Travel
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Suggestions for any of these national parks/ places
in Travel
We're planning a long road trip this summer and want to visit the following:
Pike's Peak
Garden of the Gods
USAFA
Great Sand Dunes
Mesa Verde
4 corners
Monument Valley
Grand Canyon
Zion
Arches
Rocky Mtn National Park
Any suggestions on what to see, what we can skip, and places to eat? We'll have our four year old with us, so it needs to be family friendly.
Re: Suggestions for any of these national parks/ places
We went to Zion & the Grand Canyon at the end of Sept. last year.
Zion is an awesome park! We had limited time there so we only did Angels landing, Emerald Pools & the Narrows. There shuttle system is very nice & makes getting to the trailheads easy w/o having to worry about parking. The Narrows are NOT to be missed! So amazing!
While at the GC (also amazing & should be seen at least once in your life time) we went to the South RIm, hiked down the South Kabab trail, stayed the night at Phantom Ranch (which we booked 13 months out) & then hiked back up Bright Angel trail the next day. While at the top of the South RIm we stated at Bright Angel Lodge in one of the cabins right next to the edge. We then drove to the North RIm & only spent about a half a day there (stayed at the lodge) & did one short afternoon hike.
If you PM me I can send you some pictures via email & give you more detail.
Have fun planning! There are so many amazing NP's out there.
I personally wasn't bowled over by Pike's Peak, but if it's en route, you may as well.
In RMNP, there's a four lakes hike starting at Bear Lake that is fairly easy. The nice part is that you can make it a 'two lake hike' if you or your LO starts feeling tired. Each lake very much has its own personality. It's a fairly popular hike but if you get out early, you'll only see the crowds coming back. There is a waterfall at the top across Emerald Lake. I hiked this as a child and every few years since and it remains one of my favorites, and the one I usually use to get acclimated to the thinner air.
Sprague Lake also has an extremely easy hike around it, but it's a pretty rewarding view with nice reflections of mountains in the water with the right light.
Also, if you get up a little before dawn and drive through the main park road, you are very likely to encounter elk in the summer months. We left one day at 5 a.m. (7 a.m. our time as we'd come from the east coast) and probably saw around 30 elk, including 5-6 at very close range. It was lovely.
Out of interest, how long is your long road trip?
Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods (which is free) are fairly close, you can do them in the same day. RMNP took us two days, one day we drove all the way up to the top, the second day we did some hiking (the hike the PP recommends with the four lakes was awesome!) We stayed in Estes Park.
At the GC, we stayed at El Tovar, which is right on the south rim. There's free shuttle buses that will take you to several spots in the park.
The rest I haven't been to.
Our trip will be 13-14 days. My primary interest is photography, and my husband went to the AF academy and wants to re-visit a few places he enjoyed while he lived out there. His primary motivation for going to Pike's Peak is a donut at the top
We'll be starting and ending in Denver. We're flying in and renting a car for this trip.
Skip the 4 corners, it's out of the way of everything, and not even cheesy fun. It's just a really sad plaza with a bunch of tourist stands around it, and it's fairly expensive to get in. You'll walk up, snap a photo, then drive several hours back to wherever you wanted to be.
Otherwise, I enjoyed Mesa Verde, Arches, Zion, and you have to do the Grand Canyon. Arches had easier hiking if you have a kid and a stroller, I enjoyed Zion because there were more hiking options for adults.
Sounds like a fun trip!
I say maybe skip four corners and do the Durango-Silverton narrow gauge railroad instead. Pagosa Springs hot springs is a fun place too. Both are between the sand dunes and Mesa Verde. You could stop at Glenwood Springs too on the way back from Arches. Not quite as unique as Pagosa, but still a fun stop for a kid. Grand Canyon seems a bit out of the way if you have to drive all the way back to Denver from there.
I have done a lot of these, but I don't know how much of what we did would be appropriate for a four year old.
Great Sand Dunes is really neat, but about the only thing to do is climb to the top, which is really tiring. Zion is likewise amazing, but some of the more outstanding hikes are not anything I would try with a little one. Also keep in mind that the heat in some of these places in the summer can be pretty miserable. Bryce Canyon is right there and might be worth a stop.
I actually think Garden of the Gods and Pike's Peak are great options for a family. They don't require going to far from the car.
I would also suggest that a lot of the National Parks have a great Jr. Ranger program that might be fun. The night time ranger talks might be worth looking into too.
Sounds like a fun trip!
The Grand Canyon is amazing, and I highly recommend staying at one of the hotels in the park. We stayed at the Bright Angel Lodge which has basic accomodations, but it suited our purposes and the location couldn't be beat.
We also hiked a portion of the South Kaibab trail which was amazing. Not sure it's kid-friendly, though.