How do you plan a trip?
After missing this entire camping season, I want to try and make up for it next year. We want to go to the west coast with a quick google maps check I'm looking at 4500km (2800 miles) one way. Do yo...
Forum Discussion
It depends on what kind of trip you are planning. Some like to sightsee along the whole route and are willing to give up time at the destination. Others make a beeline for their main destination and spend more time once there.
We're of the latter persuasion. I want to set up camp as few times as possible as to not waste vacation time. So we'll travel longer days, esp. on the trip out, just to get there, set up, and stay a while, doing day trips away from the camp.
Now if I were doing your trip, I'd spend a week (or less) getting to Banff, a couple of weeks in Banff/Jasper/Yoho/Kootenay (it's a big area), travel to Waterton/Glacier NP's for a week+ of sightseeing, then to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons for a week+, then a couple of weeks to head home. With the travel times between these parks plus the stop in the UP, you've used your eight weeks up.
As for planning, since you are visiting some of the most popular parks in both countries, you might consider reservations so you get the spots you want. It does tie you down schedule-wise, but there's no stress on getting a camp spot. Esp. true for the first week in July, with Canada Day on the 1st and the 4th on, well, the 4th!
Now that doesn't mean plan out each day's activities. Make a list of hikes you want to do, places you want to visit, and rainy day activities and then use the weather as your guide for what to do when you get up in the morning.
We're considering another trip to the Banff/Jasper area in the next couple of years, and I've already begun collecting information on hikes and other activities we want to do, along with Provincial/State Parks to visit along the way. We'll only have five weeks, so time will be at a premium.
We're of the latter persuasion. I want to set up camp as few times as possible as to not waste vacation time. So we'll travel longer days, esp. on the trip out, just to get there, set up, and stay a while, doing day trips away from the camp.
Now if I were doing your trip, I'd spend a week (or less) getting to Banff, a couple of weeks in Banff/Jasper/Yoho/Kootenay (it's a big area), travel to Waterton/Glacier NP's for a week+ of sightseeing, then to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons for a week+, then a couple of weeks to head home. With the travel times between these parks plus the stop in the UP, you've used your eight weeks up.
As for planning, since you are visiting some of the most popular parks in both countries, you might consider reservations so you get the spots you want. It does tie you down schedule-wise, but there's no stress on getting a camp spot. Esp. true for the first week in July, with Canada Day on the 1st and the 4th on, well, the 4th!
Now that doesn't mean plan out each day's activities. Make a list of hikes you want to do, places you want to visit, and rainy day activities and then use the weather as your guide for what to do when you get up in the morning.
We're considering another trip to the Banff/Jasper area in the next couple of years, and I've already begun collecting information on hikes and other activities we want to do, along with Provincial/State Parks to visit along the way. We'll only have five weeks, so time will be at a premium.
