Advice needed-Western US summer trip
Hello all, We are planning our first big RV road trip and I need some help. We will be leaving from Central Florida in June, and have about 28-30 days total. We have traveled quite a bit in the pas...
Forum Discussion
From Florida I'd recommend taking I-10 across. Carlsbad Caverns is good but if you want to bypass it there is also Kartchner Caverns State Park in Benson, AZ near I-10. It's different from Carlsbad in that it's a living cave with lots of dripping. The tour is awesome. It also has a great campground with electric and a dump station.
From there you go visit old western Tombstone and in nearby Bisbee take the mine tour. Everyone dons a yellow slicker and hardhat with a miner light. You board a mining car and ex-miners give the great tour. The kids would love it... and you, too. It's even cool temperature-wise.
Staying on I-10 through Tucson and the greater Phoenix area there are places to stop if you want like a drive up the Tucson mountain to Summerdale or a walk through Sabino canyon or take the tram up and walk down. From I-10 you would get on I-17 north where you can then tour Sedona. Stay in nearby Cottonwood at Dead Horse Ranch State Park. The way to enjoy Sedona is to get out on a hike, not tour the trinket shops in town. Put on your swimsuits and go to Slide Rock just out of Sedona - lots of fun. Take a picnic. In the areas are also some nice Indian ruins to tour and a short drive to Jerome for lunch one day.
Then go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. You can surely dry camp for a couple days. It's cool up there.
I'd skip Zion and head to Bryce Nat'l Park where it will be cooler. Get a site at Ruby's RV at the park gate and the free shuttle will stop there. Definitely hike to the bottom on a trail - Wall Street is awesome. It's like a fairy wonderland down there.
Then head to Moab and perhaps take a mild river trip down the Colorado. The night trip is nice. Arches will be closed to camping all summer because of construction and the roads will probably be congested. Try to get advance tickets for the Fiery Furnace hike given by the rangers. Everyone will love it. There are plenty of RV parks in town.
Then get on I-70 to Grand Junction, CO and pick up Hwy 50 taking it over to I-25. It's not as mountainous as I-70 to Denver will be. Along the way you can stop at Black Canyon Nat'l Park, then stay in Gunnison and do a vehicle drive to Crested Butte and Taylor Park for some pretty mountain scenery. Then on to Canon City and the Royal Gorge and then head home, perhaps picking up Austin on your return.
This will be a fun trip for everyone.
From there you go visit old western Tombstone and in nearby Bisbee take the mine tour. Everyone dons a yellow slicker and hardhat with a miner light. You board a mining car and ex-miners give the great tour. The kids would love it... and you, too. It's even cool temperature-wise.
Staying on I-10 through Tucson and the greater Phoenix area there are places to stop if you want like a drive up the Tucson mountain to Summerdale or a walk through Sabino canyon or take the tram up and walk down. From I-10 you would get on I-17 north where you can then tour Sedona. Stay in nearby Cottonwood at Dead Horse Ranch State Park. The way to enjoy Sedona is to get out on a hike, not tour the trinket shops in town. Put on your swimsuits and go to Slide Rock just out of Sedona - lots of fun. Take a picnic. In the areas are also some nice Indian ruins to tour and a short drive to Jerome for lunch one day.
Then go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. You can surely dry camp for a couple days. It's cool up there.
I'd skip Zion and head to Bryce Nat'l Park where it will be cooler. Get a site at Ruby's RV at the park gate and the free shuttle will stop there. Definitely hike to the bottom on a trail - Wall Street is awesome. It's like a fairy wonderland down there.
Then head to Moab and perhaps take a mild river trip down the Colorado. The night trip is nice. Arches will be closed to camping all summer because of construction and the roads will probably be congested. Try to get advance tickets for the Fiery Furnace hike given by the rangers. Everyone will love it. There are plenty of RV parks in town.
Then get on I-70 to Grand Junction, CO and pick up Hwy 50 taking it over to I-25. It's not as mountainous as I-70 to Denver will be. Along the way you can stop at Black Canyon Nat'l Park, then stay in Gunnison and do a vehicle drive to Crested Butte and Taylor Park for some pretty mountain scenery. Then on to Canon City and the Royal Gorge and then head home, perhaps picking up Austin on your return.
This will be a fun trip for everyone.
