Moab UT to Vernal UT

[ruthbob]

We are planning a late spring road trip , Utah, Wyoming and S. Dakota, after 3 days in Moab we want to go to Vernal Ut to see the Dinosaur National Monument. Looking at the roads between the 2 towns I have a problem, I cannot stand steep drop offs without guard rails...am doing a lot of research on this ! ! Is anyone familiar with UT 191 north to Vernal or the route that goes over hwy 139 into Colorado and back. Is the monument worth seeing.
Thank you.

[Lifemagician]

This is a road I drove last year, from Border to Border. The section you are planning to drive does not have any particularly steep areas and certainly I do not recall any without guardrail. You are aware that you can only access the western part of the Dinosaur NM.

You might like to check out Nine Mile Canyon, just as you enter Wellington. It is a lovely drive, and certainly not scary. Allow a couple of hours.

Helper is definitely worth a stop along the way.

Lifey

Edit: you can check out my trip here.

[ruthbob]

Thank you so much for telling me about Nine Mile Canyon, you can be sure we will go there ! Between that and the Dinosaurs I am going to have to conquer my fear of 191!
I know we will only see the western side of the monument, but we have found as we get older that we are perfectly content with doing what we can.
I have started reading your trip report...fabulous. I notice that you are in Melbourne
we were there on a cruise 2 years ago, very nice city.
Thanks again

[ruthbob]

In June, we will be traveling from Cheyenne Wy to Glenwood Springs Co...it looks as though we will be coming into the Denver area on I-25 to connect to I-76 to I-70. Is that very complicated ? We should be able to avoid high traffic times, it would appear that route goes around the suburban area of Denver not downtown, which probably doesn't make a lot of difference traffic wise if you are there at the wrong time !
Thank you

[ruthbob]

I have just found another route, Casper Wy to Glenwood Springs, this avoids Denver all together, would that be better...we are coming from the badlands
Thanks again

[glc]

Is this part of this trip? We prefer you keep all questions about a trip in one thread.

Reading your other thread, you may be best off staying on the Interstates due to your fear of mountain roads. Getting through Denver is straightforward - take I-25 south to I-76 west to I-70 west. It's well marked and keeps you out of downtown.

The route through Casper to Glenwood Springs will take at least an hour longer and involves some 2 lane mountain roads.

[AZBuck]

One of the driving principles here is that no route is universally 'best', or even 'better' than another. There are only routes that meet your needs and desires more closely for a particular trip than another. With other needs or even at different times you might prefer some other route. In this case, assuming a start from the Rapid City SD area, let's look at the options.

The shortest/fastest would be to drop straight south on US-385 to Sterling CO and then take I-76 to Denver and I-70 to Glenwood Springs. You could drive that in a single day. Only slightly longer would be the route using US-16T/SD-79/US-18 to I-25 at Ammon WY, and on to Denver and I-70 to Glenwood Springs. Those are actually fairly close in time/distance, and both are just doable in a comfortable one-day drive. Getting through Denver should not pose a problem, particularly since you should be coming through at around 3:00 in the afternoon with any reasonable start. Of course an earlier start would help push your Denver transit further away from rush hour. There is a direct connection from I-25 (exit 214A) to I-70 or you can take a very slight shortcut using I-76 west from I-25 to I-70.

The other route you mention, through Casper, has the advantages of being a bit more scenic and avoiding Denver (and the other cities that stretch out to its north), but at just over 600 miles would be pushing it beyond what is generally considered safe and would require an overnight stop. This is particularly true because the last part of it would have to be driven through mountainous terrain after dark. You'd follow the same route to Ammon WY, but then turn north on I-25 to Casper, use WY-220/US-287 southwestward to Rawlins, I-80 west to WY-789 south and CO-13 south to I-70 east to Glenwood Springs. As I say, more scenic, but note that this route includes north- and east-bound stretches on what is a southwest journey.

So, the choice is yours. Best of luck

AZBuck

[ruthbob]

Thank you...you are right , I looked at that route again.
Sorry I didn't understand the forum rules...now I do.
Thank you

[ruthbob]

Thank you...I appreciate your help