12 night trip: CA to UT & CO Natl. Parks

True Romance wrote:
Thanks everyone for the input and advice. I will look at the parks and my schedule again. Covering a lot in 2 states in 2 weeks is not daunting for us.

We are pretty ambitious. June 2017 we did 17 nights with 4 kids and a dog hitting: NV, Craters of the Moon NM, Jackson Hole, Grand Tetons NP, Yellowstone NP, Glacier NP, Northern MT, Theodore Roosevelt NP, Badlands NP, Mt. Rushmore, Blackhills, Wind Cave NP, middle of WY, and the Bonneville Salt Flats. And we all lived to tell about it :)

Yeah, but what did you see? We've been to all those places multiple times and imagine you saw very little of what there is to see. Maybe you like to drive, but do your kids a favor and give them time somewhere but in the back seat driving somewhere else.

I did not realize Great Sand Dunes had so many mosquitoes. One of my bucket list items is to visit all of the Natl. Parks (plus I love getting the stamps in my NP passport , maybe we will just drive in and see the park for an hour or two and then get back on the road. There are so many parks I need to get too, I figure when I am close enough to one I might as well pop in to say I have been there.

I dunno. Maybe it's just me but I think the priority would be to create memories for the kids by spending some time in these wonderful places rather than just popping in to get your passport stamped.

I'd skip RMNP and Great Sand Dunes and your whole northern route including Dinosaur and concentrate in the southern UT and Durango area. Even then, two weeks is very ambitious. You really have very little time in the parks as you'll be spending part of every travel day on the road, setting up and tearing down camp.

For instance in Durango you'd need two full days once you get there. One for Mesa Verde NP and another for the Durango Silverton train. If you have a third day there, you can drive the Million Dollar Highway to Ouray and spend some time swimming in the fabulous Hot Springs Pool there.

You say the kids don't like to hike, but maybe it's finding the right hike. Heading up the Zion Narrows and wading up the river is a thrill to most kids. Visiting a ruin in Mesa Verde where one has to climb up old wooden ladders is a pretty interesting experience.

Even experiences in the CG can be great. Get a spot at Watchman CG in Zion. Once you're done exploring for the day, the kids can play in the Virgin "River" that flows right past the campground. Many adults just take a lawn chair into the shallows and sit beneath the cottonwoods to cool off.

My parents took us on tent camping trips throughout the west when we were growing up. I can attest personally that I hated all the time in the car but really enjoyed the parks once we got there.