Need help connecting AZ/NV/UT/CO sightseeing spots...

[TriumphGuy]

Wow how things change, and yet stay the same in just over a year.

Back in Dec 2014 I posted this thread and got lots of great input about a proposed trip to the Southwest: Upstate SC to Grand Canyon; 4 weeks - what would you do?

By now many things have come together. We ended up with a 35' Class A motorhome and are planning for 4 weeks off in 2017, mid-May to mid-June.

Credit where credit is due, I'm generally following a similar route as tragusa3: Trip Report: The Perfect Family Trip!

Anyway, to the point - now I'm getting a little wrapped around the axle trying to connect some of these dots in the most efficient manner. Specifically, the Hoover Dam vs Lake Powell are throwing a wrench into my trying to make a good "loop." If I leave one or the other out I can make sense of it, but trying to do both...?

Petrified Forest
...
Grand Canyon (South Rim)
Hoover Dam
...
Zion
Bryce
Capitol Reef
Goblin Valley
Arches
Canyonlands
Moab
Valley of the Gods / Monument Valley / Goosenecks SP
then backtrack to Lake Powell Halls Crossing?
Four Corners
Mesa Verde
Durango
...

So two questions:
1) what am I missing to make the most sense out of connecting these places?
2) any roads to avoid with a 36' Class A with a toad? I don't shy away from driving on twisty roads of Appalachia so I'll do what's needed if necessary, but I'd like to think I'm wiser these days and will avoid the "necessary" if you know what I mean.

[Lauren]

Just a few quick thoughts as I skim this.

South Rim for sure to SEE the Grand Canyon; not just say you have been there.
Skip Four Corners
Cadillac Ranch is a good, basic place but heard it was up for sale.
I guess a dam is a dam but Lake Powell Dam does not compare to Hoover Dam.
I don't remember Moki Dugway being gravel.

Enjoy all these wonderful places - like others, we have been fortunate to live out this way and can spend time at them over and over.

[TriumphGuy]

lbrjet wrote:
The Moki is just a steep gravel road. Stay in Bluff at the Cadillac Ranch and take the toad to do your SE Utah sight seeing. The bad road is in Monument Valley. A higher clearance there is recomended or take the tour ride. We drove it because we wanted to stop when and where we wanted to.

Thank you for those tips - and Bluff looks like a good place to "toad" around from.

[lbrjet]

The Moki is just a steep gravel road. Stay in Bluff at the Cadillac Ranch and take the toad to do your SE Utah sight seeing. The bad road is in Monument Valley. A higher clearance there is recomended or take the tour ride. We drove it because we wanted to stop when and where we wanted to.

[TriumphGuy]

lbrjet wrote:
4 corners is on the way from Monument valley to Mesa Verde. It is a tourist trap but is also one of a kind. A family photo of each person in a different state is something your kids would never forget. I enjoyed Valley of the Gods way more than Monument Valley, which is very commercialized and crowed, not to mention an awful road to drive. Driving up the Moki Dugway to Natural Bridges NM is also highly recommended. Have a geeat trip.

I'm still on the fence about 4 corners actually. Since it's generally on the way from Monument Vally to Mesa Verde, I'll leave it "on the list" and we'll just see how things are as we get to that point. Just about the whole itinerary is "open" from my point of view after GC and Zion.

I agree with you on VoG, from what I've seen it looks like just the remote feeling experience I'd like for a day or two. However I'm not sure about getting our Class A in there.

I'd forgotten about the Moki Dugway. Just the thing for our toad as long as I don't need a ton of ground clearance 🙂

bukhrn wrote:
Maybe it's just me, but your itinerary seems awfully ambitious, unless you're just going to do the Clark Griswold headbob, I mean you could easily spend 4-5 days at some of those,as we did in Grand Canyon, Zion, Moab area,not to mention a LOT of driving time.
We went at a relaxing pace & saw all we wanted, we certainly could have spent less time at some, but I don't think we would have enjoyed it as much.

No, it's not you. I recognize it's definitely not slow paced. As I mentioned above, it's more or less open after GC and Zion (places where I think I will have to make reservations). I intend the list to be just a list of possibilities where we'll adjust on the fly. I have followed the experiences of other families here and on different blog(s) and have based my plan on what they've done - but at the end of the day we will make our own way.

It would not surprise me if we take some downtime after Zion and spend a few days at Lake Powell, then take off for another week of sightseeing and then slow down somewhere in CO after that and come home. That may mean skipping some things, which is ok. I intend to keep making trips like this for as many summers as we can, so we can come back and visit favorites and/or see new stuff.

The way we used to travel before kids was kind of like this - sightsee and stop at lots of places in a geographical area, then next time we headed out that way gravitate towards our favorites and dive deeper into the details. There is a place in Virginia that is that way to us. I think we know many parts of it in and out, but then we go back and discover something else.

I honestly think that Colorado is going to be that way for us, but we'll see. It will not surprise me if next year we just spend 2 weeks in that state.

[bukhrn]

Maybe it's just me, but your itinerary seems awfully ambitious, unless you're just going to do the Clark Griswold headbob, I mean you could easily spend 4-5 days at some of those,as we did in Grand Canyon, Zion, Moab area,not to mention a LOT of driving time.
We went at a relaxing pace & saw all we wanted, we certainly could have spent less time at some, but I don't think we would have enjoyed it as much.

[lbrjet]

4 corners is on the way from Monument valley to Mesa Verde. It is a tourist trap but is also one of a kind. A family photo of each person in a different state is something your kids would never forget. I enjoyed Valley of the Gods way more than Monument Valley, which is very commercialized and crowed, not to mention an awful road to drive. Driving up the Moki Dugway to Natural Bridges NM is also highly recommended. Have a geeat trip.

[TriumphGuy]

Really thankful for the people on this forum. Always great tips.

I am working on convincing my wife that a tour of the Lake Powell Dam would be just as interesting as Hoover itself, but she incorporates Hoover into her school lessons and I can understand actually going there would be very significant, so I'm trying to work it in.

However you've just about convinced me that 4 corners isn't quite worth it, and if I cut that out then the route suggested by 2gypsies to "backtrack" from Zion to Page may net about the same overall. And Busskipper you're right, getting into some water I think will be great for them, so I don't want to cut out the Lake Powell experience. In fact I hadn't thought much about it at all but I have read in multiple places that Powell was a great family experience for many and the more I considered it I really wanted to include it.

Busskipper you are good to remind me my original post. I should clarify that I'm building a list of "nice to see" with a few "must see" and adjust on the fly. Some places will require reservations, but hopefully I can keep it loose enough for whatever happens otherwise.

Summarizing (for my own benefit when I come back to this thread):
- Skip 4 corners
- Add Page,AZ after Zion by backtracking from Springdale to Hurricane and avoiding the tunnel
- Skip VoG and drive-by Goosenecks SP
- Check out 128 in Moab
- See Window Rock and Canyon de Chelly on the way to GC south rim
- Leave right after work Friday (was on the fence about this but you convinced me)
Still working on an exit plan - will look at the Salida / Colorado Springs route.

Thanks!

[Busskipper]

TriumphGuy wrote:

4runnerguy wrote:
You're talking about starting a couple of weeks from now. These are very popular areas and very popular campgrounds. Your best bet may be to find out what is even available at this late date and try to work a driving plan around that. I think you're going to find some places very difficult if not impossible to find a campsite for next month.

My mistake - thank you for catching that. I meant 2017. I updated the original post, and also thanks for the reminder to be on top of things for next year. Best I can tell I need to reserve GC trailer village and Zion or I'll be stuck.

I'd say you have some time, Here is a couples photo post of their trip, might be some help.

A family that did this every year for three weeks, this is a way to see how others plan to do the things you are looking for.

Link to Mpond's trips,, may be a bit much for many but this family is at least doing it.

So much info on this site - with another year to plan my guess it will change a few more times.

BOL,

[TriumphGuy]

4runnerguy wrote:
You're talking about starting a couple of weeks from now. These are very popular areas and very popular campgrounds. Your best bet may be to find out what is even available at this late date and try to work a driving plan around that. I think you're going to find some places very difficult if not impossible to find a campsite for next month.

My mistake - thank you for catching that. I meant 2017. I updated the original post, and also thanks for the reminder to be on top of things for next year. Best I can tell I need to reserve GC trailer village and Zion or I'll be stuck.

[4runnerguy]

You're talking about starting a couple of weeks from now. These are very popular areas and very popular campgrounds. Your best bet may be to find out what is even available at this late date and try to work a driving plan around that. I think you're going to find some places very difficult if not impossible to find a campsite for next month.

[lbrjet]

Take out Lake Powell and everything lines up pretty well. I would remove that considering your time restraints.

[Busskipper]

TriumphGuy wrote:
Wow how things change, and yet stay the same in just over a year.

Back in Dec 2014 I posted this thread and got lots of great input about a proposed trip to the Southwest: Upstate SC to Grand Canyon; 4 weeks - what would you do?

By now many things have come together. We ended up with a 35' Class A motorhome and are planning for 4 weeks off in 2016, mid-May to mid-June.

Credit where credit is due, I'm generally following a similar route as tragusa3: Trip Report: The Perfect Family Trip!

Anyway, to the point - now I'm getting a little wrapped around the axle trying to connect some of these dots in the most efficient manner. Specifically, the Hoover Dam vs Lake Powell are throwing a wrench into my trying to make a good "loop." If I leave one or the other out I can make sense of it, but trying to do both...?

Petrified Forest
...
Grand Canyon (South Rim)
Hoover Dam
...
Zion
Bryce
Capitol Reef
Goblin Valley
Arches
Canyonlands
Moab
Valley of the Gods / Monument Valley / Goosenecks SP
then backtrack to Lake Powell Halls Crossing?
Four Corners
Mesa Verde
Durango
...

So two questions:
1) what am I missing to make the most sense out of connecting these places?
2) any roads to avoid with a 36' Class A with a toad? I don't shy away from driving on twisty roads of Appalachia so I'll do what's needed if necessary, but I'd like to think I'm wiser these days and will avoid the "necessary" if you know what I mean.

Then you do remmember this;

TriumphGuy wrote:
Hi everyone,
Doing some long range planning. 2000 miles from Greenville SC to the Grand Canyon (and back of course). In a couple years I'd like to do this with the family.
I might be able to swing 5 weeks off of work but for now sticking with 4 weeks.
We wouldn't be using our current setup (F250 and 35' 5er) but rather in a small C or would have a DRW and a multi-slide TC. Something more mobile and that my DW is more comfortable driving.
I don't want to pack a thousand things into the trip. The drive is long enough as it is, don't need added stress. A couple goals off of the top of my head:
- See and experience the Grand Canyon for a few days. Don't just stop and look. Do some hiking, see some sunsets.
- Get off the beaten path and camp somewhere out there. Wander a bit. Living on the east coast, there really isn't much for getting out there and remote (i.e dispersed camping).


- Enjoy a few stops on the way. Focus is natural wonders but some historic sites too.

The route seems simple. Find my way to I-40 (through Atlanta to Memphis) to Flagstaff and then north.

Any time of the year. Kids are homeschooled so no schedule problems. My first thought is late Sept.

I'm hoping this is the first trip of many before they grow up and leave the house.

Thoughts?

Not trying to mess with you but the original thoughts had a LOT OF MERIT,

You do Know that Lake Powell has a Dam. So no need to waste a couple of days to see the one for Lake Mead, unless it is of some Historical connection for you.

North Rim is Cooler and Wilder than the South Rim, but it is in your Title, and this is your trip. On the way into GC think about touching Window Rock and Canyon de Chelly they are right on the way - even if you do not explore them.

IMHO 4 corners is a waste - was when I went at 10 (60 years ago) and would be now.

While in Moab be sure to drive out Rt 128 along the Colorado River - you'll know when to turn around and come back, want to say 35-40 miles.

You know you could come out of GC on the East side (Page) and do the loop that way missing Hover and Mead?

Sorry to mess with your Head but, I read your first post in 2014 and....

Bottom line no matter what you do it will be fun, You are in a Class A so the kids will be able to do things and move around a little. Remember they - Kids - Love the Water so use it to your advantage.

Last thought is to pack up everything and start right after work on Friday, that 250 400 miles is money in the bank, and believe me you will be glad to have it.

As you already know this is going to be AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOL,

How are you going to Exit and head HOME, Through Colorado I Hope - Maybe Wolf Creek Pass to Salida and Buena Vista and the Collegiates going out Rt 24 through Colorado Springs, home.

[2gypsies1]

I assume you'll be entering Zion from I-15, Hwy 9. Where are you staying?

If you are staying at the Springdale entrance and were planning on leaving Zion via Hwy 9 east you'd have to disconnect your toad and drive both vehicles through the tunnels to get to Hwy 89 and up to Bryce. Check out the tunnel information on the Zion Nat'l Park web site for details.

An alternative to include Glen Canyon/Page, AZ area at this point would be: from Springdale/Zion entrance, backtrack on Hwy 9 west to Hurricane, UT. Then pick up 59 south toward Colorado City and it will then become 389 in Arizona taking you to Fredonia, AZ. Then get on Hwy 89 and follow it into Page, AZ. There's a very nice RV park right on the water and Antelope Canyon tours can be had from this area. You could also do the 'dam' tour or a boat ride on the lake.

Then go back on 89 to Kanab, UT and north on 89 to Bryce, etc.

If you take the tour of Monument Valley I would skip Valley of the Gods (you probably wouldn't want to do it in your vehicle) and just do a 'drive to' Goosenecks SP for a quick picture. There's really no reason to spend the night there.

I don't see a good route to fit everything in without some backtracking.

In my opinion you could also skip Four Corners. There's nothing there but a desolate area, some trinket sellers and a plaque and also an admission fee. Besides, it's really in the wrong place if you read up on it. 🙂

Have a great trip!