Debsan

good evening.
we are planning a trip for 2016. dates are flexible, april, may, june, july as is timescale, up to 6 weeks. would appreciate all and any advice.
thinking of working south to north. early wish list include : grand canyon, monument valley, sequoia national park, yosemite, san francisco, napa valley, crater lake national park, portland (with stop off of a few days to visit friends), olympic national park, mount rainier, seattle. we were thinking of hiring a car and also purchasing a tent to do some camping e.g. yosemite (reservations well in advance!)
another option was starting at yellowstone, aspen, monument valley and grandcanyon before heading north. don't really care about las vegas.
many, many thanks in advance.

Surfergirl

I like the first thought and planning this early is perfect for that. Especially getting reservations at the various parks (particularly Crater Lake).

A fun thought would be to do this at a time when there are festivals, like Seattle's Seafair at the end of July, beginning of August or the Oregon Brewers Festival at the end of July.

Gardyloo

Your choice of destinations and the order you visit them is very weather-dependent. Areas in the Rockies, such as Yellowstone, Aspen etc. may/will still be quite wintry through May. The same goes for mountains in the Sierras and Cascades; for example it's typically the case that there's 6 feet (2m) or more snow on the ground at the visitor centers on Mount Rainier well into July. On the other hand, by June or July the desert southwest can be getting quite hot.

While six weeks is a long time, you'll still need to set some priorities and make some choices, or else spend too much time zigzagging around the countryside. For example, while Sequoia National Park is wonderful, you can see Giant Sequoia trees in Yosemite. And while Yosemite's waterfalls are marvelous, the waterfalls along the Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge are (IMO) just as spectacular, and far less crowded.

The good news is that you have plenty of time to plan, so you might target your initial research into comparing some of the scenic areas and seeing which might "duplicate" each other. (Of course they won't exactly, but I suspect you get my meaning.) Doing so might help you thin your wish list a little so you're spending more time visiting places and less time driving between them.

voyager61

I agree that you need to plan early for all the national park stays and book your rooms 9 to 12 months in advance. You can get more information and start that process with this website:

http://www.nps.gov/findapark/index.htm

You are including some very diverse climates in your six-week trip, so the timing of when you are in each area will be important for your experience. Seattle and Portland are best late June through early September. Yellowstone is best mid-July through early September. The spots in the desert southwest, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, are very hot in the summer. If I were doing this trip I would start in mid to late August with Yellowstone, then go to Washington and Oregon, then the California parks and end with the southwest at the end of September or early October.

If you are doing the whole thing by car, I would fly into Bozeman, MT and drive from there to Yellowstone, Seattle, Oregon, California and then south and east to Arizona. Yellowstone is the most out of the way and remote of your wish list, but it is well worth the effort.

If you can add a couple of flights into that, I would fly from Bozeman to Seattle and then drive from there south. You could also fly from the San Francisco area to Phoenix. That would save you some long and occasionally boring drives.

Debsan

thanks for your quick replies.food for thought and leading to much discussion. great.
what do you think about cutting out the grand canyon and monument valley and saving for another trip? when to go is a problem as we'd like to avoid the seriously busy times but time off in september may prove difficult. would june/july be horrendously busy? would may be too soon? thanks

Gardyloo

Well, all the national parks will be packed pretty much from the last weekend in May (the Memorial Day national holiday) until the end of the summer (typically the Labor Day weekend, the first in September.) Schools will be out, so kid-friendly destinations will be jammed. And many national parks - Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon.. have very limited accommodations within the parks themselves, often requiring long "commutes" from peripheral towns, and certainly long advance booking if you want to stay in the parks proper during peak demand periods.

Your wish list needs trimming, but for a starting-point "template," you might look at a trip that originates in Los Angeles, travel north on US 101 and California Hwy 1 to Monterey and Carmel, then cut across to Yosemite. Take the Gold Rush highway (California 49) north from Yosemite to Interstate 80 near Sacramento, then west to San Francisco.

From SF, again stick to the coast - CA 1 and US 101 - through the redwoods and all the way up the Oregon coast to Cape Disappointment, at the mouth of the Columbia River. Head inland to Portland and the Columbia Gorge, visit your friends, then continue to Seattle via Mt. St. Helens.

Visit Seattle, do a loop around the Olympic Peninsula and maybe a day trip (from Seattle) to Mount Rainier, and call it good. If you want to save a huge amount of money on car hire, allocate two or three days of boring freeway driving to return the car to California (either LA or San Francisco depending on the car hire cost) in order to avoid punishingly high one-way charges.

Timing for this (IMO) would be roughly from the end of May to the middle of July, so that you could avoid (as much as possible) "June gloom" - coastal overcast - in coastal California, and to arrive in the Seattle/Olympic NP area after the 4th of July, the traditional first day of summer conditions in this area. Prior to that, the weather can be iffy, and the mountain areas (Mt. Rainier, Hurricane Ridge in Olympic NP, the Crater Lake rim) still in winter or spring thaw conditions.

But this is just a template, one of hundreds that could be devised. You'll still need to do some serious research and editing.

Debsan

many thanks. we are saving the grand canyon and monument valley for another trip.possibly cutting out crater lake too and sequoia national park. now looking at all the advice given and putting our thinking caps on.thanks again, a great help.

starrs

If I had six weeks, I'd do it all. If this were my trip, I'd fly into Denver and end in Seattle -
Week 1 - Colorado
You mentioned Aspen. I'd the drive over to Durango and Mesa Verde NP too. I'd probably add Rocky Mountain NP and a drive from Durango to see Great Sands Dunes. After a week in Colorado,
Week 2 - Arizona and maybe Utah parks
Don't miss Monument Valley. Stay at Goulding's if you can. Visit the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Go to the North Rim too if you can. Visit Arches NP if it appeals to you.
Week 3 - Yosemite & the coast
Drive to Yosemite, stopping somewhere along the way, maybe Lake Havasu, City. After Yosemite, head over to the coast, maybe Carmel - and enjoy the drive along the coastline
Week 4 - San Francisco and Napa
Week 5 - up the coast and Portland
Week 6 - Seattle area
That's how I'd do a 6 week drive.

tomfuller

You don't have to buy a tent to stay in one in Yosemite.
http://www.yosemitepark.com/curry-village.aspx
If you have a rental car plan that does not include a large drop off fee at the end, I like starrs plan

kawh

I am partial towards Sonoma County over Napa, as there is such a variety... along the river, near the coast, Alexander Valley... though Napa makes it easy with all wineries pretty much along one beautiful road.

Two years ago, we went to Crater Lake during a sunny drive down from Portland.... it was the last day of June and we were shocked to get light snow and find that the roads around the lake were closed!! Plan that part late in the trip... you just never know. If you go to Crater Lake, catch a play in Ashland along the way. Great town, too.

Sounds like you plan to skip the Big Sur coast/ Carmel area. If you end up taking that coastal drive, try to fit Esalen into your plans. Hot tub perched on the edge of the world with the ocean below. Don't know if it's your thing... but if it is, this is a special place!

Debsan

that hot tub sounds divine!

starrs

Another idea in the Big Sur area -
http://www.treebonesresort.com/
Yurts and camping

A friend has reservations for the human nest
http://www.treebonesresort.com/human-nest/

suze

I you take the entire 6 weeks, I think you can do the entire trip you outlined. I think any months are fine.

Debsan

thanks for all the advice. big sur is possibly in i think. is yellowstone worth the detour? much head scratching and pondering but all part of the fun of planning!

Gardyloo

Yellowstone is always worth the effort, but it's time-sensitive since the high altitude means winter stays longer, restricting some activities in the spring. It's at least a 2-day drive from most of the Pacific Northwest, longer from most parts of California.

starrs

With six weeks, fitting in Yellowstone is doable. It will be a lot of driving but nice scenery. Make time for Grand Teton NP too.

Birdie

I'm going to add one more thought: the waterfalls at Yosemite will be much less spectacular in the fall than in the spring. Some of them may appear to be completely without water.