Driving from Western NC to Yellowstone

[Moogs32]

Planing a trip to Yellowstone for our anniversary. Have 16 days any advice on the best routes. Traveling in early June. Would like to see Little Big Horn and Mt Rushmore if possible.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

The usual reason that people come to this site for help, rather than any other, when planning a RoadTrip is to get advice from people who have actually 'Been there. Done that." And the usual response, when faced with practically nothing on which to base that advice other than origin and destination is: There is no generic advice! There is no single list of 'bests', 'must-sees', or any other places that everyone should see on a one-and-only possible route between two points on a map. It helps that you have adequate time for your trip, because Usual Posts #2 and #3 are Take Your Time and Take Different Routes Out and Back. But beyond that we would need to know what YOU find interesting; what YOU hope to get out of this trip; how YOU would like to split your available time between being at your destination and getting there (and back); how many miles YOU are comfortable driving in a day; etc.

AZBuck

[Lifemagician]

The best way to follow on from what Buck has just posted, is to follow an other area of advice he posted a short while ago. Since you already have three points on the map, the advice in this paragraph will no doubt of great help to you.

Start with maps. Not GPS, not software, not Google, but real honest-to-god paper maps that show you your entire route, that you can mark up (and erase), that you can stick pins in, and that show something about the land you'll be driving through. Those are your essential tool in any RoadTrip planning process. Start by marking all the places you know you want to visit. Then connect the dots. Then look for more places of interest and scenic routes along the lines connecting the dots. Repeat until you've got as many sites and roads as you think you want.

If you do not already have good maps, you can get these from AAA (free to members), or you may prefer a road atlas such as published by Rand McNally.

Enjoy the planning.

Lifey

[landmariner]

Moogs, I am a bit more from the electronic aid side although I do love the AAA maps of the USA, regions and states in addition to printed travel guides from Moon, Frommers, etc. What is important to follow are a few of the rules you will often read about on this forum:

1. 600 mile daily limit (for safety/fatigue reasons) and
2. using a 50 to 55 mph re-calculated average speed of advance for point A to point B when using a program such as Google Maps (almost all of the electronic maps calculate based on the speed limit).

Even if you are zooming at 70 to 80 mph on the interstates your average speed of advance is affected by stopping for meals, rest rooms, gas station fill-ups, traffic/construction and other little things.

I use a simple spreadsheet to calculate travel time distances between destinations. I keep a couple of cells open for random planning, e.g., Use Google Maps to provide a distance in miles and time. Enter those figures in the spreadsheet and use another cell for adjusted driving time using a 50 or 55 mph number. It is an iterative process: start with big wants and dreams and adjust according to realistic planning rules.

Plot the distances for W. Carolina to Yellowstone and back, from W. Carolina to Mt Rushmore to Yellowstone and back, and maybe another point. Consider that your arrival day to most destinations will not be a touristing day after a long drive. Many of the destinations will demand two full days. Mt. Rushmore is an exception, but there is a ton of interesting sites in the Black Hills region.

[DonnaR57]

In the Black Hills area:

Mt Rushmore
Custer State Park: Iron Mountain Scenic Drive, Needles Scenic Drive, Wildlife Loop
Jewel Cave National Monument
Wind Cave National Park
historic train rides
Badlands National Park
Wall Drug of South Dakota

Nearby: Lead, Deadwood, Sturgis.

On the way to Yellowstone:
Devil's Tower National Monument
Little Big Horn National Historic Battlefield Monument

Click here and then scroll down to post #57, to start at Badlands and travel with us to Yellowstone, back in 2014.


Donna