Denver to Vegas in 2 weeks

[DENtoLAS]

We're planning a 2week road trip from Denver to Las Vegas in June. Our destination stops are as follows:
Fly to Denver - 2 nights stay
Day 3-Drive to Estes Park and thru Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park to Aspen(The Gant) for 2nights
Day 5 - Drive to Moab for 3nights stay(Sorrel River Ranch)
Day 8-Drive to Monument Valley(The View Hotel) for 2nights stay
Day 10-Drive to St. George(The Inn at Entrada) for 3nights
Day 13- Drive to Las Vegas for 2nights stay and fly home

We plan to do day trips at our stops and visit surrounding National/State Parks. Comments on any "must see" destinations along the way, as well as, the hotels that we are staying at would be appreciated.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

You've done a pretty good job already of lining up a number of the more popular and spectacular of the National Parks for your trip. But there are a number of smaller, less visited sites that equally deserve some of your attention and ample time. Among a few that you should look at are Colorado National Monument, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Mesa Verde National Park, Goosenecks State Park, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Vermilion Cliffs Monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Zion National Park, and Valley of Fire State Park. The one major site that seems to be missing from your itinerary is the Grand Canyon even though you have the opportunity to visit the less frequented North Rim by driving south from Jacob Lake on AZ-67.

AZBuck

[Southwest Dave]

Unless there is a particular reason for staying in Denver for 2 nights, I would stay the second night in Estes park and enjoy a little of Rocky mountain NP. You have the opportunity to drive the Trail Ridge Road from Estes Park to Grand lake, the highest continuous paved road in the US. To do this starting from Denver and ending in Aspen would be a very long day.

St George, is there a particular reason for staying there ? From Monument valley you would have driven past Lake Powell and Antelope canyon near Page AZ, past a detour to Bryce canyon NP and Zion NP. Personally, rather than back tracking to see these sights I would stay a little close to them. 'Ruby's Inn' is a nice place right by the entrance of Bryce canyon and Springdale is a wonderful little town close to Zion NP. I would recommend 1 night at 'Ruby's' and 2 in Springdale.

[Midwest Michael]

My first thought was along the same lines of Dave's, that 3 nights might be a bit much in St. George, since things are a little too spread out around here for that to make a great daytrip hub. Spending a night closer to Bryce, and maybe one in Page, before making a stop at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon would both make some sense.

[DENtoLAS]

Hi guys..thanks for the advice. I think we are going to make a few changes in our stops like you suggested. We are going to only stay over night in Denver and then head up to Estes
Park for an over night stay before heading up through rocky mountain Nat'l park. Stanley hotel looks like a good choice to stay. How long do you figure the drive will be the next day if we leave Estes Park, drive through the Nat'l Park to Grand Lake and then onto to Aspen?

Then when we leave Monument Valley, we will stay overnight in Bryce Canyon rather than going straight to St. George. We didn't realize that the drive from St. George to Bryce would be 3 hours. It looked a lot closer on the map...lol. We will still head to St. George after as Zion is only an hour away and is more duable for a day trip.

We didn't plan the Grand Canyon on this trip as we have been there before and wanted to see more of Utah this year. We've done Arizona, New Mexico and Texas (our favorite road trip) so we've added Utah and Colorado on our "bucket list" this year.

[Southwest Dave]

By the time you have driven over Trail Ridge Road to Grand lake and onto Aspen, expect it to be quite a full day [8-10 hours, easily more if you want !] with time to enjoy scenic stops and lunch along the way. With so much to see and do and the fact that a lot of the roads are fairly slow going and incredibly scenic, it won't be rushed and will be an enjoyable time. From Grand lake you can head through Kremmling to I 70 and from Glenwood Springs to Carbondale to Aspen. Alternatively, and only slightly longer in time, you could head down through Winter Park to Georgetown and I 70 [with a possible detour over scenic Loveland pass on US6 to Dillon] and down through Leadville [highest incorporated town in the US] to Twin Lakes and over Independence Pass on CO82.