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Trip Review: NM, AZ, UT, CO Road Trip
Posted on 7/8/17 at 11:54 am
Posted on 7/8/17 at 11:54 am
20 June - 7 July
5,215 miles on my 2010 Ford Fusion
100 hours and 5 minutes in the car
8 National Parks
8 Nights in a tent (7 campgrounds, 1 wilderness backpack)
3 Airbnbs
2 Free nights at Park Hyatt Beaver Creek to end the trip on.
36 miles hiked
25 miles biked (we're not good at mountain biking. It's hard as shite).
Descriptions and pics of food and mountains to come.
DAY 1: We drove 17 hours to Sante Fe
Day 2: After staying at a lovely Airbnb in Sante Fe, and doing a local subalpine morning hike, we drove toward Flagstaff (great lunch), and ultimately Jacob Lake, AZ (north of GCNP).
Petrified Forest National Park, AZ
not much for us here in the 100+ degree heat
>
Day 3: we were in the car by 4:15 AM from Jacob Lake (45 mi north of the North Rim). I nearly hit SO many deer.
One thing that I learned about Grand Canyon National Park was that it's beautiful APART from the Canyon. There are lush subalpine forest just 10-15 minutes north of the north rim. Full of wildlife too. It's stunning enough to stand alone. I'd like to backpack that area in the future.
Day 3 continued: After breaking camp we traveled north to Zion NP and then onto a campground called Pine Lake CG, which is just 20-30 minutes from Bryce Canyon depending on how fast you drive the gravel road. We were under the smoke of a wildfire for most of the drive from Zion. Scary.
Zion NP: we like to hike, but we kind of flew through the Utah Parks. It was hot. We did the little Canyon lookout hike.
Day 4: bike ride around Pine Lake, bike ride at Red Canyon (very nice paved trail), Wall Street/Navaho Loop hike in Bryce Canyon, then a shower at Ruby's Inn (I recommend this place for that reason).
After Bryce Canyon we drove two hours on Hwy 12 to Pleasant Creek Campground (walked in, no reservation).
Highway 12 is incredible. At one point the road is on a ridge and that's all there is. The area was unchartered longer than any other in the lower 48.
The highway is also extremely diverse. This is a subalpine spot near Boulder, Utah looking out over the desert we had just traversed. Henry Mountains in the background (another great camping spot if you have 4wd).
My philosophy on camping Arizona and Utah in late June: Find the elevation. We were never uncomfortable because every night we were above 8,000 feet.
Day 5: A three hour drive to the Abajo Mountains and Buckboard Campground...just east of Monticello, UT. This area gave us our first view of Colorado, the San Juans.
It was an excellent campground with a ton of Aspens and nearby hikes. I'd call the Abajo Mountains a hidden gym. The hikes are pretty hard to find if you're not a local. I can elaborate if needed.
We hiked Abajo Peak ~12,500 (5.2 mile out and back)
Buckboard Campground:
From this campground we were 60 miles from Moab, UT--a place that thinks it's cool, but secretly wishes it were Steamboat, Telluride, or even Durango. I bought a great book from their bookstore though.
Moab provides easy access to both Canyonlands and Arches. Blah. Both certainly boast unique features, but again, in Late June you don't want to venture out on foot to see them. Oh yeah, somewhere along the way we drove through Capitol Reef National Park too. That must have been en route to Pleasant Creek CG. At any rate, what a shithole. I'm still wondering why that's a National Park. There wasn't even a fee required. It's no better than most of the scenery you'll see while driving hwy 12.
Day 6: Canyonlands Needle District, Moab, Arches, then the Le Sal Mountains (Warner Lake Campground--beautiful place)
I just expressed how underwhelming Arches and Canyonlands is from a car, but the Le Sals did not disappoint. We did a 4 mile hike from Warner Lake to Oowah Lake at about 5:30 that evening.
Canyonlands:
Arches:
Warner Lake (Le Sals):
That's sums up AZ and Utah.
COLORADO:
5,215 miles on my 2010 Ford Fusion
100 hours and 5 minutes in the car
8 National Parks
8 Nights in a tent (7 campgrounds, 1 wilderness backpack)
3 Airbnbs
2 Free nights at Park Hyatt Beaver Creek to end the trip on.
36 miles hiked
25 miles biked (we're not good at mountain biking. It's hard as shite).
Descriptions and pics of food and mountains to come.
DAY 1: We drove 17 hours to Sante Fe
Day 2: After staying at a lovely Airbnb in Sante Fe, and doing a local subalpine morning hike, we drove toward Flagstaff (great lunch), and ultimately Jacob Lake, AZ (north of GCNP).
Petrified Forest National Park, AZ
not much for us here in the 100+ degree heat
>
Day 3: we were in the car by 4:15 AM from Jacob Lake (45 mi north of the North Rim). I nearly hit SO many deer.
One thing that I learned about Grand Canyon National Park was that it's beautiful APART from the Canyon. There are lush subalpine forest just 10-15 minutes north of the north rim. Full of wildlife too. It's stunning enough to stand alone. I'd like to backpack that area in the future.
Day 3 continued: After breaking camp we traveled north to Zion NP and then onto a campground called Pine Lake CG, which is just 20-30 minutes from Bryce Canyon depending on how fast you drive the gravel road. We were under the smoke of a wildfire for most of the drive from Zion. Scary.
Zion NP: we like to hike, but we kind of flew through the Utah Parks. It was hot. We did the little Canyon lookout hike.
Day 4: bike ride around Pine Lake, bike ride at Red Canyon (very nice paved trail), Wall Street/Navaho Loop hike in Bryce Canyon, then a shower at Ruby's Inn (I recommend this place for that reason).
After Bryce Canyon we drove two hours on Hwy 12 to Pleasant Creek Campground (walked in, no reservation).
Highway 12 is incredible. At one point the road is on a ridge and that's all there is. The area was unchartered longer than any other in the lower 48.
The highway is also extremely diverse. This is a subalpine spot near Boulder, Utah looking out over the desert we had just traversed. Henry Mountains in the background (another great camping spot if you have 4wd).
My philosophy on camping Arizona and Utah in late June: Find the elevation. We were never uncomfortable because every night we were above 8,000 feet.
Day 5: A three hour drive to the Abajo Mountains and Buckboard Campground...just east of Monticello, UT. This area gave us our first view of Colorado, the San Juans.
It was an excellent campground with a ton of Aspens and nearby hikes. I'd call the Abajo Mountains a hidden gym. The hikes are pretty hard to find if you're not a local. I can elaborate if needed.
We hiked Abajo Peak ~12,500 (5.2 mile out and back)
Buckboard Campground:
From this campground we were 60 miles from Moab, UT--a place that thinks it's cool, but secretly wishes it were Steamboat, Telluride, or even Durango. I bought a great book from their bookstore though.
Moab provides easy access to both Canyonlands and Arches. Blah. Both certainly boast unique features, but again, in Late June you don't want to venture out on foot to see them. Oh yeah, somewhere along the way we drove through Capitol Reef National Park too. That must have been en route to Pleasant Creek CG. At any rate, what a shithole. I'm still wondering why that's a National Park. There wasn't even a fee required. It's no better than most of the scenery you'll see while driving hwy 12.
Day 6: Canyonlands Needle District, Moab, Arches, then the Le Sal Mountains (Warner Lake Campground--beautiful place)
I just expressed how underwhelming Arches and Canyonlands is from a car, but the Le Sals did not disappoint. We did a 4 mile hike from Warner Lake to Oowah Lake at about 5:30 that evening.
Canyonlands:
Arches:
Warner Lake (Le Sals):
That's sums up AZ and Utah.
COLORADO:
This post was edited on 7/19/17 at 8:24 pm
Posted on 7/8/17 at 11:54 am to bayoubengals88
Saving this spot in case I need the room.
Posted on 7/9/17 at 10:34 am to bayoubengals88
looking forward to seeing this
we just got back from SF/sequoia/kings canyon/Zion/Bryce/Moab/boulder
it was right at 2000 miles
we just got back from SF/sequoia/kings canyon/Zion/Bryce/Moab/boulder
it was right at 2000 miles
Posted on 7/9/17 at 5:05 pm to cgrand
doing the same area in Sept.i love hauling arse in the high desert in my Corvette. second trip in 6 months
Posted on 7/10/17 at 12:47 pm to cgrand
Half complete.
Awesome! I'm going to SF and Yosemite in less than two weeks!
Awesome! I'm going to SF and Yosemite in less than two weeks!
Posted on 7/10/17 at 12:58 pm to bayoubengals88
Awesome! Any shots of Santa Fe? How did you like it? It's one of my favorite cities in the US.
Posted on 7/10/17 at 1:06 pm to 12Pence
quote:none on my phone.
Awesome! Any shots of Santa Fe? How did you like it? It's one of my favorite cities in the US.
We slept, we hiked, I got an espresso, then we left. But I can understand your affinity for it. I want to go back to ski.
Posted on 7/10/17 at 2:24 pm to bayoubengals88
What's the best time of year to do a trip West like this?
Posted on 7/10/17 at 3:44 pm to juice4lsu
quote:For AZ and Utah, April-May. For Colorado, late July -September.
What's the best time of year to do a trip West like this?
For what we did...June into July. Everything was calculated. Colorado was last just to give the snow another week or so to melt.
Even still, much of Colorado was inaccessible so we hiked what we knew we could. The steamboat area and the flat tops wilderness. All of that is 10-12k feet. Not 13-14k
In Utah, we camped up high to stay cool 8,000 ft +
Posted on 7/17/17 at 7:17 pm to bayoubengals88
quote:
Even still, much of Colorado was inaccessible so we hiked what we knew we could. The steamboat area and the flat tops wilderness. All of that is 10-12k feet. Not 13-14k
What'd ya get into around this way?
Posted on 7/17/17 at 7:29 pm to bayoubengals88
quote:
Highway 12 is incredible. At one point the road is on a ridge and that's all there is. The area was unchartered longer than any other in the lower 48.
We did a hike in Grand Staircase Escalante a few years ago off that part of Hwy12. Easily the most remote place I've ever experienced. Truly surreal.
Posted on 7/17/17 at 11:32 pm to bayoubengals88
Beautiful photos! They brought back some really great memories for my wife and me. I love this country so much, baws.
Posted on 7/20/17 at 3:18 pm to bayoubengals88
quote:I'm going to go out on a limb and say you will be impressed By Yosemite and I look forward to the pics!! Try to work in Muir Woods if you can because it's not far from SF.
Awesome! I'm going to SF and Yosemite in less than two weeks!
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