[at-l] National Parks Tour

Sat Nov 1 23:15:50 CDT 2008

Some thoughts: 

Do visit Carlsbad; it’s a terrific cave, the best in the country, I think.  (We’ve visited Mammoth, Carlsbad, 
Lehman, Timpanagos, Wind and Jewel, as well as a couple in the Shenandoahs.)  Do the full tour with Kings 
Cavern, it’s worth the extra $.  If you pass a sign for Three Rivers Petroglyphs, a few miles north of there – do 
stop by. It’s a good site. 

If you have time, stop at Hovenweep in southeastern Utah on your way north -- fascinating place. 

Arches – lots of short hikes and a scenic drive. Stop at the Courthouse Wash pictographs near the entrance. 

Canyonlands: Needles is gorgeous and very remote. There is a private campground near the entrance that has 
showers (which the NP campground doesn’t have.) The NP campground is very hard to get into. Again there are 
several very short hikes that are scenic and a beautiful drive.  Newspaper Rock and Shay Canyon are good 
petroglyph sites on the way in. Canyonlands/Islands in the sky is scenic but not as much as Needles, but it is close 
to Moab or you can go to Dead Horse Pt.which has much the same view (but Islands in the Sky is free on your 
Golden Eagle, while Dead Horse is a state park so extra $).

Zion and Bryce are wonderful. There are shuttle buses in each. Good short dayhikes too.

Capitol Reef may be on your way and is worth visiting. The scenic drive is good. There’s a good campground in 
an orchard. You can pick fruit if the timing is right. Excellent restaurant in nearby Torrey. The drive through 
Escalante is also very scenic.

In Utah the state parks are more likely to have showers than the national parks. 

Grand Canyon – Even if you can’t hike it, if you’ve never been, it’s worth the visit, though it is a real zoo. The 
north rim is less busy and easier to access if you’re visiting Zion and Bryce. 

Death Valley is beautiful in winter, but I don’t think I’d do it in summer. 

If you are heading to California, Valley of Fire in eastern Nevada (near St. George, Utah) has nice camping and a 
beautiful drive.  It’s on the way.  Out of the way, but a different kind of scenery is Great Basin NP. 

I’ve only hiked through most of the California parks on the PCT, so I don’t know how friendly they are to car 
visitors.  Yosemite is beautiful, I’ve hiked there several times.  Again it’s a zoo in summer, especially in the Valley.
 Worth doing though.  I liked the Tuolemne Meadows area best because it feels less crowded.  Lassen wasn’t 
that exciting, though seeing Shasta on the way north is spectacular. I think I’d drive the coast instead. 

Crater Lake is gorgeous, and well worth the visit especially if you can see the lake early or late in the day. 
 Burney Falls in northern CA might be on your way and is worth a stop.  The drive along the Columbia River in 
southern Washington is beautiful. Mount Rainier is a good place to visit too.  We did that one after our PCT hike.
 Olympic NP has tremendous variety – alpine, rain forest and coast – but is best seen hiking, I think, and it’s a 
very long drive around the park to experience all three environments.  We did that after our PCT hike as well.

Glacier is the most beautiful of the National Parks, I think. We’ve driven the Going to the Sun Road a couple of 
times and camped at most of the major areas.  Worth the visit, especially if you can do a couple of short hikes.  
It’s worth a couple of days to explore.  If you don’t want to drive, there is a shuttle bus system that crosses 
Logan Pass.  

Yellowstone has your best hope of seeing lots of wildlife, but plan to spend a few days there. It’s a big park. 
 Nice though, because you can see a lot of interesting things without doing a lot of walking.  

Grand Teton NP is gorgeous, but if you can’t hike you’ll probably only spend a day there. 

Badlands was interesting.  Beautiful but desolate.  (Better than Death Valley.)  In that area you also have Mt.
 Rushmore which is interesting, and Crazy Horse Monument – plus some beautiful country.  I especially enjoyed 
Custer State Park, which we have visited twice.  Lots of wildlife near the road (bighorns, bison, antelope, etc.)  

An interesting drive from Yellowstone is to drive the Beartooth Highway through Cooke City to Red Lodge – the 
“most beautiful drive in the world” according to somebody. 

We have photos of many of the above in our 2007 journal.  We’ll have more in our 2008 journal when I finally 
get it finished.  We went back to Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Badlands, Custer, Needles and Zion for a 
second look (or fourth and fifth visit in the case of Yellowstone and Glacier.) 

You’ll notice I suggested doing the southern route first then the northern drive.  I’d start in May and continue to
 June or early July. Utah can get very hot in summer. (I know, you’re used to heat, but it can get HOT in June.)  
Since you won’t be hiking the backcountry, snow on the mountains will be scenic, but not a problem.  We’ve 
driven through Yellowstone in May and June with no problem, though the Going to the Sun Rd. in Glacier (like 
the Tioga Rd in Yosemite) may not be open until mid-June.  You can drive around Glacier, visiting the areas on 
both sides of the divide if you’re there too early.  Yosemite Valley will be open in June.

Have fun. It sounds like a great trip.  There is so much beautiful country out west, it's terrific that you can spend some time  seeing it.
Ginny

http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/

http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/
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