Philadelphia to Seattle this summer (2013)

Hi,

A couple of friends and I are planning to drive from Philadelphia to Seattle over a 10 day period via the Smoky Mountains and the Zion/Bryce National parks. We came up with a 10 day itinerary covering about 3800 miles and would welcome feedback especially on the following.

• Recommendations on where to stop on the route between the trip points
• Feasibility, driving tips, precautions
• Attractions that we should not miss
• Nuggets on the route or alternatives we should consider
• Cellphone dead zones, stretches without gas stations/rest stops

A few questions

• We have two drivers among us and think we can comfortably do about 7 -8 hrs a day at an average rate of 60mph.
  On three days though because of the nature of stopovers, we might have to drive as long as 9-10 hrs is that impractical?
  
• We expect to need to book accommodation at the national parks (or just outside them) in advance. However for the stop overs in between, we were planning to wing it and book them on the day of the stay depending on how far we could drive.
  
  Is that a safe strategy, any pointers on how to get beds at the last minute

Day 1

• Philly to Gatlinburg TN. Its a 12 hour drive and we were thinking of stopping around Bristol TN if we ran out of time/energy.

Day 2 Visit places in the park, likely Roaring Forks, Laurel Falls, Clingmans Dome

Day 3 & 4

• Head out from Townsend TN mid afternoon on Day 3 after spending a few hours in the park in the vicinity of Townsend
• Keep driving in the direction of Zion and stop somewhere in Kansas/MO for the night

Day 5

• Drive on to Colorado for a final stop before hitting Zion

Day 6

• Make it to Springdale outside Zion and spend the night there

Day 7

• Visit Zion

Day 8

• Leave for Bryce Canyon a little before noon
• Get to Bryce late afternoon and do a few things like the scenic drive, maybe a ranger walk or so

Day 9 & 10

• Head out for Seattle with a stop in Idaho and Washington
• Reach Seattle around noon on Day 10

cheers

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I think your plan looks pretty reasonable, except the very end. It's 1100+ miles from Bryce to Seattle, which is 2 full days on the road, at 9-10 hours each day. It's not reasonable to think you will get there by noon on day 10.

My other question would be about your bigger plan - are you moving to Seattle, or are you planning to drive back to Philly?

If I were in your shoes, I might skip the Smokies for this trip, especially if you're based out of Philly and could easily go there on a shorter trip at a later date. The Smokies are nice, I believe they are the most visited National Park in the Country, however, they are kind of dwarfed in size and scope by the Rockies. I'd at least give some thought to heading straight west and spending more time in the west. For example, you could add in some time in Rocky Mountain National Park and Arches/Canyonlands if you headed straight west. Those aren't the only options by any means, but some stops you might enjoy that would cut down your miles somewhat, giving you more time to explore.

Zion likely to be HOT HOT HOT...

I would spend night at Bryce if possible... should be cooler...

Enjoy I70 west of Denver to Grand Junction...

Cheers,

Like Michael, I felt that your plans were mostly good, but you have a couple of problems.

There's only one way to be in Seattle by noon, and that's to start the last day EARLY EARLY EARLY in the morning, like 2 or 3 am. My husband and I have been forced to do that (because of rude neighbors in a motel), but we didn't find it fun to be up that early on the last day of our trip and trying to make high mileage.

Great Smoky Mountains NP to Zion NP is about a 4 day drive. Three days isn't enough.

Also on that last two days, included in the first 1100 miles is a nice stretch of 2 lane road, going over a mountain pass to catch I-15 north. On either road (US-89/UT-20 or US-89/UT-14) you'll be hard-pressed to average 40 mph, and they're not roads to do in the dark, either (the scenery is too pretty!). You could conceivably overnight in Boise, though.


Donna

Thanks much for the feedback - this is great information.

Michael: we are moving to the west coast, would this alter your recommendation to stop at the Rockies. Our choice to stop at the Smoky mountains was somewhat arbitrary and we could be persuaded either way :)

thanks also for pointing out the miscalculation for the last leg of the trip. We'll likely make it on the 11th day.

jm98: what are the attractions on the stretch between Denver and Grand Junction - are these views of the Rockies?

thanks for the pointers to spend the night in Bryce.

Donna: thanks for the pointers on the scenic drive. Yep, we are planning on about 4 days to get to Zion

What do folks feel about our chances of finding accommodation on the way without any advance booking.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by danmap

What do folks feel about our chances of finding accommodation on the way without any advance booking.

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Most of your trip should present no difficulty for finding good to great lodging choices as you go. Springdale, because of it's proximity to Zion is often full. But we do have our favorites therein.

Peter Thody really liked the Driftwood Lodge

I can't find my notes -- but I like the one on the south side of town.

As far as the rest goes -- it's all about how comfortable you are about not knowing where you'll be staying. As a general rule, I recommend not booking lodging ahead of time -- unless it is in a special place or, as in the case of Springdale, it fills up fast.

Mark

Quote:

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Originally Posted by danmap

jm98: what are the attractions on the stretch between Denver and Grand Junction - are these views of the Rockies?

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I-70 between those two cities has some of the most gorgeous scenery of any interstate highway in the USA, IMHO. Mountains, rivers, beautiful valleys, and picturesque old mining artifacts are along the road. Then there's Glenwood Canyon, site of the "hanging freeway". This is one section of the interstate highway where you won't have your average, every day rest area. They are all different, and lovely! We go through there a lot, and we try to stop at a different rest area every time.


Donna

I-70 west of Denver and all the way into Utah is probably the most scenic highway in North America. It seems almost criminal to rush along it at highway speed. So much to see, so little chance to take a snapshot. As well as the features mentioned by Donna, check out the rail tracks on the other side of the canyon.

The Amtrak travels through that canyon a lot slower than the traffic. It was a treat to be able to see the whole canyon and the hanging highway from the train.

Like Mark, I rarely if ever book my accommodation, other than in highly trafficked tourist areas or on holiday weekends. At those times and in those places it is virtually essential.... unless you want to spend hours at the end of the day, looking for a bed.

Lifey

You asked about cell phone dead zones. Along I-70 in Utah, between Green River and Salina UT, there is a long stretch with no coverage. It is a well patrolled area, because of that I'm sure, and some of the rest areas have coverage or a solar-operated emergency phone. It's also a very beautiful stretch of the highway, too.

Here's one of the views from a rest area in the Glenwood Canyon area of Colorado:
Click here.

Here's the Book Cliffs, which start right after Grand Junction heading west:
Click here for that one too.

Rocky Mountain High, Colorado - just click here.

Donna

I just ran that stretch of I-70 last February. There are *NO* services between Salina and Green River - approximately 110 miles. Fill your gas tank before you take it. I lost cell coverage several miles out of Salina, regained it about halfway through for about 2 miles, then lost it again till I got within several miles of Green River. My carrier is AT&T.

Other than that one stretch, there are very few Interstate highways in the country that don't have continuous coverage these days.

Mark, Donna, Lifey, glc thanks much for the feedback. This is an awesome forum!

We've started making calls to Springdale and Bryce canyon city and it seems like the rooms are filling up quick.

We'll plan on doing the i-70 stretch west of Denver at a suitable pace so we can appreciate the scenery.

cheers
Dinesh

All doing the trip,

Please be sure to take Utah Scenic byway HWY12 on the way to Bryce Canyon NP. I would highly recommend to start one end in the morning so you can reach Bryce in the late afternoon...

Cheers,

A quick update - we are finished with the trip and now in the Northwest. Thanks to everyone who contributed and gave us advice,

We left on the 31st of June and got to Seattle on the evening of the 9th of July. The trip was mostly uneventful and played out as we'd planned.

The only snag was a puncture on the sidewall on the first day of our trip and we ended up staying the night at Kingsport after driving about 30 miles on the donut. The next day we had to change all four tires since my car is a four wheel drive and we made it to the Smoky mountains on the evening of the 1st. We trimmed our itinerary in the park and then pretty much stuck to the schedule after that.

While we enjoyed the trip and liked all the national parks, if I had to do this again, I'd probably stick closer to the shortest route and pick attractions closer to that route (since there are several). We drove about 4000 miles as compared to the shortest distance of about 2800 miles.
That way the ratio between the time spent at attractions and the driving time would improve and from talking to folks who've been to Glacier National park I think the difference in sights/ beauty between the national parks doesn't warrant making big diversions.

Thanks for reporting back. The diversions you made, especially by starting in the Smokeys, were pretty big, and that did require you to go at a pretty quick pace, so I understand the idea that you'd want more time at the parks if you did it again. That said the parks along the northern tier of the US, like Glacier, Yellowstone, the Badlands, etc are very different from those in Colorado and Utah, so I wouldn't exactly call them interchangable.