egrove
Dallastown, PA
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My wife and I have the opportunity to take the summer off and travel in our RV. Being from the East, we want to go cross country and visit many of the National Parks in the west. Here are the questions I am wrestling with.
1) Whenever we've gone on trips in the past (never any more than 2 weeks) I plan every night in advance and make reservations. I can't imagine trying to do this for a trip of this length. I'd rather be flexible and determine how long we stay at each stop as we go. My concern is that we'll be hitting many of the most popular National Parks in the summer. Will we be able to get campsites without reservations? How would you handle reservations and planning for a trip like this?
2) What would be a good basic route or loop for seeing the major National Parks of the west in the summer. I'm thinking of starting in the south in early June (Carlsbad, Mesa Verde, Zion) and finishing in the north in August (Glacier, Yellowstone)? I was just wondering if anyone had done a similar trip and had a good loop worked out to hit many of the parks.
Thanks in advance for any opinions and help.
- Eric
Eric Grove
Dallastown, PA
2009 Jayco Greyhawk 31GS
Our 2010 cross country trip
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JFG
TN
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Joined: 07/01/2007
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If you plan to hit the parks, then reservations are a must. To leave time for things that just pop-up on the trip, allow an extra day for travel between each park when planning your trip for reservations. You can always find a site in a private CG during your trip. We plan each day to travel about 360-400 miles. This leaves plenty of time each day to set up and get started in the morning.
Fred
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Veebyes
Bermuda & Maryland
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Joined: 11/24/2003
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Each of our trips so far have been longer than 2 months.
As a rule we do not make reservations. The only exceptions will be if we know when & where we will be with certainty & it is an event or location that there will be a high demand for.
If the park is within an easy days drive of a major city we will either avoid the park Fri & Sat or make a reservation when we know we can make it. Generally avoid the popular parks Thursday thru Saturday nights. Use a private park Fri or Sat & do the weekly laundry & shopping.
It is usually pretty easy to get a spot in a CG, SP or Nat Pk, if you arrive by mid afternoon. The smaller your rig, the more flexible you can be, the more that will be available. Don't stress. Have a plan 'b' if 'a' does not work. Lots of SPs have non reservable sites for the 'wanderers'
We are doing a 3 1/2 month cross country trip this spring/summer too. The route, as in the past, is sort of set. No reservations made & not likely to be made until we are well into the trip.
Yosemite is on our itinerary. A very high demand park. Our day of arrival will be a Monday. No reservations. Due to our size we will not be able to camp in the valley. The CG outside the valley has a high number of non reservable sites. Get there late in the morning & we should be OK. If not there are other CGs in the area.
No stress. Enjoy the trip.
Boat: 32' 1996 Albin 32+2, single Cummins 315hp
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kohldad
Goose Creek, SC
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Traveling up to the weekend before July 4th can be done without reservations except for the most popular parks like Grand Canyon and Yosemite.
To keep the trip halfway flexible, you can always make reservations 2 or 3 days in advance.
The key is to be flexible and stop at a decent time.
In 2005, we traveled from mid May to July 6th covering Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Kings Canyon/Sequioa, Yosemite, Redwood Forest, Oregon Coast, Glacier, Yellowstone, and Badlands. We had reservations at Grand Canyon (Memorial Day weekend), then 2 weeks to geet to our reservations in Yosemite and finally made reservations the day before we made it to Yellowstone. Otherwise, we winged it, even July 4th weekend wasn't a problem though we weren't near anything touristy for that weekend. Never had a problem finding a place to camp, usually in the first place to stop. This was with a 35' fifth wheel so we were limited in the sites we could take.
Your south to north loop will be best. During our trip, Grand Canyon was hot, Bryce was cold due to late snow (they plowed the road the day before), and everything else was comfortable.
Just finished a 12-day trip gathering photos for next report.Photo Albums
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CloudDriver
New Jersey Shore
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Being retired, we avoid travel in July and August due to crowds in the Parks and the need for reservations. It is much more enjoyable to travel to the west in May and June when families with school age children are still at home. We like the flexibility to change our route on the fly, which is difficult to do with advance reservations. Also, it gets very hot in the southwest in the Summer. Even mid-May was too hot for us in New Mexico and Arizona.
Do you have the flexibility to take May off and return at the end of July?
Last year we made a loop through New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Wyoming. We left NJ on May 3rd and returned home July 1st. On the way home we stopped at a number of Oregon Trail sites in Wyoming and Nebraska. The only reservations we made were for 3 nights at Trailer Village at the Grand Canyon. Everywhere else we just called ahead the same day or the day before to get a site.
2003 Winnebago Minnie 24F - Ford E-450
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H & E
North Texas
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Joined: 10/05/2006
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The last two summers we traveled. The first year I planned every night stop. That lasted about a week. We now do on–the–fly traveling. For holiday weekends I make reservations as quick as I know where we want to be. We normally travel on Mondays or Thursdays. We have not always parked in the campground we selected first but always found a place. Some were very pleasant surprises. We use RV park reviews as a guide as to where to stay. COE & SP’s are our normally first choice because they are usually on a river, lake or ocean. Several times when the website showed full I was able to call to determine if any walk up sites were available. Enjoy your trip.
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Busskipper
Arnold,Md
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Joined: 11/25/2002
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My wife and I have the opportunity to take the summer off and travel in our RV. Being from the East, we want to go cross country and visit many of the National Parks in the west. Here are the questions I am wrestling with.
1) Whenever we've gone on trips in the past (never any more than 2 weeks) I plan every night in advance and make reservations. I can't imagine trying to do this for a trip of this length. I'd rather be flexible and determine how long we stay at each stop as we go. My concern is that we'll be hitting many of the most popular National Parks in the summer. Will we be able to get campsites without reservations? How would you handle reservations and planning for a trip like this?
Many answers for your first question – flexible is the best description I can think of – if you are able to travel with a lot less fixed schedule you have a possibility of an awesome trip. Not to say you can’t make reservations but just might not need to make them months in advance but if you feel you do, they may only need to be in the most critical spots. (Yellowstone and NP’s in California)
2) 2) What would be a good basic route or loop for seeing the major National Parks of the west in the summer. I'm thinking of starting in the south in early June (Carlsbad, Mesa Verde, Zion) and finishing in the north in August (Glacier, Yellowstone)? I was just wondering if anyone had done a similar trip and had a good loop worked out to hit many of the parks.
Take a look at this web site for good weather info;
http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/state.php3?c=US&s=&refer=
Weather is a big factor for how and where you go – trust me – when it’s/your not comfortable it’s not fun or memorable in a positive way. So the southern route of your loop in June might be a warm/HOT when you are in the Southern part of the Country. Have you thought about or is it possible to start a month/six weeks Earlier? Or even a month/six weeks Later? Being able to hike among the fields of wildflowers in July or August is as good as it gets.
From an earlier post;
My top 10 would be the drive to and thru these places; my second 10 would be the destinations.
1. Yellowstone, Wyoming – coming from the south and leaving thru the Beartooth Pass this would include Dinosaur NP, Flaming Gorge and (7)The Grand Teton NP.
2. All of southern Utah – this drive would include Arches and Canyon land NP’s, Capitol Reef NP, Escalante NM, Zion, Bryce NP’s, with a drive around Lake Powell, and because we have time we’ll do the north rim of the (8)Grand Canyon.(this would include Drives on Rt 12 and Rt 128 out of or into Moab) (Goblins SP and Antelope Canyon should also not be missed)
3. The San Juan’s of Colorado, this would include Gunnison NP, for the life of me I can’t understand how this area has been so left out of the National Park system other than it has so many private land owners (silver mines?), starting on Gunnison Reservoir we would go down to Lake city taking the Alpine loop over to Silverton(just the tow car and only if it’s tough and 4X4) leaving to Ouray then over to Telluride thru Dunton and Rico to Cortez slipping into Mesa Verde NP, then taking the Durango to Silverton RR before back tracking the Million Dollar highway all the way back to Montrose and Gunnison Lake and Crested Butte. If you are in Colorado for a while try to Catch the Collegite peaks – RMNP – and Marron Bells
4. Ashville, NC is the start of the next trip – heading to Lake Toxaway on RT 64, better have your driving gloves on and pray for light traffic, from there to Cashiers and Highland heading NW to Silva and the Pisgah National Forest getting on the southern most part of the Blue Ridge parkway heading north till your worn out. (Might just catch a quick hike in the Great Smoky Mountains NP). These are some of the most beautiful and wild mountains in the US. This is where they filmed the Last of the Mohicans.
5. Glacier NP – Going to the Sun Road, need I say more? Just driving anywhere around this park will give you a rush, just follow the rivers and stay by the lakes.
6. Canyon de Chelly NM. Will always go by this spiritual place of the Navajo Indians usually coming from or going to the Grand Canyon going thru the four mesas to Grand Canyon NP, if you are coming from Utah be sure to have taken in Mexican Hat and Monument Valley.
7. The Grand Teton NP. See number 1 its only number seven because I got to see it when I did number 1
8. The Grand Canyon NP. See number 2 its only number eight because I saw it from the high side on the drive on number 2.
9. Yosemite and Sequoia are this late only because I don’t like to drive in California and it is almost always crowded.
10. Three way tie for tenth -- Carlsbad, Olympic and Cascades NP’s these are always hard because my wife thinks they are so far from everything but trust me these are great drives and beautiful places that are well worth the drive.
The only reason more parks and destinations are not in California is because the state of California has never felt RV friendly – Roads – Traffic – Crowds – it has many unbelievable drives, PCH -- all of Northern California and Tahoe
Probably way more than you were looking for but always fun to do a loop around the Country.
BOL and hope this helps,
Busskipper
Maryland/Colorado
Travel Supreme 42DS04
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egrove
Dallastown, PA
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Thanks for all the great feedback, we really appreciate it since we never attempted a trip of this length before. We are leaning toward the approach of winging it and finding spots as we go, only making reservations ahead when we know we'll be in a popular area. I think this gives us the most flexibility since we really don't know what to expect on a trip of this length as far as how far we'll be comfortable traveling per day and how long we'll want to stay at different destinations.
Thanks again,
- Eric
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