HELP! Road trip starting in Philadelphia, need advice!

Hello everyone!

I was looking for some insight from past roadtrippers on a future road trip I've planned with my boyfriend for next year. We are planning on leaving the last week of august from the Philadelphia area. We have devoted 3 weeks for our travels/sights and our budget is tight - we would like to spend $2500 each.

What we want to see:

1. Badlands National Park
2. Mount Rushmore
3. Grand Teton National Park
4. Yellowstone National Park
5. Glacier National Park
6. Olympic National Park
7. Portland, Oregon
Then venture down the Pacific Highway in California making sure to see
8. San Francisco
9. Big Sur
10. Yosemite National Park
11. Joshua Tree
12. San Diego
We wanted to also hit these spots along the way home
13. Grand Canyon
14. Horseshoe Bend
15. Zion National Park
16. 4 Corners
17. Denver

We feel like we are being WAY too ambitious - with the amount of stops, the time frame and our budget. We plan on camping most of the trip, at national parks or camp grounds nearby to save on hotel expenses. Right now it says our travel route is about 9000 miles. I don't know the first thing about road trips, but I feel like that's a lot of miles for 3 weeks. If anyone could provide any type of insight on:

- a better itinerary (any places we could do without or should see instead)
- travel roads (most of our route is I-90, coming from Philadelphia and I heard that's not scenic)
- would it be cheaper to rent a car and fly back at our end destination?
- should we expand our trip another week?
- how much SHOULD we budget to spend throughout this whole trip (We plan to buy a national park pass and keeping a cooler stocked with water and snacks)
- also, has anyone ever road tripped in a Lancer - any insight on that?

Welcome to RTA!

Yes, you're being a bit ambitious for 3 weeks. Basically, it's a 5-day trip just from Phila. to the coast, and then you have the return (10 days in the car). To venture off to Glacier, and some of the other places, are going to add driving time. That doesn't leave you much time to actually see anything. Here's a couple of ideas, the first of which is what I do when I'm trying to plan a vacation that appears to be too much for the time limit:

Lay out the 21 days that you have. Figure on driving no more than 500 miles per day if you are going to camp on the way, because you have to find the campsite (tent camping is not usually right next to the highways like motels are), set up, and then tear down in the morning, all of which takes TIME. Plan on a half day for Badlands, half day for Mt Rushmore (and they are about 50 miles apart), a day for Grand Teton, three days for Yellowstone, a day for Glacier, a day for Olympic (and there is driving time needed between all of those) and you'll start to see that you are planning too much.

Scale back your trip and see what might work better. Maybe stick to Badlands/Mt Rushmore/Devils Tower/Yellowstone and Teton and go home.

To answer some of your questions:

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- travel roads (most of our route is I-90, coming from Philadelphia and I heard that's not scenic)

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No, it's not particularly scenic but when you're on a time-budget, it's quick. It's not particularly budget-friendly, though, with all the tolls!

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- would it be cheaper to rent a car and fly back at our end destination?

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It would save you time, yes. But somebody is going to charge you a one-way drop fee and then the flight you need may be out of an airport where it's more expensive to fly. What it might be more budget-friendly and time-friendly to do, is fly to Salt Lake City or Denver, rent a car, do a loop trip with a few of those destinations you'd like, return the car to where you borrowed it, and fly home. You still won't get ALL of those places into your vacation, but it would save you a little driving.

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- should we expand our trip another week?

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We took 7 weeks to do a 9000 mile trip, and it was action packed. Another week might get you another destination or two.

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- how much SHOULD we budget to spend throughout this whole trip (We plan to buy a national park pass and keeping a cooler stocked with water and snacks)

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To figure your gas, take your intended mileage, add 20% for sightseeing (Yellowstone is a huge park), then go to the Fuel Cost calculator on the right hand side of this page and calculate how much fuel you are going to use and how much that will cost you. To figure camping, estimate $20 a night (at least). Food? That depends a lot on how you eat, and yes, a cooler and a snack bag work wonders. Stop at big box stores to restock if needed. Buying the national park pass will pay off IF you end up going to more than Badlands ($20), Yellowstone/Grand Teton ($25 for two) and Mt Rushmore (no pass needed, but parking was $12 and you cannot use the pass to cover that; these are 2014 prices). Add Devil's Tower ($10) and you still haven't reached the $80 it costs to buy the pass. The way the trip was aligned in your original post, though, says that the $80 would pay for itself several times over.

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- also, has anyone ever road tripped in a Lancer - any insight on that?

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I can say truthfully that hubby and I have done camping trips, just the two of us, in a Subaru sedan back in the early 80s. It was as small as the Lancer. We did borrow a friend's car-top carrier to make sure we had plenty of room for the equipment we liked to use in camping.


Hope this helps, and feel free to ask more questions!


Donna

Hello and welcome to RTA !

I think you have every right to be concerned that you are taking on [far] to much in the time you have. Personally speaking I would be looking to decide whether to head towards the Northwest or the Southwest, but certainly not both. From PA to San Fran would be a full 10 days of driving and to see the sites in that area you have listed would be pushing things. To go to Olympic NP would take another day at least and the park would need 2 days to do it any type of justice, so that's almost 2 of your 3 weeks gone before you look elsewhere.

If you rent a car and fly back you will have the added fees for a one way rental that could be significant. An option would be to fly out and back and renting a car while in the west and returning it the same place in a loop trip. If you can find an extra week it would help as long as your budget can cope with another week, but even then I think it's a case of North or south. That ultimately has to be your choice, but both are great options. If you want to go to Yellowstone and decide on that you should allow at least 3 days in the park just to have time to get around to the main areas.

Thank you for your helpful reply. Yes I knew I was over ambitious - I'm just so excited to embark on my first road trip!

Southwest Dave - thank you for your reply! I think you're right, I didn't want to admit to myself I had to scale back and cut out portions of my trip. I would prefer to do the northern part of the country, Glacier being my #1 point of interest.

Do either you or DonnaR57 you have any itinerary suggestions if I just had these points of interest:
- Badlands
- Mount Rushmore
- Yellowstone
- Teton
- Glacier
and wanted to keep Olympic NP and Portland?

The other issue when it comes to the fly-drive, your camping equipment would be tough to pack out and back. You would be extremely limited, one box perhaps for 2 sleeping bags, a small tent, and a cooler -- you'd almost have to buy some of that stuff there and then donate it to a thrift organization store before you headed back.

I would sincerely suggest picking a few places, driving there, around, and home, and that way you'll be comfortable with your own gear. Do plan on a motel every few days, for cleanliness purposes. You can buy showers at a truck stop but you will be paying $15-18 per person. You may find cheap motels for under $40, if you watch your coupon books and try not to stay in the heart of the city. (These can be found at state visitor centers, some rest areas, and some truck stops.)

Do you have paper maps??? Time to pick some up -- free at AAA if you're a member, or low cost if you're not, or stop in Walmart and pick up a road atlas. Don't be tempted to rely on electronic mapping programs or a GPS of any type. They aren't detailed enough AND they get you into trouble easily!


Donna

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Originally Posted by LiGlee

Southwest Dave - thank you for your reply! I think you're right, I didn't want to admit to myself I had to scale back and cut out portions of my trip. I would prefer to do the northern part of the country, Glacier being my #1 point of interest.

Do either you or DonnaR57 you have any itinerary suggestions if I just had these points of interest:
- Badlands
- Mount Rushmore
- Yellowstone
- Teton
- Glacier
and wanted to keep Olympic NP and Portland?

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You would still be looking at a lot of driving heading out to Olympic NP and down to Portland which would then limit your time in the other places listed. Extending the trip by a week would certainly help. It would be 3 hard days of driving to the Badlands. Then perhaps 3 to 4 days to see Badlands, visit Rushmore and drive through Glacier NP. You would have to allow a day and a half to drive to Olympic NP and perhaps 2 days for the park and the drive to Portland. Another 2 days from Portland to West Yellowstone with perhaps a little time spent along the Columbia River Gorge. So that's the best part of 2 weeks gone at a brisk pace and it's going to take 4 full days to drive home from Jackson WY, leaving perhaps 3 or 4 days to explore Yellowstone and the Tetons before heading towards I80 and homeward bound. Of course that's just one way of doing it among many, but if you had an extra few days at your disposal you could take longer with the driving out and back and see a few more things at a slower pace, rather than large parts of your trip feeling m ore 'work like' behind the wheel.

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Originally Posted by LiGlee

Southwest Dave - thank you for your reply! I think you're right, I didn't want to admit to myself I had to scale back and cut out portions of my trip. I would prefer to do the northern part of the country, Glacier being my #1 point of interest.

Do either you or DonnaR57 you have any itinerary suggestions if I just had these points of interest:
- Badlands
- Mount Rushmore
- Yellowstone
- Teton
- Glacier
and wanted to keep Olympic NP and Portland?

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You have made a good start at cutting back. I honestly think if you want to have any quality time at the first 5 parks on your list, you will still need to cut out Olympic NP and Portland. Cutting these two places will save you well over 1,300 miles. Driving long hours day after day can be exhausting. You can spend a week in Yellowstone and hardly scrape the surface of this wonderful park. I think you have enough to keep you busy, but if not, you might consider making a day trip to Waterton National Park in Canada from Glacier if you have your passports. I would also add Theodore Roosevelt National Park on either the way out or the way back.

I would do a circle tour starting out with three days of just driving around 560 miles a day and reach Theodore Roosevelt on the 4th day. Day 5 see a little of the park and drive the rest of day 5 and day 6 to reach East Glacier National Park. If you are going to be here over the Labor Day weekend, you will need camping reservations. I suggest Glacier first because some of the campgrounds start to close after Labor Day. Glacier has many wonderful areas to explore and lots of hiking. Three full days here is not unreasonable.

You could make it from Glacier to West Yellowstone in one long day of driving. We never stayed less than a 7 days here but you could get a good idea of the park in three full days. There is that much to see and do in Yellowstone. Grand Tetons is just a short drive from Yellowstone. We usually spend just a couple nights here but many others love to hike here.

It's a long days drive between Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore. I would consider spending a night on the road and make the short detour to see Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Mt. Rushmore can easily be seen in a couple of hours. Badlands can be seen in a day. From Badlands you have another 3 long days of driving to get home.


Utahtea

Another option that would be more economical with time and money would be to 'replace' Olympic NP with Rocky mountain NP and go from the Tetons to Colorado and then home.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions, it's all much appreciated!

So we've officially given up on trying to see the pacific this time around, we'll save that for another trip! I am looking for more insight/advice on my updated idea:

- Badlands - 1 day
- Mount Rushmore - half day
- Glacier NP - 3 days
- Yellowstone - 3 days
- Teton NP - 1/2 days
- Arches NP - ?
- Zion NO - ?
- Grand Canyon - ?

I originally was just going to end at Teton, but part of me still wants to see as much as possible... which I know is because I'm a rookie at this. Please let me know if you think this plan is feasible, and if so, how many days would you estimate? I only included days I'd like to venture at these destinations - I did not account for driving time.

Also what suggestions do you have for places to stop/things to see and explore between Philadelphia and Badlands and between our end stop (whether it be Teton or Grand Canyon) and Philadelphia? That's A LOT of driving to do with nothing to do in-between! Looking for things outdoorsy, touristy, anything must see for a classic road trip.

Alterative route plan are welcomed - I'd like to try to fit all these in but if it's not practical then I will go back to the drawing board again.

Almost every response you've gotten so far has pointed out that you're trying to do too much in too little time. This is another such response. When we tell you that you need to cut back that means that in our opinion you need to drive fewer miles and try to fit in fewer stops. It does NOT mean that you cut out one or two stops and then add several others thousands of miles away. What we are suggesting is that if you want to see the 'West' you MUST make A choice of which part of that vast area, far from your home, that you want to see. You cannot see the northern Rockies AND the Pacific northwest. You cannot see the northern Rockies AND the desert southwest. You can see ONE of those three areas. The sooner you make that choice, the sooner you can start making realistic plans for an enjoyable and memorable vacation, and the sooner we can start helping you make the best use of your time in that one area.

AZBuck

Thanks for your response AZBuck, that is why I asked if the plan was feasible. I know people who have done these types of trips so I'm trying to figure out if that's what I want to do or if I want to spend more time in some of my destinations... hence why I'm on this forum asking all these questions and asking for advice.

AZBuck has a big point.

Days 1-4: spent driving from Philadelphia to Glacier NP - about 2400 miles, depending on exactly where in the Phila. area you begin. These will be 550 mile days, plus set up and tear down of camping equipment. Some days you may be out of reach of a decent public campground when you end your day.

Days 5-6: Glacier NP

Day 7: Drive from Glacier to Yellowstone -- almost 400 miles, set up camp.

Days 8-9-10: See Yellowstone.

Day 11-12: Drive to Grand Teton, see Grand Teton.

Day 13: Drive Grand Teton to Rapid City, stopping for quick visit at Devils Tower (520 miles plus stop at DTNM).

Day 14: Mt Rushmore, Custer State Park

Day 15: Badlands National Park

Day 16-19: Drive home.

Without adding MORE driving, you have an extra 2 days to add into seeing something while you're on vacation, instead of waving to things as they fly by your window. You could add another day in the Black Hills area. (I'd recommend it, as there is also Custer State Park with its Wildlife Loop, Wind Cave National Park and Jewel Cave National Monument in the area). You could add a day in the Cody, WY area, or take two days to get from Grand Teton to Mt Rushmore and take more time at the Devils Tower. (If you've ever seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind, THAT is Devils Tower there.)

Sometimes Less is More, despite what your math lessons tell you -- seeing less makes you enjoy what you are seeing, a lot more.


Donna

Thanks DonnaR57!! Yeah I am just destination happy right now - once I sit down and figure out driving times I will want to cut the destinations and leave time to just enjoy what's around me. I appreciate all the advice everyone!

I think you need to decide right now whether you can add another week to your trip or not. With the things you want to see and do, you really do need it.

During the past twenty years I made several trips to the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest and California. Most of the camping trips were to the "Rocky Mountains" area, specifically South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah (and Idaho). I have also traveled around Oregon, Washington and British Columbia some but most of that was not camping. Flying to a Rocky Mountain city (usually Salt Lake City or Denver) saved at least 3 days, each way, of boring driving from the Mid-Atlantic region. We would target a start/end launch city for a "loop trip" due to the cost of drop-off fees with rental cars. That worked out fine. Our trips were usually 2 weeks in duration.

Looking at your desired destinations, all great, really adds up to 4 separate loop trips: Northern Rocky Mountain states; the Great Southwest; California; and the Pacific Northwest. It would be a stretch to justly do two of those "loops" in a 3-week trip driving from Philadelphia. Several people have stressed the time/distance calculations of programs such as Google Maps and suggest dividing distance by 55 mph. IMO, that is fine for sprints from Philly to Denver, but then it is game over if you are interested in camping or sightseeing. For the most part, great portions of those regions favor traveling along the US highways, not the interstates (it is not like driving from PHL to Orlando on US 1 or US 15). For example, from Denver to Black Canyon of the Gunnison (camping!) to Durango on your way to Mesa Verde. Or Denver to the west slope of Rocky Mountain NP (camping) to Gunnison (campout) to Mesa Verde.

If you were to fly, then Southwest Airlines is probably a good choice with their 2 free bags per person plus a personal item (e.g., a backpack). SWA also tends to be more supportive in your baggage situation then other airlines these days. You need to keep your bags within a 62 inch total (Length+Width+Depth) and under 50 lbs. Bag #1: Cooler packed with camp stove (propane powered, but no propane cannisters whatsoever), utensils, table spread, plates, cooking pans, skewers, etc.). Bag #2: duffel bag with tent, sleeping bags ground cover (wrap hatchet/ax in a blanket). Bag #3: Clothing. Bag #4: More clothing and/or camp supplies.

One excursion plan that worked well for us was flying into Salt Lake City and then driving to Pocatello for camping out provisioning (fresh food, dry ice, matches, propane for camp stove, etc.) and a night in a hotel. Early in the morning we'd drive to the West Entrance to Yellowstone to secure a campsite for the next few days. From Yellowstone to Glacier NP, a beautiful route is via the NE gate to Red Lodge and on to Missoula for a provisioning night-over on the way to Glacier NP; or, to Custer State Park (camping) for the Badlands, Wind Cave area. The Yellowstone to Red Lodge route is one not to miss... tons of switch back, snow and ice at the pass and allow plenty of time. Scenic and slow :) Anyway, digressing... we would usually camp for a few nights, then break camp early and drive to a gateway town for provisioning, touristing and sleepover and then get an early start for obtaining a campsite at the next destination. We provisioned in Missoula for driving up to Glacier NP.

For the Southwest: Denver, SLC, Albuquerque and Phoenix are all good loop cities -- whichever has reasonable rates non-stop and affordable rental cars (airport cities can vary due to competition and fee structures + extra taxes). Speaking of rental cars, a larger sedan is much easier than a smaller sedan if you are camping; a station wagon style vehicle is easier than a sedan; and a minivan is easier than all of the above!

Have fun... and dig into your AAA USA and regional maps with pins and highlighters. There is more to do than you can imagine in any of the "four circles" I mentioned above.

Hi Landmariner, and Welcome to the Great American Roadtrip Forum.

Thank you for jumping in with your first post to give advice to this member. In particular your method of bringing your camping gear on fly/drive roadtrips. It sounds like you have had many great trips, so feel free any time to jump in with your experience.. It is always appreciated.

Lifey

Hello again -

So I have taken everyones advice and I am trying to be more realistic. I am using the website roadtrippers.com to plan my trip (my AAA maps are on their way). I have narrowed my destinations to
1. Badlands
2. Mount Rushmore
3. Devils Tower
4. Glacier NP
5. Yellowstone NP
6. Grand Teton NP
7. Jackson, WY

With this trip, roadtrippers.com says it is just over 5,000 miles. I feel like that is a lot for 3 weeks. Once I get my maps I'm sure I'll be able to plan out driving routes better but I guess what I'm asking is.. is this possible? I know I have been overly ambitious in past posts and am wondering if I still am. It just still seems like a lot of miles for the time frame.

Thanks for you patience with me roadtrippers :)

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Originally Posted by LiGlee

Hello again -

So I have taken everyones advice and I am trying to be more realistic. I am using the website roadtrippers.com to plan my trip (my AAA maps are on their way). I have narrowed my destinations to
1. Badlands
2. Mount Rushmore
3. Devils Tower
4. Glacier NP
5. Yellowstone NP
6. Grand Teton NP
7. Jackson, WY

With this trip, roadtrippers.com says it is just over 5,000 miles. I feel like that is a lot for 3 weeks. Once I get my maps I'm sure I'll be able to plan out driving routes better but I guess what I'm asking is.. is this possible? I know I have been overly ambitious in past posts and am wondering if I still am. It just still seems like a lot of miles for the time frame.

Thanks for you patience with me roadtrippers :)

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That is SO much better and do-able with time at each place. Once you get your maps, check out going to Theodore Roosevelt National Park on the way there, then you could do the rest in this order: Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Devil's Tower, Mt. Rushmore and Badlands. The mileage is the same but it would give you something to see on the way there. You don't need a lot of time at Roosevelt.

Utahtea

Some folk like to limit their driving time to no more than 50% of the trip time. This gives a good balance of time to see and explore vs driving.

For me, though my trips are normally considerably longer, I prefer to limit my miles to around 1000 a week.

Lifey

That is a huge improvement and one that will lead to having a memorable trip for all the right reasons. It will be at least 10-15% more in mileage by the time you add in detours to the parks and driving around in them, but even then your trip can remain quite relaxed while keeping on the move. I would probably look at taking 4 days to get out to the Badlands and 5 to get home from Jackson which will give time for short breaks away from the car, or an early evening off the road to spend in town. That would be around 3800 miles 'taken care of', leaving you 12 days to sight see in the west while covering around 1800 miles with detours. At least 3 of those days I would plan on spending in, or around Yellowstone and the Tetons.

Ultimately only you can decide if it's too much as everyone is different, but it's certainly possible while having time to enjoy sights along the way imo.

Besides the time suggested for Roosevelt - Badlands will take about a half day for the main drive. Mount Rushmore is about a half day. Devils Tower depends on what you want to do there. There is a prairie dog village on the way in/out, on park property so it's a free attraction, and fun to watch the little guys for a few minutes. The visitor center and museum is very small. There's a trail that goes all the way around the Tower, nothing strenuous, just a nice stretch of the legs. It's 1-1/2 miles around, I think, with lots of opportunities for viewing/photos of the Tower from different angles and viewpoints. Yellowstone, as has been mentioned I believe, is 2-3 days to see the highlights, and another day for Grand Teton. I would say at least a day at Glacier, though admittedly I have not been there in ... ahem ... too many years. (Time to put that one on a trip so that my husband can see this place.)


Donna

Hello everyone, I am still in the planning stages of my road trip (Aug-Sept 2016 ~ about 3 weeks). I have narrowed down my destinations to badlands NP, Devil's Tower, Billings, MT, Glacier NP, Flathead Lake, Yellowstone NP, Grand Tetons, and Rocky Mt NP. I am wondering how early can I book campgrounds in advance for these national parks - for Glacier I know it's 6 months but what about Yellowstone and the others? Also past campers, do you suggest picking one campground as a home base for multiple days in one park (planning 3 days in yellowstone and glacier)? I was confused on if I should be booking 2 campsites or 1.

Any advise would help, I'm a first timer here. Also any suggestions on which campsites are best would be great!

Please keep all questions about this trip in one thread. Thank you.

For individual park information you should check out the nps.gov website for correct information. Booking a couple of different campgrounds in Yellowstone could be an advantage as it is so big.

Have you done that in the past? I wasn't sure if it was an advantage or disadvantage because taking down the camping site and then driving to a new one, setting up, etc. then going out to explore. I wanted to see what was more common among past roadtrippers.

The advantage of picking different campgrounds is that it can cut down on some driving, the disadvantage is that you do have to tear down and set up camp.

Some of it depends upon how fast you can tear down/set up, and some of it depends upon which campgrounds you're going to be staying at.

If you only want to stay at one campground, I'd try to get into one that's relatively centrally located - like Canyon or Madison. If you end up staying at someplace like Mammoth, you'd be a long way from attractions at the other end of the park, and then it would make more sense to split up your stays.

The other reason that people some times split up their visits is purely availability - for example, if someone wants to camp for 5 days, there might not be a campsite available for 5 days, and they will have to split things up just to find space.

Suggestions on campgrounds in Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Flathead Lake, and Rocky Mt?
What would you suggest we definitely do in Yellowstone and Glacier with 3 days in each?

Yellowstone is huge. Three days barely gives you time to see the majority of the sites in your car, wait for Old Faithful to go off, and maybe take a couple of the boardwalks around the hot pools/geyser basins. You will probably spend one full day going around the Upper Loop, and the Lower Loop can take a another day. Plus time to drive up to Lamar Valley, or out to the eastern part of the park. We took three days so in 2014 - one day to come into the park from Billings along the Beartooth, see Lamar Valley, and Norris Geyser Basin; one day for Upper Loop, Mammoth and Gardiner; one day for the the Lower Loop. We still missed a major geyser basin.

As far as campsites, I am always hesitant to recommend any not only because I haven't spent time in any in years, but also because when it comes to getting reservations at an NP campsite, it may be just what's available, and not necessarily your first choice. It has been that way for years.q


Donna

Hello!! I leave for my road trip September 1st and wanted to know what the weather typically is like in the places I'm going throughout September. I am trying to figure out what I need to pack. I'll be visiting Cuyahoga National Park in early September then ventured to South Dakota for the Badlands, Custer, Windcave NP. Then going up to Glacier NP and Flathead Lake around the 2nd week of September. Then Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, and Jackson. Then there's the possibility of Boulder, CO. I haven't been to any of these places so I do not know what weather conditions to expect. Any insight on what to pack, gear-wise and clothing-wise is much appreciated from you pros! Thank you in advance!!

Moderator Note: As you were previously told, please keep all questions about this trip in the same thread.

Predicting the weather anywhere more than a month in advance is impossible.

You will also have the challenge that you'll be dealing with a very wide range of terrain and elevation.

In early September, it's entirely possible to see summer heat, with temperatures in the 90's or above in some areas. However, especially since you'll be in places like Yellowstone and Glacier, it also wouldn't be surprising to see temperatures drop below freezing on several nights of your trip.

When it comes to packing, layers will be your friend.

The weather is unpredictable at best and you are likely to see a wide range of temperatures and possibly conditions. What you really need is layered clothing where you can 'bulk up' if and when needed and some wet gear just in case. You can get an idea of historic weather data from a number of weather sites but it will still have no effect on what's happening 'there and then' when you are travelling.

Since you started this thread, I returned to Glacier NP, this time with my husband. This information is now 2 weeks old. We spent our days this way:

Day 1 - drove from Great Falls to East Glacier Park Village, checked into our motel, and then headed to the Two Medicine Lake area. We took the walk to Running Eagle Falls -- level trail, mostly on boardwalk, about 6/10-mile round trip. Drove down to Two Medicine Lake, walked along the middle lake for a little bit, went into the general store. Then went to another parking area and took the hike up to Appistoki Falls - about 1.2 miles round trip, I believe, and very pretty walk. The campgrounds in this area were really pretty, and I believe pmount in this forum finds these her favorite.

Day 2 - Going to the Sun Road. I HIGHLY recommend that you do this early in the morning or later in the afternoon. Even in September, I am told, the traffic up near Logan Pass can make you feel like you never left the urban area -- no fun. Depending on what campground you end up in, you could go one direction on Going to the Sun, and take US 2 in the other direction, to make it a loop. That was our intent, but due to some screwups, we ended up doing Going to the Sun in both directions. (There's something to be said for that -- different view in each direction.)

Our intent was to hike to Avalanche Lake (3.8 miles round trip), but due to the lack of parking at the trailhead, we could not. We did Trail of the Cedars -- worthwhile -- on the way back, but there was no time for an almost 4 mile trail with a 500-ft gain in elevation. We also wanted to hike Hidden Lake Overlook, but that trail was closed due to Bear Activity. This could be any trail at any time.

If I were camping in Glacier, I think I'd prefer either the Apgar area, or Two Medicine, just for a little less people!!!!

Day 3 - In the morning, we went out to Many Glacier area. Very beautiful. It was rather rainy, so we canceled plans to the Apikuni Falls trail (Can you tell I love lakes and waterfalls?!) as we did not carry raingear with us. (Bad planning on our part.) You are forewarned that the road into Many Glacier is not really in great condition, but go slow and you'll be fine.


Donna