janisj

I would only do two weeks in the SW and Calif . . . or two weeks in the NW and/or Yellowstone/Glacier/Teton. Weather would be less of a concern for the southern itinerary, but either trip would be fabulous.

Distances in the West are vast . . . so even 2 weeks for either plan would be a bit of a rush.

Gretchen

What Janis says is key. 2 weeks "somewhere" but NOT "everywhere". And distance is the key in the US.

rvvagbond

Two weeks is very short time - US is a very big country.
San Francisco to Bryce is 15 hours of driving.

Suggest computing time on in the air and on the road,
That will give you touring time.
Average speed limit is 65-70 miles (104 - 113 km) per hour on very good highways.

Appears you are from Japan (spent 3+ years there)
This excellent designed vehicle would solve time on the road problems

Kawasaki Motorcycle Ninja H2R, Over 249 miles per hour (400 km/hr)

vaga

janisj

>>Average speed limit is 65-70 miles

hiki08

Thanks all. Patty the trip report/post was particularly helpful in giving a better idea, and WhereAreWe I've certainly misread/misunderstood it, thanks for pointing it out.

I think I have a much better idea with trip times in the North now, but just to make sure.. it appears Glacier NP, and to a lesser extent Yellow Stone NP have an extended network of hiking trails which is what the bulk of the time is spent in. There won't be any water-based activities in October I presume so that takes one less activity, as well as sitting and chilling at a restaurant since all hotels and restaurants in the park will be closed. Whereas, the canyons in the south in general appear like their network of hikes are fewer. There are extended ones but they're not for everyone. The others appear quite short and a lot of the view points appear accessible with shorter walks in the Southern canyons.

Glacier NP would be a place to walk and take in the views (which takes longer), whereas the canyons in the south appear more like a drive and stop to take in the views. Places like Bryce NP or Capitol Reef NP appear like the key attractions can be covered in one full day each. Would this be accurate as a vague summary of the places?

In honesty, I'm finding in photos that Glacier NP look a little similar to the Alps in Austria and Germany (would anyone concur or disagree?), and I tend to find the canyons to be a lot more unique in geography which I have yet to come across before. I'm thrilled by the Boeing Everett plant visit though. I'm not an aviation buff by any measure but as a kid, and now, still do admire how beautiful planes are.

Of 14 full days we have (arriving evening on Day 0 and departing past midnight on Day 14), if we were to tour the Glacier/Yellowstone/Grand Teton NPs, my thoughts are as follows. But would anyone have a suggestion where to cut a day if we decided to want an extra day in Seattle? General comments on the rough plan below would be welcome too. Thanks.

Day 1 - drive from Seattle to Glacier NP West (full day drive - checked and don't think it's worth flying to Bozeman then spend another 3+ hours driving North to Glacier)
Day 2 - Glacier NP West
Day 3 - migrate from Glacier NP West to Glacier NP East
Day 4 - Glacier NP East
Day 5 - Glacier NP East
Day 6 - drive to Yellowstone NP (taking in Beartooth Highway)
Day 7 - Yellowstone
Day 8 - Yellowstone
Day 9 - Yellowstone
Day 10 - migrate from Yellowstone to Grand Teton
Day 11 - Grand Teton
Day 12 - Grand Teton morning, return rental car in Jackson and flight from Jackson to Seattle (pretty crazy expensive surcharge for one-way with Hertz, the only company I've found which can do this from Seattle airport, but we're converting a 13+ hour drive into a 4hour flight with transit)
Day 13 - Seattle - outlet shopping
Day 14 - Starbucks roastery for a morning coffee, Boeing Everett plant tour, go around the city a bit, dinner then head to the airport

Gardyloo

I think there are definitely some similarities between parts of the Rockies and the Alps, but it's not really a fair comparison, especially in terms of accessibility and visitor facilities.

However it sounds if you're a bit torn between the rocks-and-canyons options in the southwest vs. the mountains-and-valleys options in the Rockies, and are concerned that you might be putting more emphasis on mountain scenery than on other things. Forgive me if that's over-simplification.

So at the risk of confusing things further, I'm going to throw out something of a hybrid plan, one that includes some terrific mountain scenery and some "red rocks" scenery in one big loop starting and ending in Seattle. Here's a map - https://goo.gl/maps/q1YWs5UPZpz Note that the map doesn't show roads that are presently closed by snow, but use your imagination.

What it does:

1. It excludes Glacier NP and substitutes stops in eastern and central Oregon on the way back to Seattle.
2. Those stops include the stunning Wallowa mountains, remarkable rock-and-canyon vistas such as Bruneau Canyon near Boise, Idaho, the John Day Fossil Beds, and Smith Rock State Park, both in central Oregon.
3. It includes Mount Hood, the Hood River Valley, and the Columbia River Gorge.

Here are a couple of images pulled off the web illustrating these areas.

Bruneau Canyon



Joseph, Oregon, Wallowa Lake and the Wallowa Mountains



Wallowa Valley 2



John Day Fossil Beds



Smith Rock State Park



Hood River Valley



Columbia Gorge



I would argue that this increases the diversity of the road trip without extending the driving hours by too much. It also reduces (but doesn't eliminate) the chances of road delays or winter conditions arriving early in the high country. You'll still have some incredible mountain scenery in Grand Teton National Park and in the Wallowas if you choose that route, but also will include some stunning desert country views, wineries and orchards in harvest mode in the Hood River area, a visit to one of our local volcanoes, and a couple of terrific little towns. Google Joseph and Hood River Oregon to see what I mean.

Oh, and if you're into planes, don't forget the Museum of Flight in Seattle as well as the Everett Boeing tour. It's really remarkable.

Patty

I would say that the east side of Glacier is more alpine and the west side is temperate rainforest. There's a distinct change of scenery between the two. I would fly into Kalispell which is 45 minutes from West Glacier and not Bozeman if you choose to fly. Glacier is more of a hiking rather than drive around and look park (not that you couldn't do that as well). Lots of people visit Yellowstone and never hike except for the boardwalks around various features. Buy bear spray in Kalispell or closer to the park. Make noise on hikes and don't hike alone. Trails are very quiet at that time of year in Glacier so you won't see many fellow hikers.

I wouldn't count on taking the Beartooth into Yellowstone at that time of year. It's almost 11,000 ft in elevation at its highest point and is the most susceptible to weather closure. I didn't mention it earlier because it's outside of the park. I've never successfully driven the full length of the Beartooth even when it was theoretically supposed to be open. Have a backup route.

I'd be hard pressed to find a day to cut especially since some of your drives are really long.

You're right it's too late in the season for water activities. I believe there's one accommodation in Apgar open through September 30th in Glacier. Yellowstone does have some accommodations still open in early October https://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/stay/summer-lodges/ and at Grand Teton, Signal Mountain Lodge and Dornan's are still open.

You could scratch the surface of Bryce or Capitol Reef in a full day but there are also beautiful areas in between such as Grand Staircase Escalante that aren't national parks so don't get as much visitation that are just as interesting. And the drive along Hwy 12 in UT is beautiful. In hindsight we could've devoted more time to this stretch and even broken up the drive between Capitol Reef and Bryce with an overnight in between.

hiki08

Hello all, thank you so much for the generous sharing of advice, experience and photos (you have some very nice photos, Gardyloo ). Have read them all a few weeks back when they were posted and then went into a bit of further researching and discussion amongst the travel group. We've decided to leave the Northern route of Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton to another trip. This time, we'll tackle what I've learnt to be called the Grand Circle route (we planned the route, the realisation of the name came after) over a two week period covering Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Grand Canyon North and South rims - landing in Las Vegas. If only we had more time, I would have loved to visit Canyon de Chelly and Mesa Verde which are a little of a detour east of the route.