Lauren wrote:
Good morning and Happy New Year!
You really have a lot crammed in but it is well planned. I have not looked at your thread at this point.
Have been to virtually all the places you mention and some several times.
I know you have made some reservations but am sure they can be juggled at this point.
Yes, they can. I just need to learn a bit more about each location so that I know what I want to shuffle. However, it does feel good to know that we have a spot!
I got delayed in sending this and Veebyes made a comment I would agree with. Not sure what the heck you do at Zion for all that time unless you are serious hikers. You ride a bus up to the the end of the canyon and back and get one sore neck.....you are down, looking up. The drive in / out from the east is the most beautiful.
My thinking for Zion was that we would hike 2-4 times. I also saw some offroad 4x4 trails that would take up a day or two (like "Chicken Corners"). And it might not be so bad to have one day or a half day built in for REST. :) At that point we will have been hitting it hard for a week.
But, I'll research more and am willing to change.
And 297 miles and then see Natural Bridges (ho hum), Canyonlands and Arches with only two full days? Skip Natural Bridges. And figure out how to get Monument Valley in there. Arches and Canyonlands (Island in the Sky - north end) will take at least a full day each just to drive them and not hardly stop!)
Point taken. I will look closer and add time here.
I'm willing to skip Natural Bridges (which is a bit of a side trip anyway).
Vermillion Cliffs - IMHO - can be skipped and time spent far better elsewhere.
The pictures for VC look amazing and worthy of a hike. However, If it is a stop over for an hour with an overlook, that would suit us too. Do you know if you can see much from overlooks?
What are you going to do in Ouray for 4 nights? One day to drive Red Mountain Pass / Million Dollar Hwy / Hwy 550 (unless you drive there from Durango - I generally do not recommend doing that with an RV unless you are experienced mountain driver).
We have a relatively small trailer and live in the Appalachians, so I don't claim to be a mountain driver, but I'm not new to it.
We have good friends that live in Ridgway. He is a Jeeper and is going to play tour guide on some of his favorite trails. So, we plan to spend those days offroad between Durango and Ouray. For instance, a perfect day to us would be something like the "Clear Lake" trail. We would bring a picnic and a blanket and be absolutely in heaven to spend the day doing nothing but laying around in a field and soaking it all in. :)
Just some thoughts.
