Family National Parks Road Trip

[adamis]

This summer with all of the virus mess we have found the silver lining in the cloud in that our summer for once is completely wide open. We have a 13 year old and 11 year old girl plus two twin identical newborns. Ordinarily our older girls would have a summer jam packed with activities making it nearly impossible to do any trips longer than a week. The virus however has changed all of that and so we are looking at taking this rare oppurtunity to do a long road trip around the Western US to visit as many of the National Parks we can. So far my proposed route looks like this. Note that Google Maps only allows for route planning with 10 stops.

Editing this proposed Route from my original post... The number to the left is the cronilogical night(s) we would stay at said location. My initial post had Yosemite and Death Valley but I wasn't considering them as stops more than just passing through since we are close to Yosemite and Death Valley is not a place worth visiting in the summer.

1 - June Lake
2 - Las Vegas
3,4, - North Rim Grand Canyon
5 - Grand Staircase
6 - Salt Lake City
7, 8 - Grand Tetons
9, 10, 11, Yellow Stone
12 Deer Lodge
13, 14 Glacier NP
15 Spokane
16 Woodinville
17 Queets WA
18 Astoria
19 coos bay
20 eureka, CA
21 Point Arena, CA
22 Gilroy

At the very early stages of planning, I am stuck with two approaches:

1. Stick with this loop that hits as many of the parks as possible and allot just one to two days to see and do everything at the parks.

2. Drop a few parks in order to increase the number of days we can stay at the remaining parks.

I know many of these parks to fully experience you need several days to do them justice and really explore each one. We only have maybe three weeks to work with however and because of the babies, most of the activities will be limited to what can be driven too (long hikes are out but we can probably handle hikes up to about 3 miles in length). It is very unlikely we will ever get the chance again to do a long road trip with our girls in the future so we have one shot at this experience.

So my questions for the community are:

1. Given these constraints, if you have visited these parks before, do you have any suggestions on which approach to take? IE, hit as many as possible or just focus on a few?

2. Out of these locations are there any MUST SEE destinations that are easily accessible via stroller or short hike (less than 3 miles) that need to be on the bucket list?

3. Camping Reservations we expect to be a challenege. Are there any great campsites / campgrounds either in or close to these parks that you know about that tend to be less busy?

4. We will be pulling our cargo trailer so our older girls will have their own space. Wife and I are debating on what "toys" to bring along. Bikes are always a pain so we are considering electric scooters because they are compact and easy. We have some blow up paddle boards but they only make sense if we might end up at a campground next to water that is decently warm. Any other suggestions on activities to bring for a trip like this?

[jimh406]

If you aren’t already considering these things, see if you can plan your camping in higher elevation that has trees for shade. It makes a big difference on the bright sunny still days. Also, consider some sun shade cloth.

[ppine]

In Wyoming, most people call it Aspen Hole.
Too many rich visitors from out of town with airplanes and fur coats. People that work there have to live somewhere else like Wilson because it costs so much.

[adamis]

Kayteg1 wrote:
Don't you have Las Vegas on this route?

Since we are not doing the Grand canyon any longer we won't be swinging by Vegas either. The idea for Vegas was to stay at the Circus Circus RV park but in July it will be 115 degrees and there is no AC in the converted cargo trailer our girls would be staying in.

Looking at either the KOA in Ely, NV or the Iron Horse RV Park (preferred since it has a pool) in Elko NV as our stop followed by a stop at Cloverleaf Campground, ID. This gives us just one night where we will be in the heat and since there is a pool available, the older kids might not complain as much.

[junmy3]

I once took my teenage daughter and two of her friends on a similar 21 day trip. We left from middle Georgia to South Dakota, Yellowstone, Washington, back to South Bend Indiana with a lot of places in-between. There were some moments but overall a great trip that 25 years later we still talk about it. Since then my wife and I have gone back to many of those place and spent more time. Have a great trip.

[richclover]

adamis wrote:
So it looks like Grand Canyon will for sure be out, just too far and the temps aren't right for the kids. Now the thought is to leave Gilroy, CA and head through Yosemite. Was hoping to stay the night in or near the park but looks like reservations are all taken so most likely we will stay at Silver Lake the first night.

This is now where I am stuck. From Silver Lake to the Grand Tetons it is 814 miles via the most direct option. Way too many miles to do in one or two days so we need two places to stop at night along the way. Because of the heat, probably should go with RV parks that have full hookups so we can run the AC.

Are there any good suggestions for route and places to stay (RV Parks or Campgrounds) between Silver Lake, CA and Jackson Wy?

So we’re talkin’ Lake Tahoe, I-80 eastbound? To Salt Lake?

Best get on RVParky or Campendium or KOA. You’ll find places to stay through NV, UT north to Jackson.

[Kayteg1]

Don't you have Las Vegas on this route?

[adamis]

So it looks like Grand Canyon will for sure be out, just too far and the temps aren't right for the kids. Now the thought is to leave Gilroy, CA and head through Yosemite. Was hoping to stay the night in or near the park but looks like reservations are all taken so most likely we will stay at Silver Lake the first night.

This is now where I am stuck. From Silver Lake to the Grand Tetons it is 814 miles via the most direct option. Way too many miles to do in one or two days so we need two places to stop at night along the way. Because of the heat, probably should go with RV parks that have full hookups so we can run the AC.

Are there any good suggestions for route and places to stay (RV Parks or Campgrounds) between Silver Lake, CA and Jackson Wy?

[richclover]

jimh425 wrote:

thedavidzoo wrote:
Actually, Jackson Hole? Correct? 😉

No, actually Jackson. 😉

Jackson, WY, is located in Jackson Hole which is a 55 mile long valley.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Hole

[jimh406]

thedavidzoo wrote:
Actually, Jackson Hole? Correct? 😉

No, actually Jackson. 😉

[thedavidzoo]

Actually, Jackson Hole? Correct? 😉

[adamis]

Buzzcut1 wrote:
You mean Jacksonhole right?

Ah, yes, sorry, Jacksonhole.

[Buzzcut1]

You mean Jacksonhole right?

[adamis]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I appreciate all of the positive "do it" support. In today's era, finding a week of time between kids activities is hard enough, so getting three weeks is practically an impossibility. It may not be the ideal amount of time to do something this epic, but it is probably as good as we will ever get.

I am looking at probably dropping the Grand Caynon in order to allot more time to the rest of the trip. As much as I really want to get that experience (never been myself even though I lived in Vegas for four years) I just don't think this would be the right trip to try to do it. I am coming to this conclusion because it looks like the park is only open for the day right now anyway and because we have the babies, we won't be in the position to do much more than take pictures from the rim. Doing any sort of hiking will be out of the question. Additionally, because we would be going in the summer and our older girls would be relegated to our converted cargo trailer, they would be enduring the heat which they won't be too happy with. It is also a park that is close enough to us that we probably could pick up on a week long vacation.

So now we might actually put Yosemite back in and then head North up 395 then cutting east towards the Grand Tetons. Any good scenic routes to take from Reno to Jacksonville?

[Grit_dog]

zb39 wrote:
As usual the retired crowd screams you need months to do that trip. I have been to every place on your list way more than once and I'm not retired.

It's the typical one sided, GOM (Grump Old Men) viewpoints that get old on this forum.
That said, there's something to be said for not cramming "too much" into a timeframe and allowing a little time for spontaneity and a smidge of relaxation!

[ferndaleflyer]

Can't never did anything!!!!! Hit the road