Road trip from Michigan to Grand Canyon

[TheVBs]

We're thinking about taking a big road trip out west to see the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Bryce Canyon and Zion. We've never been to these spots and I'm trying to get a sense of where to begin. We're looking at this summer, so I'm not sure if the in park lodges are an option (although the ones in Grand Canyon still had availability a few months ago). Normally we would have been more on this planning-wise, but we've been waiting to sort out this year's budget.

Someone told me that you may need reservations now for some of the parks themselves, particularly Zion. Does anyone know if that's the case?

Any tips or suggestions would be most welcome! Thank you! :mickey:

[dnickels]

We're thinking about taking a big road trip out west to see the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Bryce Canyon and Zion. We've never been to these spots and I'm trying to get a sense of where to begin. We're looking at this summer, so I'm not sure if the in park lodges are an option (although the ones in Grand Canyon still had availability a few months ago). Normally we would have been more on this planning-wise, but we've been waiting to sort out this year's budget.

Someone told me that you may need reservations now for some of the parks themselves, particularly Zion. Does anyone know if that's the case?

Any tips or suggestions would be most welcome! Thank you! :mickey:

The lodges inside or immediately adjacent to the parks will probably be a little tough this late, but people do cancel. In addition to checking their online system, it's usually a good idea to call as well. You may have to piece together stays at a few different places (a day here, then two days in a different room at the same place) in order to get the time period you want. If you don't mind camping, I find that nearly all national parks have adjoining national forest land or BLM land and the campgrounds in those areas rarely fill.

As a bit of an aside, depending on where you are in Michigan, consider taking the steam carferry SS Badger from Ludington to Manitowoc (or the other direction on the return) as a part of the trip. It's a unique experience.

Also, if you're out that way, consider stops at any of Capitol Reef National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Escalante National Monument and Dead Horse Point State Park. They have equally amazing scenery without the crowds of Grand Canyon, Bryce or Zion.

[Altair]

Also check out Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado and Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah just north of Zion. Cedar Breaks is in an Alpine Biome which is above 10,000 feet, very cool (pun intended).
Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon all use a shuttle bus service during the summer. The parking lot inside Zion will fill up very early, but there is parking and shuttle bus service outside the park. There are two other areas of Zion which are much less crowded, so check them out too.
Towns are few and far between in this area, so plan wisely and don't forget your National Park Pass.

[Altair]

How long do you have? Just looked and Detroit to Grand Canyon and back is 61 hours of drive time. Just for fun, I plotted out a mega Western adventure. It includes Mount Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Fort Laramie, Rocky Mountain National Park, Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Zion National Park, North Rim of Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde National Park, and Great Sand Dunes National Park. All this is about 80 hours round trip from Detroit. This may sound brutal, but the drive to and from Grand Canyon alone is a haul and this would be glorious. :cap:

[luvdiznee]

When we did Vegas and the Grand Canyon we had to make our reservations for the Grand Canyon a year in advance. So you're lucky if rooms were still available.

[TheVBs]

We're finally doing this!!! We did not plan early enough to get park lodging, so if anyone has good suggestions for places to stay around the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion and Mesa Verde, I would very much appreciate it!

[Altair]

Springdale or Hurricane for Zion
Bryce or Tropic for Bryce Canyon
Cortez for Mesa Verde

Here are some photos I took last June in that area:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/97695766@N00/albums/72157670319885686

[TheVBs]

Oh my goodness!! Your pictures are incredible! I love that one of the fox leaping. And, thank you so much for the recommendations. Since we've never been out that way or seen any of this stuff, we're wondering how reasonable it is to wing our schedule a bit. It's looking like we're going the last two weeks in June. Are we asking for trouble if we try to book stuff along the way?

[Altair]

Are we asking for trouble if we try to book stuff along the way?

I would have reservations for Bryce Canyon and Zion, the towns are few and far between out there, so it would be safer to have a guaranteed place to stay.
Springdale would be the first choice for Zion, it is a gateway town and just outside the park boundary.
Be aware, the parking lot in Zion will fill up by 10:00AM. There is a shuttle from Springdale into the park and there are many shuttle stops in the town. In Zion you must use a park shuttle.
There is another part of Zion most people miss and that's Kolob Canyon which is north off of I-15.