Seattle, WA to Cleveland, OH

[Narp]

I am planning a road trip from Seattle, WA to Cleveland, OH from May 30 to June 8, 2006.

This is my current route: Please suggest if Yellowstone to Arches NP is too much of a stretch in this time?

DAy 1: Drive 900 miles to West Yellowstone.

Day 2 + half Day 3: Yellowstone

Day 3 (evening): Drive 600 miles to Arches NP

Day 4: Arches NP

Day 5: Mt Rushmore, Badlands, SD, Devil's Tower, WY

Day 6 (PM): Minnesota (visiting friend)

Day 7: Notredame, IN (visiting friend)

Day 8 AM: Cleveland, OH

Any suggestions on the routes? Is this feasible?

What are the "must see" places in Yellowstone? Good camping place?

Thanks!

[Mark Sedenquist]

I am planning a road trip from Seattle, WA to Cleveland, OH from May 30 to June 8, 2006.

Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum! Unless you are a pro, there is no way that you can expect to accomplish these segments in the given time periods.

DAy 1: Drive 900 miles to West Yellowstone.

Even if you drove "flat-out" it will take every minute of 15 hours to drive this distance. (Twice what pros will drive on any given day).

Day 3 (evening): Drive 600 miles to Arches NP

Well, again, this is going to be a long haul -- maybe you could do it less than 11 hours, but I doubt it.

Day 5: Mt Rushmore, Badlands, SD, Devil's Tower, WY

Hmmm, maybe you could do Badlands and Mt Rushmore in one day, but that would be about it.

Do you really need to keep this schedule?

Mark

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

This is my current route: Please suggest if Yellowstone to Arches NP is too much of a stretch in this time?

Yes it is, and unfortuantly, I think you are going to have to reconsider a large portion of this trip.

DAy 1: Drive 900 miles to West Yellowstone.

The good news, I only calculate 750 miles for that leg.
The bad news, Even then you are still looking at 13-14 hours in the car. That does not include time for any stops other than quick fuel and rest breaks. I've done this long of a trip in one day, but it is exhausting.

You did not say if this is a solo trip or if you will have some help. If you've got multiple drivers, you should be able to pull this off. If you are doing this trip alone, I think you really need to think if you will be able to safely focus on driving for that amount of time.

Day 3 (evening): Drive 600 miles to Arches NP

A 600 mile drive is not something you just pull off in an evening. That is a solid 11 hours behind the wheel. Just for a point of reference, most people consider a 500 mile trip to be a very full day.

Considering that Arches is several hundred miles out of your way, skip it for this journey.

Day 5: Mt Rushmore, Badlands, SD, Devil's Tower, WY

If you skip Arches, Yellowstone to the Black Hills is a full day trip. You are also looking at a good 100 miles between Devil's Tower and the Badlands, so it won't be quite as easy as you might think to just brease through this area. For comparison, I once camped near Devils Tower, and even though I only stopped for a quick visit of DT and Mount Rushmore, I didn't get out of Rapid City until 3 pm, and that didn't even include a trip through the Badlands or to any of the other cool things in the area.

Day 6 (PM): Minnesota (visiting friend)

Depending upon where in Minnesota your friend lives, this will probably be another very long day. Rapid City to Minneapolis is 600 miles, which again will take you 11 hours.

Day 7: Notredame, IN (visiting friend)

This is more reasonable, although still a long day. If you're starting in the Twin Cities, this is still a 500 mile trip, and you have to get through Chicago traffic - which can easily add an hour if not two hours to the trip. I will highly recommend bypassing the city by either 294 or even I-39 to I-80, because of a major construction project in downtown chicago.

Again, I think you need to seriously reconsider how you are approaching this trip.

[Narp]

We are 2 people trying to pull off this trip. I think we might drop Minnesota / SD stops.
Thanks so much for helping us out!
We have taken a trip from TX to CA, about 900 miles each day, and we were fine...so we thought of moving a step ahead!

[jamesdozer31]

May I put in my two cents worth Narp? First I admire your since of adventure. However going to arches national park is not a great choice for this trip you have planned. Unless you enjoy mountain driving. This takes you well south of your main destination. Also this route requires some recharging of the batteries. This can be done but at the end of 8 days on this route you will be praying for it to end. Say you do blast through from Seattle to Yellowstone that is one day down.

Side note: I do not recomend trying to drive straight to yellowstone from Seattle. At some point you will be driving on alonely strech of mountainous road at night. Yellowstone I have driven in the dead of night not a place you want to be at 2am after driving for 10+ hours.

Now you get up early after sleeping what 4-6 hours now you blast through yellowstone in a couple of hours and head off to arches that is day 2-3. Now you get up day 4 and blast off to devils tower and SD. That is day 4-5 before you even get to the bad lands. Day 6 you pull into Minn late. Day 7 you blast your way to notre dame. Day 8 you come dragging into cleveland of no use to anyone and looking for the nearest bed to crash out for 12-24 hours.
Now consider this alternate way to travel.
day 1 leave Seattle head to Spokeane or as far east toward yellowstone as you can get without loosing the sunlight bed down for the night get.
Day 2 and head on into yellowstone and bed down for the night there.
Day 3 up and off to devils tower and black hills bed down 3-4 in the hills or change that up for another night in yellowstone.
Day 5 up and off to bad lands and Minn arrive late evening dinner and sleep. Day 6 up and off for notre dame bed down.
Day 7 up and off for cleveland
Personally that give you an extra day to throw in some where. I would pick 2 nights in yellowstone and 2 nights in the hills. Just my two cents worth

[Narp]

Thanks everybody, we finally decided to be saner and skip Arches NP.