National Park Trip

If you are coming out West, you'll probably be hitting the "Grand Circle" of National Parks in Southern Utah. This should be your first stop since you are leaving in the Spring. Waiting until the summer will have you in the hottest times of the year there. Yellowstone and the Grand Teton can wait until summer as they are really at their best, temperature-wise, at the hottest times of the year, and that also includes Glacier and Olympic National Parks. Another great stop is Mt. St. Helens National Monument in Washington. If you have your passports, you can visit Vancouver Island, catching the Black Ball Ferry in Port Angeles, Washington. Just a couple of suggestions.

We were thinking of leaving in early May. Would that be to early? I guess I need to compile a list of all the places we want to see and map it out.I got a lot of planning to do.

This year in May and June, we visited some new ones and old favorites of the NPs. A few thoughts from this and previous trips:

It was very nice, sunny but cool enough to need jackets early in the day or at night, at the south rim of Grand Canyon in mid-May.

Yosemite's waterfalls were spectacular this May due to heavy winter snow melting, but the park was also already very crowded.

Some NPs can only be visited in late June or later. Check when roads and campgrounds will even be open in parks like Crater Lake (which had snow piled higher than the visitor center in early June), Mt. Ranier and Glacier. Their seasons are mainly July and August. North Rim of the Grand Canyon is cooler than the South Rim in summer, and is open from about May 15 to October 15.

The Canadian Rockies NPs and Icefields Parkway are worth the long drive up. We were there mid-June and everything was open and already busy.

Plan to see Waterton NP in Canada when you go to Glacier - well worth it.

Rocky Mountain NP was great in late June with beautiful snow-capped mountains but pleasant temperatures.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton can be visited in late August and early September when families are back home for school, but note that most campgrounds begin to close mid-September.

Utah's NPs are wonderful and an be really hot by August. Bryce at a high elevation is cooler in the summer than Zion. Be aware that mid June to the end of September is the Monsoon season of rains and flash floods in parts of the Southwest. I agree that spring or fall work best for the Grand Circle/Four Corners.

It would help to know your rig type and if you are set up for boondocking. We do three months out West without reservations BUT we are fully self contained and used to winging it.

I have a 2003 Chevy 2500hd 4x4 and a 2008 FR Cherokee 29' tt. may do so stays at Walmarts on the way out but hoping for full hook ups once we get the parks. Could you give me a list of the best sites to see?

Leave in April and working clockwise so south in early May and north in June. Be out of Yellowstone by end of June.

You don't say how big your rig is. The bigger the more reservations will help. The smaller, the more you can get by without. However, I almost always travel without reservations. Trick is to be ahead of the crowds which generally means before school lets out. Then be at the busier places during the weekend, especially avoiding them on Saturday night which is usually the hardest to get. Be at the smaller campgrounds non-NP campgrounds for the weekend when necessary. My backup plan is I can boondock for a couple of nights if necessary.

Another trick I use so my schedule isn't locked up is I only make my reservations out for the next spot. Say I'm in location A with a plan for 4 days. On day 2, I'll have a better idea how long I want to be at location A. So then I can call location B to try and make reservations. May have to either come up with spot C for a couple days or stay at spot A a couple days longer. Of course, the first question I ask before making the reservation is how many sites are open. If the campground is wide open, no need to make reservations (unless you have a very large rig).

Granted it hasn't been in the last few years because I'm still working, but I've been lucky to travel the country twice with very limited reservations. The last trip was 8 weeks long with a 35' FW and I had reservations at Grand Canyon Trailer Village for Memorial Day weekend and Yosemite a couple weeks later. We still managed to hit Bryce (Ruby's Inn just outside), Zion, Redwood, 6 state parks along Oregon Coast, Glacier, Yellowstone (made reservation 2 days out), Badlands, and bunch of other little spots. Turns out we were 1 week ahead of school in Oregon and Glacier was still mainly snowed in but Going to the Sun road was open and campground was empty.

I retire in a couple more years and when we start traveling again, we won't have any reservations as no more schedule for us. Of course, we now only have a small truck camper so only need a somewhat level parking space making spots to come by easy and backup boondock options plentiful.

Check out Adventure Caravans itinerary of their Grand Circle guided tour of the Western Parks. It does not include Yellowstone or Tetons but hits many others. It takes the entire month of September.
Then search this Forum for Yellowstone and Grand Tetons for more advise. And, if you are a reader, get the book `Tracking the Spirit of Yellowstone' before you go there.

Suggest that you upgrade your battery system so that you can stay a few days without hookups. Most National Parks have many more spots with hookups than they do W & E.

If you are 62 or older get your senior pass for free admission to the parks.

$10 now but going up to $80 end of August.

Planning out my itinerary was part of the fun for me. Why don't you shoot us an itinerary that we might help you massage.

So far, I've done three such trips. The first two were planned out and reserved very well and this years was a "go where the wind blows us". I much prefer a plan...well, until I'm retired like kohldad!