4 states at once

[CASPERSMOM]

We are planning on doing 7 or 8 days. I am not familar with the areas at all but I would defenitly like to do a couple of things that are fun for my son. I was thinking of either heading towards Utah or Colorado. Any ideas would be great.

[Mark Sedenquist]

We are planning on doing 7 or 8 days. I am not familar with the areas at all but I would defenitly like to do a couple of things that are fun for my son. I was thinking of either heading towards Utah or Colorado. Any ideas would be great.

Just about my favorite place in the West for taking day hikes is the slick rock country of Utah. But I would certainly suggest taking the drive through Monument Valley. Do you have time to do a river trip? What level of budget have your considered for this adventure?

mark

[CASPERSMOM]

Monument valley sounds like a great idea and I never thought about a river trip. We are pretty flexible on budget we don't get a chance to do this very often so we would like to stay in some nice hotels along the way.

Thanks for all your help this site is a big help.

[Noob2.0]

I totally forgot about monument valley! This trip is looking cooler by the minute.

I have a question about a rough route. I am coming from the east -- most likely travelling through Nebraska and going into Denver (I am probably going to come back east along the top -- glacier NP, Yellowstone--maybe, Rushmore, etc), but my main question is, if I want to see the following things:

Denver, Rocky Mountain NP, the sand dunes NP, 4 corners monument, Canyonlands, Bryce, Possibly arches (think it's worth it?), zion, Grand canyon, monument valley, sedona (is that worth it or is it too touristy?)...

Do you think it can be done in 10 days or should I budget 2 more for comfort? And do you think I should snip out a couple for timing purposes?

I know that there are some cool things to see in New Mexico (I especially want to see the caves in the south, but that's another trip). Is there anything in the northern portion of the state? Does anyone know where the SETI array is?

A lot of questions, but it's only because I am getting totally excited.

[PNW Judy]

Here's a link to the SETI array...actually called Very Large Array. It's about an hour south of Albuquerque. It might be a bit out of the way for this particular trip.

Arches is fantastic. But it may be too far out of your way for this trip. Personally, I prefer Bryce and Zion. I think if you see those, you'll get your beautiful red rock fix. And, unless someone knows something I don't know, the best places to see Canyonlands from is from the Moab area so, if you're skipping Arches, then you'll probably need to skip Canyonlands on this trip as well. Unless, that is, you drop some other stops from your itinerary.

I plotted your route on MS Streets & Trips. Since I don't know where you're coming from, I used Omaha, NE, as your start and end points.

I have you seeing the following in this order:
Omaha, NE
Rocky Mountain NP
Denver
Great Sand Dunes NM
4 Corners
Monument Valley
Sedona
Grand Canyon NP
Zion NP
Bryce NP
Yellowstone NP
Glacier NP
Mt. Rushmore NM
Omaha, NE

This is a trip of 4491 miles!!

That is 500 miles per day of driving. Roughly 8 hours/day. When are you going to have time to visit the places you want to see? You're really only allowing for a quick drive-by at each of these places. No time to explore, relax, and enjoy.

There's nothing wrong with a trip like that if that's what you really want to do but I think you're itinerary is way too ambitious.

Personally, I'd skip Glacier, Yellowstone, and Mt. Rushmore for this trip. Heck, I'd even skip Sedona. While Sedona is pretty cool, it's a bit far out of your way for this trip, imho.

I re-plotted your trip with the following:
Omaha, NE

Rocky Mountain NP
Denver
Great Sand Dunes NM
4 Corners
Monument Valley
Grand Canyon NP
Zion NP
Bryce NP
Moab, Utah (allowing you to see both Arches and Canyonlands)
Omaha, NE

This is still a fairly ambitious trip with 3027 miles roundtrip to/from Omaha. That would be about 300 miles per day for a 10-day trip. That's still about 6 hours in the car daily. If you can squeeze out 12 days, that's 250 miles per day (about 5 hours). Even better if you can squeeze out 14 days (for about 4-1/4 hours per day in the car, a bit better). I think this is still a bit ambitious if you want time to explore the areas you're stopping at but it's far more do-able.

And, of course, you need to add in the miles from your home because I just guessed at Omaha. How far are you from there?

Well, I hope this gives you some ideas and helps you make a plan that works for you.