In 2022 my husband and I quit our jobs and are taking a year off of work to travel! Our first destination on our “Year Long Honeymoon” was this road trip where we visited ten National Parks in Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and Wyoming in 3 weeks: Rocky Mountain, Great Sand Dunes, and Mesa Verde in CO, Petrified Forest and Grand Canyon in AZ, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, and Arches in UT, and Grand Tetons in WY.
In this post I’ll walk through the highlights of each park we visited, how much time to allocate to each park, and the best routes to drive between the parks. We were on the road for 24 days but we were driving from Indiana and stopped in Missouri for 4 nights, so this could easily be done in 3 weeks, or less if you cut some of the parks out.
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If you have more time you could easily add a few more parks, too! Some others to add are Black Canyon of the Gunnison in CO, Capital Reef in UT, Great Basin in NV, Yellowstone in WY, and Wind Cave and Badlands in SD.
You can start at whatever park is closest to your home, or fly into the area, rent a car and start there. We were driving from Indiana so we hit Colorado first, which is how I’ll organize the post, along with a Missouri add on if you’re driving from the Midwest on I-70.
Rocky Mountain National Park
Rocky Mountain National Park is up there as one of our favorite parks we’ve ever visited. It has so many miles of breathtaking hiking trails, but if hiking isn’t your thing, you can see amazing views from the roads in the park. Read my First Timers Guide to Rocky Mountain National Park (post coming soon) for more information!
We hiked to Chasm Lake and Sky Pond. We found “Your Guide to the National Parks” to be very helpful in choosing and planning our hikes.
There is currently a timed entry system in place both for the main park entrances and for access to the Bear Lake Road corridor of the park, so planning ahead will be necessary. If you are staying in the park you do not need to have a timed entry reservation, which is what we did.
Rocky Mountain to Great Sand Dunes
Miles: 300
Drive Time: 6 hours
This was a long driving day, but definitely one of the most beautiful. Assuming you are staying in Estes Park, you will have to drive the entire Trail Ridge Road through the park, and this road is not open in the winter. Once you exit the park take US-40 West to Kremmling, and then CO-9 South to 1-70 W. You will exit the interstate after only 10 miles and CO-91 south to the historic and charming town of Leadville. From there follow US-24 E and US-285 S. There will be a turn off to CO-17 which takes you to Alamosa, CO. We spent the night in this Southwestern town before visiting the park in the morning.
If the park is closed or you don’t have a timed entry permit, you can drive down I-25 and then over on US-160, but this drive is much less scenic.
Great Sand Dunes National Park
Great Sand Dunes is perhaps one of the most straight forward parks. It has an area of tall, rolling sand dunes surrounded by desert on one side and mountains on the other. There’s not a long scenic drive in this park like there is in most others and it’s a relatively small park. You can see everything in half a day, or spend the whole day playing in the creek and the sand at the base of the dunes.
We chose to hike about 3 miles round trip up to High Dune, which is the 2nd tallest dune in the park. There aren’t really trails though, you just follow the ridge lines of other dunes as you make your way up. If you don’t want to get sandy there are some trails on the mountain side of the park but they’re nothing to write home about.
Great Sand Dunes to Mesa Verde/Cortez, CO
Miles: 215
Drive Time: 4 hours
This is a relatively easy driving day as you’ll be on US-160 W the whole time. You drive through a pretty epic mountain pass in the Rio Grande National Forest, and pass through many touristy small towns. The closest town to Mesa Verde is Cortez, CO where we stayed.
An optional stop off on the drive is visiting Chimney Rock National Monument. Look for the signs to turn off after you pass through Pagosa Springs. The monument is free to visit if you have a National Park annual pass. There are two shorts trails leading to century old remains from the Puebloan people. There are great kivas, pit houses and multi family dwellings built up on a mesa with incredible views.
Mesa Verde National Park
Mesa Verde is a unique National Park in that is was the first park dedicated to preserving man made creations instead of the natural world. The cliff dwellings, kivas, and pit houses in the park are between 500-1,000 years old and are very neat to see and learn about. You could see most of the park in half a day, and you definitely don’t need more than one full in the park.
All but one of the cliff dwellings (Step House) requires an advanced reservation to visit. Unfortunately we were not able to get a reservation in time. According to the NPS “Tickets are available 14 days in advance, 8:00 am MST, on a rolling daily window. For example, tickets for May 2nd will be available starting April 18th at 8:00 am MDT. Demand for tour tickets is high. We recommend reserving tickets as soon as they become available.”
Mesa Verde to Sedona (optional) or Grand Canyon
Miles to Sedona: 350 with Petrified Forest
Drive Time to Sedona: 5.75 hours with Petrified Forest
Mile to Grand Canyon: 255 miles or 400 miles with Petrified Forest
Drive Time to Grand Canyon: 4 hours or 6 hours with Petrified Forest
If you’re short on time, you can travel directly from Mesa Verde to the Grand Canyon in just 4 hours continuing on US-160 W. This route also drive right by Four Corners Monument, where you can stand in four states at the same time!
However, we did not drive this route as we chose to visit Petrified Forest National Park and Sedona, AZ before heading to the Grand Canyon. We took US-491 S to I-40 W and it was definitely a long driving day, but overall I think it was worth it.
Petrified Forest National Park
If you drive the suggest route about you will literally drive straight through another National Park, Petrified Forest. I-40 runs through the park, and with just a few hours you can see most of what the park has to offer. There is one main 28 mile road throughout the park with many viewpoints and short hiking trails. We hiked the 1 mile Blue Mesa Trail and enjoyed getting up close and personal to all the petrified wood along the route. We also stopped at the Rainbow Forest Museum to see “Old Faithful” the giant Petrified tree we’re sitting on below.
Sedona
While not home to a National Park, Sedona is a great add on to this road trip. It only adds 90 minutes of driving to the trip, and a whole lot of beauty and incredible hiking. During our 2 days in Sedona we hiked to Devil’s Bridge, Cathedral Rock, and Birthing Cave. We also really enjoyed our drive down 89A into Sedona.
In addition to hiking, Sedona is a popular destination for off-roading and renting Jeeps or ATVs. They also have a big “wellness and healing” scene with energy vortex tours and other stuff I have no idea about 🙂
Grand Canyon National Park
This park hardly needs an introduction, and Andrew and I were both so excited to finally see it in person! We spent two nights in Mather Campground in the park and I would recommend the campground. If you’re not a camper there are also numerous lodges inside the park and several hotels just outside the park. This itinerary just takes you to the park’s south rim, but if you have extra time you could add a visit to the north rim as well. If you’re just visiting the south rim, one full day in the park is enough for most people to do a shorter hike into the canyon or along the rim, and see most of the view points.
If you have a few days I would highly recommend hiking all the way to the floor of the canyon, staying overnight at Phantom Ranch, and hiking back out the next day. Unfortunately these spots open and fill up 15 months in advance and we did not have the opportunity to do this. Instead we hiked 3 miles down and 3 miles out.
Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon and Zion
Miles: 240 to Zion or 290 to Bryce
Drive Time: 4 hours to Zion or 5 hours to Bryce Canyon
Take AZ-64 E to exit through the park’s East Entrance gate to US-89. You will be on US-89 N the rest of the drive until the turn off for Zion (AZ-9) or Bryce (AZ-12). Along the way you will drive right by Horseshoe Bend in Page AZ. It cost $10 to park and walk to the viewpoint.
Bryce Canyon National Park
We really enjoyed our one day at Bryce Canyon. We got in pretty late the first day, and after looking around the visitors center we just did a short hike to Mossy Cave. We camped in “North Campground” in the park we hiked the “Figure 8 Loop” the next morning. If you’re up for a challenging hike I really recommend Figure 8 because you still get to see the most popular hikes but you also add on the 5 mile Peekaboo loop that was significantly less crowded. All in all, you can see the park in one day, but two days would be ideal here.
Zion National Park
So I left Zion with very mixed feelings. On one hand, it’s a beautiful and unique park, but it was way too crowded and commercialized for me. If you want to have a good park experience, I would recommend arriving before 8am, and 7am would probably be better. We had to pay $30 for parking because the parking lot in the park was already full by 9am when we arrived and had to wait over 30 minutes for a shuttle to the hiking trails. Zion is definitely worth a visit, but maybe try visiting in the spring or fall and still early in the morning.
There are two main hiking trails in the park, Angel’s Landing and The Narrows. Angel’s Landing requires a hiking permit, which we had, but they closed the trail for repairs the day we had our permit and didn’t reissue it. We tried for the day before permit but of course didn’t get it. The Narrows was a fun hike but way way way too crowded for my taste. If you can and are willing the crowds thin out after about 3 miles one way.
Zion/Bryce to Canyonlands/Arches/Moab
Miles: 315 from Zion, 240 from Bryce
Drive Time: 4 hours if leaving from Bryce, 5 hours if leaving from Zion
We took AZ-9 out to I-70 E all the way to Moab. If you go this route you will pass by another section of Zion, Kolob Canyons. We enjoyed this less crowded section of the park and did a short hike on the Timber Creek Overlook Trail. We had wonderful views as seen in the photo below.
If you’re driving to Moab from Bryce you wont drive by this section of the park, and instead take US-89 N until you hit I-70 E.
Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands and Arches are both outside of Moab, UT which has turned into quite the vacation destination in recent years. Moab has tons of hotels, motels, campgrounds, and Airbnbs as well as a good amount of restaurants, bars, tour companies, and jeep rentals.
Canyonlands has two different main sections: Island in the Sky and The Needles. You do need a few days if you want to see all the sections in the park. We only had time for Island in the Sky and I can’t wait to go back to check out the Needles one day. Our favorite part of the park we visited was the Aztec Butte trail. It wasn’t busy at all when we started the hike but was noticeably busier towards the end.
Arches National Park
Arches is just one of those iconic parks that everyone loves. I thought it would be overrated but we both really enjoyed it. They are currently doing a timed entry system between 6am and 5pm. If you don’t get a timed entry reservation be prepared to get up really early or visit in the evening. We had an 8am-9am slot and it was perfect. We hiked to Delicate Arch, Landscape Arch, and Broken Arch which was about 7 miles of hiking total. You can see all the highlights in Arches in one day or see every bit of the park in two days.
Canyonlands/Arches to Grand Tetons/Yellowstone
Miles: 485 miles
Drive Time: 8 hours
Drive north out of Moab until you hit I-70 W. Exit the interstate after 25 miles and take US-191/US-6 to Salt Lake City. We broke up our drive by spending the night in SLC with family, but you could make the drive in one day if you’re short on time. Stay on I-15 N if you’re going straight to Yellowstone or take I-80 E to US-89 N for Grand Teton. The drive on 89 N is beautiful and you will pass through a bunch of cute small towns in Wyoming.
Grand Tetons National Park
Grand Tetons really exceeded my expectations and became one of my favorite parks of the trip. While you could see most of the park in one full day, I would recommend spending 3-4 days here. There are miles and miles of hiking trails as well as a dedicated paved biking trail. There are also floating and rafting trips that I really want to go on next time I visit.
If you are camping on this trip, I highly recommend staying in Jenny Lake campground, which is a small tent only campground. Spots open on a 6 month rolling schedule and fill up quickly so you’ll definitely have to plan ahead.
Yellowstone National Park
We did not schedule a stop at Yellowstone on this particular road trip because we visited with my dad in 2020 on a different road trip. For more info on Yellowstone and a roadtrip along I-90 check out my I-90 Road Trip blog post!
Optional Missouri Add On - KC and Ozarks
We started our road trip in Indiana so we passed through Missouri on I-70 on our way out to Colorado. If you’re driving from the Midwest too, consider adding Lake of the Ozarks or Kansas City to your itinerary! We stayed in a cabin in Lake of the Ozarks State Park for 2 nights and in an Airbnb in Kansas City for 2 nights.
Lake of the Ozarks has many opportunities for hiking, swimming, boating, kayaking, and any other lake activity you love. Kansas City has some of the best barbecue in the world, and some fascinating baseball history. I am not the biggest sports fan but I really enjoyed visiting the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and going to a Kansas City Royals game.
How Much Does this Roadtrip Cost?
We spent just over $5k in 25 days on the road. Expenses can vary widely depending on gas prices and how much camping vs hotel stays you chose. We found camp sites to range between $20-$50 depending on their amenities and popularity. Free campsites exist too but they typically don’t have water or flush toilets or showers, which is not really our thing. Props to the people who don’t mind really roughing it though!
Hotels and Airbnbs were affordable (under $150) in all areas and towns on this road trip besides Moab, UT (Arches and Canyonlands) and Springdale, UT (Zion). Here I found prices to be more in the $250-$350 range.)
We saved money by cooking a lot of meals at our campsites and having PB&J or lunchmeat sandwiches for lunch on most of our longer driving days. Our average was about $54/day for both of us for all food and drinks. You could definitely cut that way down though, we did splurge a couple of times on nice meals.
Our Exact Itinerary
Day 1 – Drive from central Indiana to Lake of the Ozarks State Park, overnight at LOTOSP
Day 2- Hiking and night 2 at LOTOSP
Day 3 – Visit Ha Ha Tonka State Park and drive to Kansas City
Day 4 – Explore Kansas City and go to Royals game
Day 5 – Drive to Denver
Day 6 – Drive to Rocky Mountain National Park and hike, camp in park
Day 7 – More hiking and night 2 of camping
Day 8 – Drive to Alamosa, CO
Day 9 – Go to Great Sand Dunes National Park, then drive to Cortez, CO stopping at Chimney Rock along the way
Day 10 – Mesa Verde National Park
Day 11 – Drive to Sedona, AZ stopping at Four Corners and Petrified Forest Along the Way
Day 12 – Hiking around Sedona
Day 13 – Short hike in the morning then drive to Grand Canyon National Park and camp
Day 14 – Hike in the canyon and camp night 2
Day 15 – Drive to Bryce Canyon National Park stopping at Horseshoe Bend, camp at Bryce
Day 16 – Hike at Bryce Canyon then drive to Zion
Day 17 – Hike the Narrows in Zion
Day 18 – Hike in Kolob Canyons in Zion then drive to Moab, UT
Day 19 – Canyonlands National Park
Day 20 – Arches National Park
Day 21 – Drive to Salt Lake City
Day 22 – Drive to Grand Tetons, camp
Day 23 – Hike in Grand Teton National Park, camp night 2
Day 24 – Drive 16 hours to Des Moines, IA
Day 25 – Drive 6.5 hours back to Central Indiana
Finally, I also recommend having a paper map in the car in case you ever lose service. Most of the parks have limited to no cell service. I found this Atlas to be helpful as it also has National Park maps.
Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions about any of the parks, driving directions or general road trip questions!
8 Comments
This really is a pretty epic road trip. I managed to do quite a few of these in a single trip a few years ago myself (Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce) as well as Rocky Mountain NP. I noticed that you didn’t get a chance to do Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park even though its in the same area. Was it just a logistical reason you skipped it? It’s really a pretty great spot that gets missed often.
Yeah, it was out of the way a bit, and if we had a few more days I would have added it in! I’m sure I’ll be back to Colorado in the next few years and hope to visit it sometime.
Visited all of these NPs in our RV, but not on just one trip! I love the National Parks in the US.
We do love to plan trips to see the National Parks. But 10 parks in 3 weeks is quite amazing. And such an interesting variety in the parks you visited on this trip. You have added several National Parks to our list to visit on a return visit we will definitely need to visit Great Sand Dunes and Mesa Verde parks. A great itinerary for someone to follow.
That sure was a whirlwind trip. You guys are off to a blazing start, but you sure covered a lot of ground. Hopefully your itinerary will mellow out and be a little more relaxing once you get “across the pond”. Looking good and keep it up!
I’ve only visited two of your parks, Tetons and Rocky Mountain. My brother and his family did the south parks trip so I know about Zion, Arches, etc. and I know you two enjoyed the heck out of all the natural beauty. Thanks for sharing your adventure. I can’t wait for the next report.
Thanks, Tom! We are definitely relaxing more in Europe and it’s been so nice.
The Petrified Forest is one of my favorite National Parks and the one that I least knew about. When we were at the Grand Canyon a few people recommended it and I am so glad that we went.
Firstly I love the fact that you’re on a year long honeymoon. There were quite a few parks that I hadn’t heard of before which sounded fascinating, especially Mesa Verde with the historic cliff dwellings, kivas, and pit houses. And your photos of the Grand Canyon really make me want to visit more than ever. I’m looking forward to your next adventures.