RV Questions From An Aussie
 

I have been reading many posts regarding rv's with much interest. My husband & I and three children are hoping to travel to USA in April 2010 for approx 10 weeks. After doing the obligatory Disney/Sea World visits for the kids we were wanting to hire an RV from Vegas do a round trip including Grand Canyon, Sedona, Monument Valley, Moab, Colorado Rocky Mountains, Mt Rushmore, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Salt Lake City, Zion & Bryce Canyon. Does this seem like madness considering we will have 7 weeks? We are keen on hiring an RV (have done so successfully before in Canada & New Zealand) as we really enjoy that type of holiday. It appears that we may have trouble travelling on some roads in national parks due to length of RV (hoping on hiring a 30ft one), can anyone tell me how to find out which, if any, roads we will be excluded on travelling. I have browed national parks websites and come up empty handed. Many thanks in advance.

Maydy, winters in the U.S. are highly variable, and for April in any given year, it's impossible to predict how many and which roads will be closed. For most of the areas you mention, May is the usual dividing line between winter freeze and spring thaw, and by June in most years, everything's open.

If you can't reschedule your trip for late spring/early summer, you'll have to just hope for a mild winter in 2010.

Yellowstone is a great National Park. It won't be in April. We went there this year mid-June. We were lucky in the fact that the roads had just opened the day before. Usually they open mid-May, but this year was a heavy snow year. You will be very very limited in April. Will you be starting out in Florida or California? I personally would lean towards Glacier National Park over the Rockys. I think you will be able to travel the main roads fine in an RV. Finding parking at all the stops will be the trick. Have you been to any National Parks in the USA? You will find the parks nothing like any city you have visited. The roads are not highways. Most of them are good enough to drive on, but not up to todays standards. Part of the lure for me is the Lodges at the parks. They are old and rustic. You are visiting some places that have the best lodges. You might want to consider a car and stay at them. Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon North and South rim, Glacier, Yellowstone, are all great and unique. In Mt. Rushmore, I would stay at Custer State Park. Monument Valley is a whole other issue. It is managed by Indians not government. It is very different. I think you need to allow for the Following

Grand Canyon 2-days do a helicopter tour and hike below the rim allow 2 additional days if visiting the North Rim

Zion- 2 days
hike Angels Landing and The Narrows

Bryce- 2 Days
Hike Navajo Loop and Queens Garden
horseback on peekaboo loop trail

Moab 4-6 days Arches National Park
Canyonlands
Hike to Delicate Arch, Hike to Landscape Arch
consider canyoneering with www.deserthighlights.com
consider a 2 day raft trip on Cateract Canyon

Monument Valley
1 day

Yellowstone 4-Days
Tetons-2 Days
Spend a day in the Geyser area around Old Faithful. Be sure and see Castle Geyser and Old Faithful both. Castle is spectacular. See Tower and Canyon area. Hike to Hidden Falls in the Tetons

Rushmore 5 days
Crazy Horse
Wind Cave
Jewel Cave
Rushmore Monument
Badlands

Glacier
5-6 days

Salt Lake City
2 days

Rocky Mountains
3 days depending on how much hiking you want to do


keep in mind that most of these places are somewhat High Altitude.

Finally, National Parks are our favorite vacations. We absolutely love them.PIC LINK BELOW. It has a lot of the places you want to see. We were at Zion just last week. I don't really have a favorite place. All of them are fantastic, but very different.

http://www.photoworks.com/members/Spirobulldog
Mesa Verde has Monument Valley on it

You may not be able to drive the roads in several of the national parks, not because of the length of the RV, but because the roads won't be open to traffic at all. Usually there is too much snow to justify keeping the roads open for the limited amount of visitors in that time of year. Many of the roads aren't opened until some time in May and a few don't open until early June.

Roads in the southwest desert area usually open all year except for a day or two after a heavy snowfall. Places likely to be open would include Grand Canyon, Moab, Sedona, Monument Valley, Salt Lake City, and Zion. Bryce Canyon may have most roads open, but it could be closed as it is high altitude. Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, and Mesa Verde will be closed or only a few roads open. If you can reschedule for mid-May and start with Florida, then the southwest parks, ending with Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Mt. Rushmore you should have a much better exeperience. It is not unusual for Yellowstone to experience a little snow in June or even July, but not enough to close the roads.

As I recall, the most direct route between Zion and Bryce has a copuple tunnels on it. There was a notice saying that oversize vehicles must call the state police and pay a fee to have traffic stopped so they could go through.

I don't know how to find out about which roads, but I'm sure there are some. Maybe you want to ask the RV rental company about that.

I found it: You need to get an RV Atlas. It is like a regular atlas except the problematic roads and truck routes are highlighted. It also lists all the campgrounds and such for RVs.

You won't need to call State Police for the Tunnel between Bryce and Zion. This is the Mount Carmel Tunnel. They simply stop traffic and allow traffic to only go one way. The charge is $10(I think anyway). We were behind an RV last week in this very tunnel. It is no big deal. I don't know of any other tunnels. But, yes, RV's will limit where you can go to a certain degree.

spirobulldog, there is a length limit on the Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier NP, and a 30-footer is too long.

Go to rv.net and use the forums to answer any and all questions related to RVing. If you are starting in April and have 10 weeks that gives you at least until mid June. If it is not too harsh of a winter then I am sure you can arrange your route to include most if not all of your list.

RV camp grounds in our National Parks generally do not have hook-ups, but do have water available, dump stations, and restrooms with showers. They also have great ranger led programs, but you may need to check to see if you are too early for them.

The RV rental companies will have tons of info for you on routing as will the folks on rv.net. Have a GREAT time - this sounds like a wonderful trip!

Wow, thanks for all the information. I didn't realise that snow would be a concern in April/May. I was kind of hoping to pick up van mid April in Vegas, spend a bit of time around the desert areas and then head up through Colorado, Mt Rushmore and then Yellowstone and return to Vegas early June. If that was the case, we would probably be heading north approximately early May. Is this still not a good idea? Perhaps we could look at starting holiday a month later, however, then we would end up travelling in June (isn't that the US school/summer holidays?) Would there be too many crowds?

spirobulldog - thanks for the suggestions, we have visited Glacier National Park once before when we did our Canadian trip in 2000. Absolutely Beautiful! Your photos look great. I will definately research your suggestions.

capxxx - sorry for my ignorance, but you wouldn't know how to get a hold of an RV Atlas would you?

We won't be doing too much hiking as our youngest will have just turned 2!

The crowds aren't bad in June in most of the Parks. July is busier. If you could go a month later that would be much much better. Still do the southern areas first, then the northern. Sounds like a good trip.

Some schools let out at the end of May, but others don't let out until mid to late June. Most of the national parks are not crowded in June because of this but also because schools in Canada don't get out until the end of June. That means that there won't be lots of Canadians in the parks. Weather is also a factor. In the northern part of the U.S., June is usually cooler and wetter than July or August, so people put off their vacation to wait for nicer weather.

You may want to go to the below site and ask a few questions about RVing in the USofA. I am sure the ones that post there will be more than helpful. The logistics of camping and touring in an RV is much more than just renting one and heading out on the highway as you have found out from past experiences.

http://www.rv.net/forum/