Road Trip from Colorado, West, and Back to CO
 

My boyfriend and I are leaving on 10/2 and have 14 - 17 days(max) to take a road trip out west. We're planning on camping at least half of the time and sleeping in hotels/at friend's houses the rest of the time. When we started planning we intended to do the following route: Boulder - Moab - Grand Canyon - Vegas - LA - Big Sur - San Jose - Yosemite - San Fran - Redwood NP - Portland - Seattle - Tetons - Back to Boulder. We're beginning to realize that this may be do-able but not totally enjoyable. Any advice re: experience with this (or a similar) route, amazing things that we should try to see, or what can be left out would be great. Thanks :o)

Drop the Redwoods NP, Portland and Seattle. The trip is too rushed otherwise.

I agree with Michael. I did the math and your trip is 4,400 miles. Eight of your days are JUST going to be driving if you do this route.

Do SF before Yosemite and work your way back home after Yosemite. Tioga Pass should still be open. This route will still be over 3,000 miles.

Utahtea

I agree with Michael and utahtea, and on your way back, go through Death Valley and if you have time, Zion and Bryce.

You will be going through enough National Parks to make getting a pass worthwhile.

Have a great trip.

Drop at least Seattle. If you want a quick trip through Portland, you can camp in a yurt at Champoeg (Sham-poo-ee)
http://www.yelp.com/biz/champoeg-state-park-saint-paul

By all means, see northern California and Crater Lake NP.

You'll barely have time for the southern loop w/o anything north of San Francisco. Certainly not Redwood National Park, Crater Lake, etc.

You <i>might</i> hit snow in the Sierras by mid Oct. I'd maybe think of doing the drive in reverse order. Tahoe > Yosemite > SF > the Coast > LA and so on. But hopefully you can pull off the 17 day-er because this will be very rushed w/ just 14 days.

As someone else said, head back east from SF, Yosemite, and then toward "home". Save the northwest loop for another road trip. I'm not sure the Tetons are in your scope either. Do the Muir Woods just north of SF for a redwood "fix" maybe. You need to take a look at the distance of the drive just from LA to SF. It's a fer piece.
You might want to say how long you want to stay in places, for example, and then check for how long you have left for getting places.

Thanks everyone for your advice! I think we are definitely dropping Seattle & probably Portland & Tetons too.

if you are planning on camping in Yosemite check for which campgrounds will be open, and whether you need to reserve a spot now. It will be cold at night there, so be prepared. There is a hostel about 15 miles west of the park you could stay in, too, although I can't give you any onto on it. The area around Lake Tahoe will be even colder. You can check www.wunderground.com for forecasts of weather.