Right. Like the old bull/young bull lesson.

 

its a trip with the wife and she doesn't ride as either rider or passenger

so if i wanna do this with her, then it won't be with the HD

we have been on trips where i rode and she drove but for longer distances, she prefers to have someone helping with the driving

 

With nine days and a car (with A/C!!) you should be able to see Moab, UT, with Arches National Park during the day (it'll be hot) and drive west a bit to experience the sunset at Dead Horse Point State Park. We stayed at the hotel in Green River UT, which is about 45 miles from Moab, but the rooms were easily 1/2 the cost of Moab. From Moab you can drive south to LaSal Junction and turn east on Hwy 46 back into Colorado. You'll come out north of Telluride. Be sure to stop in Telluride but then come back to the north and east to Rideway before turning south again through Ouray / Red Mountain Pass / Silverton. If you think you may not come back this way anytime soon I would definitely take an extra day to ride the Durango-Silverton railway. Its an experience your family will enjoy. Lots of good night life in Durango as well.

 

got the trip pretty planned out
fly to vegas morning of saturday sept 20 and use rental car
(i know i know, this is a harley forum, whatever)
me, wife, daughter and son

saturday
some shopping for stuff in vegas (coolers, camp fuel, food)
drive to grand canyon, camp overnite
i have reservs for two nites but might use only on

sunday
drive thru mexican hat, moki dugway, on to national bridges, camp overnite

monday
drive to these locations:
islands in the sky
dead horse point st pk
hovenweep
monument valley
at nite camp around moab area

tue
continue with mondays itinerary
arches
canyonland
have fiery furnace tour in afternoon
stay at campground one more nite

wed
drive thru capital reef and bryce
drive on to page and stay overnite
this is a lot of driving, but have camp reservs in page and can check in late

thu
take colorado raft trip (8a-5p)
stay another nite in page

fri
drive to zion, camp overnite

sat
drive back to las vegas and fly home in pm

we plan on doing hiking around parks as much as possible
meals will be pretty darned basic, like a protien drink for breakfast, quick for lunch, hamburgers, hot dogs, italian sausage, etc for dinner

comments?

 

Mark;

when you say "camp around Moab", do you have arrangements made? If not,
I wouldn't assume that you'll be able to find places easily. There are limited
camping sites in Arches, but none of the sites have any shade.

 

no arrangements made
and i know there are few campgrounds in the park, but there are quite a number of land management campgrounds in the area - of course all with limited services, but thats okay. most are first come first served so no reservations any way.

bad comes to worse - maybe a hotel / motel / or whatever, like sleep in the car (wife will love that)

 

Take one of the tours in Monument Valley, and grab a bite at Goulding's, across the street.

 

There are a couple camp grounds in Moab. Don't know much about them though. There's a nice campground at Dead Horse State Park....that might work for the group.

 

Having done this trip ( on my bike) from the Northwest last year, I can tell you that you may have made a few small errors in your plan. The biggest one is putting Dead Horse Point St Pk, on the day before Canyonland. Canyonland and Dead Horse are on the same dead end road. About 5 miles north of Arches, is the turn off for both parks. The road is nearly 30 miles long and it stay above the Colorado River canyon the whole way. In my opinion, you could skip both, unless you have a vehicle that can go on dirt roads. The paved road is up top and all you really get to do is to look down or across the Canyon. I spent 4 hours driving and hiking Canyonland (I did not go down to Dead Horse since it all looked the same).

I did do Arches twice. It is fantastic and has so many views and hikes, you really should take two full days. I camped at a campground on the south end of Moab. Main street Moab has lots of big trucks so it is noisy. It also has lots of restaurants and there is shopping for your wife.

I came to Moab from Bryce. I stayed outside Bryce first and then drove UT 12 to Torrey. Torrey is really small but again there is camping and motels. If you stop along the way, Bryce to Torry is one day. From Torrey east bound, you pass by Capitol Reef. This is a nice spot for an hour unless you drive through it. Eventually, you turn north bound, up towards Green River (you pass by Goblin St Pk and this is interesting. From Green River, you head east 30 miles and then south 30 miles to Moab. I found it interesting, that from the western lookout at Canyonland, you can see nearly the 90 mile drive from the one spot. You will be doing this in reverse, Moab to Bryce. If you see Bryce the day after the drive from Moab, you should be fine.

 

Having done this trip ( on my bike) from the Northwest last year, I can tell you that you may have made a few small errors in your plan. The biggest one is putting Dead Horse Point St Pk, on the day before Canyonland. Canyonland and Dead Horse are on the same dead end road. About 5 miles north of Arches, is the turn off for both parks. The road is nearly 30 miles long and it stay above the Colorado River canyon the whole way. In my opinion, you could skip both, unless you have a vehicle that can go on dirt roads. The paved road is up top and all you really get to do is to look down or across the Canyon. I spent 4 hours driving and hiking Canyonland (I did not go down to Dead Horse since it all looked the same).

I did do Arches twice. It is fantastic and has so many views and hikes, you really should take two full days. I camped at a campground on the south end of Moab. Main street Moab has lots of big trucks so it is noisy. It also has lots of restaurants and there is shopping for your wife.

I came to Moab from Bryce. I stayed outside Bryce first and then drove UT 12 to Torrey. Torrey is really small but again there is camping and motels. If you stop along the way, Bryce to Torry is one day. From Torrey east bound, you pass by Capitol Reef. This is a nice spot for an hour unless you drive through it. Eventually, you turn north bound, up towards Green River (you pass by Goblin St Pk and this is interesting. From Green River, you head east 30 miles and then south 30 miles to Moab. I found it interesting, that from the western lookout at Canyonland, you can see nearly the 90 mile drive from the one spot. You will be doing this in reverse, Moab to Bryce. If you see Bryce the day after the drive from Moab, you should be fine.