I am beginning to plan my National Park bucket list trip. A friend and I will be traveling by car for 6 weeks hitting 29 states and 16 National Parks from the Badlands all the way to San Francisco and
I am beginning to plan my National Park bucket list trip. A friend and I will be traveling by car for 6 weeks hitting 29 states and 16 National Parks from the Badlands all the way to San Francisco and back through Utah and ending back home in Maryland. I was planning for a Sept. 1 start, but don't want to risk missing the northern parks due to road closures. We will be spending multiple days in Yellowstone, Glacier, and Yosemite. Can anyone help me by suggesing a start date? We want to miss most of the crowds without missing the vistas.
From the description in your post, it sounds as if you're not hitting the northeast? It would be a shame to miss Acadia, on the coast of Maine, and that would call for a start earlier than September 1st, because while the roads won't be closed, it will be chilly and many activities will not be available.
The best part of every trip is realizing it has upset your expectations.
I've seen all the parks east of the Mississippi. We are going to the Badlands, Theodore Roosevelt, and Wind Cave with stops at Mt. Rushmore and Devil's Tower. Then on to Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier. Then to the Columbia River Gorge. I've been to Mt. Ranier and the Seattle-Tacoma area. Next, it's on to Crater Lake and down the California coast to Redwood before stopping in San Francisco. We spent 2-weeks in California last year and saw L.A., San Diego, San Francisco and Death Valley.
From San Francisco, it's on to Yosemite for three days. Up to Lake Tahoe, across Rt. 50 to Salt Lake City and then a week in Utah visiting Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion. Into Las Vegas for a couple days, then back through Arizona (Done the Grand Canyon) to the Petrified Forest, through New Mexico, Oklahome, down into Texas and along the Gulf Coast before turning north and back to Maryland. We're going to save the parks in those southern areas of New Mexico and Texas for another time.
I would like to miss the summer crowds at Yellowstone, We'll be four days there and three in Glacier. My plan is to be in Glacier by mid-September, but I don't want to risk missing the Going To The Sun Road or getting snowed out of Crater Lake. We can start earlier than September 1st and bear the brunt of Yellowstone if need be, because Yellowstone and Glacier are the real highlites of our trip. We have 5-6 weeks for the trip, but I know I need exact dates for Yellowstone, Glacier, Crater and Yosemite as we are going to splurge on nights at the grand lodges in those parks. Thanks for any assistance.
mind, it could, will be snowing at that time of year in the high elevations. I have been to almost every Nat park in the west, and I have also stayed in many of the old lodges, which I love and think that is the way to see the parks. You have to book those way in advance, Xanterra.com, I believe. You will be amazed at the beauty of Utah. I actually built one of my trips around when I could get the rooms in the El Tovar and went from there. Zion is magnificient, spend a couple days there if you can. If you could start mid August or even August first, I think the weather would be better. It starts snowing in late August is some areas, flurry's etc, cold, blowing wind. Yellowstone will be cold in Sept. Been there, done that.
Thanks,for your advice. I guess we'll have to settle for an August start and battle the crowds.At least we should have less crowded conditions when we get to the Utah parks in late August. We plan on getting reservations a year in advance for Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite and Crater Lake. The rest of the nights we'll just take potluck in neighboring towns.
While I've been to Glacier NP and it's beautiful as well as Yellowstone, I suggest you post on the Montana State site and a poster named Dawn posts there a lot. She's in the area and is incredibly knowledgeable with respect to your questions.
