Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Road trip, WI to Utah.

What/where/ when/ why?
Early summer.
Let's hear it.

Coming in via I-80? Take the I-84 split north and start in Ogden. I'll take you to the Browning Gun Museum and the Air Force Museum. And buy your lunch before you head south on I-15 to the many parks and vistas.

The National Parks have our main interest at this point,

Zion, Bryce, any others that you folks deem worthy.

Lodging for up to 8, although 6 is the likely number.

Two rooms or large house or condo,

Driving your own truck(s) ?

Check out the Bonneville Salt Flats while you're there. St. George is worth a couple of days also.
M O A B is a must see.

Check out short term rentals in St. George area. Ivins/Santa Clara on the west side of SG is adjacent to Snow Canyon State Park. Google Snow Canyon. Lots of trails, very scenic. All of this area is a short day trip to Zion and Bryce Canyon, and north rim of Grand Canyon. Biggest problem with the NPs is traffic and congestion, especially during peak season

Paul

Why and will go back?

yes.

when is peak season?

translate please?

any elevation sickness issues ?

Bryce 8K'

Arches 4K'

Capitol Reef 7K'

Zion 3K'

It's busy all of the time, but the heat of the desert summer turns off some people, and winter is cold especially at higher elevations. Spring and fall are best, and the usual holidays, school breaks, etc. are peak times.

Paul

Not that I'm aware of...Most of us have been over 11,000
but you never really know.

Rocky is right, you should start in Ogden -- or you could start earlier by getting off the Inrterstate once you hit the Front Range, maybe even in Colorado.

For timing, my favorite road-trip season in the West is middle May to Memorial Day or at least before school lets out and the family vacation season begins. Still lots of snow to admire, and most passes are open and easy to drive. And everything is a green as it will ever get for the year. Early summer will still work out pretty well, weather flukes are less of a factor.

Utah is great for explorers who are okay with leaving the four-lane roads. From the Interstate, it's pretty boring.

Rather than go from Cheyenne west to Salt Lake, I'd either break off for Fort Collins (state highway 14), or maybe US 40 (Denver/Winter Park).
Another adventurous way to go is to cut off south at Green River WY and go over the hill and Flaming Gorge country and Vernal UT, then cut west again on 40. Takes a little navigation, but pretty neat.

The other idea is to make sure you do some of "not Salt Lake metro" Utah. Blanding, La Sal, Vernal, Monticello, there's a BUNCH of country on the other side of the mountains from I-15. Arches, Canyonlands blah blah.

Any chance you might list these 4 in order of importance?

which one or two has the 'wow' factor pegged?

I always suggest areas that are not hit with heavy seasonal tourists,,,,,,,,,

Capitol Reef.......Burr Trail.......Henry Mountains.........Boulder..........Boulder Mtn..........1000 Lake Mtn

since driving own vehicles....bring cooking utensils and cook out in the wild........many spots will have tables/grills

all on US Forest or BLM camp/day sites....FREE ! High elevation travel......with the current winter storms.....

mountains are getting up to 24" of snow each storm..and then some...some mtn passes/roads may open late....IE June/July

Equip your vehicle.......be prepared.......don't come back in a bag...........!

Best time middke of September

If you reserve ahead, you can arrange a horseback tour that goes down into Bryce Canyon.

Best way ta see it.

No can do, too late for some.

First week of June is a good time. Foreign Schools don't get out until mid June, so those crowds haven't started up by then. And most of the local families are still involved in summer sports.

We get down that way quite a bit, have family down by Bryce Canyon. We do most of our Bryce, Arches, Zion's and Canyonlands stuff between mid March and Memorial Day. I like my desert stuff dry and cold.