Help Planning RV Trip - Yellowstone Grand Canyon
 

We are thinking of taking a family vacation next June or July. We are thinking of flying to Yellowstone (renting an RV) and making our way down to the Grand Canyon, then flying home. We have 2 children who will be travelling with us. My question is how long we should allow for this kind of trip, what places should we stop and would it be possible to start at Mt. Rushmore (it seems quite a bit out of the way)? We are an East Coast family who has never traveled out west. :) Also, I'm thinking the most time my husband could take off of work would be 7 days, giving us 11 days total (including flying to & from) if we plan it over 2 weekends.

Thanks so much for your input!

Another question - anyone have suggestions on a place for the RV rental?

With that amount of time, I would plan on either visiting the Yellowstone, the Tetons and perhaps Mt. Rushmore or Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce. You would spend way too much time driving from one to the other. Yellowstone is huge and very diverse, interesting thermal features, geology, animals, hiking, rafting, etc. I would probably opt to go there if I could with kids.

You are late in planning for lodging in either GC or Yellowstone. I would try today to see if you can get lodging and plan the time of the trip based on what is available. For Yellowstone I would opt for late June because your kids will love the baby animals - Bison, elk, moose, with luck wolves or bears - viewed from a safe distance while in your car.

I would plan a loop and fly into Jackson WY, and depending on the lodging go to either Grand Teton or Yellowstone first then loop over to Rushmore and back. 2 or 3 days GT, 3 or 4 Yellowstone, 1 Rushmore.

If you decide on Grand Canyon, for the south rim look for lodging in the park if you can, otherwise in the town of Tusayan or at the Cameron Trading Post. You can do a loop that includes GC, Zion and Bryce with a start/end in Las Vegas. Depending on how much hiking you do, 1 or 2 nights at GC, 2 near/in Bryce, 2 or 3 near/in Zion.

Search for trip reports here to get an idea on how other people have paced these kinds of trips.

abatts:

I live in Fort Collins, CO and have done the Yellowstone Trip several times, as well as Utah (Zion, Bryce, Arches, CanyonLands).

I agree with emalloy, 7 days RVing is, in my opinion, going to be too short to include Yellowstone and Grand Canyon especially with children. You'll want to RELAX some days and not be driving every day for hours to the next big destination.

Suggestions for a 7 day trip if you are absolutely committed to an RV:
Fly into Bozeman, MT where you can rent your RV (RV America does not list Wyoming as a pick up state). Enjoy a leisurely trip into Yellowstone and Teton National Parks camping and hiking. You could possibly add in Devils tower and Mt Rushmore but I do believe way to much driving and one night stays. If you do Mt Rushmore, you could fly out of Rapid City SD.

Alternatively fly into Las Vegas, rent RV there and enjoy a loop to include South and North rim of GC and add in Bryce & Zion NPs and perhaps Cedar Breaks NM.

Good luck; hope the trip works out. All the locations mentioned are simply spectacular.

Just got back from a motorhome trip that included two weeks in Yellowstone and one week at the Grand Tetons.

While I love the RV lifestyle, Yellowstone has become very UN-friendly towards motorhomes. We had a tow vehicle so we had no problem getting around but most people who rent a motorhome don't rent a car too. Yellowstone over the years has added more and more roads that motorhomes can not drive on in the park. Firehole Canyon Drive, Firehole Lake Drive, Petrified Tree, Virginia Cascades to name a few. The smaller geyser basin parking lots have RV restrictions now too so you will either have to rent a car, do a lot more walking or you won't be able to visit some of the smaller geyser basins. We went one year with only our motorhome before most of these restrictions and finding a parking spot was very hard and we were there before the busy summer season.

We were there in September this year and I could NOT believe the crowds....I just can't imagine what it will be like in the summer. LONG waits for bison jams so don't be in a hurry! It took us almost an hour to go 10 miles one day! We were amazed to see the Old Faithful parking lot almost full and this is a huge parking lot.

One way rentals are very expensive so I'd check into what the costs are. You will want to make camping reservations as soon as you know your dates and motorhome length. The campgrounds were booked up every night and we were there in September after school started.

I would recommend spending your entire vacation between Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Figure two days are going to be used up for flying in and flying home. That leaves 9 days. You can easily spend 6 to 7 days in Yellowstone exploring and the rest of the time at the Grand Tetons. There is just so much to do besides Old Faithful! It will be a lot less driving time too!

I would recommend AVOIDING from July 1st to July 10th so you won't be there for any part of the the 4th of July week!

How old are the two children?

Utahtea

Just a quick note -- your trip would definitely be easier, probably cheaper, and you'd have so much more flexibility if you rented a car instead of an motorhome.