Road Tripping Western USA (SFO to DEN)

cubegame · 13 July 2019 at 9:55AM

onwards&upwards wrote: »

I guess you really enjoy driving and that’s the main point of the trip for you? If so your itinerary makes more sense!

We find 4 hours a day is about right for a road trip. It leaves about 6 to 8 hours of doing stuff time.

No one said a holiday HAS to be restful!

heatherw_01 · 13 July 2019 at 12:17PM

Having been to all those places except grand basin and done many road trips in the USA, I can say that is too much to fit in 2 weeks.

It is not so much about a lot of driving, its more fitting all those places in 2 weeks.

The national parks alone really need a couple of days at each to fully explore them.

If you want to do all those places and have 6-8 hours a day to do things you will struggle to fit all that in 2 weeks, unless you barely explore each place.

EssexExile · 13 July 2019 at 12:43PM

Way too much. What we have always done is get in the car & drive somewhere nice, say Yosemite in your case, then hang around there until you've seen enough, then decide where to go next. You need a few days in each place.

John259 · 13 July 2019 at 12:56PM

A more realistic proposition would be to only visit Yosemite and Zion. Several days in those parks, plus the driving, will fill two weeks - and that assumes no time spent in San Francisco or Denver (or Las Vegas).

scottishminnie · 13 July 2019 at 7:10PM

Pikes Peak is fun however as you are planning to be in RMNP anyway I would suggest Mount Evans Scenic Byway for equally spectacular views and stomach churning drops on both sides (just so none of the passengers miss out:))

I would give the Grand Canyon a miss. Sure, it’s absolutely enormous but so much so that I felt the only way to really sense the sheer scale of it was from the air. I enjoyed Bryce Canyon more and Monument Valley absolutely blew me away. If you can time a visit to Monument Valley at sunset it is a sight like no other. There is something very odd about it - made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Should be possible in September as that’s when we visited.

If you are flying home from Denver I would recommend the Embassy Suites at Stapleton. Close to the airport but really accessible for everywhere and the most accommodating staff you could find. Also, if you are staying near Zion we have stayed at Desert Pearl Inn a few times and absolutely loved it.

One of our September trips to RMNP took a bit of an unexpected turn as Trail Ridge Road was blocked by snow so we did one “side” of the park from the Estes Park entrance then headed over towards the other side the following day to see the West. Still great scenery nevertheless.

Just had a thought - apologies if you’ve already thought of this. It’s worth buying an annual National Parks pass to save yourself quite a bit. If you purchase it in September it will be valid until the last day in September 2020 so if you plan to have a US trip next year too you may get 2 years out of it making it an even bigger bargain.

Duckyduck · 13 July 2019 at 9:19PM

Everyone has different travel styles, it’s not too much for a road trip. 4hrs driving a day means drive 2 hours -explore somewhere for a day -drive 2 hrs to next hotel, or leave at 8am and get to the next destination by lunchtime. It’s really not that much, and there is spectatular scenery to enjoy on the way.

I did a similar route years ago visiting a different place every day and there were only a couple of days with long drives. As long as you plan ahead it’s really doable.

The scenery everywhere in that part of the us is stunning, but if you can add monument valley into the itenery as that is fantastic, the highlight of the trip for me! I echo the poster above in saying that Bryce Canyon is better that the Grand Canyon, which looks just like it does in the million images I’m sure youve seen of it!

jackieblack · 14 July 2019 at 5:58AM

Duckyduck wrote: »

Everyone has different travel styles, it’s not too much for a road trip. 4hrs driving a day means drive 2 hours -explore somewhere for a day -drive 2 hrs to next hotel, or leave at 8am and get to the next destination by lunchtime. It’s really not that much, and there is spectatular scenery to enjoy on the way.

I did a similar route years ago visiting a different place every day and there were only a couple of days with long drives. As long as you plan ahead it’s really doable.

Of course it’s doable, if you’re happy to just tick places off a list.
But many of those places need way longer than just a few hours if you want to do more than scratch the surface/ take a few selfies.

But each to their own, I suppose...

ash28 · 16 July 2019 at 9:41AM

cubegame wrote: »

Thanks for the tips so far.

In relative terms this is a short road trip for us. We've done 3000 miles plus in two weeks before without feeling too car bound. That said, my contingency if we fancy dropping it is to cut the loop north into Nevada for Grand Basin. That would probably mean cutting off Cathedral Gorge State Park too.

Does anyone have opinions on Grand Basin? I understand the Lehman caves are amazing but we have been to Carlsbad Caverns so we'd hope they'd compare at least.

We're sold on heading to the Grand Canyon North Rim though.

As for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, we've been before and we found it a bit "meh".

We've been to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon....absolutely brilliant but it's quite a drive from the main highway to the North Rim and accommodation once there is extremely limited. When we visited there was only one lodge and some cabins, we booked our accommodation there months in advance but there were plenty of people who turned up on the off chance of getting accommodation. You can camp there too, if I remember correctly. And if you haven't been before take some warm clothes - you'll need them.

We've also done the Grand Canyon by helicopter from Las Vegas and that was good too. Champagne breakfast on the banks of the Colorado - very nice.

cubegame · 16 July 2019 at 1:21PM

ash28 wrote: »

We've been to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon....absolutely brilliant but it's quite a drive from the main highway to the North Rim and accommodation once there is extremely limited. When we visited there was only one lodge and some cabins, we booked our accommodation there months in advance but there were plenty of people who turned up on the off chance of getting accommodation. You can camp there too, if I remember correctly. And if you haven't been before take some warm clothes - you'll need them.

We've also done the Grand Canyon by helicopter from Las Vegas and that was good too. Champagne breakfast on the banks of the Colorado - very nice.

Cheers for the feedback. We are very keen to see the North Rim as it's supposed to be much more impressive (and quieter) than the South.

It seems the accommodation at the North Rim lodge is long since all booked; but we wouldn't be booking ahead anyway.

NoodleDoodleMan · 16 July 2019 at 10:46PM

I would thoroughly recommend the Alcatraz tour in San Francisco - one of the best excursions we've done.

Two important points to note.

1. Book well in advance, otherwise you'll be disappointed - it's one of the most popular gigs there.

Late morning is a good time to get across - gives you time to get your act together, find your way to the departure wharf and still have plenty of time on The Rock.

2. Only book through the official US Federal National Parks Service website.

https://www.nps.gov/alca/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm

Other online agencies simply buy their tickets from them, and add on "a nice little earner" commission before reselling them to the public.

Road Tripping Western USA (SFO to DEN)

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free