Trip Report: So Cal to UT, CO, SD and WY

[Fushux]

Hello there,

I posted one of these trip reports for our last vacation and I had a good time doing it. Hopefully I was able to help somebody out with their plans. I plan to update this each night with campground reviews, places to see, cool things we've done, pictures. We've got planned stops in Panguitch (currently on fire!), Moab, Rifle, Rocky Mountain National Park, Rushmore, Badlands, Devil's tower, Cody and Yellowstone. Please chime in with dos/sees if you've got any! The plan is 18 days and roughly 3,000 miles!

We have two parties in our group this year. In mine, we've got my wife, 12 year old, 11 year old, 3 year old and 8 week old. People will say we are crazy for traveling with an 8 week old but we are up for the challenge. We decided to borrow my parents Monaco Knight diesel pusher to help with my wife taking care of the kids instead of my truck and Flagstaff 5th wheel.

My sister, brother in law and 2 kids are in their Jayco Class C motorhome.

The plan is to leave tomorrow morning around 5am and beat the heat.

Talk to you all tomorrow night!

Andrew

[pibi]

Good luck !!! Have fun in your trip.

[UT_Grandpa]

Go to Zions Canyon. You will have to park near the entrance but they run a shuttle bus up the canyon road. Ruby's Inn near Bryce Canyon, a stop at Temple Square in Salt Lake City (seen by millions each year).


Not sure what part of Colorado you are interested, you might miss Salt Lake City if travelling I-70. Jackson Hole Wyoming and Yellowstone are great destinations. If you make it to Jackson Wyoming Eat at the Bar J and see the show.


Be careful with fire - Southern Utah has the largest wildfire in the country right now. Have fun.

[Alan F]

Have a safe trip. I look forward to your posts.

[DavidH]

My wife and I enjoyed Zion two years ago. If you are reasonably fit, wear old tennis shoes, bring a walking stick and take the Narrows Hike... It's amazing.
We will be there again on Monday, July 9 and will be taking much the same trip as you from West to East. Maybe we'll meet you somewhere.
Enjoy!

[bob5560g]

While at Badlands NP, go to Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. It's only about 30 minutes away. The visitor's center is amazing. And take the guided tour into an actual launch facility Delta-1. You can reserve now but we were able to get a next day tour when we showed up unannounced last summer.

Also, the astronomy lecture at Badlands is good because they set up two large telescopes for viewing the night sky.

https://www.nps.gov/mimi/index.htm

[aspengirl]

Looking forward to reading your posts. Safe travels!

[Twice]

Have a safe trip, I'm looking forward to your travelogue also!

[JnScattle]

Safe travels. Will be following your report.

[Fushux]

Day 1:

Miles: 467
Time: 10 Hours 25 minutes.

Today won't be very exciting. It was a get out or town kind of day. An early alarm clock got us going at 4am to be on the road at 5. A quick stop at the donut shop and we were on the 15 fwy by 5:15.

It was warm most of the drive through the desert. We were making good time until we hit the north end of Las Vegas and there was a vehicle fire. It looks like everybody was able to get out so that's good. That held us up in traffic for a while. We got fuel at the truck stop off the 93/15 and kept on rolling.

We knew heading in to Utah that there was a pretty significant fire going on. Last I read it's up to 45,000 acres and destroyed 20 something homes. We could see it off in the distance but didn't come very close to it. We pulled in to our campground for the next 3 days just before 4pm and the smoke was unbearable. The owner said the smoke has just been sitting in the valley for the last couple days. I have a 3 year and 8 week old and didn't want to expose them to the breathing problems associated with smoke so the adults put our heads together to figure out a solution. The owner of the campground was completely understanding about the problem and didn't mind if we had to take off. It was getting pretty late though and we had been on the road for over 10 hours so we decided to just stay the night here and hit the road early tomorrow for better air. We mostly stayed inside the motorhome watching movies and catching up on reading.

We are staying at the Hitch N Post campground here in Panguitch. It's a pretty small place in the middle of town. The sites are real close together. It is $38 a night for full hook ups. Like mentioned above, the owner was completely understanding and nice about the situation. He gave us advice on what to see and where to go from here.

I will update this post with a couple photos tomorrow. The wifi and cell service aren't that great and Tapatalk wouldn't let me insert.

Tomorrow we hit the road for Moab a couple days early.

Andrew

[Fushux]

Day 2:

Total Miles: 289
Total Time: 10 Hours

We decided to get up early and get out of the fire area. We knew we wanted to explore Bryce NP and get moving down the road to a different campground. We left at 7am on the dot, got fuel and made our way to Bryce. We parked the motorhomes at the visitor center and took the shuttle to the different spots.

Here are a couple photos from the look out.




We had found a hike called the Navajo trail to seemed pretty easy for the kids to do. My wife, 3 year and 8 week old went back to the motorhome and the rest of us went on the trail. It's 1.3 miles long and takes you to the bottom of the canyon and back out. It turned out to be pretty difficult for the kids on the way back up but I thought was worth it.






After our hike we took the kids to get their passport stamps and we headed out of the park. We decided that Moab was going to be our stop tonight and knew we needed to make some time. We took Highway 12 which didn't disappoint. They say it's the 2nd most beautiful highway in the world. It was scenic the other way and fairly easy to drive our 38ft motorhome through. With a brief stop at Capital Reef NP to get the kids stamps, we pulled in the our campground at 6pm. It was a long day of traveling but the first few hours were spent exploring Bryce.

We are staying at a place called Portal RV Resort in the city of Moab. It is $63 a night. This is one of those places that had a "base rate" and then you pay extra per person. Pretty nice park. Gravel sites with a cement pad and picnic table. Full hook ups. May not be worth the $63 though in my opinion.




Tomorrow we're getting up early and exploring Arches NP and figuring out another campground for the night. We are still a little off from our reservations since we had to leave Panguitch so quickly.

Good night.

Andrew

[FirstTracks]

Bud, check out the BLM campgrounds along the Colorado River just east of town, like Big Bend (my preferred one as it's farther from the road). There are a bunch of them and space should be no issue midweek. No hookups, but much nicer, lots more room, riverfront and only a few bucks. Shoot, I can see your neighbor even in a close-up photo!

Enjoyed the Bryce photos!

[Fushux]

Well, this trip is a bit different from last year. We've only had cell service for a couple of hours and have been on the go since left last Sunday. I will write the day's adventures after we get home. We've done a lot and taken a lot of pics. Until then, Happy Traveling!

[fmjnathan]

Originally Posted by FirstTracks

Bud, check out the BLM campgrounds along the Colorado River just east of town, like Big Bend (my preferred one as it's farther from the road). There are a bunch of them and space should be no issue midweek. No hookups, but much nicer, lots more room, riverfront and only a few bucks. Shoot, I can see your neighbor even in a close-up photo!

Enjoyed the Bryce photos!

The ACT Campground on the southern edge of Moab is small, clean, nice and affordable.