Some questions about a trip out West

cruising spud wrote:
I am retiring early next summer, and to kick off my retirement, my husband, who has already retired, and I are thinking about taking a trip out West. We live in Pennsylvania. We would probably visit T. Roosevelt National Park, Glacier, Olympic, and Redwood before we started for home. We haven't decided what to see on the way home yet, but the journey home would probably not be as ambitious.

We have been out West twice before-once to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons and once to the Utah/Grand Canyon area. We did each of those trips in three weeks.

Now, my questions:

#1-I am a planner and have always planned trips in meticulous detail. Before a trip like this, I would always have our major campgrounds booked (example-the national parks). This time though, we would like to take our time and travel without time constraints. Doing some research, it appears that the national parks have quite a few "first come, first serve" campgrounds, so I am thinking we would be good. BUT, am I right?

#2-I was thinking that about two months would be a good time frame for a trip like this. Yes? No?

Thoughts? Thank you.

You're retired, set back enjoy the trip, when you come across some thing you want to see, stop and see it.

cruising spud wrote:
...#2-I was thinking that about two months would be a good time frame for a trip like this. Yes? No?

Thoughts? Thank you.

if it were me I'd consider delaying the trip until mid-august or even post Labor Day. the crowds will be smaller, the weather cooler. of course many of the 'ranger programs' at the parks stop or go to a reduced schedule after Labor Day and you may run into a spot of snow at the higher elevations but we think it's worth it. we used to save up our vacation time and take the entire month of September and now that we're retired we travel 3-mos in the spring and 3-mos in the fall, both times when kids are in school. we leave the summer months to families who don't have other options.

I don't know if you have heard of My Trip Journal or not but we have found it a good source to research future trips. There are a lot of different journals, many of them by RVers that can be useful in finding out what to do in an area as well as where to stay. The link in our signature will take you to our journal which I have divided into each year's trip over the last nine years. I tell what we do, where we stay and include a short review of the campground as well as pictures of our site.

I would definitely include Yosemite, Sequoia, and the AZ/UT canyons on your return segment.

Adventure Caravans takes the entire month of September to do the tour of the Western Parks. It will take a week to get out there!

Don't overlook all of the private RV parks. They also have a lot to offer.

We just did a 2-1/2 month trip out west from Atlanta that included several of the parks you mention. I agree with the comments above that during the summer, if you don't have a high tolerance for uncertainty and last-minute changes in itinerary, you'll need reservations. That's especially true if you'll need hookups. Having said that, though, you are right that there are lots of first-come/first-served options in the National Parks. Even at Grand Tetons, where our campground was totally booked months in advance, folks who lined up at the other campgrounds early in the morning and waited to fill in whatever sites were available seemed to get campsites eventually. That's not our style of camping (I am the poster child for obsessive/compulsive personality disorders) but it does work. I think.

As to duration, I learned a lesson on our summer trip. Our plan started by picking places to stop and reserving a number of days. After we arrived, we looked at the park newsletter and guidebooks to figure out what we wanted to do. Several times that resulted in a major shortfall with way, way too much to do in the alloted time. At Grand Tetons, for example, I had only booked 3 days, which was too short by at least half. I'm planning next summer's trip right now and mapping out what we'd like to do at least as a general concept at each stop, then booking the stops. Again, if you're less OCD than I am, that may be too much planning for you, but even a less compulsive version of a stop-by-stop plan will let you know if 2 months is right.

Have fun! Sounds like a great trip.

Skip

When we all have different styles of life and different styles of RVing, I bought my first RV because I liked to be a Gypsy for few days in a year and just go with the life flow.
That brought some extremely nice supersizes as I discover Powell Lake with Rainbow Bridge, Horseshoe Bend and Valley of Fire with no warning.
I grew up in Europe and have actually met original Gypsies that made the living in different countries in not always legal way, but it took a trip via Oregon "Central highway" 5 years ago- where in the middle of nowhere, 200 miles to closes city I spot park horse wagon and sign "visitors welcome"
Sure over the years -parking RV at Walmart for the night become questionable, but still doable.
Unless you do it in the middle of hot season, don't waste your life for making reservations.

National park RV campgrounds here in the west are hard to get during the summer months without reserving, however there is always RV parks located outside the parks you can get without reserving, but do call ahead on those campgrounds to make sure, I have never had a problem getting sites outside the National parks but never inside, I don't like planning.

Regarding planning ahead, it really depends on when and what NP's exactly. It also depends on wether you stay IN the parks or just outside the parks. Another consideration is the size of your rig and do you have a toad.

The closer you stay to the parks out west, typically the longer ahead you need to plan and make reservations. As well, any time kids aren't in school means planning farther ahead. Some of these parks book every site for six months in about one minute after they open reservtions online. If you want to stay well outside of the parks and drive in daily, then you will have much more flexibility.

If you are coming as far as Redwood NP, then I suggest you strongly consider a few days in Yosemite. Out of all of the NP's I have visited, Yosemite sits at the top IMHO. Every NP is special, but Yosemite is something else.

I rarely recommend paid RV clubs but it sounds like your upcoming trip might benefit from a Passport America membership. It typically doesn't help near the parks but it could be beneficial on the way here and back.

Congrats on your soon retirement and here is to a fabulous trip out west!