Author Topic: Rocky mountain travel tips  (Read 2454 times)

rob in cal

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Rocky mountain travel tips
« on: May 17, 2014, 02:18:39 PM »
   My family and I might take a Rocky Mountain trip, by car.  We won't be camping, and plan on seeing Yellowstone, the Tetons, and then ending up in Colorado, and maybe checking out anything of intrest in Utah on the way back home to California.  Wondering if anyone had any recommendations of cool places to stay, hidden sights to see, and also the best short walking hikes. I'm planning on being gone about 10 days or so, including travel times, during mid July.

rob in cal

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Re: Rocky mountain travel tips
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2014, 04:57:57 PM »
Ok, one thing I've discovered online is that the further away from the Yellowstone Jackson Hole area you stay the better.  the Super 8 at West Yellowstone Gate is around 200-250 a night.  Drive an hour and a half into Idaho and stay in Rexburg and pay about 70 a night.  In our case it would make sense to stay in a cheaper place at least on our first night out as it would be on our way anyway and we'd be tired after driving all day.

ArbitraryGuy

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Re: Rocky mountain travel tips
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2014, 08:40:44 PM »
Bryce Canyon, UT is fairly badass -- plenty of great short hikes through the very cool rock formations.
« Last Edit: May 17, 2014, 08:45:00 PM by ArbitraryGuy »

Albert

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Re: Rocky mountain travel tips
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2014, 05:10:59 AM »
It's almost certainly too late for that (cheeper options sell out 4-6 months in advance), but I'd advise anyone to stay inside Yellowstone park. You pay 20-30 $/night more, but minimise driving time which is considerable within the park anyway.

I was there 3 years ago (3 1/2 days in Yellowstone and 2 in Grand Tetons) and liked the area a lot. Yellowstone is great, but if you can spend some time in Grand Tetons as well. A lot less people there and mountains are beautiful, particularly if you like hiking (no need to camp). Jackson Hole itself is nothing special, they'd tried to copy an Alpine village and not with a great success.

clarkfan1979

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Re: Rocky mountain travel tips
« Reply #4 on: June 09, 2014, 06:23:16 PM »
Mishawaka or "The Mish" is the coolest place that I have ever seen a concert. The small venue is located in a river valley and the sound echos throughout the entire canyon. Many concert goers camp near the river. However, there are rustic lodges along the river too. It's about one hour west of Fort Collins up the Poudre river.

http://www.themishawaka.com/

NinetyFour

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Re: Rocky mountain travel tips
« Reply #5 on: June 09, 2014, 06:39:33 PM »
Sounds like you might be coming through southwestern CO--I would recommend a stop in Durango.

http://www.durango.org/

It's a cool, smallish, historic town.  Has a train that takes tourists (mostly) up into the mountains.  Has a river that goes right through town (with a nice walking/biking path right next to it for several miles), some great restaurants, gorgeous scenery, fantastic mountain biking, fantastic day hikes into 12,000+ mountains, and some decent local (in-town) hiking.

From Durango, as you go west, you should stop at Mesa Verde National Park.

http://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm

In case you are not familiar with the altitude/heat issues in the southwest, make sure you know how to deal with both.  Most important--stay hydrated!!

geekette

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Re: Rocky mountain travel tips
« Reply #6 on: June 09, 2014, 09:37:31 PM »
Not to threadjack, but my 79 year old mom wants to see her last 5 unvisited US state capitol buildings before she turns 80, so my sister and I have mapped out this (crazy?) 2800 mile itinerary over 10 days in mid to late July - https://goo.gl/maps/tlXIh

I've never been to Yellowstone (she has), and as my "payment" for all! that! driving, we're planning a couple nights in Gardiner, WY near the north entrance of Yellowstone (there's nothing available in the park, of course).

Is there anything interesting between the north entrance of Yellowstone and Bismarck, ND?  That's gonna be a loooooong day.