Upstate SC to Grand Canyon; 4 weeks - what would you do?

On the way out to the Grand Canyon on I40 just South of Amarillo spend a couple of days camping down in the second largest canyon in the USA and check out the show that they have at Palo Duro Canyon State Park
Drive through the Petrified Forest National Park
Alternative route would be I20 to I10 then see Carlsbad Caverns with a stop and stay at Tombstone AZ on the way to the Grand Canyon
From the Grand Canyon
Would suggest Zion, Arches, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Mesa Verde, Durango and ride the Durango Silverton Railroad.
If you like off the beaten path The Highway of Legends
IMHO trying to take in Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore is just too much to try to cram in with the Grand Canyon even in 5 weeks. That is a 4 to 5 week trip all on its own.

I have to agree with Trackrig, see the Grand Canyon first or you will be disappointed after seeing the 5 great parks in souther Utah. You can do the circle after seeing the Grand Canyon. You can easily do all of this in 4 weeks spending a few days at each park. Bryce is by far my favorite. And if you like to hike there are many good trails down into the hoodoos. Check these parks out online and go see them. You will not be disappointed. We went to the Grand Canyon after seeing the Utah parks and we were disappointed. It is deep and awesome but for scenic beauty it can't compare to the Utah NPs. Also Dead Horse SP near Moab offers a spectacular rim view of Canyonlands NP. Absolutely beautiful.

Make it 5 weeks so you can hit the North Rim, Zion/Bryce, Moab, RMNP, and maybe even Yellowstone and the Tetons. I would do the 1900 miles out in three day if you cannot make it 5 weeks, but not in Sept. If you do it that late I'd end up at the Grand Cannon.

Sounds like a good trip.

While in the area of the Grand Canyon be sure to take a side trip to Bryce and Zion Canyons... Petrified Forest is a quick drive through and interesting to see on your way or way back along I-40

Mt Rushmore if you decide to take a northern route home.

By all means, go see the Grand Canyon and then Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, the Tetons and maybe the Wind Caves. Then if you have time on your way home, drop down to the bottom of Utah.

In lower Utah, do Arches NP, Natural Bridges NM, Zion NP, Bryce NP Canyon Moab (and not you don't need a built up Jeep to see all of it) and Canyonland NP. After seeing the Grand Canyon, which you can only really see from the top looking down unless you're a very serious hiker, we enjoyed the southern Utah areas much more.

In the Canyonland area there is much more to see. You can look down on all of it from the top, then you can drive down into the canyon and look up from the bottom. You won't be able to go down in the canyon with the Class C, but there are lot's of places that rent Jeeps for the day. From the 1940s & 50s there was a lot of mining down in the canyons which required access. So there's lot of dirt roads / trails that the BLM maintains for people to use. When I say maintain, they keep them in a somewhat passible condition after rainstorms. Anything with somewhat of a decent ground clearance can access a lot of them.

While I'm glad we did the Grand Canyon, I'm glad we did it first so that we weren't disappointed. There's just so much more to do and see in southern Utah.

Bill