Montana or Utah

S-n-L wrote:

We are planning on leaving Vermont Jun 1. We will be heading to MI, through the UP then towards SD. From there we are heading to North East CO then into WY for Frontier Days, then Tetons, YS. This is where we need to decide if we want to go to Glacier or head west to the Seattle area.

With Frontier days being the last two weeks of July in Cheyenne, and Tetons/YS deseving about a week after that, sounds like you won't be making that decision until after the first week in August, depending on the time spent at Frontier days.

Been to both the Utah parks and Montana twice and want to return to both. I give the edge to Montana based on the time of year. July/August is very hot in Utah. Best to do it after the Grand Canyon in September.

If mountains and glaciers are what your after, continue on north into Canada after Glacier, and visit Waterton, Banff and Jasper. Well worth the detour northward, and the right time of year too.

They are both awesome........just make sure that when you go to Glacier that "Going to Sun Road" is open since that is a main attraction there!

I have used http://www.wunderground.com for years and find it most useful and accurate.

Since you're headed for full timing, a good tool to have on your computer is Weatherbase.
Weather highs, lows, rain, snow, etc. by month over several years for bunches of towns within each state.
Example: Flagstaff, AZ. at 7,000 ft. has 168 nights/yr. below freezing while Tucson, AZ. at 2500 ft. has just 10. Only 250 miles apart.
Good luck in your travels.

Just remember .........

Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday.

Take it a day at a time.

And enjoy.

I prefer Montana and Wyoming both in terms of variety of scenery and the wildlife. Utah in the summer and even in the fall has been very crowded everywhere we have visited and most of the places we camped.

For Utah I would rather visit in the spring or late in the fall.

We've done both but since you've got plenty of time I'd see Utah first since there's so much more to see and it'll be warmer.

Your retired and going full time......head out and enjoy.

You don't need to make plans as you don't need to be anywhere or go back to anywhere by anytime schedule.

That's what's great about FT......meander along, taking the time to enjoy the travel...it ain't a vacation.

All that stuff has been there for many years and it will still be there when you get around to it. So take your time, and enjoy the things in between the various sites as you meander that way.
Don't miss seeing & experiencing the 'trees' due to the 'forest'. The little things will surprise you.

What scenery are you looking for?

Montana is plains, forests, mountains, depending on where you are.

Utah is mountains in the northeast, and along the eastern edge. Desert where it is not mountains, carved up into canyons on the Colorado Plateau. Southern half, the eroded rocks are red, as they are in northern Arizona. A lot of National Park Service properties on the Colorado Plateau.

Utah has the Great Salt Lake, Salt Lake City, reservoirs on Colorado and Green Rivers. Montana has Flathead Lake, reservoirs on the upper Missouri system.

Yellowstone NP would be at top of my list to revisit, touches both states, a little bit of Idaho, but most of it is in Wyoming.

Thank you all for your input.

I was not clear on our plans on my original post. My question should have been which would be a better choice; Montana in July-August or Utah in September or early October?

We are planning on leaving Vermont Jun 1. We will be heading to MI, through the UP then towards SD. From there we are heading to North East CO then into WY for Frontier Days, then Tetons, YS. This is where we need to decide if we want to go to Glacier or head west to the Seattle area.

We want to travel down the coast, Yosemite, San Fran, LA, Vegas. At this point we want to hit the Grand Canyon area. We expect to be hear around September.

I do appreciate that we could not go wrong with either choice but wanted to know the place you folks like better.

Thanks,

Stuart