USA road trip

Mr_Wang

I am putting together a road trip going from Colorado and maybe East a couple of states (Kansas, Missouri) before heading into Nebraska/Dakota then back West along Wyoming maybe Montana and then back through Idaho.
The above is a very general route and I am looking for places people have been and enjoyed, particularly National Parks or natural places of beauty/significance either historically or in current affairs/news.
Also thinking of camping for some of it so any advice would be appreciated?

Thanks (Going in summer months)

k12479

Not sure I'd bother with Kansas, Nebraska, etc. Those kind of states tend to be very flat, featureless and boring involving hour after hour of driving in a straight line interspersed by dull towns with nothing much to see.

Colorado is very nice. Denver is good. North is Rocky Mountain National Park. All worth seeing. Further north in Wyoming, Yellowstone. Not sure about Idaho but Craters of the Moon National Monument, perhaps. From there could head south to Utah, Salt Lake City and the desert further south worth visiting.

blindman

Mr_Wang wrote: »

I am putting together a road trip going from Colorado and maybe East a couple of states (Kansas, Missouri) before heading into Nebraska/Dakota then back West along Wyoming maybe Montana and then back through Idaho.
The above is a very general route and I am looking for places people have been and enjoyed, particularly National Parks or natural places of beauty/significance either historically or in current affairs/news.
Also thinking of camping for some of it so any advice would be appreciated?

Thanks (Going in summer months)

Dakota
Badlands in Dakota
Wounded Knee-Very small cemetry
Mt Rushmore
Crazy Horse Memorial
Wall superstore

Never got to this
Custers Last stand

Wyoming
Devils tower


Did not camp-just drive and Motel.

For spectacular scenery and the utimate USA road trip you need to go to UTAh (IMHO) Item 11 in my last trip were the best two places I've ever been

zagfles

Yellowstone, but that's obvious. Glacier National park is meant to be good, never been myself though. I'd second Rocky mountains national park, plus diverting into Utah if you've not been there, loads to see.

travellerboy

We returned from touring North-western America in September.
I would suggest Denver as a good starting point with Yellowstone a must see for 3-4 days, probably the No.1 US National Park even better than the Grand Canyon. If you like scenic driving suggest Beartooth Highway / Chief Joseph Pass, NE Entrance Road stay the night in Red Lodge. Glacier National park is a bit too far north unless you are planning a short trip into Canada. If you are, the Going to the Sun Highway is awesome and well worth the journey up to Logan Pass.

scottishminnie

k12479 wrote: »

Not sure I'd bother with Kansas, Nebraska, etc. Those kind of states tend to be very flat, featureless and boring involving hour after hour of driving in a straight line interspersed by dull towns with nothing much to see.
QUOTE]

I have a different view on Kansas and particularly Nebraska. Whilst there are flat areas there are also some very spectacular natural sights in both States and shouldn't be dismissed without further investigation.

The tourist agencies are very good at sending maps and brochures so I would suggest that you register with both of them and ask them to send you some info as you have lots of time to plan.

http://www.visitnebraska.com/

http://www.travelks.com/

I would also suggest that you post on TripAdvisor for some input. They have some excellent posters on the Road Trip forum (http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g1-i12567-Road_Trips.html)

who will be delighted to offer you help and guidance,

sipost

We did a trip of the Californian National Parks, Bryce and Zion Canyons and Grand Canyon last year.

Used Road Trip America as a great source of info - well worth looking at their forum as experts will happily comment on your itinerary and suggest alternative routes/stops etc.

Have a good trip

BritAbroad

Colorado is a great state and there's lots to see. Rocky Mountain NP is magical, but there's also several other national parks in the state worth visiting, such as Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Mesa Verde and Great Sand Dunes. Exploring the mountains is a must, I'd recommend a trip up Mount Evans. There's lots of accommodation in the mountain areas especially in the ski towns like Breckenridge, Frisco/Dillon/Silverthorne, Aspen, Vail, Beaver Creek etc. The southwest area around Durango and Telluride with the San Juan parkway is well worth a visit and Steamboat Springs is one of several nice towns.

Personally I wouldn't bother with Kansas or Nebraska, but north through Wyoming to Grand Teton and Yellowstone would be a wonderful trip, or to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, Custer State Park etc. Or go west to Utah and Arizona - it's about a six-hour drive through the mountains from Denver to Moab and there's some seriously spectacular national parks (Bryce, Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon) to see, as well as other great places which aren't national parks, such as Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon etc. It's perfectly feasible to drive from Denver to Las Vegas over a few days, taking in several national parks along the way.

Denver Airport (usually known as DIA) is a major airport so you can easily get connecting flights if you decide to do a one way trip. United, Icelandair and BA all have decent flights into DIA - there is a direct BA flight to Heathrow.

You haven't mentioned the time of year you're thinking of travelling. Be aware that the Colorado winter can start in October and you can get snow into May. Driving the interstate from Denver to Utah during the winter can be challenging, especially at weekends. In saying that, it is also a very sunny state, with 300 days of sunshine each year. The mountains on a sunny day with sparkly snow are truly magical.

debtdalek

We've done several trips going East, South and North of Denver, (Salt Lake and Las Vegas) and there are many good suggestions on here.
However and this is really vital, if you are even considering going anywhere within 100 miles of Mt Rushmore, be sure and check the date fro Sturgis motorcycle rally.
We ran into this problem a couple of years ago. We had started booking some of the stops and attractions like train rides etc and then discovered there was nowhere and I do mean nowhere available at any price or quality for at least a week.
Another couple of points worth considering are whether you need to do a circle trip, as you can fly into one airport and out of another.
Last time we flew into Jackson, then after a couple of days chilling out with some retail therapy and a boat trip etc we drove East to Yellowstone, then on via Cody - the Buffalo Bill Museum there is excellent, then onto Mt Rushmore and do not misss Crazy Horse memorial - a work in progress. Then you can drop back down into Denver itself, A great side trip from there is the Rocky Mountains National Park and the town of Estes Park. and also have a good think about whether any trip works better for you clockwise or anticlockwise.
It's also worth looking at various routes and towns and googling what might be going on in them on any given date and working around that. On another trip. We came upon a fabulous Victorian day in Silverton quite by accident and it completely threw our timing to drive over the mountains through Aspen and onto where we had planned to stay the night.
We've also been to Denver many times both summer and winter, so if there is anything more specific you want to know post again.
It's hard to give a generic list of suggestions where to go and what to see without knowing what you are interested in or like to do. We like to build in train trips, boat rides, native american culture, as well as the obvious scenic attractions of the NP's, but even they vary greatly and it depends if you are just going to drive through them or want to spend time walking or whatever.
I don't think that you actually posted how long your trip is going to be but the most important thing with any road trip is not to try and do too much in one trip. Check out the distances - we often use coach trip itineraries to establish this and bear in mind that most of the trip will not be on major roads and that you will constantly be stopping to take photo's!

[Deleted User]

I would second Bryce canyon, Zion, Grand canyon in the day well worth seeing, at sunset a highlight of my holiday,Brilliant. Yellowstone and the grand Tetons other highlight