Scenic Routes/Places to See in WY, ID, MT, SD & E. CO

[otrfun]

Giving some thought to heading NW from Kansas for 10-14 days with our truck camper. Have tentative plans to visit Mt. Rushmore and possibly a 2-3 day stay at Yellowstone (reservations permitting; have noticed occasional cancellation openings). Other than that our plans are open.

Can anyone recommend any of their favorite scenic routes and/or places to visit in WY, ID, MT, SD, and eastern CO? Visited western CO last year.

Thanks!

[kknowlton]

Good to know! Thanks for checking in!

[otrfun]

OP here. We just got back from our 10-day trip through SD, WY, and CO with our truck camper. Had a great time!

In light of the fact we only had about a week to plan this trip, everything went very smooth. Thanks to everybody for their input--really helped!

[Horsedoc]

Spearfish SD., west of Rapid City has a great city park that is ideal for either a few days in the area, or just overnighting. You can drive south up Spearfish Canyon in Lead for some really beautiful scenery (some of the winder scenes from "Dances with Wolves" were filmed there) or go on into Deadwood and donate a few bucks to the casinos.

[sljohnson1938]

Glacier Natl park is probably the best (my opinion) of all the National parks.
A must see if you get near it.

[fanrgs]

FULLTIMEWANABE wrote:
There was a beautiful waterfall just besides the road (can't remember name or where sorry!), it lit up at night as well.

Seven Falls in Colorado Springs.

[FULLTIMEWANABE]

Colorado we loved Pikes Peak, Horse/Mule riding Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Durango, Ouray? Green River areas. There was a beautiful waterfall just besides the road (can't remember name or where sorry!), it lit up at night as well.

SD = Spearfish hatchery, Deadwood, Sturgis, Wall Drug = Kitchy place but worth look see.

WY = Cody - could spend days there easily with the museum, old village, evening theatre with meal. Also check out the Earthquake Lake area as you go through. Also the WM here was really nice for Dry Camping O/N a couple nights with their blessing in 2017.

[BarabooBob]

I have driven the MDH, 14A, and the Beartooht. 14A is definitely steeper and more twisty but the view is worth the drive. I drive an F150 with a 3500 lbs TT so I am loaded pretty light. Never had a problem with brakes or power. I love my EB3.5 It always thinks it is at sea-level and does not need screaming RPM's to produce power or torque.

[mockturtle]

Orfun: 14A is just very steep and winding. Not particularly scary in terms of drop-offs like the MDH.

[fanrgs]

I loved driving US 14A, but I have a Ram diesel truck with an exhaust brake. People with gas engines tend to like it less! It is steep for much longer uphill and downhill grades than US 550 between Ouray and Silverton, which I have driven more times than I can remember in the past 50+ years. But 14A also has wider lanes, guard rails, and even some shoulders.

And we also enjoy the Beartooth Highway (US 212) between Red Lodge and Cooke City (but only without the trailer!) and the Chief Joseph Highway between Cody and Cooke City.

[otrfun]

Many thanks to everyone for all the great tips and suggestions! Just had this 2-week vacation window open up a couple of days ago, so very little time to plan.

We did manage to make reservations for 2-3 days at Yellowstone yesterday.

Agree, Busskipper, there's no way we can do 4 1/2 states justice in 2-weeks. We'll take our time and enjoy each stop. If we only make it to 1 or 2, that's fine.

mockturtle/BarabooBob, see you both gave a thumbs up on Hwy 14A in WY. Any idea how this drive compares to the Million Dollar Hwy in CO in terms of grade and overall safety (guardrails or lack thereof)? We enjoyed the MDH, but if 14A is worse in this respect we'll probably pass--lol!

Lastly, looks like we'll be traveling late Aug - early Sep. Any chance of snow/ice going through any of these passes? Any chance we'll see any change of colors?

Thanks again!

[JAC1982]

otrfun wrote:
Tyler0215, Islandman, thanks for your input! Much appreciated.

JAC1982, we look at I25 as the east/west division point for CO. We've given some thought to visiting Pikes Peak. That's about as far west (into CO) as we want to go on this trip.

Yeah I can't suggest a whole lot that is east of I-25 that is worth visiting in CO... I mean I live out here and while I love my home and the area is nice, it's not "scenic" other than looking at the mountains from afar which you can do as you're driving up I-25 🙂

In WY the list is endless as you are seeing. The Snowy Range/Medicine Bow National Forest outside of Laramie can be a nice detour if you're heading west on I-80 anyway. It's mostly Forest Service campgrounds so no hookups or anything, but there's a few small towns and it really is beautiful. Only open for a few months a year though because the snow melt takes until July then starts back up again in October.

I agree w/ the above Dubois suggestion, or on the other side of the mountains from there, the Pinedale area. Both are nice and not crowded like Jackson etc, just depends which roads you're taking 🙂

[BarabooBob]

I love driving through the Bighorn Mtns on 14A. It is not for the faint of heart but if you know how to drive in mountains, it is not bad.

I also love driving the Beartooth Highway and Chief Joseph highway. The Lamar Valley in Yellowstone is a great place to do some critter watching. Last September me stopped in the Lamar for a couple of house and saw wolves, grizzly bears, moose, hundreds of bison and elk, and a few really nice mule deer.
We are going back to this area in September because I am suffering from withdrawal from seeing the mountains.

[mockturtle]

If you don't mind 10% grades, take hwy 14A in WY east to west (downhill) from Burgess Jct. to Lovell. Truly spectacular views. There are a few turnouts.

[rr2254545]

Try this link

50 Most Beautiful Highway Drives in America from Microsoft

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/us-travel/50-most-beautiful-highway-drives-in-america/ss-BBU658M?li...