Month-Long Western US Trek with my Dad

[csclifford]

Hey everyone,

About 11 months ago I started a trip planning thread (Here) with the idea that I would surprise my Dad with a month-long trip. My Dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease two years ago, and this past year he had to retire from his job. Given his newly retired status, I thought that I would try to plan something special for him. This past spring I took the semester off for an accounting internship in Chicago. The internship was from the beginning of January to mid-March. Since I did not have to be back to school until the end of May, the break between my internship and starting summer classes provided me two free months.

Growing up, my Dad and I used to be avid backpackers. All of the trips I took growing up centered around visiting different National Parks. This gave me a great appreciation for the outdoors. Since my Dad's mobility is worsening every year, I figured that we may not get another chance to go on a real adventure. Once I graduate next year I know I won't have the kind of free time to go on a trip like this.

So I started planning the trip. What initially started as an ambitious route that went into Alaska turned out to be much more tame. My Dad and I decided that our first stop would be in Moab, Utah. We planned to stay here for at least 7 days, with the intent on seeing Arches, Canyonlands, and Bryce Canyon NP. After that, we were going to completely plan as we went. Since I had no idea how my Dad's health would hold up, there was no real reason to set a strict agenda.

I returned back to Iowa from Chicago the third week of March, giving us a week to get packed and to get my Jeep serviced and ready to go. (details about my vehicle are in the planning thread).

On March 31st, we were off! With the first day consisting of 12 hours of driving to get us to the outskirts of Denver.

I apologize for the picture quality, as all of these were shot with my iPhone 5. My dad had a camera and took over 1,000 photos, but has yet to go through them all.

My Jeep was fully loaded, as well as the 2000 Coleman pop-up tent camper that were bringing with. I initially wanted to just purchase a RTT for the trip, but my Dad and I figured that he would be more comfortable in something like a pop-up.



We ended up staying in a suburb of Denver for the night at a cheap hotel, as we didn't want to have to deal with the set up and tear down of the pop-up, considering we needed to make an early start the next morning to make it to Moab by a reasonable hour.

The drive from Denver to Moab is a beautiful one, and I always love driving through the Rocky Mountains. Though I must admit my Jeep didn't enjoy pulling the pop-up through the mountains.




It's amazing how much the scenery changes, and I was able to get a few decent shots at lower elevations:



And just like that, the scenery changed again. Entering Utah brought about some very dry and desert-like climate:



MORE TO FOLLOW

 

[csclifford]

Well we arrived in Moab about six hours of driving into our second day on the road. It is truly an incredibly place. I have been out West many times growing up, but neither my Dad nor I have spent any time in Utah.

We arrived at a RV park in Moab that we had reserved for 7 nights. We figured that it would be worth staying at a RV park so that we could have electricity and water. While we both like to boondock when we can, it is never very pleasant to go for a full week without good running water or power.


The first stop for us was Arches National Park. I'm sure many of you have been here, but pictures truly don't do it justice.

Obligatory NP sign photos:









All of the arches were truly amazing:




As we set off on a 3 mile hike to a more remote arch, a storm suddenly appeared and moved towards us rather quickly:

The storm brought about some good sized hail:


But, eventually we made it to the arch:

 

[csclifford]

Some more photos from Arches:

 

[csclifford]

After two days at Arches we had seen and hiked about every possible thing. So we set our sights on Canyonlands NP. I was anxious to get my Grand Cherokee off-road a little bit and had read about the Schafer Trail. The trail offers some of the best views of the canyons, as long as you aren't afraid of heights. The trail is in the Northeast portion of the park, known as the Island in the Sky portion. The first portion of the trail takes you along a very narrow cattle trail that winds along the canyon wall, nearly 1,000 ft high. As my Dad doesn't deal with heights very well I was not sure if I could convince him to go. However, once we pulled into the park he insisted we do the trail...So off we went!

A view of the road that we were to eventually drive to:


The start of the trail:



A look at some of the switchbacks to get down into the valley:


After driving white-knuckled for about half an hour we made it into the valley!



Once we got into the valley there was some more technical off-road driving to be had:



The trail lead to some spectacular views, and we were the only people around for miles. Throughout the whole day we only saw two other vehicles:








My Dad wanted to try to get a photo that looked like I was jumping off a cliff....It didn't turn out quite as hoped, haha:

 

[Quest4ADV]

Love it, gotta enjoy the time with your Dad while you can. Wish I could still do trips with mine.

These will be memories you'll have forever!

 

[csclifford]

The next day we spent our time off-roading in the Needles section of the Canyonlands National Park. We decided to take the trail called Colorado River Overlook. It didn't sound like a very difficult trail, but the last two miles proved to be difficult. The last mile of the trail turned into some pretty extreme off-roading, which we were not comfortable doing...As we were by ourselves and if we damaged the Jeep we'd be SOL for the trip. So we ended up parking the Jeep about 6 miles into it and hiking the last mile or so on foot to get to the overlook:






The Colorado River:







Throughout the entire day we only saw one other vehicle on the trail, and it was as we were heading back from the overlook. Canyonlands turned out to be amazing. My Dad and I loved how desolate and remote it felt, compared to Arches. You hardly saw anyone, and the views were spectacular and endless no matter where you looked.

Once I get a proper overland-vehicle setup I want to go back and do the White Rim Trail that goes about 100 miles throughout the entire park. It looks to be about a week-long excursion and would definitely be beautiful.

 

[csclifford]

Love it, gotta enjoy the time with your Dad while you can. Wish I could still do trips with mine.

These will be memories you'll have forever!

Thanks! We really did have a great time, and I know it's something neither of us will forget.

 

[csclifford]

After leaving Moab our next stop was Capitol Reef NP. We had heard good things from a couple we had met in Moab, saying that it offered some pretty fun off-road driving. While it was pretty, it definitely did not compare to Arches and Canyonlands.

After setting up camp, we spent the day driving a total of 70 miles off-pavement on one of the northern off-road loops throughout the park. To be honest, if I go back I would not plan on doing that again. It was way too many miles on poor rock-roads that beat the living hell out of my vehicle. It was never technical off-roading, and more of a glorified crappy gravel road. We took the shortest path possible, but that still took about 6 hours and 70 miles. That being said, here are some photos:



A photo of glass mountain. It's hard to tell but there were pieces of what looked like glass laying all around it:


Temple of the Sun and Moon:




A sink hole that was said to be over 200 feet deep:




The highlight of the trail was a "water crossing". This was the first water my GC had ever driven through, and it was pretty tame. It was about 18-20" deep in the middle, so it was a piece of cake:

 

[digitaldelay]

Awesome! I'm looking forward to the rest. Thanks for sharing!

Jason

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Great report. And great father-son moments. Enjoy it.

 

[csclifford]

After Capitol Reef NP we set off on the road for our next stop, Bryce Canyon NP.

We took the historic US-12 on the way there:





Bryce Canyon turned out to be phenomenal. The Hoodoo rock formations were so unique and beautiful, it was an awesome sight everywhere we looked. The park was very crowded though, and since we hate crowds we decided to do some more strenuous hiking. Once you get about 3-4 miles away from the main trails you tend to not see as many people!













We had been staying at National Parks for quite a few days at this point, so these things were our best friends:


Our "shower":



After a couple days at Bryce Canyon, it was time for a change of scenery. We both decided that as beautiful as Utah was, we were tired of rock formations and dry land. So, since we had nothing planned we spent the night deciding where to go to...

After some contemplation on whether to go south to the Grand Canyon, West to Yosemite, or North...We decided to try our luck and head north!

 

[csclifford]

After some deliberation we decided that our next stop was to be Jackson, Wyoming. I had been there as a very little kid, but I hardly have any memories of it. My Dad always talked about how beautiful it is, so we decided to head that way.

To say the scenery changed drastically from Utah would be an understatement:



Since it was only mid-April, there was really too much snow to do anything in Yellowstone or Teton NP. Jackson Hole is known for its amazing access to the Snake and Hoback Rivers, providing some of the best fly fishing in North America. So, after talking to a local, we decided to go to K-Mart and buy some starter fly fishing gear. We could have paid $400-$500 for a day with a fly-fishing guide, but we figured for $100 we could get our own gear that we could keep, and we could fish as long as we wanted, giving us more time to appreciate the scenery:








That was the first time that we both had been fly fishing...So needless to say we didn't catch anything all day (there isn't much fly fishing in Iowa, haha). But we still had an amazing time.

 

[csclifford]

Great report. And great father-son moments. Enjoy it.

Thank you!

 

[csclifford]

Awesome! I'm looking forward to the rest. Thanks for sharing!

Jason

Thanks! There is plenty more to come.

 

[csclifford]

The cold weather was starting to get to us, so we wanted to head somewhere more mild. Since the point of the trip was to see places neither of us have seen, we decided to head Northwest, with our next major stop being Olympic National Park in the very Northwest corner of Washington. What followed was a mad dash for a couple of days, so that we would have plenty of time to enjoy the Northwest.

Plenty of elk sightings heading North from Jackson:


Driving past the Grand Tetons:


We drove up North towards Montana, which turned out to be a beautiful drive:




On the way, we stopped for a couple nights in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. My Dad always wanted to visit there because apparently it's a very popular place to retire now-a-days. We got lucky and found a beautiful RV campground that was completely empty, and right on the water: