2 week midwest / west roadtrip in campervan help needed!

Hey Everyone!

New here so I apologize if there there is a better way of getting this information. My husband and I are planning to finally take our honeymoon in June and would like to do a 2 week roadtrip through the midwest and west. We would like to fly out to a point (Kansas seemed like a good spot to start and end at looking at the map, but you might have a much better suggestion for me :) ) in this area and then rent a campervan for 2 weeks. Some places we would love to visit in these 2 weeks are:

-The Great Plains
-The Rockies
-Yellowstone National Park
-The Redwood Forest (I know this one may be a little too far to fit into the 2 week time-frame)
-The Grand Canyon

We are really big into the outdoors, and don't really care much for big cities unless there there is something truly fantastic to see there. We are also huge food people and I am a photographer so gorgeous landscapes are my thing and so are local foods:)

I would love any suggestions on a route to take that might let us hit most of our points, any suggestions on must-see places (whether on or off the beaten path) while out in the mid-west and west, and if anyone knows where or how we could rent a campervan for this trip. We don't require much for the campervan, just a place to sleep and heat up food. We plan on doing diners and local food places when the location allows for this.

In case this is important, we live in up-state NY but don't want to waste a bunch of time driving out to the midwest since we only have 2 weeks. We don't want to be driving the entire time, so building in some days with no driving would be great.

Thank you for all your help and time in advance!

-Jolana

Welcome to RTA!

There are not many small campervan rental companies, but Escape Campervans may be what you need.

https://www.escapecampervans.com/

With the places you want to visit, I think the Denver location would probably be the best. With that in mind, use a road atlas to visualize a possible route and go from there.

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I agree with GLC that Denver would probably be your best place to start - with Salt Lake City possibly being another option. There are limited places to rent RVs from, especially small ones, and you probably should look at doing a loop where you start and end at the same place. Doing that will save you quite a bit of money.

2 weeks is a nice amount of time, but it's not a ton of time either. I would certainly throw out California and the Redwoods. I could see where you did something like the Badlands/Black Hills (getting a taste of the plains along the way), Yellowstone, down through the National Parks of Utah to the Grand Canyon, and then make your way back across Colorado to finish in Denver.

You can kind of take it from there. I'd plan at least a day for most National Parks, and at least 3 for Yellowstone/Grand Teton. Certainly less can be more, especially in the context of a honeymoon.

Two weeks is a nice amount of time for a road trip but that time soon fly's by, so you really need to pick an area of interest and spend quality time enjoying it in a relaxed manner. (It is a Honeymoon after all ! ) As suggested, Denver is a good choice and would give you the options to visit the Colorado Rockies combined with Badlands, Yellowstone and some of Utah's great National Parks. A Las Vegas start would allow you to take in the Grand canyon, parts of Colorado and Southern Utah NP's. Alternatively, heading to San Francisco you could do a loop trip to the Grand canyon taking in the National parks of California (Yosemite, Sequoia and Death Valley) and Utah (Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion) with a visit to Monument Valley and some of the highlights around Page AZ. There is so much to see and do with all options, you really don't need to spend most of your time clocking up extensive miles and only having time to look out through the windshield. There are no bad options, just those that appeal to you the most so do a little research and once you have the basics down we can help with the finer detail.

These are Escape's locations:

Atlanta
Denver
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Miami
New York
Phoenix
San Francisco
Seattle
Vancouver

Nothing in Salt Lake City.

Escape is a good option, but not the only option to consider.

For example, Cruise America does a pickup truck camper that could work (and would be available from Salt Lake City).

Thanks GLC!

The Escape Campervans is exactly what we are looking for!

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for your helpful tips and insight. Originally we were looking at starting and ending in the same place to keep the price down as you all mentioned, but after shortening my list of things to see to cut down on travel time I came up with this route. What do you guys think?

Day 1:Fly into Denver, rent Escape Campervan and start driving --7 hours
Day 2: Driving --7 hours
Day 3 and 4:Yellowstone
Day 5: Driving -- 2.5 hours
Day 6: Salt Lake area--2.5 hours
Day 7: Driving -- 3 hours
Day 8: Valley of Fire State Park (or another area of the desert near there) --3 hours
Day 9: Arrive at Grand Canyon --3 hours (arriving in the morning)
Day 10:Grand Canyon --3 hours (leaving at night)
Day 11: Driving and Fly out of Phoenix back home -- 2 hours

The number of hours would refer to the number of hours on the road each day. Days that just have driving we would go on small hikes and find a place in the woods to park the van for the night. I checked and I can rent the van in Denver and return it to Phoenix. We may end up only having 11 days instead of 14, so I have to keep that in mind while planning. It looks like the total trip would be 33 hours (about 3 hours a day) of driving and about 2,000 miles. My main concern is that Denver to Yellowstone is 14 hours so those first 2 days would be a bit brutal, unless we could make a few small stops along the way to take in the scenery or go on a small hike. What do you think? Still too ambitious? I appreciate all the insight :)

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Originally Posted by Czechster

... and find a place in the woods to park the van for the night.

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Better do a good bit of research as to where this is allowed. It is not as prolific as the discussion about it is. Places are few and far between, and often not near the route you are on.

Lifey

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It looks like the total trip would be 33 hours (about 3 hours a day) of driving and about 2,000 miles.

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Don't be fooled by electronic mapping program time estimates. A computer doesn't have to deal with construction or congestion delays and in Yellowstone, wildlife jams. Your drives are all doable though.

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My main concern is that Denver to Yellowstone is 14 hours so those first 2 days would be a bit brutal,

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You don't say from where you are flying in from or what time you arrive but your travel time shouldn't be anywhere near 14 hours, perhaps 11 hours to the south entrance.

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We may end up only having 11 days instead of 14, so I have to keep that in mind while planning.

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Those 3 days will make a big difference with the miles you are trying to cover but it is doable.

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Day 8: Valley of Fire State Park (or another area of the desert near there) --3 hours
Day 9: Arrive at Grand Canyon --3 hours (arriving in the morning)

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If you visit the Grand canyon North rim, I also think you would get far more from a visit to Zion NP than you will heading to the Valley of Fire, as nice as it is. I also think you could get more driving done on days 5, 6 and 7 to allow more time at Yellowstone and Grand canyon. You could drive to Jackson WY on day 5 and spend a bit of time in the Teton's on the way and then get a good day on the road, perhaps as far south as Cedar City. You could then have a good day at Zion on day 7 and on day 8 continue to Grand canyon where you could spend all of day 9 and then break the journey to Phoenix with an overnight stop, Monument Valley or Red rock country around Sedona.

As for sleeping, try and book sites within the National parks, they are not expensive and there is nothing like camping in the middle of it all. You can't just pull up somewhere and sleep the night. It's your trip and you should do what suits you but they are some thoughts to ponder.

National Forests (not National Parks) often, or even mostly out west, allow what's called 'dispersed camping.'

This is the pull up and park kind of camping. But it isn't necessarily easy to find when you need it and my experience is that it's generally off a dirt or 4WD road rather than just off a paved road thru the NF.

I've done some trip planning using Google Maps and searching on campgrounds in national forests. It's how I fiigure out my options along the routes I'm considering.

BLM offices and officers are also very helpful, but like noFanofCB says, mostly dirt roads to get to their campgrounds. I don't know what Escape's contract says about going off made roads. BLM too may have it on the internet, but when I used them three years ago, none of it was on the internet. Often they do not have toilets, and when they do, they are primitive long drop toilets, neither will there be running water. Not exactly what I would want on my honeymoon.

Lifey

On my recent June trip to Montana I stayed in 2 BLM campgrounds. Pit toilets, no running water but some rough picnic tables and fire rings. And no usage fees.

The other two campgrounds on the trip were paid National Forest campgrounds. (Skull Creek near Flaming Gorge and Cottonwood on the Snake River south of Salmon, ID)

In my trip report link below the 9th ,10th and 11th pictures up from the end show Big Sandy Recreation Area. Further up the page the Smokey Cub camground was also BLM. Neither shows up on Google Maps even when you know they are there.

I suppose I could have pulled off the road and camped in many other places but a pit toilet is usually better than none and I find picnic tables to be really handy for unpacking and repacking the motorcycle.


http://coloradowreckchasing.com/ADVp...trip_2017.html

Thank you for all your input Southwest Dave! I will check out Zion National Park, Teton's, and Red Rock Country. These are the things I wouldn't think/ know to look into so I appreciate it.

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Originally Posted by Southwest Dave

I also think you could get more driving done on days 5, 6 and 7 to allow more time at Yellowstone and Grand canyon. You could drive to Jackson WY on day 5 and spend a bit of time in the Teton's on the way and then get a good day on the road, perhaps as far south as Cedar City.

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My husband doesn't want to drive more than 3 hours a day, but I am hoping I can convince him a few longer days of driving will be worth it to have a few more days of no driving.

In terms of sleeping, here in NY we back-country camp and just sleep in camping hammocks, not in tents. But I have a feeling doing that in the Rockies may not be as safe in terms of wildlife as it is up here. Maybe we can do that in a couple of places and stick to booking sites for the campervan for the rest of the trip.

Again thanks for all your input! I will definitely check out everything you mentioned and alter the trip a bit :)

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Originally Posted by Lifemagician

BLM offices and officers are also very helpful, but like noFanofCB says, mostly dirt roads to get to their campgrounds. I don't know what Escape's contract says about going off made roads. BLM too may have it on the internet, but when I used them three years ago, none of it was on the internet. Often they do not have toilets, and when they do, they are primitive long drop toilets, neither will there be running water. Not exactly what I would want on my honeymoon.

Lifey

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I will definitely check out BLM Offices and what the contract says for the campervan, good thought!

Honestly no running water or toilets doesn't really scare us, we back country camp for fun so that wouldn't be anything new :) I'm hoping to find a place for a massage or something at the end of the trip to include something Honeymoon-esque into our trip. We figured we can do a beach honeymoon anytime, but doing a 2-week road trip will be much harder to do once we have kids. Plus, we really stink at just sitting and relaxing :D

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Originally Posted by noFanofCB

On my recent June trip to Montana I stayed in 2 BLM campgrounds. Pit toilets, no running water but some rough picnic tables and fire rings. And no usage fees.

http://coloradowreckchasing.com/ADVp...trip_2017.html

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Your trip looks amazing, thank you for sharing! I just looked through your photos and saw a few things that will definitely interest my husband, like Freedom, WY :) Your photos definitely get me more excited for our trip!

From Escape's site:

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Road Restrictions:

Driving on unpaved roads (excluding county and state maintained roads), dirt roads, restricted areas and ‘off road’ areas is not allowed. Renter is liable for all damages to vehicle, tires, towing charges and other expenses as a result of a breakdown, collision, or other, associated with operating Escape Campervans vehicles in these areas. Escape Campervans’ insurance protection will also be null and void. The following are restricted areas:

Anywhere in Mexico, Baja California and Alaska.
Death Valley between the dates 1st May and 30th September.
Any unimproved road, trail, track (excluding county and state maintained road)
Any off-road areas (dunes, Salt Plains, beaches, riverbeds, logging roads, forest trails, dirt trails etc.)
The Burning Man festival unless prior permission has been given and the grooming fee has been paid.

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The BLM campgrounds I stayed at were located on graded county roads so that condition is pretty easily met though it might be prudent to take a picture of the county or state route number sign for the road in use if it's dirt/gravel in case there is a dispute.

There are a LOT of unpaved but maintained roads in Montana and Idaho. Even so I kept my speed moderate and rode in the middle of the roads so that if anything happened I'd eventually be found. There wasn't any traffic on the road east of Lemhi Pass.

The picture of the Big Sandy Rec area is a hint to those who need it that hammock camping sometimes won't work unless you bring your own trees :-)

One thing you need to consider when planning is that free/wild camping can cost you both time and money in fuel if you go much out of your way. That could be a problem if you do end up sticking to the 3 hour driving rule. You gotta love the solitude though!