam cooler ($5 or so) - and put ice in it for cold beverages and sandwiches, fruit, etc - to have along the way when we want to pull off and admire the view.

If you do get to Stein's Lodge - just a classic place, please say hi to him if he is about - as many times he is. Enjoyed saying hi to him over the years - as he is such a nice guy - and he is/was just a beautiful skier - just so smooth and fluid, almost flowing down the hill.

He would remember me if he saw me - but doubt he will recognie the name, although we always discussed his fellow Norweigan - Alf Engen - who ran Alta - and also founded Sun Valley - and may dear Alf RIP.

With all this advice given, I don't see anything about what activities you enjoy or what you want to see in these particular locations. I mean, Yellowstone is a great place and obviously you should go there, but are you interested in hiking? Wildlife? Photography? History? It is difficult to make suggestions and eliminate places from your itinerary when we don't know what you are looking to do and see.

For example, if you chose Rapid City because you really want to see Mt. Rushmore, then we should try to keep that in the plans as there's only one Mt Rushmore. But if that's only moderately interesting and you're thinking about the scenery around Rapid City, then it's an easy decision to cut that location because there's more interesting scenery in the mountains.

Likewise, with all of Utah there is enough to keep anyone busy for months. So it is really hard to give a decent itinerary - I think most of us will give an itinerary based on what we'd like to see rather than what you might want to see.

Also, it looks like you picked out some parks to visit and then threw out a few names of cities along the way as an overnight stopping point - is that right? Most people don't include Sheridan, Grand Junction, Cheyenne as part of their plans per se, they just become somewhere to spend the night on a road trip.

Just a few comments: Tomsd mentioned saving miles on a rental car - most do not charge by the mile but allow unlimited mileage. However some locations have geographic restrictions on which states you can enter so verify that before making the reservation. Definitely get a National Parks Pass as it will save money. And I like tomsd's idea to get a cheap cooler for food on the drive, but I've found styrofoam coolers tend to start leaking water within a few days. Line it with a plastic garbage bag and you won't have that problem, seems the styrofoam gets waterlogged if it's constant contact with the ice/water.

Beyond that, give us all a general idea of what you enjoy or want to do as well as specifics on anything that is a must see for you.

Styrofoam drives me crazy squeaking and moving around.

Is the National Park Pass good for US Citizens Only? I'm not sure.

http://www.nps.gov/findapark/passes.htm

Says it's available to anyone. I think its safe to assume that 'anyone' includes foreign tourists, because the Senior Pass specifically says U.S. citizens or permanent residents over 62.

I'm not a big fan of the styrofoam but have used it a few times.

Hey - you can spend more on a plastic cooler too (actually - bought one in Nice, France - that wasn't that expensive) - no problemo - and we take a hard plastic one from home. But on the road - we put a couple of towels under and behind the styrofoam cooler and it generally rides pretty quietly. And haven't had one really leak yet, but good idea to line it with a garbage bag. :)

And if you are eligible for the NaTIONAL Parks pass - it's very cheap for us "seniors" - over 62 - something like $5 or $10.

Thanks Tomsd will give you a mention if we get to Stein's Lodge!