Ok so I planning a trip next year. I reeeeeeally need advice on how to organize this and what else I need to be looking at. Here are the things we must do: Lake Superior Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Rocky Mountain National Park Great Sand Dunes National Park Big Sur Yosemite National Park Grand Canyon Looking at the map this is going to be kind of a West to almost North East range. If we fly rather than drive most of the time, in how much time do you think this can be done? Is there anything which would be on my way from place to place that I'm missing out on? Which one of these would you cut out? Really want to go to Lake Superior but it's the one spot that's way out of the way. How many days would you spend at each spot? Is March/April a good time to do this? We'd rather it be cool than warm. In terms of the type of thing we want to do, almost no interest in doing stuff within cities. You can say we're not hikers or bikers, but we tend to love the same places they like to go. Don't mind camping. I'm doing my utmost to squeeze in my first Rockets game ever but it's looking tough. Also extremely interested in visiting Austin. Please help, any advice on how to organize this would be awesome!!
I'm just curious, why Lake Superior? That's a heck of a long drive or flight to see Lake Superior. I don't think it's worth it. If you're interested in seeing a lake, Lake Tahoe is beautiful and more on your way (though could still be out of the way depending on which city you fly into/out of). I'd rather add on Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, or Arches National Park instead of going all the way to the Great Lakes. Grand Teton and Yellowstone both have amazing water view as well. if you plan on doing any camping, I would definitely push for April rather than March. It's still too chilly to camp in March for most of the places you've listed IMO.
Yeah, I don't understand the Lake Superior angle either, but to each their own. Grand Canyon - I would spend at least two days there, but it could easily be longer. It depends what you want to hike. If you want to the bottom you would likely stay the night at the bottom. You can also knock out a couple shorter hikes in one day and not camp out. If you really want to see it all, I would do a few shorter hikes on the South rim and then drive up to the North rim for another couple days. It is a long drive but much less traveled. If you're at the Grand Canyon I would include a stop off in Sedona as well. You won't regret it.
Why do you want to visit a country you so clearly hate? Time to call homeland security and have them check up on you. DD
I think April/May would be better depending on your cold/heat tolerance preference. You can of course easily spend many days at each of the places you listed, but it just depends on how in depth you want to get. You also have 3 sites in Colorado. Meaning that seems like the place to rent a car and drive around for say a week. You could also add Black Canyon of the Gunnison for example. Or if you're willing to drive more, you could do something like: Week 1 = California. Big Sur, Yosemite. Add other stops as you see fit. Tahoe, SF/Redwoods, Carmel/Monterrey, etc. Week 2-3 (7-10 days) = Fly to Phoenix, rent car, drive to Grand Canyon. A few days there, then drive through Utah and Colorado. There is Arches, Zion, Bryce Canyon and others in Utah that are great. Black Canyon, Durango, Sand Dunes, RMNP, etc. Finale week = Fly out of Denver to Lake Superior. I know nothing about this area personally, except it is beautiful, especially if you are going towards Isle Royal. No idea how long you'd need. If you want to fly more, you could obviously fly into and out of Phoenix (or Vegas) for the Grand Canyon (I think you can book helicopter tours out of Vegas), then skip Utah all-together and fly to Colorado. So fly to SF and do California. Fly to Vegas and do Grand Canyon. Fly to Denver and do Colorado. Fly to wherever to do Superior. If you are still adding places to visit, there is obviously Yellowstone, and anywhere in the Pacific Northwest - though for that you would need to do some weather research first (eg. will there be any sun).
OP used the word utmost in a sentence. Bonus points I can help answer questions about the theee Colorado destinations. Let me start: What time of year is this? Maroon Bells is usually not done in March. But you could go skiing then and drive to see it. Aspen and Snowmass is where the bus to Maroon Bells leaves. The state park will be closed for sure Do you need cabins or camping?
As an American who hasn't been to any of the places that you listed, I have nothing to offer. But I can say come to Houston. Roll down the hill next to Miller Outdoor Theater, visit the waterfall thing by the Galleria, take a scenic stroll along Buffalo Bayou, tour the San Jacinto Monument and Battleship Texas, and enjoy the sunset over Lake Houston.
Glacier (though Going to the Sun Road does not usually open until June) and Arches/Canyonlands have to be on the list. Zion could fit easily as could Sequoia. Both are worth the effort. Glacier would be a better drive/hard to get to place than Lake Superior, Arches/Canyonlands/Zion better than taking time for Sand Dunes. But Arches though. Seriously, go there. And I sometimes think the views from Canyonlands Island in the Sky are more dramatic than the Grand Canyon. That might be because we are so used to seeing photos and movies of the GC and the scope can be overwhelming to process, but Island in the Sky is only a half-day there-and-back out of Moab and absolutely worth the time. Wilderness is cool but you have to be willing to hike and camp to get the most out of it and March/April might be too early for all but the hardcore given the decent snowpack already in place and the seasonal nighttime temps (cold!). Late June or July would probably be better for Maroon Bells/Snowmass. ( I also like North Cascades better than Rocky Mtn., but both are great.) Also, I encourage everyone to get to Glacier and Sequoia as soon as you can given the issues both parks are having with climate change. Finally, some of my favorite country just became a national monument. SE Utah is just ridiculously amazing and one could spend months or years there and not see everything. Yes, it's rim rock country and was the original inspiration for my moniker, along with the basketball double entendre. (And that's the last I'll say about my favorite non-park places as I don't want you city-folk trashing the cool places that are left.)
Seriously though...the playoffs @Mathloom Regarding Maroon Bells ... you said you prefer flying when you can. You can fly Fontier directly into Aspen airport and that's 20 miles to Maroon Bells. And Aspen is a beautiful town. April might actually be pretty cheap for condos/hotels. March would allow skiing, too. I can also say Zocalito Latin Bistro is one of the best restaurants for mole in the US...like five different types to choose from. The Sand Dunes has what many consider to be the best hot springs pool in CO. You can do a drive up Pikes Peak from there too...some like to do that.
I would add Jackson Hole, Wyoming to that list. Need 3-4 days for Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park. Absolutely one of the most gorgeous places on Earth.
I have to agree with the others the mentioned Canyon Lands, Zion, and some of the Utah parks. Again you can spend several days at each national park, and not run out of things to do and see. Even short hikes can take a decent amount of time to complete. There are also numerous specific sites to see at each of the places you mentioned. I haven't been to Lake Superior, so I can't say anything about it, but it isn't high up on my own list of things to do. If you do end up going there please report back. It does seem like there are plenty of other places with a bigger draw to visit.
i would suggest picking a general area and spending a couple weeks there. otherwise, the majority of your trip is going to be driving 12 hours a day. save lake superior for another trip...everything else you want to see is in mountain or pacific standard time zone. it makes no sense to drive all that way to see one lake, especially when there are much nicer ones in the other areas you want to visit. you didnt say how long you want to go, bt you could have a great two week trip either doing california or grand canyon-southern utah-colorado. or if you got a month do a whole western tour! grand canyon-california-southern utah-colorado. scenic-wise, southern utah is my favorite part of the country (at least that i have seen). zion, bryce, canyonlands, arches, goblin valley...all worth a visit. from there you can go into southern colorado...from west-to-east you can do mesa verde (native cliff dewllings...bad ass), durango (cool college town), pagosa springs (biggest spa in town has 20 sulfur spring fed-pools - 85 to 115 degrees...i spent most of my time there), rocky mountain np, great sand dunes and back to houston.
To further piggy back on what others have said... factoring in that OP says he's not super into hiking but rather likes the same areas. If you're not super familiar with hiking, especially at altitude and in national parks, definitely bear in mind even something like a 2 mile hike can take you much longer and be harder than anticipated (depending on your general level of fitness). I'm very familiar with RMNP for example and you're starting at at least 8k feet and every hike will have elevation gains/declines. Now OF COURSE all parks also have the super simple hike around a lake type options. Fully paved trails. 1.5 miles or less type thing. And those won't be a problem. After all they cater to American tourists Second... Mesa Verde. This is very cool place. I think OP might appreciate it even more though because he said he's into these outdoor type areas but not into mega hiking. So Mesa Verde is a park with hiking but with super fascinating North American history and structures. Great for knowledge for a foreigner. Great for photography. There are other Native American sites in the west as well but Mesa Verde is one of the most famous. Finally, while you could do the 3 week type itinerary I suggested earlier looking back indo think it will be too much in too little time. Lots of traveling between places as opposed to enjoying them when you get there. So I'd change my suggestion to say you could do 2 weeks West Coast (Cali, PNW), 2 weeks Mountain West (GC, Utah, Yellowstone/Jackson, Colorado), and 2 weeks east. Even then you have to eliminate some of the places from each category (e.g. Very hard to fit all that mountain West in during 2 weeks as there is still significant mileage to cover... and that's without even thinking about Glacier which rimrocker - kind of the expert in his area here! - says is a don't miss). In any case sounds like a super awesome trip. Enjoy!
As an American that has been to Vegas twice, I love the scenery in that part of the country. From Vegas to the Grand Canyon is a four and a half hour drive that goes by quicker than a lot of two hour drives. Vegas is an excellent home port to fly into, especially considering how cheap flights are into that airport (as far as domestic goes). I only had a day at the Canyon. Wish I had more. It's so overwhelmingly beautiful, in every sense of that phrase. The parks of Utah and Sequoia are next on my list. Some day, I'll make Yellowstone and Glacier. Good luck. Have a good trip.
