In August 2015, Ryan and set off on a 4500-mile road trip through some of America’s greatest national parks and the American West’s most beautiful natural areas. We affectionately called it our “Epic American Road Trip”. We traversed nine states and visited six national parks over the ten days of our trip. I wanted to share a brief itinerary of what we saw and did while on that trip to help anyone planning their own epic national park adventures!
Days 0 & 1: Home to Denver
Our road trip started after work on Friday. We wanted to get a jump on the long drive out to Denver, so we drove from our home in eastern South Dakota to Valentine, Nebraska, stopping at Al’s Oasis for dinner along the way. It’s kitschy and touristy, but the food is actually pretty good and I always liked stopping there on trips out to the Black Hills!
The next day was still a pretty long drive from Valentine, NE to Denver, CO. All respect to Nebraska, but it was a pretty boring drive! If you don’t already live in a Great Plains state, you might be fascinated by the sun glinting off old metal windmills on farms or the way you can see for miles, but for us it was nothing out of the ordinary. Once finally in Denver, we picked up a few camping supplies we forgot to pack, and then headed out to Cannonball Creek Brewery in Golden to meet a friend of mine for dinner. We enjoyed beer, taco truck tacos, and conversation about living in Colorado with my friend and her roommate, and picked up some recommendations for what to do the next day!
Day 2: Denver to Moab
Our second day began with an ascent up Mt. Evans, one of Colorado’s 58 “14ers”. No, we did not go on foot or by bike, though we saw plenty of people doing so! Instead we drove up, as Mt. Evans Scenic Byway is the highest paved road in the US, and the only 14er you can drive up. And what a drive it was! Excellent views of evergreen forests, alpine lakes, and mountain wildflowers around every switchback. At the top, we were treated to more great views as well as mountain goats and bighorn sheep! This ended up being one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. The drive is steep and has a lot of hairpin turns, so be aware of that, and I believe it’s closed during the winter months. We were able to use our National Parks Access Pass here as well.
Next we continued our journey west on Interstate 70, through the Rocky Mountains and into Glenwood Canyon, which was a beautiful section of the drive. The road enters the canyon and snakes along beside the Colorado River, treating to you to amazing views! The construction of that section of interstate actually won 30 awards for the unique challenges it overcame and the preservation of the canyon’s natural beauty.
Once in Utah, there were fewer towns, and many of them had no services, so I recommend getting gas while still in Colorado! I also recommend not following Google Maps directions to Moab, but instead taking Scenic Highway 128. It was a beautiful drive, with views of the Colorado River and different red rock formations. Finally, we arrived at our tent campsite at an RV park in Moab. We set up our tent for the next two nights and made dinner over the campfire!
Day 3: Moab: Arches & Canyonlands National Parks
Our third day was spent exploring Moab. In the morning we headed over to Arches National Park. We drove through the whole park and saw a ton of the arches, windows, and spires the park is famous for. We only did minimal hiking, around the Windows section mainly, though we also did a short one to see the famous Delicate Arch from a viewpoint that’s about a mile away (if you want to get up close to it, that’s a 3-mile round-trip hike with 480ft elevation change and no shade). We then headed back into town for lunch at Moab Brewery.
Our Moab adventure continued with a trip out to Sand Flats Recreation Area, where Ryan wanted to see some of the obstacles the famous Hell’s Revenge 4×4 Trail. This is also where the Slickrock Bike Trail is located. Google Maps wasn’t very reliable out there – we actually ended up navigating using a bandana with a map on it that we’d purchased! You know you’re off the beaten path when…
Finally, we headed out to Canyonlands National Park. There are three distinct sections of the park, and if you don’t have long in the area you’ll only have time to visit one. Island in the Sky is the most accessible one, so that’s what we chose. Driving through there and stopping at viewpoints actually ended up being one of the highlights of our trip–there are just so many spectacular canyon views to be had!
We ended our evening by viewing the gorgeous sunset over the canyon at Dead Horse Point State Park. If you have time, it’s definitely a great place to see the sunset while in the area! And it’s right on the way back from the Island in the Sky area of Canyonlands to Moab, so it worked out quite well. Then we spent our last night at our campsite in Moab, and kind of wished we had at least one more day in the area!
Day 4: Moab to Grand Canyon National Park
We packed up our tent and got an early start, since we had a long (5 hour) drive to reach Grand Canyon National Park. About halfway through the drive, we entered Navajo Nation and visited the world-famous Monument Valley. If you’ve seen basically any cowboy or Western movie, you’ve seen Monument Valley. So many of them were filmed there, and it was so cool to see it for myself. There’s a really nice visitor center and we were able to drive around and see all the monuments, plus shop for some Native American-made souvenirs on the way to it.
We continued on our way until we finally reached Grand Canyon National Park. We drove through the eastern half of the park, from Desert View to Grand Canyon Village. This is actually the only part you can drive through along the South Rim, as the western half is managed by park shuttles. The viewpoints were great, though we were a little disappointed by how little you could see from the road. We were probably comparing it to Canyonlands from the day before too much! We did see some wildlife, a bunch of elk in the woods across from the canyon, which was pretty cool. Once in Grand Canyon Village, we set up our tent at the KOA for the night, ready to explore the park more the next day.
Day 5: The Grand Canyon to Las Vegas
The next morning, we packed up camp yet again and then headed to Grand Canyon National Park. We took the shuttles to the major viewpoints along the South Rim on the western half of the park and were treated to incredible views. It was also very crowded, however, and it did dampen the experience a little. One thing we noticed was if you that hiking along the Rim Trail away from the viewpoints–even just a little ways–the crowds started to clear quite a bit. We walked/hiked between most of the viewpoints that way, and it helped us feel more connected to nature and the beautiful setting around us.
Our hotel for the night was in Las Vegas, so we had to say goodbye to the Grand Canyon and continue on. We’d originally planned to drive some of Route 66 on the way, but we’d spent so long at the Grand Canyon we decided to skip it. On our way to our hotel on the Strip, we stopped by the Hoover Dam, since Ryan really wanted to see it. Unfortunately tours were pricey and there wasn’t a good place to stop and look at it, so we just ended up driving by it a couple of times!
We’d found a really cheap hotel room at Harrah’s, so that’s where we stayed in Las Vegas. After all the camping we’d been doing, it was nice to have a hotel room for a night! We went and had a buffet dinner as well, though we made a rookie mistake: ordering chocolate milk as our beverage. The lady at reception said it was nice to see people so happy since most people coming there had just lost at gambling (I guess we were pretty excited about the chocolate milk lol), but it really limited how much buffet food we could partake in. We then checked the temperature and realized it was 108 degrees outside… Since Vegas is the city that never sleeps, we figured we’d go to sleep, set an alarm to wake up later, and head out when it wasn’t quite so hot. Then we slept through the alarm… We checked the temperature when we did wake up, and though it was the middle of the night it was still 102 degrees! So instead we just did a little bit of gambling at the hotel in the morning. I think it’s fair to say that we failed at Las Vegas, haha!
Day 6: Las Vegas to Salt Lake City via Zion National Park
After our tedious attempt at gambling, we left Las Vegas behind and headed back into Utah. We drove through some of Zion National Park, specifically the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway with it’s famous 1.1-mile long tunnel! Throughout the drive we were treated to beautiful views of the national park, and were really glad we’d made that little detour. The next part of the drive was also quite scenic, taking Interstate 15 through several National Forests. Finally, we reached Salt Lake City, where we had a room for the night. Our hotel actually had a really nice view of the Salt Lake Temple lit up at night.
Day 7: Salt Lake City to Idaho Falls
In the morning, we visited the Salt Lake Temple, where we saw its architecture up close and learned about the Mormon religion. Then we drove about an hour and a half west to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Originally we’d planned to attend Bonneville Speed Week, but it ended up being canceled that year due to rain / poor salt conditions. Ryan wanted to see the flats anyway, and have his moment of sadness on the salt. The landscape of the flats is very unique and otherworldly (also a popular place for movies to be filmed) but I’ll note it’s probably not worth going so far out of your way to see it if you don’t have some kind of connection to it!
We decided to make a small unplanned detour in Idaho to see beautiful Shoshone Falls. Actually all of Idaho surprised us with how lovely it was. The license plates say “Scenic Idaho” but I always just thought that’s what you used as a catchphrase when everyone only knows your state produces potatoes. But it actually is incredibly scenic! And as if to drive that point home, when we crossed from Utah into Idaho, there was a double rainbow. We stayed overnight in a hotel in Idaho Falls, and spent our evening enjoying beers and food at a nearby microbrewery.
Day 8: Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks
The next morning, we stopped to check out a military surplus store in Idaho Falls and again at a jewelry store in Jackson, then headed into to Grand Teton National Park. It’s a beautiful park, with mountains and meadows, forests and wildlife. At one point we were stopped on the road because a moose was crossing up ahead, but unfortunately we didn’t get to see it! We did see herds of bison and pronghorn while driving through the park, though!
Next we entered Yellowstone National Park. We drove in through the south entrance, along the loop road and out the west entrance, which really is a small portion of the park, but it took most of the day. Along the way we saw Moose Falls, Old Faithful, and other geothermal wonders like Emerald Pool, Rainbow Pool, and Grand Prismatic Spring. It was incredible, and truly unlike anywhere else on Earth. We camped for the night in Montana’s Gallatin National Forest. Campsites in the national parks proper fill up fast, so camping in nearby national forests is a good way to stay close to the parks, while maybe even saving a little money!
Day 9: Yellowstone to the Black Hills
We knew we had a really long day in store the next day–with over eight hours of driving before we even stopped anywhere in Yellowstone–so we packed up camp before dawn to make the most of our time. We entered Yellowstone National Park as the sun rose, and stopped to take photos of elk and Artist’s Paint Pots and Mammoth Springs. We followed the loop road through the park and out the east entrance, stopping to see bison along the road and as many waterfalls as we could along the way. Gibbon Falls, Tower Falls, and the Lower Falls from Artist’s Point are especially worth seeing!
We then continued on through Wyoming until we reached Custer State Park in South Dakota, where we were camping for the night. It was a pretty long drive and not nearly as eventful as the morning had been, though we did see more pronghorn and mule deer along the route.
Day 10: Black Hills to Home
The next morning, we drove the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park, did a quick drive by to see Mt. Rushmore from the road, then headed home. There’s lots more to do in the Black Hills National Forest area of South Dakota, but we’d both visited multiple times before and were ready to get home after our long journey! One thing I’ll mention is that driving through Badlands National Park is an incredible detour from Interstate 90, and really shouldn’t be missed if you’re heading that direction! If you like caves, Jewel Cave National Monument and Wind Cave National Park are also both well worth visiting, and are included in the National Parks Pass.
That concludes our “Epic American Road Trip” itinerary! I hope you enjoyed reading along, and that it has inspired you to plan your own road trip to one or all of these regions. For more on some of the trip’s best drives, checkout 12 Scenic Drives in the American West. I also made travel videos about this road trip and the waterfalls of Yellowstone.
Finally, I wanted to share a few pieces of advice on how we kept this a budget trip!
- The National Parks Pass is a great investment, especially if you’re planning to visit three or more parks (or some of the more expensive ones), and it gets you into various National Monuments as well.
- We did about half camping, half hotels, which let us keep the lodging budget for this trip quite low. Just be sure to plan it so either you have hotels often enough to shower or your campsites have shower facilities (nearly all of ours did).
- Camping also saves you money on meals. Eating at restaurants for lunch instead of dinner is generally cheaper, and then you can make a cheap dinner at your campsite in the evenings while unwinding for the day.
- Skip guided excursions most of the time, and drive yourself! It’s cheaper and more fun to explore that way.
- Consider using or getting a credit card that rewards you for money spent at gas stations and restaurants, as it can earn you a good amount of cash back on a trip like this. We also saved gas gift cards we got throughout the year and spent them on this trip to keep costs down even more.
Have you taken any similar national parks road trips? Where did you go, and which were your favorites?
