So we are planning a big trip leaving out of Southern California (Orange County) out to Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone and back. I've got it mapped to about 2650 miles and 13 nights to make the journey. I'd love some feedback from anyone who has made a trip like this. Where to stay? What is the best places that we simply must see? I'm locked on my time to make the trip from Aug 7 and home on the Aug 20. I set the path up to get home on time and not have too long in a driving day as my wife will not take the wheel. We are driving our 40ft 2011 Berkshire 390BH and pulling a 2012 2 DR Jeep Rubicon. It will be me, my wife, Grandma and our 3 girls ages 4, 6 and 8. I've divided the days up to each stop that give us time to take the Jeep into see something. If we need more or less time and should move the time from one spot to another I'd love your thoughts. Depart Home 7-AugPortal RV Resort - Portal RV Resort, Moab Utah 7-Aug to 9-Aug 2 nights (See Arches NP)Jellystone of Estes - Estes Park, CO Campground & RV Park - Welcome to Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park? of Estes 9-Aug to 11-Aug 2 nights (See Rocky Mtn National Park)Mt. Rushmore - Mount Rushmore KOA | Camping in South Dakota | KOA Campgrounds 11-Aug to 14-Aug 3 Nights (See Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull)Grizzly RV Resort - Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park and Cabins 14-Aug to 18 Aug 4 nights (See Yellowstone and Tetoin NPThousand Lakes RV Park - Thousand Lakes RV Park, Campground and Cabins - Torrey, Utah - Home 18-Aug to 20-Aug 2 Nights (Drive Hwy12. See Bryce and Capital Reef)Home by Aug 20Ok.. These are the RV spots I chose just by googling around and the places we picked out. Any of these good, bad, add this... take away this... be sure to go here? Any help would be great. Thanks a million!!!!

Day one 725 miles? Assuming you are coming from LA. That's a long drive, I guess you may have three drivers tho. But you'll lose an hour because of time zones and get there late and tired. That really will give you one day at Arches, just enough for a drive thru. If you want to do some back road driving then that is one of the best areas in the country for it with Canyonlands right there.The same for RMNP, you will only have one day there really. And you aren't going to visit Bryce from Torrey, it's a long drive. That is another prime off road area with the Burr Trail and other trails in the area. We spent a week at Torrey last year and 8 days at Escalante.I think you are biting off too much. I'd drop Rushmore and RMNP and concentrate on Utah and Yellowstone/Tetons.BK

agesilaus wrote:Day one 725 miles? Assuming you are coming from LA. That's a long drive, I guess you may have three drivers tho. But you'll lose an hour because of time zones and get there late and tired. That really will give you one day at Arches, just enough for a drive thru. If you want to do some back road driving then that is one of the best areas in the country for it with Canyonlands right there.The same for RMNP, you will only have one day there really. And you aren't going to visit Bryce from Torrey, it's a long drive. That is another prime off road area with the Burr Trail and other trails in the area. We spent a week at Torrey last year and 8 days at Escalante.I think you are biting off too much. I'd drop Rushmore and RMNP and concentrate on Utah and Yellowstone/Tetons.BKGood thoughts. Yes, the first day is 11 hours of driving heading straight through. I wonder if we should take a day away from Rushmore and add it to Bryce or kill RMNP and make it an overnight stop over only... giving us an extra day in Bryce and an extra day Arches. We've been to Zion earlier this year... Beautiful. Don't want to kill ourselves... but then again.. coming out of LA... our goal is Rushmore and Yellowstone. Those are the 2 big ones but we are passing through Utah so wanted to add it to the mix. Not sure how many days we need to really enjoy it. I wonder is Rushmore needs 1, 2 or 3 days. It's the highlight for us to see.

Well I've been to both. I didn't think much of Rushmore to tell you the truth. It's a big parking lot and a trail. There are lots of other things to do in the area but Rushmore is a half day in our book. But Wind Caverns is worth a day as is Badlands NP. Custer SP is in the area and there is also Wall Drugs (heh).RMNP you could spend a week in easily and Yellowstone a month.

Just a couple of comments:1. We have stayed at the Mt Rushmore KOA--There's a lot to do at that RV park and I think the whole family will enjoy. Plus it's just a short drive to Mt Rushmore. While there, the children (and adults) might enjoy Bear Country USA a few miles away--a drive-thru park with lots of bears, wolves, elk and at the end a zoo of baby animals.2. We have stayed in Moab at a different RV park, but loved the area..Arches is beautiful. Just south of town is a fun place called Hole in the Rock that the children might enjoy. 3. We also stayed at Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone. If you only have a few days at Yellowstone, I would recommend getting a map beforehand or as soon as you get there--West Yellowstone has a great visitor center with Rangers who are very helpful. You can drive the two different loops on two different days. Old Faithful erupts every 79 minutes or so and is worth the stop.On one hand, 13 nights is not a long time to see everything, but you sound like someone who has planned to see what you want to see in a few days--sometimes it's good to do that and then you'll know what you want to go back and see when you have more time!Have a great trip!

I definitely approve of the choice of Grizzly RV for a rig your size. If you don't yet have reservations, get them NOW!! (Yesterday would be even better.) August is still high season for YNP. 4 nights there is good; that gives you 3 full days to see Yellowstone AND the Tetons, which are right next door. You'll wish you had more time, but for hitting the highlights, three days is good. Mt. Rushmore itself is worth an hour or so, but there are tons of good things to do in the Black Hills; we once spent a week there and could have spent longer. As with Yellowstone, reservations are a must and you should already have them. Your schedule has you arriving a little after the big Sturgis motorcycle event, I think, but not much, so CGs may be very full during those dates. Your timeframe is probably not extendable, so you may have to decide to go again sometime. I think I wouldn't shave off more than 1 day from the Black Hills at most. Personally, I'd skip RMNP and allow yourself more time to get to Yellowstone & the Black Hills, and to spend time in the places you have as the main goals for this trip. You could break up that 11-hour drive the first day and not be exhausted when you finally get to the "main attractions."Good alternate choice for the Black Hills if the KOA is full: Rafter J Bar Ranch CG. Great place, but also very popular. Good luck!

Help with Big RV Trip Planning | Good Sam Community

Indy317
Explorer
Jul 14, 2013
That sounds perfect!

Yellowstone advice...make sure your groceries are stocked before you get there. There are two groceries in town with good selections, but they are very expensive. Also, take a small cooler to pack your lunch in for the days you go into the park. It will save you not only money, but also time. You can pull over at any beautiful spot and eat, not stuck in some horribly long line at one of the stores or restaurants in the park.
2gypsies1
Explorer III
Jul 13, 2013
This is an EXCELLENT revised trip plan! Congratulations...we all knew you could do it! :) Safe travels and you're bound to have fun on this relaxing vacation!
doctormdj
Explorer
Jul 13, 2013
OK guys... looks like you guys are all Right. We are taking on way more than we can chew and need to do a lot less... I set up a trip that takes us up to Yellowstone... and back. Staying 1 might here and 2 nights there. 6 nights in Yellowstone now and a few nights other places. No day of driving is over 5 hours with an average of 3 - 4.

Las Vegas 1 http://www.lasvegasmotorcoachresort.com/
Capitol Reef 3 http://www.thousandlakesrvpark.com
Salt Lake City 1 http://www.ponyexpressrvresort.com
Yellowstone 6 http://www.grizzlyrv.com/
Grand Teton 3 http://www.gtlc.com/lodging/colter-bay-village-rv-park.aspx
Herber City, UT 2 http://riversedgeatdeerpark.com/
St, George, UT 1 http://www.templeviewrv.com/

Total of 17 nights.

Any thoughts? Places to stay.... things to see on this route?
Veebyes
Explorer II
Jul 11, 2013
Over 200 miles per day average. JMO but a very over ambitious trip with time to stop only for fuel & sleep. A recipe for stress for all.
Indy317
Explorer
Jul 10, 2013
We just returned from a 3.5 week trip out west. My best advice? Give Yellowstone as much time as you can. We spent a week there and could have spent even more time. Have you traveled long distances in your camper? If not, use caution with extremely lofty goals of driving distances. Our longest day was 440 miles and it was a killer!
MPond
Explorer
Jul 10, 2013
doctormdj wrote:
Wow! What can I say? It is so wonderful having such an amazing family of fellow RV Masters to shed light and help direct me in the right path. Having a huge 40 foot diesel and a great car to tow behind it and a young family we seem to spend every other weekend on the road doing something or going somewhere. Finally having two weeks when my wife is not in the hospital as an Emergency Room RN and me not having to watch the family business, my first thought is to hit the open road and see all of America. Well it's exciting to say that you guys all helped me make a better choice. So first of all thank you for the great responses and the detailed information.

Next... we managed to get a few more days out of our trip so we are good to travel from Aug 7 through Aug 25 as long as we are back in Sourthern California by the 25th. That is 17 nights. Next change is that My wife has finally agreed to do some of the driving on the long highways. Yippee....

We are going to make some changes to our trip. First, we're gonna drop the Arches and RMNP all together. Good thoughts you guys. Thanks. I think it's best to follow suit with many of your awesome thoughts and experience and go straight up the 15 on the way toward Yellowstone NP and take in all that is there. so here is the revised plan....

1) LA to Bryce Canyon/Capitol Reef... I'm dying to drive that Highway 12 in the Jeep but it's true it's going to be pretty hot there. That is stop #1 - 3 nights. http://www.thousandlakesrvpark.com From what you guys say... 2 full days is cool for this.

2) Bryce to YellowStone. Thinking about extending that to 5 nights. http://www.grizzlyrv.com/ From what you guys say... 4 full days is cool for this.

3) Mt. Rushmore - 3 nights should be good for that. http://koa.com/campgrounds/mount-rushmore/ From what you guys say... 1 full day is fine although 2 could do a bit more in the area and a bit more relaxing as our travel days will be long.

Now we have 6 nights left (17 total) and at a loss as to where to go from here? Perhaps somewhere near Mesa-Verde NP, Near Denver, Near Grand Junction or go all the way down to Durago. Cutting over to Arches was one thought but you guys are right........ TOOO HOTT! So where to go? I'm looking for 1 or 2 more places in route to So Cal Maybe 2 or 4 nights / 3 and 3 in 1 or 2 more places on the way back to LA.

Any thoughts on where to go after Rushmore headeing West or Southwest??

That looks much better.

We do a 4-week trip similar to yours every summer - we have a DP towing a Jeep, 2 kids (4 & 7), and we're also out of Southern California.

If I were in your shoes, I'd hit Ouray / Silverton / Durango with the extra days. We went there once for just a few days at the tail end of a trip, and it's now one of our top 3 favorite places to go.

Roadtrip2011
Roadtrip2012
rolling_rhoda
Explorer
Jul 08, 2013
Seeing Yellowstone can amount to a lot of time spent in the vehicle, too. If it was me, I would add another day to Yellowstone and a couple of days to the Black Hills to kick back and get out of the seatbelts. Hike some shorter trails and take in a few more ranger programs.

With the ages of the children in your party, there is a lot to entertain them in the Black Hills. Below are things our family enjoyed when our kids were young.

Rushmore Presidential Slide
Circle B Ranch Chuckwagon Dinner Show
Bear Country USA
One morning, drive the loop at Custer State Park to see the buffalo and the burros...and the scenery.
Go fishing or canoeing, or just spend a day enjoying the KOA's activities.
Rushmore Cave
Reptile Gardens I HATE snakes, but had a great afternoon here with the family.
The Mammoth Site is very unique and special. We spent the whole afternoon.
littlemo
Explorer
Jul 08, 2013
Well, you could just leave it open (in case you decide you need more time in Yellowstone/Teton area..........or you could spend a few days in the Ouray/Silverton/Durango area and see all the beauty of the "Million dollar Highway".
Million Dollar Highway

Durango Silverton Railroad
2gypsies1
Explorer III
Jul 08, 2013
Well, from Rushmore - and if you want to go down to Colorado Springs - you could then take Hwy 24 west To Buena Vista and 285 south to Hwy 50 to Gunnison and Montrose. From there take 550 south to Durango (from Ouray, 550 is steep if you're not comfortable with it. We enjoy the drive.) OR from Ridgeway pick up 62 to 145 which will take you into Cortez. All of this is a gorgeous drive.

OR...from Colorado Springs work your way to Hwy 160 west and stop in Pagosa Springs for playtime at the hot springs overlooking the river. The immaculate pools are of all different temperatures - even coolish for the kids. From there you can hit Durango - possibly take the train ride to Silverton (with the bus ride on the return for a easier trip on the children). You can drop down to I-40 from there or continue on the secondary roads to Hwy 89 and head south into Flagstaff and I-40. From there - back home. Lots of options for you. You've got some homework to do! Also....glad your wife will share driving. It will be a lot easier on you.
doctormdj
Explorer
Jul 08, 2013
doctormdj wrote:
Wow! What can I say? It is so wonderful having such an amazing family of fellow RV Masters to shed light and help direct me in the right path. Having a huge 40 foot diesel and a great car to tow behind it and a young family we seem to spend every other weekend on the road doing something or going somewhere. Finally having two weeks when my wife is not in the hospital as an Emergency Room RN and me not having to watch the family business, my first thought is to hit the open road and see all of America. Well it's exciting to say that you guys all helped me make a better choice. So first of all thank you for the great responses and the detailed information.

Next... we managed to get a few more days out of our trip so we are good to travel from Aug 7 through Aug 25 as long as we are back in Sourthern California by the 25th. That is 17 nights. Next change is that My wife has finally agreed to do some of the driving on the long highways. Yippee....

We are going to make some changes to our trip. First, we're gonna drop the Arches and RMNP all together. Good thoughts you guys. Thanks. I think it's best to follow suit with many of your awesome thoughts and experience and go straight up the 15 on the way toward Yellowstone NP and take in all that is there. so here is the revised plan....

1) LA to Bryce Canyon/Capitol Reef... I'm dying to drive that Highway 12 in the Jeep but it's true it's going to be pretty hot there. That is stop #1 - 3 nights. http://www.thousandlakesrvpark.com From what you guys say... 2 full days is cool for this.

2) Bryce to YellowStone. Thinking about extending that to 5 nights. http://www.grizzlyrv.com/ From what you guys say... 4 full days is cool for this.

3) Mt. Rushmore - 3 nights should be good for that. http://koa.com/campgrounds/mount-rushmore/ From what you guys say... 1 full day is fine although 2 could do a bit more in the area and a bit more relaxing as our travel days will be long.

Now we have 6 nights left (17 total) and at a loss as to where to go from here? Perhaps somewhere near Mesa-Verde NP, Near Denver, Near Grand Junction or go all the way down to Durago. Cutting over to Arches was one thought but you guys are right........ TOOO HOTT! So where to go? I'm looking for 1 or 2 more places in route to So Cal Maybe 2 or 4 nights / 3 and 3 in 1 or 2 more places on the way back to LA.

Any thoughts on where to go after Rushmore headeing West or Southwest??

One thought is to travel down to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs... http://www.rvcoutdoors.com/gardenofthegods-colorado. Spend 3 nights there and check all the fun things in that area.... then where.... If nothing jumps out then we will just drive back over a couple days and stay longer at different places. Hmmmmmmmmm

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