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Old 01-28-2017, 06:56 PM   #1
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Oh boy - SW parks trip planning

This should be fun! (Don't worry, we're not stopping at ALL of those parks!) I just set up a Google Maps set of layers with national parks, national monuments, state parks and recreation areas and such to help with planning.
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Old 02-13-2017, 11:53 PM   #2
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Looks like a great trip to CO and UT. What sights are you most interested in visiting?
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Old 02-14-2017, 10:18 AM   #3
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I see you have a jog in your route in SD going down to NE. A good route is to come off I-90 at Murdo, SD down Hwy 83 through Valentine, NE on down to North Platte and I-80. I will be going up that way in late May
Have fun and enjoy the journey.
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Old 02-14-2017, 10:39 AM   #4
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I see you have a jog in your route in SD going down to NE. A good route is to come off I-90 at Murdo, SD down Hwy 83 through Valentine, NE on down to North Platte and I-80. I will be going up that way in late May
Have fun and enjoy the journey.
Today is a busy day for people in Valentine, NE. A lot of Valentine cards are mailed from their post office every year at this time.
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Old 03-09-2017, 01:04 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by fanrgs View Post
Looks like a great trip to CO and UT. What sights are you most interested in visiting?
We landed on visiting pretty much all of the NPs in the region (not quite every single one, but all five in UT, two in CO plus CO National Monument and Florissant Fossil Beds NM, and one in AZ. I posted details here so won't repeat them in this thread:

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ml#post1440143

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Originally Posted by Blackrock View Post
I see you have a jog in your route in SD going down to NE. A good route is to come off I-90 at Murdo, SD down Hwy 83 through Valentine, NE on down to North Platte and I-80. I will be going up that way in late May
Have fun and enjoy the journey.
Thanks! We ended up planning to go through Nebraska and take the CO I-70 route down and then coming back from further south in CO so we'll actually be coming back right through Nebraska and Iowa again. Going to SD was a way of avoiding another trip through IA/NE but we can't avoid it without adding more days to a month long trip...!

If anyone wants info. on this area, fire away because I have been studying the parks and campgrounds in CO, UT, AZ and also along the Interstate in NE intensely for the last two weeks.
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Old 03-20-2017, 06:47 PM   #6
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This is our final route. Orange markers are National Parks (we will visit 8) and blue markers are National Monuments (we will visit at least 3, perhaps 4 or 5 depending on time).

Ignore the labels A, B, C etc. Google Maps only allows 10 stops per layer then you have to start another layer. We come in from the northern route and go back via the southern route.

We will not visit all the sites marked on the map, only the ones that touch the route or are right close to it.
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Old 03-20-2017, 11:06 PM   #7
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Just to add a little history to your route, you will be following in the footsteps of John C. Fremont when you cross Cochetopa/North Pass between Black Canyon NP and Great Sand Dunes NP. He approximately followed the route of CO 14 on his ill-fated 1849 journey to find a rail route through Colorado to California, but got lost in a blizzard and turned back. Although no tracks ever crossed that pass, it makes for some interesting reading before you cross it on today's paved highway at 55 mph!

Florissant Fossil Beds NM is a great stop that is on few Colorado visitors' itineraries. I took a group of 33 Colorado residents there last October and many of them had never been there either. It's one of those hidden gems among the national monuments.

And if you need a place to camp near Florissant, try Mueller State Park on CO 67 just north of Cripple Creek. Beautiful, tree-shaded, hillside campsites with hookups. However, it's very popular, so you will need advance reservations for any summer Friday-Sunday or holiday week.
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Old 03-21-2017, 01:13 PM   #8
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SW parks trip

My wife and I did a similar trip 2 years ago. We started in Arizona and did what is called the Grand Circle Tour of National Parks Of Arizona and Utah. We did not camp on this trip. We took three weeks to complete our trip and stayed 2-3 nights at most stops. Your trip is easily done in the four weeks you have planned. I would suggest you make a stop at Goblin Valley State Park. It can be a short stop or they do have a campground. Very unique little park. You are in for a grand experience and should have a great time. I hope you can complete your trip trouble free.
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Old 03-21-2017, 01:59 PM   #9
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My only suggestion is to take UT Rt 12 between F and G. One of the spectacular drives in the US.
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Old 03-22-2017, 02:15 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by fanrgs View Post
Just to add a little history to your route, you will be following in the footsteps of John C. Fremont when you cross Cochetopa/North Pass between Black Canyon NP and Great Sand Dunes NP. He approximately followed the route of CO 14 on his ill-fated 1849 journey to find a rail route through Colorado to California, but got lost in a blizzard and turned back. Although no tracks ever crossed that pass, it makes for some interesting reading before you cross it on today's paved highway at 55 mph!

Florissant Fossil Beds NM is a great stop that is on few Colorado visitors' itineraries. I took a group of 33 Colorado residents there last October and many of them had never been there either. It's one of those hidden gems among the national monuments.

And if you need a place to camp near Florissant, try Mueller State Park on CO 67 just north of Cripple Creek. Beautiful, tree-shaded, hillside campsites with hookups. However, it's very popular, so you will need advance reservations for any summer Friday-Sunday or holiday week.
I did some reading on that with your suggestion - thanks! We were thinking about Mueller, however their septic system is closed indefinitely so it has no dumping station. Since we won't have time to visit the park itself, we opted for a private campground. Thanks again.
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Old 03-22-2017, 02:15 PM   #11
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My wife and I did a similar trip 2 years ago. We started in Arizona and did what is called the Grand Circle Tour of National Parks Of Arizona and Utah. We did not camp on this trip. We took three weeks to complete our trip and stayed 2-3 nights at most stops. Your trip is easily done in the four weeks you have planned. I would suggest you make a stop at Goblin Valley State Park. It can be a short stop or they do have a campground. Very unique little park. You are in for a grand experience and should have a great time. I hope you can complete your trip trouble free.
Thanks - I'll take a look at that park!
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Old 03-22-2017, 02:21 PM   #12
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My only suggestion is to take UT Rt 12 between F and G. One of the spectacular drives in the US.
I'll look at that. Thanks!
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Old 03-22-2017, 08:28 PM   #13
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I'll second UT 12 as the ultimate scenic drive in southern Utah. With your Sprinter, you will have no problem with the uphill grades or curves, But, if you have a toad, the knife-edge ridge portion may get a little hairy on the down-grades. Hope you and your wife don't mind heights!
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Old 03-23-2017, 07:40 AM   #14
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I'll second UT 12 as the ultimate scenic drive in southern Utah. With your Sprinter, you will have no problem with the uphill grades or curves, But, if you have a toad, the knife-edge ridge portion may get a little hairy on the down-grades. Hope you and your wife don't mind heights!


No toad, we are renting cars in Moab, UT and Cortez, CO. This drive sounds great - thanks!
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Old 05-17-2017, 01:22 AM   #15
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Oh boy - SW parks trip planning

Update: we are 12 days into this trip and have visited Colorado National Monument, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon so far. I am posting near daily updates on Facebook in the "Class C RVing" group which anyone can join. I apologize to those not on Facebook that I cannot take the time to cross post here. So far the parks have been spectacular and well worth the trip! We have experienced every imaginable type of weather but overall we have lucked out with mostly gorgeous days. Just one wicked thunderstorm in Sterling CO with lightning hail and super high winds where I literally thought the RV might be blown over (we had our storm gear on and we're ready to bail) but luckily we weren't... Snow in the Rockies. Some minor snow and sleet at Bryce Canyon alternating with sunny skies, but there's a Winter storm warning for tomorrow. Great adventure though! The Forester 2401R is handling everything well and is better suited to the cold weather than I had even thought. (And the 85+ degree weather in Moab too!)
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Old 05-17-2017, 07:04 PM   #16
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We had one of the worst hailstorms in Denver history about the time you were getting "blown away" in Sterling. My daughter-in-law's car was totaled due to the hail damage. Stevinson Chevy in Golden now has 1500 hail-damaged cars for sale, if you need a new car cheap. Colorado Mills Mall, across the street from Stevinson, is still closed due to flooding after all the skylights were broken out. And, if that were not enough, tomorrow night is supposed to be 27 degrees here in town and snow is predicted for Friday.

But it's just another typical spring in the Rockies! Glad you are enjoying it anyway, especially that drive on UT 12.

PS--I'm one of those who is not on Facebook.
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Old 05-17-2017, 07:29 PM   #17
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Update: we are 12 days into this trip and have visited Colorado National Monument, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon so far.
We probably passed each other going in opposite directions. We just came up through Zion, then Bryce, then Capitol Reef, then Arches and Canyonland. Now we are up by Bear Lake UT, freezing... If you are going to Zion and like a challenging hike, do the Angels Landing hike, spectacular!
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Old 05-17-2017, 07:31 PM   #18
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[emoji1303] Thanks!
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Old 06-17-2017, 11:36 AM   #19
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I'm attaching here our final itinerary for our recent SW national parks trip. I'm not saying this is the only way to do such a trip or even the best way. Some can well argue you should stay longer at each park - but of course that means either taking more time or visiting less parks. If I were planning it again, I would probably make the trip a bit shorter and have a few more places where we stayed at least 2-3 nights. The breaks from driving each day are wonderful! But seeing the parks we saw was great fun.

We were very glad to have plug-in sites due to heavy use of heat (we had cold down to 22F at Bryce Canyon) and air conditioning (heat to the 90s in Moab, Nebraska and Iowa). Also because our refrigeration did not work on gas at altitudes above 6000', electric plug-ins were essential to save our food. The Dometic refrig is not adjustable for high altitude use on gas.

One bit of explanation on the chart. "G Hours" refers to number of hours of driving per Google Maps. "RV House" refers to my estimate of the number of hours of RV driving, usually at average 50 mpg but in some cases more time due to slower roads.

I hope some find this helpful and also would be happy to try to answer any questions.
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