4 week west coast National parks road trip

Both types of air mattresses are bulky. I use an air mattress that has foam inside and air valves. I can roll up the mattress, squeezing the air out and shut the valves to keep the mattress from expanding.

Read and follow the precautions about storing food while camping in bear country!

Road trip suggestions:

You can choose to visit Theodore Roosevelt National Park at the beginning or end of the trip. I have not visited this Park.
http://www.nps.gov/thro/index.htm

Enter Glacier NP from the east (St. Mary) and take Going to the Sun Road to Logan Pass Visitor Center. Then continue west and admire the views. Exit out on the west side.
Glacier National Park brochure
http://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/brochures.htm

Pick the best route so that you enter Yellowstone National Park through the north entrance.
http://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm
A lot to see here: Mammoth Hot Springs, Old Faithful Geyser, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and lots of geysers &, mudpots. Don’t forget to look inside the Yellowstone lodge. Although it is outeside the Park, Ireallyenjoy West Yellowstone. The best book shop I have ever seen is located there.

Out the south entrance of Yellowstone brings you to Teton National Park
http://www.nps.gov/grte/index.htm
There is a photo opportunity from the road of the Teton Mountains s with the Snake River in the foreground.

Find a way to I-15 South until you get to the turnoff for Bryce Canyon National Park
http://www.nps.gov/brca/index.htm
The road in Bryce Canyon rises to the summit at 9,200 feet! Remembe rthat a hike down into the hoodoos and rock pillars can become an exhausting hike back out.

From Bryce, you enter Zion National Park from the east through the Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel.
http://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/directions.htm
From April through October, the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive (a park road off of Highway 9) is accessible by shuttle bus only
Exit Zion NP through the west entrance at Springdale.

Make your way back to I-15 South to Las Vegas. If you don’t gamble, watch the free light show at the Fremont Street Experience and eat at one of the many popular buffets.
http://www.vegas.com/attractions/off...ontstreet.html

Option 1. Bypass Death Valley National Park (http://www.nps.gov/deva/)
and continue to Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park. You need to consider how much the vehicle and occupants can tolerate the heat. It should be toasty in August-September. The sights to see in Death Valley include Bad Water (282 feet below sea level), giant sand dunes, Devil’s Golf Course (crusty salt beds), etc. If you continue out of the park by the west road to Owens Valley, you can see Mount Whitney (highest point in the “lower 48 states.” http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/whitney.htm

If you take Highway 395 North along the eastern Sierra Nevada, you can cross over Tioga Pass at Lee Vining to Yosemite National Park (http://www.nps.gov/yose/) or continue up to Lake Tahoe (http://www.visitinglaketahoe.com/).

From either Lake Tahoe or Yosemite NP you can continue to San Francisco (http://www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com/) where three are more things to see and do than you have time to spend.

1.) Visit Yosemite if you went to Lake Tahoe.
2) Follow Highway 1 down the coast to Big Sur or
3) Cross back through the central valley to Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park (http://www.nps.gov/seki/). Note: It is easier to enter the Park from the northwest (Route 180) then the southwest (Route 198). Route 198 is very steep and twisty and the traffic can move at a snail pace. Exiting the Park via route 198 is no problem.

Option 2. From Las Vegas continue to Mohave and around the southern end of the Sierra Nevada to Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP – Yosemite – San Francisco.

After Los Angeles take I-10 to Route 62 to the north Joshua Tree National Park entrance

There are two northern park entrances. The cholla cactus garden, Joshua trees and weathered granite are very photogenic

You can drive through the Park and exit by the south entrance back onto I-10. Take I-10 east to Arizona. After you cross the Colorado River into Arizona, find a route northeast to Prescott, Jerome (an old copper mining camp: then to Sedona

Take highway 89A north to Slide Rock State Park.
Note the warning about high visitation during the summer.

Continue on Highway 89A to Flagstaff and make your way to the South Grand Canyon entrance

Exit the Grand Canyon to the east and continue north on Highway 89 to Highway 160 to Highway 163 to Monument Valley Tribal Park

As you leave Monument Valley traveling to the north, don’t forget to stop at the dirt turnoff to take a photo towards the south that is seen in the movie Forrest Gump.

I highly recommend visiting Mesa Verde National Park but it is a little out of the way.

Heading north to Moab, Utah, you will be close to the entrances to Arches National Park
and Canyonlands National Park – Island in the Sky Unit

Continuing north, turn east on I-70 towards Denver. You can make a side trip to Aspen
and then visit Rocky Mountain National Park

Drive up to the Black Hills of South Dakota and there are a variety of places to visit

Wind Cave National Park
Mount Rushmore
Badlands National Park

THANK YOU for all tips, they are very helpful! I am so glad you reminded me about bringing quarters, I would of never even thought about that for the laundry :) And Thanks for all the links, I am going to look them over now :)

Hi, I am planning a trip for later this year and its going to take us thru Utah. We are planning on visiting some of Utahs Nationals parks and due to time we can not visit them all. So I am wondering what are peoples favorites & must see Utah National parks and why they are favorites. We are interested in Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capital reef, Cayonlands, Arches, Glen Canyon & Grand Staircase. We will be going into Utah from Idaho thru Utah to Arizona and then from Arizona back into Utah to Colorado. If you have any routes you suggest that would be great. There are just so many clustered together so I am not sure what way to tackle them from, this is my one part of our trip that we cant decide on, so maybe some outside ideas will help. Thanks for your help in advance :)

Hi Gracie,

Of course much will depend on how much time you have dedicated to this part of your trip, but for me the obvious choice would be to "catch" Zion and Bryce on route to Arizona via Page, and Arches and Canyonlands [Island in the sky section] NP's on route to Colorado via Monument valley.
Zion; great walks, [including, Riverside walk and the Narrows, Emerald pools, Weeping rock and if you have a head for heights, Angels landing] great for photography. Bryce; Unbelievable rock formations, easily accessible viewpoints, great for photography. The drive between the two is amazing, up the Mount Carmel highway through the tunnel [Angels landing trail head just the other side] to Checkerboard Mesa and through Red rock canyon offer great scenery and yes, great for photography.

Arches NP, More great rock formations, mostly in the shape of Arches would you believe, but not all, such as 'Park Avenue', 'Courthouse towers' and 'Balanced rock', plus great walks like around the 'Windows section', Delicate Arch, the trail to Broken Arch and Sand dune Arch plus Lot's more in the 'Devils garden'. Canyonlands has a real Wow factor as you walk to the end of the Mesa at Grandview point. Dead horse point, Mesa Arch, Shafer trail viewpoint are a few of the possible stops on the way, and yes, all have great photo opportunities.

Thanks that sounds like a good route :)

I see you mentioned Glen Canyon National Recreation Area again. I visited Glen Canyon/Lake Powell at the end of May to celebrate the 100th-year anniversary of Rainbow Bridge National Monument. Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam are interesting places to visit but I think to get the most out of the Lake Powell area you would need to bring or rent a boat or houseboat. An option is to take one of the cruises. The round trip cruise to Rainbow Bridge is 5 hours but there is a shorter cruise to Antelope Canyon. You probably have seen the spectacular photographs published of the lake. Some photographers note that a lot of those photos were taken when the lake level was higher (the lake level is about 10-20 feet lower). If there are particular views you want to see it is best to find out where the pictures were taken so you travel to right spot. I think the brochure says that Lake Powell is over 150 miles long and there are several boat launches/visitor centers.

The town of Page is great base camp location to explore this area (Antelope slot canyon, horseshoe bend, Les Ferry, Navaho Bridge, etc.). There is a campground in Page if the Wahweap Campground in Glen Canyon is filled.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/grand...escalante.html
and the nearby Vermillion Cliffs National Monument
http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/blm...vermilion.html
are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). You can find information at the local BLM offices in the towns of Escalante or Kanab. The views of the area from the roads are spectacular.

Highway 12 is a Scenic Byway in Utah but you would need to set aside more time in Utah if you want to include Highway 12 and these National Monuments with your other plans.
http://www.utah.com/byways/highway_12.htm

Capitol Reef National Park is located near the northern potion of Highway 12:
http://www.nps.gov/care/planyourvisit/things2know.htm
There is short scenic route along the west side of the Park with fantastic exposures of the "Reef."

With only 4 weeks and your original objective to photograph National Parks, you could could leave Glen Canyon, Escalante, and Vermillion Cliffs as optional sites to visit.

Thank you Rook! You are always very helpful & informative :) I always look forward to see your positive postings :)

Has anyone been on a Lake Powell Tour (UTAH)? I would really like to go on one of the boat tours but there are so many to choose from. Each one takes you to different places so I am wondering if anyone recommends a company or knows of certain things that are must sees like "Rainbow Bridge"? Please let me know. Thank you!