Western National Parks Road Trip
 

My fiancé and I are in the beginning stages of planning an ambitious road trip, for August 2017, that would hit the major National Parks in the West. We are giving ourselves 21 days to hit 12 NPs. In no way is this supposed to be a comprehensive visit to any of the parks. We simply want a taste of the major ones, so in the future we can decide which parks merit their own vacation in the future. I understand our itinerary is intense, but given our regular day lives (Army and Production Agriculture), we are up to the challenge. We both regularly work 17 hour days, so long and extraneous days will not be a problem.

Our main interest for this trip is to take in the scenery and natural beauty. We both love to hike(intermediate level) and observe wildlife. Also to take some amazing photographs. We would also be up for some more adventurous activities as well. We're actively trying to avoid cities during this trip; scenery is the goal for this trip.

One of our major concerns with this trip is doing it as cost effective as possible. We are currently living in North Carolina, so we decided flying into Denver and making a loop from their would be most cost effective. We have found some pretty affordable rental options that would fit our needs. To save money on accommodations, we're considering camping every other night, i.e. one night hotel, one night camping, one night hotel....and so on. This would cut our cost for hotels in half, but would still give us the opportunity shower and enjoy indoor amenities every other night. We also plan on using budget hotels to further lower our costs. For meals, we plan on staying fairly cheap. This trip is not supposed to luxurious, we're perfectly fine eating MREs half the time. We will buy few, if any souvenirs, our memories and pictures will be enough to take with us.

We have put together a tentative itinerary, to see if this was even possible. We developed a rough schedule we are pretty happy with. The breakdown is usually one day driving, one day park and so on. Driving long distances does not bother us at all (we have both drove 17 hours, in a day, by ourselves before). On the days we're driving, we want to try to see at least one iconic sight along the way. We would like input on our itinerary in general, sightseeing options along our route, time spent in the parks, any must sees we are missing, ideas for making the trip more inexpensive. Please remember this trip is in the beginning stages of development.

Thank you so much in advance!

Trip Itinerary
Day 0: In the evening, drive to Charlotte, NC for early morning flight next day, stay and park at friend’s house
Day 1: Fly into Denver (early arrival), collect bags and rental car, buy needed supplies, drive to Torrington, WY (3 hours)
Day 2: Drive to Badlands (5 hours), Badlands (6 hours)
Day 3: Drive to Mt. Rushmore (2 hours), Mt. Rushmore (3 hours), Drive to Grand Teton (9 hours)
Day 4: Grand Teton (12 hours), drive to Yellowstone (2 hours)
Day 5: Yellowstone (all day)
Day 6: Drive to Gates of the Mountain, MT (4 hours), boat tour (2 hours), drive to Glacier National Park (5 hours)
Day 7: Glacier National Park (all day)
Day 8: Drive to Pend Oreille Lake, ID (5 hours), Pend Oreille Lake Walks (3 hours), drive to Mt. Rainier (7 hours)
Day 9: Mt. Rainier (all day)
Day 10: Drive to Mt. St. Helens (3 hours), Mt. St. Helens (4 hours), Drive to Crater Lake (6 hours)
Day 11: Crater Lake (10 hours), drive to Redwood National Park (4 hours)
Day 12: Redwood National Park (all day)
Day 13: Drive to Yosemite, with portions on the Pacific Coast Highway (14 hours)
Day 14: Yosemite (all day)
Day 15: Drive to Death Valley (4 hours), Death Valley (8 hours)
Day 16: Drive to Hoover Dam (3 hours), Hoover Dam (4 hours), Drive to Grand Canyon (4 hours)
Day 17: Grand Canyon (all day)
Day 18: Drive to Monument Valley (3 hours), Monument Valley (4 hours), Drive to Arches National Park (3 hours)
Day 19: Arches National Park (8 hours), Drive to Rocky Mountain National Park (7 hours)
Day 20: Rocky Mountain National Park (12 hours), Drive to Denver Airport (2 hours)
Day 21: Travel home

Just two very quick comments - I understand the reasons you've planned things this way but in real life it probably won't work. You will be traveling in August and finding accommodations in and near several of the parks will be difficult -- even camp sites so they will need to be nailed down well in advance.

Why this forced march -- since you say you'll be back again -- why not do half the parks this time and actually have time to breathe.


Then next trip do the others -




And -- THANKS for your service

The trip is planned for August 2017....over 13 months from now. I've checked, there are still numerous accommodation options available.

My fiancé is in the military, I am in production agriculture, but I will pass on your gratitude to him. This time block is a very unique circumstance. It is before I start grad school and while he is still stationed in the United States. It is the perfect storm for us to take a wild adventure together. With all our travels, we take risks and treat it as the last trip we will take together. With his occupation, we can never guarantee that we will definitely have years and years to see all the great sites in the world. So we create ambitious plans and have the times of our lives trying to see as much of the world as possible. If we are fortunate, we will return 20 years from now to our favorite spots. But there are no guarantees in life, so we make the most of every minute while we travel.

>>The trip is planned for August 2017....over 13 months from now. I've checked, there are still numerous accommodation options available. <<

I know the trip isn't until next year -- but on this sort of itinerary things are going to get screwed up -- heck - on a few of your driving days, just a construction zone could throw the whole plan pear shaped. This will be a GREAT road trip -- more hours butts-in-seats than feet-on-ground. Road trip - yes, National Park trip - not really. Like Yosemite for instance -- you will have one day there, but it is August and it will be VERY crowded. The shuttle buses will be crowded, the parking lots full, queues for meals loooong, - you really won't see much in one day. Just depends on your goals.

To be blunt, I would change this plan radically. You are underestimating your drive times. You don't have even minimally enough time anywhere and will spend the vast majority of your time in the car, not seeing the parks you want to see. It is futile to plan things down to the hour like you have - what if you hit traffic? get a flat tire? lunch takes longer than you plan? There are so many things I could specifically point out as problematic but you really are trying to squeeze three trips out west into one. There is no need to get a drive by of each park to decide if you will want to go back - if you like national parks and nature, you probably know you want to go there.

I wouldn't even bother with Yellowstone, Yosemite, or Glacier for 1 day, 3 days would be rushed in each of those places! You will be in Arches but not see Canyonlands? They are so close to each other. Day 19 is not feasible. It will take you longer than your allotted time to drive from Arches to Rocky Mountain. That amount of time MIGHT be enough if there is no traffic, you don't stop anywhere for food or gas or bathroom breaks, and you make no other stops at all.

And not to pile on ;) . . . but in almost ALL of those places it isn't a good idea to drive after dark - unlit roads, wild life. So every day you will want to be at your next destination before about 8PM. Earlier if you want to set up camp.

Most of your days there simply isn't enough daylight . . .

I'm more familiar with the MT sites.

I would probably strike Gates of the Mountains from your list, and just get to Glacier. Maybe stop in Missoula on your way.

I do think you're underestimating drive times for Yellowstone and Glacier and over to Pend d'Oreille. You'll have slow moving traffic in both parks, and usually a fair amount of road construction in MT.

You won't have much time for hiking in Glacier or Yellowstone with just a day.

You will want to book your hotel rooms and campsites well ahead of time as it can be hard to find accommodations in the summer. And that's hard as it locks you into an itinerary that may need to be more flexible depending on road construction, whether you hike, etc.

This is the usual response from a certain segment of Fodorites..no matter how long you have, it's always never enough.

I would double check some of your drive times though. Yosemite Valley to Death Valley (Furnace Creek) is easily 6 hours, and possibly more. Often if you are using Google Maps they measure from the edge of the park, not the center. Inside the parks you have low speed limits and sometimes lots of traffic.

Also be sure to add in an hour or more for stops.

Going from Yosemite to DV I would allow enough time to arrive at dusk. Spend the night, do some morning touring, and head out toward Grand Canyon, but allow enough time to reach the rim at sunset.

Hoover Dam may not warrant the amount of time you've got allocated. There are some fun stops if you detour from I=40, hit Seligman and visit Delgadillo's Snow Cap.

You outline a very unsatisfactory experience that crams way too much into too little time.

Rather than “hit” the major National Parks, you would be better advised to spend some time exploring a few that intrigue you most.

I suggest you eliminate some of your destinations and replace them with Zion and Bryce.

I am also bewildered why when you drive from Mt. Rainier to Crater Lake you will stop at Mt. Saint Helens (which isn’t all that interesting) but skip two of Oregon’s treasures: The Columbia River Gorge and the Pacific Coast from Cannon Beach to Banning.

HTtY

I don't think you can drive from Yosemite to Death Valley in 4 hours and it will be hotter than heck that time of year, I would skip it. Maybe stay in Lone Pine or Bishop.

It's going to be hotter than heck no matter how they get from Yosemite to Grand Canyon. Might as well enjoy some scenery,

But I'd try to be out of there as early as possible in the morning.

I don't think all of your driving times will hold up IRL. Delays due to road repairs are inevitable. Traffic will be heavy in and around all of the national parks, with sometimes a long line just to enter. Setting up and breaking down your camp site will take time. Time to grocery shop, etc. It all adds up.

You can do whatever you like, but I think you'd have a more enjoyable trip if you eliminated half of your destinations. I wouldn't be surprised if you got to the Tetons/Yellowstone and decided to stay put for 2-3 days; otherwise, you'd just be doing a sort of "drive by" of this amazing (and visually stunning) area.