Denver to Yellowstone and back Late May

[colonelhall]

Hi,

We are starting to plan for a trip to Yellowstone in late May. We would like to hire a small camper van in Jackson for about ten days. The problem is how do we get there and back? Ideally, we would like to hire a car, drive to Moab and then up to Jackson, returning via a different route. However, the drop off charges would make this ridiculously expensive. We coud fly there and back, but that looks pretty dear also and we would be missing the fun of the journey.

We are flying in from London for a three week stay. Any suggestions?

[Southwest Dave]

Hi, welcome back.

Is this a specialist 'small camper van' that couldn't be hired from Denver ? As you want to head to Moab and onwards, I would simply hire the camper van and do a complete loop trip out of Denver.

[Midwest Michael]

I'd very much agree, renting a camper for just one portion of your trip isn't going to make any financial sense. Even if you have to rent a larger RV in Denver, it would almost certainly be cheaper than any option where you are either flying, or renting 2 separate cars, or renting one car and letting it sit in Jackson while you use the camper van.

[Southwest Dave]

Cruise America do a compact 19ft RV and they have an office in Denver and we were happy with the service they provided when we used them. It's worth shopping around for deals, but if you click on the 'Hot deals' link on that page there are various offers. At the moment they have one that offers a 50% discount on all nights after the first 8 nights and up to 34 nights taken before June 16 2012. That could work out well for a 3 week trip at the end of May.

[colonelhall]

Thank you for this. The Jackson Hole company offered a much smaller van, which we could manage for a week. However, the idea of a 19 footer for three weeks never occurred to us. I have to balance my conservative love of hotels against my wife's more adventurous spirit.

This whole trip seems to cry out for a more flexible approach than car/hotel can offer. For this reason, I could be persuaded to rough it more than I am usually prepared to do.

I think that we are sold on ten days in Yellowstone, with 11 days to get there and back. I would like to visit Arches, but any other ideas would be welcome.

[Southwest Dave]

It really comes down to personal taste and lifestyle choice, I love RV travel but know that it's not for everyone. Although there is nothing to say you can't stop at a hotel 'here and there' when you are travelling in an RV, which could still save you money compared to multiple rentals and/or flights.

Some suggestions of other places to visit would be Rocky mountain NP, Colorado NM, Canyonlands [near Arches], Grand Teton, and then the Black hills, Custer state park, Mount Rushmore and Crazy horse memorial on the way back. There are many more options to explore [you could go further north to Glacier NP or east to Badlands NP] so keep researching and when you have some dots on the map and decisions made, let us know and we can help fill in the blanks.

[Lifemagician]

For this reason, I could be persuaded to rough it more than I am usually prepared to do.

You might be surprised. Even a 19' RV can be full of luxury and very comfortable.

Lifey

[colonelhall]

Here in England, Airmiles are changing and to get full value we need to book our flights now! We have spent all morning trying to cost this trip and it is beginning to look like three weeks in a camper van is the best deal. Our original idea of getting a small van in Jackson Hole has proved to be the least economical. The van seemed to be twice the price of the one recommended.

How does this sound:

4 nights around Moab exploring Arches and Canyonlands.

2 nights en-route to Grand Teton

10 nights G.T. and Yellowstone.

5 nights back to Denver, maybe spending time in Boulder.

I guess that once we have secured the flights and the vehicle, we should have a great deal of flexibility.

Dates are 20th May until 10th June.

I suppose that the main issues would be a) cost of hook-ups b) weather c) roads.

Thanks for the help so fare.

The Colonel

[Southwest Dave]

I'm glad the rental worked out OK for you. Once you have the flight and dates sorted you have plenty of time to organise your trip, or at least research your options if you want to keep flexible.

Hopefully the weather will be kind and by early June, Yellowstone will be fully open. It can be a wonderful time to travel before the main crowds of summer season. I would certainly 'aim' that camper van towards Rocky mountain NP near Denver at one end of your trip or the other. The Morraine park campground is nicely located not far from the town of Estes park and the Trailheads along the Bear lake road. The first part of our last trip might give you some ideas between Denver and Moab, if you want to break your time up in between.

The roads shouldn't be an issue for you in a 19ft RV [generally speaking] other than keeping up to date with weather and road conditions, which is unpredictable. Hooks up are not that expensive, you should have no problem finding sites for around $45 in private resort type campgrounds. In the National parks you can camp for $20 a night, but not all have electric. Some have dump stations, fresh water and shower blocks and you have your push button, on-board generator to fire up when using a lot of power. There are 'silent hours' to observe, but generally you can get by without hook ups and the wonderful surroundings in natures finest makes it worthwhile.

[colonelhall]

Once again, you have been more than helpful. I have spent a good part of the afternoon reading your report and admiring the photos. It could be that we shall be thinking of following your trail to Moab.