U.S. NATIONAL PARKS TRIP 2007
Joe’s Tips The Cities and Towns The National Parks Hotels Restaurants
This
is a report of a trip to several US national parks from 27 Aug 07 to 23 Sept by
myself (Joe, 64) and my wife Bev (now receiving bus pass).
We
drove nearly 4,000 miles, visited 5 states (Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho,
Utah) and 8 national parks (Rocky Mountain, Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier,
Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyonlands).
It
was a great trip, though it was a bit tiring. We saw a huge range of amazing
scenery and had generally very good weather. We had some rain in RMNP,
Yellowstone, Montana and Glacier, but mostly it was clear and sunny. Some cold,
but not freezing, nights in Yellowstone, Glacier, Salmon and Stanley. It was
hotter than normal in the last two weeks; SLC and Utah and Colorado were over
80F.
We
flew from London (LHR) to Denver. Our route took us through Boulder to RMNP,
then Grand Lake, Rock Springs, Jackson, Lake Yellowstone, Great Falls, Glacier
Park Lodge, Lake McDonald, Missoula, Stanley, Salmon, Twin Falls, Salt Lake
City, Bryce, Moab, Aspen, Colorado Springs, and then flew back from Denver.
As this
was a trip to see the national parks, we didn’t spend much time in cities. A
day in Denver was pleasant, it has a
nice central area around the state capitol, a good pedestrian mall, and an
excellent local history museum showing the spread of development in Colorado,
and other local interest including the training of specialist mountain troops
in WWII who spent months enduring hardships in freezing weather only to be
found unwanted and sent to milder climes.
We
found Salt Lake City a bit
disappointing. The temple area has its interests, but limited unless you are a
Mormon. I was sad to learn that the golden tablets from which Joseph Smith
‘wrote’ the book of Mormon had been taken back by the angel Moroni. I would
have liked to see them. Maybe then I would believe some of this. Best thing in
SLC were the flowers around the temple area.
Our
favourite small towns were Grand Lake,
Jackson and Aspen. Grand Lake has the advantage of being a dead end, so the
streets are wonderfully quiet and pedestrian friendly, and there are superb
views across the lake. It is a typical wooden western town (well, to us Brits
it was) with a deal of charm. Jackson is a bit hokum, but again it has charm
and though the traffic goes through the town, it’s not too bad. It is also
close to the Tetons, and you can easily drive the park and be back in Jackson
for a good choice of eating (try Bubba’s BBQ). Aspen is trendy and expensive,
but it also has a great location and a pedestrian area with designer shops,
restaurants and bars. We only spent one night here, but could have enjoyed longer.
Missoula
looked quite a pleasant place, but we didn’t stop for long, likewise we hardly
saw Rock Springs, Great Falls and Twin Falls, though we did see the Snake River Canyon and Shoshone Falls there
– worth looking at if you are anywhere near. Colorado Springs was a mistake, it
is a large busy urban area dominated by the USAF, and is best avoided (one of
the only two places we were stuck in traffic jams; the other being road works
approaching SLC). The nearby Garden of the Gods seemed very tame after Arches
NP. We didn’t have time to try the railway up Pike’s Peak.
Moab was OK, but not as nice as I hoped. The main road cuts
the town in two and carries quite a lot of traffic. Its OK to stay for visiting
Arches and Canyonlands, but I wouldn’t go there otherwise. Though if you are
into action sports it could be worth it.
The
National Parks are the crowning glory of the United States. If you haven’t been
to any then go. Go now. Take my car (apologies to Bill Bryson). They are
scenically beautiful, and wonderfully organised, with mainly easy roads, lots
of free parking and great visitor centres. They are also an absolute steal. We
bought an annual ‘America the Beautiful’ pass, which takes the two of us into
any park for a year. Cost $80, or £40. It would be cheap at twice the price.
Prices of souvenirs in the visitor centres are also very reasonable, and you
should spend money there as some of it helps to fund the parks.
It
is impossible to pick a favourite, as all the parks were excellent and offered
different things. RMNP is mainly just a drive through along the Trail Ridge Road, which does have
splendid views, going over 12,000 feet. Walking (hiking) is limited unless you
are into serious mountain walks. There is a nice short flat walk round Bear
Lake; sadly it rained heavily on us half way round, which made it less
enjoyable.
We
also just drove through Capitol Reef
(along scenic byway Hwy 12); there isn’t an entrance, so you would not have to
pay. Once again, amazing scenery with high sheer red rock cliffs changing to
grey waves with cream mounds (sounds edible). You could spend a few days here
exploring and walking, though there is virtually no civilisation. Capitol Reef
extends nearly 100 miles to the south – we just drove across it, and is a
geological fault called the Waterpocket fold.
The
drive along Hwy 12 is justly famous, taking
you through a desert of ‘Slick Rock’ which looks like the bottom of the sea (it
was along time ago), then along a narrow and precipitous hogs back, dropping
down into suddenly green Boulder (pop 200), up into alpine like meadows and
mountains and lakes, then down again into Capitol Reef NP. Quite a drive, it
even has its own web page - www.utah.com/byways/highway_12.htm
Yellowstone needs hardly an introduction. Huge with endless
geysers and hot springs and many visitor centres, it also has great scenery
with Lake Yellowstone and its own Grand Canyon with upper and lower waterfalls.
The only down side is the sulphur smell, which can be a bit overpowering at
times. We saw lots of Bison, but no Moose. You really need quite a bit of time
here as the driving can get tiring. We found the northern loop with Mammoth
less impressive than the south loop with the geyser basins.
We must have taken well over a hundred photos,
here is just a very small sample.
I think
maybe I liked the Tetons best of
all. The park is flat and easy to drive round, and you can access it easily
from Jackson. There are also some super lodges in the park (which we didn’t
stay in) – Jenny Lodge and Lake Jackson Lodge. The mountains are always in
view, rising sheer up from the plain with no foothills. The new visitor centre
is splendid and worth a couple of hours on its own, and the walk round Jenny
Lake is wonderful (though Bev found it a bit hard going as it wasn’t completely
flat, and it was quite hot). We took the boat back from the half way point but
I would have like to walk it all. I could happily spend several days walking
round this park.
The
drive from Yellowstone through the Gallatin
river valley is lovely, though it was cloudy and raining when we drove it.
I could spend some time just exploring this valley if I ever get back to
Montana.
The
scenery in Glacier NP is
spectacular, with view after view of high mountain peaks and glacial lakes, and
the GTTS (going to the sun) road lives up to its reputation. It was raining and
cloudy in Two Medicine, so we did
not see the best of it, but it was still very scenic. We had more luck at Many Glacier, with another flat walk
around Swift current Lake. Half way
round we actually came very close to a bear – so close that Bev walked back
while I walked forward past the bear. I have this on camcorder, so may get
round to posting it on the net somehow. The scenery on the west side at Lake
McDonald is still lovely, but not so impressive as the east. The best breakfast
we had on the whole trip was in West Glacier Restaurant – hash browns to die
for.
Though
not a national park, the drive along Idaho’s Snake and Salmon river valleys is very scenic, and worth doing if
you get the chance. Like many of the areas we drove through it is very lightly
populated.
Bryce is like nothing else on earth. We spent a day
driving and walking along the canyon rim (more complaints from Bev about the
walk not being as flat as she likes – to be fair, some of this was at nearly
9,000 feet). The whole canyon is full of weird shaped and coloured ‘hoodoos’,
with views across the valleys stretching over 30 miles away. It would have been
good to walk along the canyon floor as well, but we had not the time or the
energy.
Arches
NP has lots of arches (2,000 apparently), but
only a few visible close to the roads. But there are lots of other fascinating
rock formations like ‘Park Avenue’, and ‘The Three Gossips’. You can see why
they got their names. It was very different from any scenery you get in Europe,
like Bryce, and good fun; but you can ‘do’ it in a few hours (though I expect
serious walkers could spend a lot longer). We spent a morning, and then moved
on to Canyonlands. This is a huge area;
we had time only to stop at the visitor center, drive to ‘Grand View’ point,
and stop at some of the other view points along the way. It certainly is a
grand view, with the land falling away on all sides down 1,000 foot sheer
cliffs to a very flat plateau which itself has 1,000 foot canyons cut into it
by the Colorado and Green rivers. Again, you can see across the valley over 30
miles to more cliffs in the distance. In the geological past, these cliffs were
joined together; the 30 mile plateau was caused by massive upheavals. In fact,
the whole of Utah seems to be riven with faults, folds and erosions, which is
why there are so many national parks there.
Not
a national park, but the drive from Aspen east towards Colorado Springs over Independence Pass was spectacular, and
the country the other side around Twin
Lakes was lovely, with the fall colours showing golden on the surrounding
mountains. Worth a return visit.
Standards
of the hotels we used were mainly very good. The best was probably the Marriott
City Centre in SLC, though we didn’t eat there. The Hamptons in Missoula and
Colorado Springs were the best of the rest, slightly above the Wingate in Rock
Springs, Fairfield Marriott in Great Falls, Comfort in Denver (room a bit
small), and La Quinta in Moab.
These
places were all well equipped, with often 2 queen beds, fridge, microwave,
coffee maker, hair dryer, iron and ironing board. They had business centres
with free internet access, and WiFi in the rooms if you had a laptop. And the
beds were all comfortable too (very important), and complimentary breakfast
included.
The
Elk Country Inn in Jackson was also OK, with a very large room, and a good
position. The Western Riviera in Grand Lake had the best view, with an access
balcony looking out over the lake. Redfish Lake lodge in Stanley was worth
staying at for the location, and the cabin was fine; we ate in the dining room
and found it OK, though our next door neighbours didn’t like it. Syringa Lodge
in Salmon was a different experience, somewhat outside the town; but it was the
best value of all - $70 for a King size bed and generous breakfast for two. The
Aspen hotel in (guess) was enjoyable, with a decent breakfast. The Best America
in Twin Falls had changed to Best Western; the room was comfortable, and the
indoor pool was the best we found (but the aircon was noisy).
Places
in or near the National Parks were not quite so good (and more expensive) – to
be expected, I suppose. Ruby’s at Bryce was just about acceptable, but very
busy even in late season, and the food was pretty basic (there’s not a lot of
choice round about, maybe better in Tropic). Lake Yellowstone Hotel is of
course in a great location, and the room was OK, but food in the dining room
was disappointing. After the first night we ate in the nearby lodge cafeteria,
which was at least cheaper, and an impressive room. Glacier Park Lodge is an
amazing building, worth seeing even if you don’t stay, but the service in the
dining room was dreadful. You can’t book a table, just have to wait (about an
hour and a half). Lake McDonald Lodge has the same problem, so we ate in the
bar (you can get the same food). The rooms here are nothing special, though OK.
If
(when?) I go back, I think I would stay outside the parks (maybe West
Yellowstone and West Glacier). True, you
get the experience of being in the park overnight, but you pay a lot for it,
and the rooms and food service are sub standard compared with what you can get
outside. And in Yellowstone you end up doing a lot of driving wherever you
stay.
Another
thing – if you do stay in the park lodges, do not use the Xanterra web site.
They charge about an extra $20 per night booking fee. Book direct with each
hotel or lodge, but that can be difficult as Google will take you to Xanterra.
One
of the most enjoyable (and best value) meals we had was in a Japanese/ Chinese
place called Bonsai near the Wingate in Rock Springs; two huge plates of
Chicken and Cashew nuts and Sizzling meats, a tureen of rice, washed down with
a very good Robert Mondavi Woodbridge Sauvignon Blanc for $38. As often the
case, we could not eat it all.
In
Grand Lake, the best bet is the Sagebrush (a bit rough – peanut shells on the
floor, but nice) – Salmon, ribs, half carafe of house wine $45; comes with
excellent corn bread.
In
Jackson we moved up market to the Cadillac – a nice comfortable art deco
interior, though the food was only average ($68 for pizza, salad, steak and
wine).
We
were in Missoula for Bev’s birthday, so we splashed out on the nearby Blue
Canyon restaurant at the Hilton. The starters (seafood bisque and salad) were
very good, my grouper was good, but Bev wasn’t so keen on her lobster risotto.
With a bottle of decent chardonnay we paid $105.
Another
enjoyable cheap and cheerful meal was at the Brewery in Salmon, with salad,
soup, good ribeye steak and Cabernet Sauvignon we only paid about $30.
In
Twin Falls we walked to the nearby ‘Tomatos’ where large helpings (again) of lasagne spaghetti bolognese
with chianti and salad cost $40, quite enjoyable.
In SLC
we chose not to walk far, and tried the local Cindy Lee Chinese café where we
paid a mere $26 for hot sour soup, cold spring rolls, chicken with lemon grass
and red pepper, seafood in pot, rice and tea. Good food, good value. Next night
we ate close by at Kabob - baba ghanouz, dolme and yogurt, beef kabob with 3
big glasses of yellowtail shiraz was $43. They don’t serve a lot of wine here
(SLC still has strange liquor laws), and the waitress poured it out in large
quantities.
In
Moab we were directed to the Brewery where a good steak, fish & chips, fair
beer and a couple of yellowtail shiraz was $49.
Aspen
is a tad expensive, but we had a good meal (one of the best) in the Steak pit
where we ate (guess) a ribeye and a kabob with salad bar and a bottle of good
Zinfandel for $105.
Finally,
near the (airforce) Hampton outside Colorado Springs, we had to drive a couple
of miles to a plaza where Ted’s Montana Grill provided a decent meal of grilled
salmon, burger and 2 glasses of wine for $40.
Keep
your gas tank topped up. It can be a long way between gas stations in these
wild areas.
Visitor
stations will often have a road map of the state (or adjacent ones) if you ask,
as well as town maps.
Supermarket
delis will provide sandwiches and salads which make a good picnic lunch.
Don’t
rely on your mobile phone. In many places we could not get a signal.
Order
one main course between two people. If you are hungry, order a starter to share
as well. Or even one each.
If
your room doesn’t have a fridge, it will almost certainly have ice, so use your
ice bucket to chill drinks.
If
you are going to visit more than a couple of parks, get an annual pass – you
can buy them at any entrance station.
