Travel plans to visit National Parks

Go to Adventure Caravans website and check their Grand Circle tour of the Western Parks. Better yet take their tour that fills the month of September.

for Mt. Rushmore and area, I recommend Custer State Park because it is as scenic as a national park and very well kept, etc. But busy, so needs reservations. The campgrounds do have elec hookups and water and toilets and showers and there are two dump stations in the park, now.
For Yellowstone, we like Bridge Bay for the location. Has toilets, water and dump station. Reservations a must.
For Grand Tetons, both Colter Bay and Gros Ventre have water and dump station and toilets. Also, both have a full hookup section, but it pretty pricey..and busy.
Going from Rocky Mt Park up to the Black Hills, take 25 north to highway 18, then over to highway 85 and north to 16 which will take you into Custer and the junction of 385, a good road for anywhere in the Black Hills.

While at Arches, consider staying an extra day in order to include Canyonlands NP. Moab UT has several campgrounds; we stayed at Spanish Trail, because it has a little shade (many don't in that area). Dead Horse Point SP is near Canyonlands & is a great place to stay; electric hookups available but you will need to bring your own fresh water.

Ditto on Grizzly RV for Yellowstone. If you can do without hookups, there are several CGs inside the park, but I would strongly advise reservations. Colter Bay RV Park, IMO, is by far the best place to camp for the Tetons if you need hookups; there are several good NPS and NFS CGs in the area there. Other private CG offerings there are not to our liking.

Lots of good CGs in the Black Hills (for Mt. Rushmore.) While there, make sure to visit Crazy Horse Memorial as well. Our favorite CG there was Rafter J Bar Ranch Campground in Hill City.
Don't miss Devils Tower on the way from there to the Yellowstone area; the KOA right at its base has an amazing view!

Depending on the size of your rig and if you need hookups, there is a CG right in Crater Lake NP. Haven't stayed outside of the park there. (We camped there in a popup, so no problem finding space in a campsite. However, we did have reservations.)

I hope you have allotted a lot of time for this trip. One day per park just won't cut it, especially for Yellowstone, Zion and Arches/Canyonlands, and the Black Hills. And I do recommend advance reservations, depending on the time of year & size & needs of your rig.

fellowes03 wrote:
We are planning a 16 stop National Park tour starting in Southern California. The stops include Las Vegas NV, Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Capital Reef NP, Arches NP, Rocky MTN NP, Mt Rushmore to Grand Tetons, Yellowstone NP, Coeur D Alene, to MT Rainer, Crater Lake to Redwood NP back to Southern Ca.

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Suggest you check out rvparkreviews.com for more detailed information. Where to stay will vary depending upon how long you plan to stay and what time of year. Size of rig? Kids or just adults? RV Parks or campgrounds?

These are some of the places we stayed.

Zion NP - In the park at Watchman Campground - electric only
Bryce Canyon - Ruby's just outside the park - full hook-ups available
Capital Reef - Thousand Lakes RV Park - just outside with full hook-ups
Arches - Moab Valley RV - full hook-ups
Grand Tetons - we stayed at Colter Bay but there are better choices
Yellowstone - If outside the park on the west side - Grizzly Bear in West Yellowstone, MT.
Redwood National Park - Golden Bear RV in Klamath.

Moved to RV Parks, Campgrounds, and Attractions forum from 5th wheels.