12 night trip: CA to UT & CO Natl. Parks

Good point made about the heat. Best time to see things in hot places is early (until 11 am or noon) and late (after supper, when the sun is low). The Narrows in Zion is always cool due to the high rock walls plus the water temp. Capitol Reef and Canyonlands can be enjoyed by driving through them, which means air conditioning. Arches is a series of turnouts with walks ranging from short to long, again you have A/C breaks in between.

Remember that if you get sick and tired of the heat, there are high elevation areas you can go to instead of the lower, hotter parks. So all will not be lost.

Most kids the age of yours LOVE Great Sand Dunes NP. If you do decide to go there, get some cheap snow saucers at Walmart before you leave or in Alamosa. Even kids who hate hiking will spend all day hiking up the dunes just to be able to slide back down on a saucer. These are not seaside sand dunes--some are 700 ft. (a San Francisco skyscraper) tall. So, just spray the kids with suntan lotion and bug spray and let them have the time of their lives!

IMHO, the Aztec NM ruins are nothing like the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings. And, if the kids enjoy Mesa Verde and you do decide to go from Durango to the Great Sand Dunes, take a very brief side trip to one of my favorite Anasazi ruins at the new Chimney Rock National Monument. It is just west of Pagosa Springs and a mile south of US 160.

For more things to see and some inexpensive campground suggestions, see my blog HERE.

You will be able to say you have been to places but not SEEN places. IMHO. 1 day in Zion is plenty - trade days with Bryce. In any case, cut the number of places in half.

On edit ........ Thom and I usually agree but do not agree fully on Rocky Mtn NP. I lived in Estes 8 years. I do agree with him that it is a zoo with people but the main reason that side is so much in demand as it has so much more to offer; check it out yourself.

It is kinda like the same argument of Grand Canyon - south side is hugely busy but it is there that you get to see the whole canyon - not 10%.

You can say you have been to the west side of RMNT or the north side of GC but you truly have not SEEN it.

But you are so limited on time; not sure how you are going to drive, sleep and also see things.

Be safe.

One thing that people aren't pointing out: in Utah, in June, it's HOT. IMHO it's too hot to enjoy hiking (or doing anything else, for that matter)in Zion.

In general, if the kiddos don't like to hike (which is really too bad), the plan of action should be to be at elevation (cooler) and in a place where there are lots of short hikes and the camping is nice. So:

Zion: 100 degree days doth not a pleasant experience make.
Bryce: This is the ticket. Nice and cool at 8000 feet, not nearly as crowded as Zion, lots of great short hikes.
North Rim Grand Canyon: An utterly different experience from the South Rim, and at 8000 feet, coooool in the summer. I think it's much more beautiful than the South Rim.
Arches and Canyonlands: Much as I love the area, I can't recommend it in the summer (and June is definitely summer there). 100+ degree heat saps your energy and puts a major crimp in your enjoyment.
Rocky Mountain NP: Quite a bit off your itinerary. For my money, the Needles country north of Durango is every bit as beautiful. There are a LOT of cool things to see in southwest CO, including Durango, Silverton, Ouray, and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

SO...

Head for Bryce. Spend three+ days in the area. See Cedar Breaks if you have a chance. Also plan 2 days at the North Rim. This is Part One. Part Two: head east to Durango (a number of interesting routes exist). Spend some time in Durango. Ride the choo choo to Silverton (can't recommend this highly enough). Then drive the Million Dollar Highway north, exploring as you go. Eventually, work your way north to Grand Junction, and use I-70 to return. If you have extra time, camping up on Grand Mesa and/or visiting Colorado National Monument would be worthwhile.

This way, you're basically exploring two areas in depth rather than zipping from place to place. Also, you don't need to travel all the way to the Front Range to get that Colorado Rocky Mountain High. The western slope is just as beautiful, and it's 350 miles closer.

You probably already know the freecampsites.net site but I'll mention it in case you don't. Here are a few boondock sites near Bryce.

I just noticed that your route map shows you backtracking west, then north, then east to Capitol Reef. I would suggest heading east from Bryce on Hwy 12 all the way to Torrey. When you get near the highway summit point on Boulder Mountain, the views of the valley and the reef to the east are quite good. I've boondocked up there at 8,000 feet (nice and cool in summer). There was a place a half mile south of the little visitor center (at the summit point) where the old fellow at the center suggested that I pull off and camp, and it's only a hundred-yard walk to the edge of a dropoff with a great view. You might now need a free dispersed camping permit from the visitor center, though I didn't when I was there in 2010.

If you do go to Great Sand Dunes, and if the family wants to take a dip (even skinny-dip), Valley View Hot Springs is 35 miles north and about 8 miles east from there.

True Romance wrote:
Thanks everyone for the input and advice. I will look at the parks and my schedule again. Covering a lot in 2 states in 2 weeks is not daunting for us.

We are pretty ambitious. June 2017 we did 17 nights with 4 kids and a dog hitting: NV, Craters of the Moon NM, Jackson Hole, Grand Tetons NP, Yellowstone NP, Glacier NP, Northern MT, Theodore Roosevelt NP, Badlands NP, Mt. Rushmore, Blackhills, Wind Cave NP, middle of WY, and the Bonneville Salt Flats. And we all lived to tell about it :)

Yeah, but what did you see? We've been to all those places multiple times and imagine you saw very little of what there is to see. Maybe you like to drive, but do your kids a favor and give them time somewhere but in the back seat driving somewhere else.

I did not realize Great Sand Dunes had so many mosquitoes. One of my bucket list items is to visit all of the Natl. Parks (plus I love getting the stamps in my NP passport , maybe we will just drive in and see the park for an hour or two and then get back on the road. There are so many parks I need to get too, I figure when I am close enough to one I might as well pop in to say I have been there.

I dunno. Maybe it's just me but I think the priority would be to create memories for the kids by spending some time in these wonderful places rather than just popping in to get your passport stamped.

I'd skip RMNP and Great Sand Dunes and your whole northern route including Dinosaur and concentrate in the southern UT and Durango area. Even then, two weeks is very ambitious. You really have very little time in the parks as you'll be spending part of every travel day on the road, setting up and tearing down camp.

For instance in Durango you'd need two full days once you get there. One for Mesa Verde NP and another for the Durango Silverton train. If you have a third day there, you can drive the Million Dollar Highway to Ouray and spend some time swimming in the fabulous Hot Springs Pool there.

You say the kids don't like to hike, but maybe it's finding the right hike. Heading up the Zion Narrows and wading up the river is a thrill to most kids. Visiting a ruin in Mesa Verde where one has to climb up old wooden ladders is a pretty interesting experience.

Even experiences in the CG can be great. Get a spot at Watchman CG in Zion. Once you're done exploring for the day, the kids can play in the Virgin "River" that flows right past the campground. Many adults just take a lawn chair into the shallows and sit beneath the cottonwoods to cool off.

My parents took us on tent camping trips throughout the west when we were growing up. I can attest personally that I hated all the time in the car but really enjoyed the parks once we got there.

rexlion wrote:
I really enjoyed hiking the Narrows in Zion, and also it was fun to ride the shuttle to the north end and coast my bike almost all the way down to the CG. On your way from Zion to Bryce, you'll drive through Red Canyon (there are a couple of short tunnels there and a pretty NF CG). Try to allot an hour to hike the Arches Trail, a couple of dirt road miles north off the highway. These arches are different from what you'll see in Arches NP, and it's not a long hike but a bit of uphill climb.


Personally, the bugs at Great Sand Dunes would be a huge negative. Are you sure you want to put up with that? I would suggest skipping that place and RMNP. Instead, from Durango you can take the Million Dollar Hwy north through Telluride and Ouray for some mountain scenery that IMO is better than RMNP. If you like it, detour around to Telluride also and see the waterfall east of town as well as pretty Trout Lake just to the south. There's a nice state park CG at Ridgeway. Then continue north and take a driving tour through Colorado National Monument; there's another nice state park CG north of there at Fruita. From that point it's a short hop to your planned stop at Dino Monument.

One more detour to think about, between stops 4 & 5 the kids would probably have a blast playing hide and seek among the sandstone fissures bordering the CG at Goblin Valley SP; or at least allot an hour to see the giant sandstone mushroom-like hoodoos in the valley.

Great info and pics. I did not realize Great Sand Dunes had so many mosquitoes. One of my bucket list items is to visit all of the Natl. Parks (plus I love getting the stamps in my NP passport :), maybe we will just drive in and see the park for an hour or two and then get back on the road. There are so many parks I need to get too, I figure when I am close enough to one I might as well pop in to say I have been there.

We like boondocking as much as we can, I always seem to find a cool boondocking site outside of parks.

Love the pics and suggestions.We will definitely visit the Goblin Valley SP.

I really enjoyed hiking the Narrows in Zion, and also it was fun to ride the shuttle to the north end and coast my bike almost all the way down to the CG. On your way from Zion to Bryce, you'll drive through Red Canyon (there are a couple of short tunnels there and a pretty NF CG). Try to allot an hour to hike the Arches Trail, a couple of dirt road miles north off the highway. These arches are different from what you'll see in Arches NP, and it's not a long hike but a bit of uphill climb.


Personally, the bugs at Great Sand Dunes would be a huge negative. Are you sure you want to put up with that? I would suggest skipping that place and RMNP. Instead, from Durango you can take the Million Dollar Hwy north through Telluride and Ouray for some mountain scenery that IMO is better than RMNP. If you like it, detour around to Telluride also and see the waterfall east of town as well as pretty Trout Lake just to the south. There's a nice state park CG at Ridgeway. Then continue north and take a driving tour through Colorado National Monument; there's another nice state park CG north of there at Fruita. From that point it's a short hop to your planned stop at Dino Monument.

One more detour to think about, between stops 4 & 5 the kids would probably have a blast playing hide and seek among the sandstone fissures bordering the CG at Goblin Valley SP; or at least allot an hour to see the giant sandstone mushroom-like hoodoos in the valley.

We've been to all but Great Sand Dunes, so here's my quick recommendation:
Zion: 1 and this will allow you to take the shuttle and take some short hikes, and still drive over to see Kolob Canyon.
Bryce: 2 for the shuttle tour and hike down into the park which is well worth it.
Capitol Reef: 1
Arches: 1 and maybe a second day for Canyonlands.
Rocky Mountain National Park: 1
Mesa Verde: 2 to see several ruins and drive to Four Corners. Might as well since you're there and maybe take the train in Durango.

Thanks everyone for the input and advice. I will look at the parks and my schedule again. Covering a lot in 2 states in 2 weeks is not daunting for us.

We are pretty ambitious. June 2017 we did 17 nights with 4 kids and a dog hitting: NV, Craters of the Moon NM, Jackson Hole, Grand Tetons NP, Yellowstone NP, Glacier NP, Northern MT, Theodore Roosevelt NP, Badlands NP, Mt. Rushmore, Blackhills, Wind Cave NP, middle of WY, and the Bonneville Salt Flats. And we all lived to tell about it :)

Appreciate everyone's advice!