Sedona is not far South of Flagstaff. Lots of places to see and things to do including a number of 4x4 trails.
If you do go to Dinosaur National Monument the new visitor Center is now open and the Quarry has reopened. In Vernal, the Utah Field House Museum is excellent. Dinosaur has a beautiful campground on the Green River and there are a couple of commercial RV parks in Vernal.
* This post was
edited 05/18/12 05:57am by trailertraveler *
Instead of going to GJ out of Glenwood Springs go to Carbendale then up to Marble and over MaClure Pass to Paoina and on to Delta over to Rigdeway over Lizzard Head to Cortiz. all fairly easy pass been over all of them.
Sedona is not far South of Flagstaff. Lots of places to see and things to do including a number of 4x4 trails.
If you do go to Dinosaur National Monument the new visitor Center is now open and the Quarry has reopened. In Vernal, the Utah Field House Museum is excellent. Dinosaur has a beautiful campground on the Green River and there are a couple of commercial RV parks in Vernal.
Yeah - we loved Sedona last year - beautiful place. But it was really hot then, and I understand it's even hotter in July & early August. I'm trying to stick to the higher elevations to avoid some of the heat.
Thanks for the links for the Flagstaff area. I'm still on the fence about which way to go after Mesa Verde - 160 & 89, stopping near Flagstaff, 491 south to Gallup, or 191 to Canyon de Chelly (thanks for the suggestion, Janss).
We probably won't make it to Dinosaur this year, but I've saved those links for our next trip out that direction.
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skmith wrote: Instead of going to GJ out of Glenwood Springs go to Carbendale then up to Marble and over MaClure Pass to Paoina and on to Delta over to Rigdeway over Lizzard Head to Cortiz. all fairly easy pass been over all of them.
Thanks. I'll definitely take a look at that route.
Morefield CG at Mesa Verde is a nice CG. Since it's higher up on the mesa, it's cooler than CG's down in the valley, plus you save time on the commute every day. As noted, some FHU sites available. Get to the visitors center relatively early in the day to secure reservations for some of the tours.
The road from Carbondale to the top of McClure Pass is through some beautiful scenery. I don't know where you are staying in GS, but Redstone NFS CG is a nice place and about half the campsites do have 15 amp service. From there, there some great 4x4 touring above Marble (I've forgotten, maybe that's why you're heading here in the first place). Do an image search on "Crystal Mill". That's on the road above Marble.
Once you top McClure Pass, you're on the dry side of the pass, and the forests give way to a sage/juniper/pinon forest. Further down, some nice farmland scenery near and beyond Hotchkiss. Definitely more scenic than the drive from GJ to Delta.
Another possibility leaving GS is to head west on I-70 and take CO 65 up to Grand Mesa. Generally the mosquito population has ebbed by August (and they'll be gone early this year because of the drought) and there's a ton of lakes up there. The CG's are at 10,000' so plenty cool (think highs in the 70's). Easy day trip to Black Canyon NP and into Delta for food.
A possibility near Flagstaff is Bonito NFS CG. No hookups, but a really interesting CG. Big lodgepole pine (IIRC) all around, but very little ground cover as the area is covered with gravel sized ash blown out from the nearby Sunset Crater I believe. Flush toilets there.
4runnerguy wrote: Morefield CG at Mesa Verde is a nice CG. Since it's higher up on the mesa, it's cooler than CG's down in the valley, plus you save time on the commute every day. As noted, some FHU sites available. Get to the visitors center relatively early in the day to secure reservations for some of the tours.
The road from Carbondale to the top of McClure Pass is through some beautiful scenery. I don't know where you are staying in GS, but Redstone NFS CG is a nice place and about half the campsites do have 15 amp service. From there, there some great 4x4 touring above Marble (I've forgotten, maybe that's why you're heading here in the first place). Do an image search on "Crystal Mill". That's on the road above Marble.
Once you top McClure Pass, you're on the dry side of the pass, and the forests give way to a sage/juniper/pinon forest. Further down, some nice farmland scenery near and beyond Hotchkiss. Definitely more scenic than the drive from GJ to Delta.
Another possibility leaving GS is to head west on I-70 and take CO 65 up to Grand Mesa. Generally the mosquito population has ebbed by August (and they'll be gone early this year because of the drought) and there's a ton of lakes up there. The CG's are at 10,000' so plenty cool (think highs in the 70's). Easy day trip to Black Canyon NP and into Delta for food.
A possibility near Flagstaff is Bonito NFS CG. No hookups, but a really interesting CG. Big lodgepole pine (IIRC) all around, but very little ground cover as the area is covered with gravel sized ash blown out from the nearby Sunset Crater I believe. Flush toilets there.
Thanks - thats very good info. I'm looking to see where I can make adjustments to our current reservations to make that fit.
I only wish I'd known 6 months ago that we were going to end up in Bullhead City at the end of the trip. I'd have planned the trip in the opposite direction, and not have duplicate the route out and back. But I have a number of reservations that would be very difficult to get this close to July, so I'm kinda stuck.
As it stands now, I've got 4 nights booked in Glenwood Springs. We're planning on some combination of activities: the hot springs, hanging lake, the adventure park & caverns, a day trip to Marble for the Jeep trails, and maybe Coffee Pot road / Transfer Trail for a Jeep loop near Glenwood.
But the idea about going to Redstone sounds interesting, and I'm trying to see how we might shuffle things around and fit that in as well.
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