MelissaBeckoff

As going to this area in July, we are considering staying at cliffrose lodge. any feedback??

melissa

placeu2

Hi again...

Give us an idea of your agenda and you can get lots of good info from this board. How many days where? What do you want to do...hike, drive around, trail ride or just rest and relax. Do you like upscale or you a "get with nature" person? Can you live without a TV?

I know that you are just asking about Cliffrose but I am anticipating a bit here, based on your St. George question.

At any rate, Springdale is fine for Zion but is not really a base to see Bryce as well.

You may also want ot try the search feature of the forums, there is lots on this subject.

Patrick

As far as I'm concerned there are only two reasons NOT to stay at the lodge or cabins in either Bryce or Zion:
1) You want somewhere less expensive.
2) They're fully booked and you can't get in.

placeu2

Melissa,

I sincerely hope I did not come across negative in my previous post here. It was not my intent. I re-read it and it could sound a bit like scolding...sorry for that.

Below is a link to a trip report that I posted last summer along with the follow up Q&A stuff that should be helpful to you in planning this trip. I am by no means an expert but we had a great time and I bet you will too!

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...=placeu2&fid=1

MelissaBeckoff

This is our trip plans - so far
Yes I know that this is a lot of driving. We, as a family are used to it.
Day 1- July 7 Fly into Las Vegas- drive to st.George UT to sleep
Day 2- July 8 Drive to North Rim stay in park- Mule Ride??
Day 3-July 9- drive to lake powell- 3 hour boat ride sat at marina
Day 4 - July 10- drive to springdale Ut - cliffrose lodge see zion
Day 5 -July 11- zion cliffrose lodge
Day 6 - July 12- see bryce drive to Moab stay at red cliffs
Day 7 -July 13 arches/raft stay at red cliffs
Day 8 -July 14 arches drive to Craig Co
sleep in Craig
Day 9 -July 15 See Dinosaur Park
Drive to Yellowstone Stay at old Faithful Inn
Day 10- July 16 Tour Yellowstone stay at Yellowstone Lake
Day 11- July 17 Tour Yellowstone Drive to Grand tetons spend night
Day 12- July 18 Tour Grand tetons Drive to jackosn see gunfight stay at antlers
Day 13-14-15-16
July 19-20-21-22 we are going on a wagon train trek - covered wagon ride
Day 17 -July 22 - After wagon trian trek ends - drove ro Atlantic CIty - stay at miners delight
Day 18 - July 23 Spend day in south pass city drive to deadwood sleep in franklin hotel
Day 19- July 24 spend day in deadwood drive to palmer gulch -mt rushmore
Day 20 - July 25- mt rushmore - crazy horse- sleep at palmer gulch
Day 21 - July 26 drive to Desmet SD
tour DeSmet - little house books- sleep at praire house B&B
Day 22- July 27-drive to walnut grove,MN
tour walnut grove
sleep in sod house B&B
Day 21- July 28- fly home to NJ

What do you think?

Melissa

utahtea

You have a lot planned for the time and distance and activities. You are ONLY going to get a small little glimpse of each area and you will always be on the move and there won't be an wiggle room in case anything happens.

Why Craig, Colorado? You will be going out of your way. The quarry for Dinasour National Monument is near Vernal, Utah. You should take Hwy's 6, 191 & 40 up to Vernal, Utah which is only 228 miles and then you will only be 20 miles to the entrance to Dinosaur -vs-going to Craig, CO at 263 miles and then still having to drive 120 miles the next day to the entrance of Dinosaur.

ALSO if you plan to leave Craig, CO, see Dinosaur and make it to Old Faithful in Yellowstone that's 10 1/2 hours of JUST DRIVING time...doesn't leave you much time for seeing Dinosaur, eatting, pit stops etc.

I know you mentioned there were 3 adults and 2 children going on this trip. Do you mind me asking the ages of these children?

Utahtea

MelissaBeckoff

my children will be 9 and 11.
I will change my lodging from craig to vernal.
how would you change the dinosaur and yellowstone traveling ?
thanks for all of the suggestions

MelissaBeckoff

do you think leaving springdale and driving to bryce on the way to moab is a good idea?

placeu2

Melissa

Looks like a great trip...any room for me?

The only thing that looks like a real challenge to me is that drive on 7/22 from Wyoming to Atlantic City...whew!!

Grin...I imagine you meant Rapid City, but I couldn't help myself!

The only other comment that I have is that you may be pushing the Bryce visit by doing a pass through. To each their own but we liked Bryce and the horse/mule ride there quite a bit.

My wife and I are big picture people..can't even imagine how many pics would come from a trip like yours...bring lots of film!

RachelG

We stayed at the Cliffrose when we went to Zion--it was just ok, nothing special. They did have a pretty nice pool however. If I were doing it again, I would try and stay at the lodge in the park. We had 3 meals there and all were quite good.

MelissaBeckoff

no we really are stopping at a town called Atlantic city.it is near South pass city whcih is restored gold rush town. so cliffrose is not a good idea???

RachelG

Cliffrose is adequate only--I would compare the rooms to Motel 6. The outside is really very pretty. You have a tv, but it only got 2 stations in our room.

OliveOyl

We've stayed in CliffRose too. I haven't seen the inside of a Motel 6 in a looong time, but would be surprised if the two compared! CliffRose was motel, yes, but NICE motel and that's not at all how I think of Motel 6. It was clean and well kept, Danish and coffee at the desk in the morning...have no idea of the TV...don't think we ever had it on. We had been in Bryce at Ruby's just prior to Cliff Rose and it was nicer than that (CR nicer than Rubys). It is very convenient to the park, and the backyard which stretches down to the Virgin River is beautiful....herds of deer came grazing each night we were there.

We would have preferred staying in the park, but it was full. Cliff Rose is more expensive, but that wouldn't be the reason to stay in the park--just convenience and the beauty of that area.

My feeling with so many of these places is that you just aren't in them other than to sleep, so whatever is very clean and reasonably up-to-date is fine with me.

MelissaBeckoff

This is what I am going to change
Please let me know
After leaving lake powell, we will drive to zion have the afternoon there and sleep there.
then the next day drive to bryce have afternoon and sleep there.
then on to moab spend 1 night and then on to vernall . how should i break up the drive to yellowstone?
where is a good stopping point?

Thanks for all of the help.

melissa

MelissaBeckoff

thanks for the help

MelissaBeckoff

bump

utahtea

Melissa,

If you are changing to Vernal then your day's driving to Dinasour and then Old Faithful will be down to 415 miles and 8 1/2 hours of driving.

If you can change your reservations or haven't made them yet then I would suggest spend the first night after Vernal in Jackson, WY (320 miles approx. 7 hrs. driving). Then go to Old Faithful, then Lake then Grand Tetons and Atlantic City (which I knew was in WY!)

OR after you leave Vernal, you could even go as far as the Grand Tetons (360 miles, approx. 7 1/2 hrs driving)

Utahtea

suzanne

I have also stayed at Cliffrose Lodge. The rooms are very basic. However, the huge, pretty grounds, the proximity to the park, the view, and the pool make it someplace I would definitely stay again.

MelissaBeckoff

would you at cliffrose or would you stay in Zion? we only have one night.

also how long should it take to go from zion to bryce?

we are considering stopping for the night at Pinedale Wy. it seems to be in the middle between vernal ut and yellowstone

anybody stay there??

melissa

utahtea

From Zion to Bryce is 86 miles and will take about 2 hours depending on if you make any stops.

Pinedale, Wyoming is home of the Mountain Man Rendezvous and I think it's about the same time as you plan on being in the area. Not sure if that will be a good thing (would be neat to see) or a bad thing cause it might make it hard to get a room and might take time to drive thought the area.

Utahtea