Road trip - western US post trip update/pics

Flew into SLC and have been in Grand Teton NP and Yellowstone the last few days and it's been great. There's some mask and occupancy rules in place, but not a big deal at most stops. It is a bit weird seeing some people hiking alone and wearing a mask, but doesn't make a difference to me.

A lot of parks are closed fully or partially. You may not be allowed in to Yosemite or Yellowstone without a reservation. I know for a fact that Glacier is closed. Travel is tough right now with so much not open.

We are at Yosemite this week. They aren’t operating at max capacity. Lots of facilities are closed and California mandates masks in public. Some places everyone has a mask on but some places the people seem like they couldn’t care less and nobody is wearing one. Had to go online and get a reservation but we did that over a month ago. Not sure they would have any right now being a holiday week.

Utah mighty five, sand dunes, black canyon, and Mesa verde were all open last week. Some services are limited such as visitor centers closed, but there are rangers at each one outside the center to answer questions. Gift shops open at each one. Zion has the shuttles up and running now, but you can’t just show up. They’ve removed a lot of seats on them and you must get a ticket ahead of time. Most restaurants in the park are take out only, but a couple could sit inside and eat. Most everywhere we stopped in Utah had very little restrictions as far as masks and dining in go, Colorado was more strict.
We had no issues finding hotels anywhere we went and most had lowered their prices. We booked our lodging inside the parks ahead of time since they are always hard to get, but often times would book a room at a hotel 10 minutes before we pulled in the parking lot. I agree that normally this wouldn’t be the best strategy for Moab, Springdale, and Bryce, but I researched before we left and saw how occupancy was down and that rooms would not be an issue. This may have changed since last week so do your research before you go. Attendance at the parks were low and there was no lines to get in any of them, no issue finding parking in them (except Zion which is always a problem I understand), and all of the rangers I talked to mentioned how attendance was down.
Again, all of this was a week ago but with cases on the rise this could change by the time you go.

Don’t engage in uninformed speculation and pass it off as fact.

Especially right now. It’s irresponsible.

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Yellowstone without a reservation. I know for a fact that Glacier is closed.

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There is no such thing as reservation for entering Yellowstone.

The park is either open or closed. And it’s open.

Glacier is open, but the Tribes have blocked access to the eastern half of the park. Largely because they can, and they’re using the virus as an excuse to be jerks.

the south rim of the grand canyon is open, but things like visitor centers and museums are closed. i think the shuttle busses are still offline too. el tovar (the hotel at the south rim) is open but i don't know if reservations will be available. pretty sure that the trails are still open too.

the north rim is only open for day use, meaning you can't stay overnight. this isn't because of covid but because of a huge fire that was just contained.

that said, you aren't required to wear a mask on the trails or while out exercising in arizona. and if you're not planning on visiting a bar or gym or water park in arizona you should be okay.

best of luck. we are leaving arizona in mid july and hoping that idaho lets us in

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all of the rangers I talked to mentioned how attendance was down.

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You know, I never considered the lack of Asians' visitors' and other foreigners. I would assume most national parks would have an increased amount of Americans? If not, that would be very suprising to me? Are Californians in general still too scared to travel?

There's not a lot of vacation options right now, I'd be curious to know any other reasons the attendance is down?

Me and Mrs jkyle are heading to Washington state on the 10th of July to make our rounds at the national parks (Olympic, Rainier, n Cascades). Gonna also spend a couple days on orcas island off the coast. From what I've been told everything is open. I know they have mandated masks (indoors/outdoors) and there will be some restrictions but I'm not sweating it too much. We have white water rafting booked near darrington, wa on the Sauk river and they are still open.

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Are Californians in general still too scared to travel?

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I work for a Bay Area company and YES, many of the folks in the Bay are all-in on the Rona.

A lot of folks from SoCal are slipping out and sneaking over to Vegas, etc.

Two weeks ago, I drove through SD, WY, UT, NV, CA.
Hotels are available for cheap and gas prices are pretty low.

Finding a place to stop and use the bathroom was difficult. So, look for truck stops if you want to be certain you can use the can.