Retirement Road Trips

[Tony Crocker]

I don't think you have to be on a guided tour to hike to the floor of Canyon De Chelly. I can't comment on what's involved in doing Monument Valley in the same day as I did them on separate trips. But you're retired. If you need an extra day, take it.

 

[Sbooker]

In 2-3 weeks I'll be driving from SLC to Wash DC. I'm going to do the drive with my wife and we'll probably not spend more than seven or eight days on the road.

Tentative itinerary:
Day 1, drive from SLC area to Kanab, UT, stop along the way for a 3-4 hour visit in Bryce Canyon Nat'l Park. Was there about three years ago. This time may concentrate on a 90-120 minute scenic hike at one spot rather than visit all the pull-overs on the Park drive. Continue on to a motel in Kanab.
Day 2, drive from Kanab to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. If I luck out and get a last minute vacancy in the Lodge, will stay there one or two nights, otherwise return to Kanab motel.
Day 3, if I get into Grand Canyon Lodge will spend the day further exploring the N. Rim. If I don't, I might drive over from Kanab to Page, AZ and do a scenic boat ride up Navaho Canyon on Lake Powell.
Day 4, from either Kanab or N. Rim, drive to Monument Valley then drive to Canyon de Chelly, not sure if I'll have to time to do an escorted tour of the valley floor of Canyon de Chelly. Continue on to Stay in a motel in northwestern NM (Farmington-Bloomfield area)
Day 5, drive across northern NM with stops at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert and the town of Taos. Stay in a motel in Taos.
Day 6, Taos to Wichita, KS, 9 hr driving day
Day 7, Wichita to Indiana, 9 hr driving day
Day 8, Indiana to Wash DC area home, 9 hr driving day


I have never been to the Kanab-Taos segment of trip. I have been to Taos and points east before. Because they may be a bit much to both do in one day, If I had to skip either Monument Valley or Canyon de Chelly, which would you guys recommend skipping? Let me know if you have other questions or suggestions about my route. Cheers!

You Americans are so lucky to have such stunning natural landscapes so accessible to other civilisation.

 

[ChrisC]

I have never been to the Kanab-Taos segment of trip. I have been to Taos and points east before. Because they may be a bit much to both do in one day, If I had to skip either Monument Valley or Canyon de Chelly, which would you guys recommend skipping?

I really enjoyed Monument Valley. There are so many recognizable vistas that have been used in commercials, movies, TV, etc.

However, it is important to note that the park is not run by the US NPS, but by the Navajo Nation. Things are just a little rough or less touristy around the edges. The road and turnoffs are unpaved, so a 4x4/AWD is preferable. However, you can kinda get up close to anything you are interested in. It's not an overly manicured experience. It's a slow almost 20-mile loop that takes about half a day to visit. There is not really much hiking in Monument Valley.

You could likely make it to Canyon de Chelly and do some overlooks and possibly a tour. Again, longer daylight, but a lot to pack in if heading onto Farmington NM.

Also, remember that Arizona is on Mountain Standard Time year-round - NO DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME. So Arizona is one hour behind Utah and New Mexico in the summer. However, the ONE EXCEPTION to this is the Navajo Nation Arizona is on Daylight Savings Time.

Therefore, you are crossing a time zone from the Grand Canyon to Monument Valley / Canyon de Chelly. But these parks are in the same time zone as Kanab UT. Crazy! This can mess with your mobile phone too if it pings a tower in Utah while you are in Arizona - like around Paige. Or vice versa.

I might take an extra day and do some activities around Page AZ. You have some world-class sites such as the Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado River, Antelope Canyon (Upper is more scenic than Lower), and overlooks onto the Glen Canyon Dam forming Lake Powell/kayaking from the nearby Antelope Point marina.

I have not been to Canyon de Chelly, but I was more interested in visiting Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and Lake Powell. Was not able to score a permit for the hike at The Wave in Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness.

 

[jimk]

Yeah, thanks. I'll have to watch that time zone thing, especially if I sign up for a scheduled boat ride on Lake Powell.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Reports from 2012, similar time of year:
Antelope Canyon
boat ride on Lake Powell to Rainbow Bridge
The Wave in Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness

 

[Tony Crocker]

Here's March 10 - April 4, 2023, 3,250 miles.

This trip started with Iron Blosam Week, then to Pebble Creek and Targhee on the way to the Ski Hall of Fame induction at Big Sky. We moved on to Great Divide, Discovery, Lost Trail and Sun Valley, then skied Mammoth's record snowpack on the way home. Longest day was 624 miles, longest 2 day 685.

 

[jimk]

My cross country drive from Salt Lake City to Washington DC went well. Thanks for the input folks! Now home in the Wash DC area for the next 7 months or so.

Traveled from June 9-17, 2023, 3150 total miles, about 2000 of which were on two lane roads rather than interstates (approx Provo, UT to Wichita, KS). Highlights below.


10 June 2023, The Castle at Capitol Reef National Park,

Moi beside restored pioneer house inside Capitol Reef NP. Rather unusually, Park Service employees sell delicious fresh made pies in this building. It's supposed to give you a sense of the produce that came from a little Mormon settlement/oasis formerly located (abandoned in 1969) in the area they called Fruita.

Otherwise, it's dry red rocks everywhere at Capitol Reef NP. This park is about 4 hours south of SLC:

After Capitol Reef NP we continued on Hwy 12, one of the great scenic byways in America, esp the section from Torrey to Escalante, in southern UT. The couple of miles pictured below near Boulder, UT are incredible. 1000' drops on both sides of the road as it curves atop a mountain spine that is only 30 yards wide in spots.

It was like this on both sides of the road.

11 June, Next we visited Grand Canyon NP, North Rim. You have to basically drive 80 miles down a dead end street to get there and therefore the North Rim gets only 10% of the visitation of the South Rim. It was nice to find plenty of open parking spaces and empty scenic overlooks. Temps nice and a high of 67 degs at 8800' elevation. There are huge sheer drops on both sides of this little bridge my wife is crossing at Bright Angel Point!

Pretty tough to find an empty overlook like this at the South Rim, esp in June.

Trailside view from Point Imperial Grand Canyon NP, North Rim.

12 June, Next day was a challenging one because there was too much to see and we needed to also log some mileage. We took a 90 minute boat ride on Lake Powell out of the Wahweap Marina run by the Navajo tribe. Marina is in AZ, most of the background including part of the lake is in UT.

to be continued...
Saw this guy zipping around the lake. They call it an E-foil. Appears to be very similar to the E-skateboards that I'm more familiar with on terrestrial bike trails.

View of Glen Canyon Dam from water level (up 51' from last year).

My wife enjoyed the leisurely pace/duration of this boat ride, the boat was mostly empty too.

View of the dam from the Carl Hayden Visitor Center near Page, AZ.

12 June continued, Regrettably we weren't able to allot sufficient time to tour either Monument Valley or Canyon de Chelly. Next time! But just a drive-by from a few miles outside Monument Valley almost caused me to wreck the car from too much gaping. For a comparison, the area looked like natural-made skyscrapers rising every few miles straight out of the desert floor, which is an elevation of approx 5-6k above sea level in this part of the Colorado Plateau.

This is 400' Church Rock, this photo was taken as I drove by on Hwy 160.

Random roadside beauty along Hwy 160 near Kayenta, AZ.

Nearby Ship Rock stands 1,583' above the desert floor, but is farther from the highway.

13 June 2023, we spent the entire day driving across northern NM on two lane roads...to be continued.