Visiting from Sweden
 

My teenage sons (19+17)and I have three days to be in the Rocky Mountains. We live near Are, Sweden and have hiked and skiied extensively here. Please, please give me some help in narrowing down what we should do. We will be tired of cities and want to experience the magnificence of these amazing mountains. Please remember I don't know the area at all.

Shish, some of the best places to visit in the Rockies, or the Sierra Nevadas (if you want to go a little farther west) are in the US National Parks. You should most definitely check out the national park website - http://www.nps.gov/findapark/index.htm

Most of the parks have campsites and cabins available, though the cabins tend to get booked up very early. But they also have lodges and hotels within the parks.

Considering that you're coming from Sweden, you might particularly enjoy the areas at the southern end of the Rockies, which will be vastly different from anything in the northern latitudes. On the NPS website, look for parks in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, & New Mexico. For example if you look at Arches and Bryce Canyon in Arizona, you'll see what I'm referring to. Also, this area is not too far from the Grand Canyon.

If you like more organized activities, there are many "guest ranches" in the Rockies that include meals, drinks, etc, and have activities such as horseback riding, backpacking, fishing, golf, hiking, etc.

Sorry, shis, I had a mental lapse there - Arches & Bryce Canyon are in Utah, not Arizona.

Shish - as you know the Rockies cover a huge area and, as smetz noted, vary greatly in geography, topography, etc. With only 3 days, my suggestions would depend on where you will be. Will you be near Denver, Salt Lake City, Jackson Hole, or somewhere else? If you could give more details of your itinerary I think we could help more.

Also - knowing the dates involve would be helpful.

I can't imagine anything more different from Sweden than Yellowstone National Park and nearby Grand Teton National Park.

Except maybe the areas of Utah and New Mexico mentioned by others above.

Hi again, Thanks for you reponses so far. Sorry to be so vague. We will be in the Portland, Ore. the weekend of the 12-13th and plan to head east. The Grand Tetons NP sounds best though seem overwhelming huge.

From Portland, would definitely second the suggestion of Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. You can fly into Jackson Hole. Since the parks are next to each other, you could cover a fair amount in 3 days. I'd suggest staying in one spot, like Jackson Lake Lodge in the northern part of the Tetons. Rooms on the back side have unobstructed fantastic views of the Tetons and you could also do day trips into Yellowstone. We spent a week there a few years ago and thought location was great.

Thanks, I am going online to reserve a place. We have the midnightsun right now and sleep very little.

I adore Yellowstone and think it's a wonderful Park with a wide variety of things to see and diverse natural attractions. While the main roads are crowded in the summer, as soon as you step off the main roads, you are really alone with nature.

However, given the relatively short time you have, if you don't want to fly or spend a lot of the time travelling, you might enjoy some natural areas in or near Oregon including the Columbia River Gorge area or Olympic National Park. You can't go wrong visiting the Rockies, but there are a lot of beautiful, natural sites in the Northwest as well.