Planning a trip out west next summer

I know you are planning on going next year but here is a link that may help. Since the drought may still be going on in parts of the West, you may want to keep track of how the wildfires are progressing. A few years ago, when we went through Yellowstone and down to the Grand Tetons, the smoke was so bad that you could not see the mountains and you certainly would not want to stay in any campgrounds that were blanketed with smoke.
We had been through this area before so it was no big deal for us since we just adjusted our journey to include some other areas. I hope this does not become a problem for you next year but fires can become a real problem and there is nothing you can do about it other than to go somewhere else. With this Nationwide map you can add and subtract different layers to get rid of everything but the fires and the rain. Enjoy your trip. Wildfire map
Here is what the Grand Tetons look like when there is a lot of smoke.

We're planning a similar trip, also for next summer. But your request is pretty broad: there are roughly infinity options for routes, stops, things to see, etc. Here is our route as it exists right now:



Stops include:

• Rocky Mountain NP
• Grand Tetons
• Yellowstone
• Glacier
• Little Big Horn
• Devil's Tower
• Mt. Rushmore
• Badlands

and then home.

We're in the process of identifying particular campgrounds, durations, and things to see and do at each step, but right now it looks like a 45-day trip, 5175 miles, and you don't want to know the cost. We use the 3:00/300 rule, so it's slow-going to and from.

We're also in Atlanta and would be happy to give you whatever would be helpful. Given that the discussion could run to volumes of text, though, it might be better to do it off-line. PM me and I can send you some more information.

Skip

You didn't mention any dates. Rushmore is very popular and you'll need reservations around the 4th of July.

Sturgis is the world's largest motorcycle event and is held near there, about 50 miles, and occurs the first week in August or there abouts. Don't go then...massive crowds.

You also didn't mention how much time you have. It's roughly 4,000 miles round trip. 400 miles a day makes it 10 days travel with no site seeing.

About 20 miles east of Wall, SD is a new Minuteman Museum. Opened in April. Fantastic!!! Right off the freeway. Good signs before exits

I normally go through Paducah, KY, St. Louis, Kansas City, Souix Ciy, IA, Souix Falls, SD, then straight accross South Dakota. A very nice couple(Laura & Bryce) runs Chris' Campground in Spearfish, SD. It is a very nice place with great Cable and Wifi.

As far as routes from Atlanta - get a road atlas and study what you want to see on the way. There are many routes to take. You don't have to stay on interstates.

We always felt the best experience for national parks is to stay in the parks themselves.

If you're going to Yellowstone definitely plan on some days in Grand Teton Nat'l Park. They're next to each other are are completely different in looks and activities.

Have fun planning!

We have stayed at the rafter J Bar 5 times and keep going back for the Black Hills. Bear Country in Rapid City is worth the cost. Wall Drug and the Corn Palace are good stops. If you split up and go farther you could hit Glacier NP otherwise Yellowstone is great. We came across Kansas and saw 5 tornadoes in one day. Rocky Mountain NP is good, Denver is interesting but it is another big city. We took a little road (not with the MH) that was gravel, narrow and fun past Cripple Creek and some other mining towns.

If you would like to have a little more privacy you could have one of you drive it out and fly home while the other couple does the opposite. That permits seeing a lot more as you don't have to do a return trip. We did that in 1984 with some good friends in cars. We had both won trips from Detroit to Seattle for insurance sales and did it with a car and hotels. That was back when you only needed a ticket to fly and no ID.