touring the west part of USA
I am looking into travelling in my 32 ft class a from Ontario to the U.S mount rushmore and the grand canyon Would like to cross over at Detroit, about a month of time to spend, head to mount rushmo...
Forum Discussion
First get yourself a good map book/road atlas of the states.
Where do you plan to cross into the states? Looking at a map there seem to be three possibilities: the Detroit area, Sault Ste Marie or into upper Minnesota. In the US Detroit is considered to be an area to avoid generally. But just driving thru on the Interstate highway probably is OK. I would not stop there tho.
One primary question: how much time do you plan to spend?
Minnesota does not have any major national parks with the exception of Voyageurs NP but that is a park for boaters and canoe and kayak users in particular. Both Minnesota and Wisconsin have a lot of good state parks and the upper peninsula of Michigan is also quite scenic with a number of state parks.
Once you are into the Dakotas then there is Teddy Roosevelt NP in northern North Dakota which is mainly plains with critters, Buffalo (Bison) and Prairie Dogs in particular. In South Dakota there is Badlands NP which is worth a stop for the scenery. Wall Drugs is a unique tourist trap attraction in Wall SD right above the Badlands is also worth a few hours for the kitsch.
There are two National Park Caves in the Badlands area, some like the Crazy Horse monument but others do not. Rushmore is probably only worth a few hours. If you like tourist trap areas there is the Deadwood area, we have never been to that area.
Leaving SD and passing into Wyoming you'll be near Devil's Tower NM which is worth a stop and a walk around the base of the tower. Then you have to decide if you will be going to the Yellowstone/Grand Tetons area in the upper northwest part of Wyoming or you could proceed south into Colorado and the Rocky Mountains NP. There are a lot of other parks in CO. In Utah there are the four corners parks: Arches, Canyonlands, Capital Reef, Bryce and Zion Canyons along with many smaller state parks.
As for the Grand Canyon you need to decide between the North Rim (many fewer people, higher latitude and cooler) and the South Rim (mobs of people and hotter).
I suggest you get online and work your way thru the park websites. they can all be found (the national park lands) on nps.gov but here are more detailed websites for each park if you search for the park name. People can and do spend many months over a period of years exploring these parks. Each state will have a website showing all their state parks. And they all have a state tourist agency website which will be happy to send you maps and literature on their state. I suggest sending for all of those that you will pass thru.
Just a term comment, in the US the Midwest is considered to refer to IIllinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin. What you will mainly be going thru are the Upper Plains, the Mountain States and the Southwest States.
So give us an idea of how much time you have and what type of attractions you like. Then people will be able to offer more focused advice.
Where do you plan to cross into the states? Looking at a map there seem to be three possibilities: the Detroit area, Sault Ste Marie or into upper Minnesota. In the US Detroit is considered to be an area to avoid generally. But just driving thru on the Interstate highway probably is OK. I would not stop there tho.
One primary question: how much time do you plan to spend?
Minnesota does not have any major national parks with the exception of Voyageurs NP but that is a park for boaters and canoe and kayak users in particular. Both Minnesota and Wisconsin have a lot of good state parks and the upper peninsula of Michigan is also quite scenic with a number of state parks.
Once you are into the Dakotas then there is Teddy Roosevelt NP in northern North Dakota which is mainly plains with critters, Buffalo (Bison) and Prairie Dogs in particular. In South Dakota there is Badlands NP which is worth a stop for the scenery. Wall Drugs is a unique tourist trap attraction in Wall SD right above the Badlands is also worth a few hours for the kitsch.
There are two National Park Caves in the Badlands area, some like the Crazy Horse monument but others do not. Rushmore is probably only worth a few hours. If you like tourist trap areas there is the Deadwood area, we have never been to that area.
Leaving SD and passing into Wyoming you'll be near Devil's Tower NM which is worth a stop and a walk around the base of the tower. Then you have to decide if you will be going to the Yellowstone/Grand Tetons area in the upper northwest part of Wyoming or you could proceed south into Colorado and the Rocky Mountains NP. There are a lot of other parks in CO. In Utah there are the four corners parks: Arches, Canyonlands, Capital Reef, Bryce and Zion Canyons along with many smaller state parks.
As for the Grand Canyon you need to decide between the North Rim (many fewer people, higher latitude and cooler) and the South Rim (mobs of people and hotter).
I suggest you get online and work your way thru the park websites. they can all be found (the national park lands) on nps.gov but here are more detailed websites for each park if you search for the park name. People can and do spend many months over a period of years exploring these parks. Each state will have a website showing all their state parks. And they all have a state tourist agency website which will be happy to send you maps and literature on their state. I suggest sending for all of those that you will pass thru.
Just a term comment, in the US the Midwest is considered to refer to IIllinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin. What you will mainly be going thru are the Upper Plains, the Mountain States and the Southwest States.
So give us an idea of how much time you have and what type of attractions you like. Then people will be able to offer more focused advice.
