Fellow Inmates: A few years ago my wife and I were lucky enough to take a trip across Canada from Winnipeg to Jasper and down the Icefields Parkway, the best trip, maybe the best 2 weeks of my life. My wife and I, experienced road riders, are planning a vacation this summer to the Rocky Mountains, duration of about 2-3 weeks. We have camped but are not experienced campers but look forward to do some camping this year. We have some of the equipment we need, but probably not all. We are trying to determine whether to do a constantly moving trip, like we are used to, a Colorado/Utah/Wyoming/Montana flying trip or pick a couple of central locations for day trips. Of course we are looking for great campgrounds, especially if we plan to stay multiple nights. I have purchased Butler Maps and look forward to the help they might be in this, but personal endorsements from you regarding campgrounds,eats, points of interest, my fellow travelers, would be much appreciated. I am trying to use this trip as a prep trip for an all summer trip in a few years when I retire, so cheap is the order of the day, while minimizing a sacrifice in quality. We both ride so have two bikes for packing stuff. Thanks for any help you can be! Mark
Mark, I advise visiting the National Parks. See my 8,xxx custom waypoint on the GPSPassion web site or email me offline and I'll send them to you. The National Parks system has everything you need, campsites, etc. Don't forget your senior NP pass which let's you in for free and 50% off camping in most Parks. Robert IBA National Parks Tour silver Level. Ps Colorado National Monument is a must for camping
Yellowstone is a must see as you move through the area, but many people do not like to stay for a long time, due to the crowds. If you go, budget a full day to get through the park, as speed limits are low and there are a lot of motorhomes... and traffic jams when the easterners see an animal near the road. Give us a little more info on what you like and more ideas will come. One example, while there are TONS of campgrounds out here, much of the west is public land that allows you to just stop and camp where ever you happen to be.
Remember animals east loop, geysers west loop. Cages stop anywhere in the roadway to see animals and in parking lots to see geysers. Standstill traffic on the roadways east loop = much, much wasted time. See the animals early morning or evening. Get up before dawn and get a good spot, you won't be disappointed. Use the bear-proof food storage containers!
If you are riding dual sports and can ride dirt/gravel forest roads you might want to stay in one place and explore. If you are limited to pavement you want to keep moving because there aren't a lot of paved roads when you are in the mountains. There are lots of places to camp in the forest besides paying camp grounds. You can generally camp anywhere on public land except where it says you can't. Even the campgrounds are pretty primative. They usually have an outhouse and sometimes water. There are privately owned campgrounds that have shower and full facilties. I usually camp out somewhere one day and the next pay where I can get a shower. Glacier Park and Yellowstone are worth seeing as well as the Tetons. You probably want to spend some times in places like that so you can see everything. Other places you might want to just travel through with stops for pictures.
I guess as much as anything we want to get the experience of camping in the mountains away from a crowd. Don't mind a few folks around, maybe even other bikers, but want to stay away from the loud kids and drunks if we can. (maybe I've spent too much time at Nascar tracks!) Just being there, with the scenery is probably enough for me but I think maybe the suggestion to camp one night and motel the next might be the ticket. Thanks for the input Mark
co: dolores caynon/141> gateway http://www.gatewayautomuseum.com/ > telluride > dallas divide>ridgeway (Adobe Inn restaraunt)> http://www.orvishotsprings.com/ >550>durango (restaraunts galore)>160>pagossa springs> http://www.pagosahotsprings.com/ ut: torrey (cafe diablo) > rt12 s > kodachrome basin SP camp > bryce > cedar breaks > zion wy/mt: beartooth, redlodge, chief joseph hiway
yellowstone is one of the worst motorcycling experiences in the west. clutch, brake, rv smoke, 10 mph, tourist randomly jamming on the brakes, radar traps take a car! i only use it when i need to go across the corners of the park to connect other roads. i've made the mistake 2x to ride through the legnth. never again. like i said use the corners to move across. say west yellowstone > check out old faith > gardiner/boiling river > ne corner > beartooth > red lodge > bearthooth > chief joseph > cody > se park corner > jackson hole boiling river hot spring is the coolest thing in the park imo, but i like to soak. the tetons are much better to look at. jenny lake is a must
I didn't mention it in my original post, but I have been in both Glacier and Yellowstone as part of my way home on that trip down the Icefields Parkway. I thought they were both great, although I have to give the nod to Bill about the traffic at Yellowstone. I guess what I'm looking for is the road less traveled, the one that 95% of the RV's miss. Maybe I'm going to have to take this Dual Sport thing a little more seriously. I've got a GS that doesn't see much off-road, or hasn't with my butt on it anyway. Thing is, I like to take my wife along (she rides an RT) and doesn't like gravel/dirt/trails much. Maybe I'll have to find her a nice mall while we're out west and go for a ride for a day or two by myself! Bill- I took your maps out of my frozen mailbox this morning, stretched the overview map out across the dining room table and can't wait to take a look at them tonight.
I like to take pictures. The trick in the big parks is to visit in late fall, or get out of bed and travel at 5:00am-7:00am.
