Denver to West Yellowstone, Salt Lake City, Moab, Denver

[hipster]

Will be travelling mid-June from Denver:

Day 1 - Denver to Rock Springs
Day 2 - Rock Springs to Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Day 3 - Jackson Hole Wy to West Yellowtsone
Day 3 to 10 - staying at a ranch
Day 10 to 11 - West yellowstone to Salt Lake City
Day 11 - SLC to Moab Utah
Day 11 - 13 - Stay in Moab, Utah
Day 13 - back to Denver

How does this sound? Anything worth stopping for along the way? Any towns you would avoid?

[Mass Tim]

Welcome to the RoadTrip America Forum!

The route you have planned seems reasonable in the amount of time that you have. It appears that your travels take you near such great places as Yellowstone (West Yellowstone) and Arches National Park (Moab). Besides national parks (and those are only an assumption), what other types of things are you interested in seeing?

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

That's a particularly scenic part of the country, so you should have a very good time. you're looking at three solid days of driving to complete your loop, so how much you'll enjoy the trip depends on how much time you have to devote to it. A week would be the needed to do even minimal justice to the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and Arches National Parks. More time would let you see and appreciate some of the other venues along the way including Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area and Colorado National Monument. But besides the 'big' spots, also check out smaller locations such as state parks, wildlife refuges, museums and historic sites.

Edit: D'oh! - You've got two weeks, obviously - plenty of time to have a great time.

AZBuck

[UK]

Sounds like a great trip to one of my favourite regions of the country.

When in Moab get to Deadhorse State Park near Canyonlands. It has to have one of the best panoramic views in the world.

When leaving Moab for Denver take the 128 and look out for the optical illusion
See this picture

[Foy]

.........you could consider driving the Million Dollar Highway.

Hello hipster,

I haven't bothered to determine the day's distance, but I suspect an early morning departure from Moab would enable you to drive south on US 191 to Monticello, south on US 491 to Cortez, thence east on US 160 to Durango. From Durango, the Million Dollar Highway, US 550, takes you through breathtaking mountains through Silverton and Ouray, to Montrose, CO. From Montrose US 50 east takes you through Gunnison to US 285, which then takes you through mountains to the southwest side of Denver.

A side-trip to this side trip could include turning north at Gunnison towards Crested Butte, then northeast to Taylor Park Reservoir, then a good gravel road to the top of Cottonwood Pass (10,000'), and a good paved road to Buena Vista down the east side from the pass. At BV you can either pick up US 285 or can venture north on US 24 to Leadville, where either US 24 or CO 91 gets you back to I-70 a few miles west of the Eisenhower Tunnel and roughly an hour and a half from Denver.

In 1994 I did this from Durango (including the Cottonwood Pass route). We turned off of US 285 at Fairplay and went over the pass to Breckenridge, and if I recall correctly we had a 10:00 am start from Durango and reached Breck by 3pm or so. We had a long leisurely stop in Gunnison and stopped and spent close to an hour at Cottonwood Pass. Estimating 1.5 hours from Moab to Gunnison and 2.0 hours from Fairplay to Denver, it seems as though one could make this drive in a day and still have ample time to stop and enjoy some of the finest alpine scenery anywhere in the Lower 48.

Foy