Road Trip - Montana/Utah/Wyoming region

Anonymou

Just looking to see if anyone has done a holiday/trip to this neck of the woods and how they found it? Would be very interested to hear any experiences

Jimbob1977

Anonymou wrote: »

Just looking to see if anyone has done a holiday/trip to this neck of the woods and how they found it? Would be very interested to hear any experiences

Yes, I've been to that region a few times on road trips.... also taking in Colorado, Idaho, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington State, Nevada, Oregon, North Dakota and South Dakota. It's addictive. Great fun.

Utah, Montana and Wyoming are predominantly rural and sparsely populated, with truly breathtaking scenery. Prairies and mountains. Salt deserts and canyons.

The road network is excellent, with an abundance of motels. The driving distances are huge... each state is probably bigger than Ireland. Summers are hot. Winters are freezing.

From the three states you've referenced, Utah would have great National Parks at Zion NP and Bryce Canyon NP. Salt Lake City, with its great Mormon Salt Temple, has around 1 million people. The Great Salt Desert with its Bonneville Speedway is worth a look.

Montana is 'Big Sky Country'. Stunning blue sky in summer. Full of national parks like Glacier National Park. No major big cities apart from Helena, Butte, Bozeman and Billings.

Wyoming has the superb Yellowstone National Park at its western end. Famous for the Old Faithful geyser. Again it's rural, with big cities at Cheyenne and Casper. The eastern part of the state has Devil's Tower, the mountain from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. If you cross into South Dakota, you will have Mount Rushmore and the Badlands.

I was there between 1998 and 2000 on various trips.

Do: plan your journey, with big driving distances in mind. We tried to squeeze in to much... and had to spend 6 hours a day in a car. Could only get in 'flying visits' to some places.

Do: have a great time. The scenery is glorious.

Do: budget accordingly. Plenty of motels on the highways and interstates. Like Days Inn, Comfort Inn, Motel Six. You'd probably get a flight to New York or Chicago and then an internal flight. Petrol is quite cheap for the car.

Do: invest in a good Rand McNally road map.

Don't: crowd too much stuff in. The distances are vast. Looks small on a map. Be shrewd in what you want to see and visit.

Don't: take any chances with the rental car. Read the small print. Is it unlimited mileage or a rate per mile? What exactly does the insurance cover?

Jimbob1977

While it's been almost 20 years now, please feel free to ask any questions.

I will try my best to remember

Anonymou

Thanks for the reply Jimbob, much appreciated! All those states are places I'd love to see eventually too, I feel like the US is a place you go back to year on year and still have so much to see.

As you say with driving distances being so big, would you recommend only sticking to one or two states for a 2 week trip? Have always had Montana in my head as a place I'd love to visit so that would be top of my list, was there any state that stuck out for you whilst there?

I know you say the roads are great, was it mainly single carriageway or was there some big highways like the rest of the US?

Is there a best time of year to go? I know winter would be a no-go so im guessing summer to early autumn would be best?

Jimbob1977

Anonymou wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Jimbob, much appreciated! All those states are places I'd love to see eventually too, I feel like the US is a place you go back to year on year and still have so much to see.

As you say with driving distances being so big, would you recommend only sticking to one or two states for a 2 week trip? Have always had Montana in my head as a place I'd love to visit so that would be top of my list, was there any state that stuck out for you whilst there?

I know you say the roads are great, was it mainly single carriageway or was there some big highways like the rest of the US?

Is there a best time of year to go? I know winter would be a no-go so im guessing summer to early autumn would be best?

1. It would be perfectly feasible to cover those three states if you had a week or more (after excluding the initial travel time from/to Ireland). Our problem was that we overstretched completely. While we had a great time, the car miles were OTT. It was like a Cannonball Run!!

So your plan is very achievable. A fortnight is oceans of time.

I love how the scenery in the US can change from rolling hills to prairies and back into mountains within the space of a few hours.

It's hard to pin down my favourite state, but I was certainly drawn to the region you've picked since my childhood.

In 1998, my friend and I had just finished a J1 visa in Chicago. We had five nights to kill. Our decision was unanimous.... West is Best!

We drove from Chicago up through Wisconsin and onto the Twin Cities of Minneapolis St. Paul in Minnesota. Then we traversed the flat rural landscape of North Dakota and into Southeast Montana, Northeast Wyoming and Northwest South Dakota for Devil's Tower, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse National Monument and Badlands. The last day was a race across Iowa like Children of the Corn. Then we returned in 1999 and 2000 to see even more.

We enjoyed the sheer vastness of the emptiness, if that makes sense. Farms as big as Irish counties. Canyons and rivers. National Parks, etc. In Yellowstone during 1999, there were buffaloes on the road beside our car, staring in menacingly.

2. Even the rural states are traversed by the Interstates. I-90 and I-94 are largely quiet or completely empty for long stretches. They become a private racetrack.

The smaller highways are perfectly paved and you won't be forced to drive on some narrow potholed boreen in Leitrim. Even Yellowstone has a rudimentary highway through it.

3. Optimal time would be May to September.

A typical June to August day in that region would be 30c or higher. It gets hot.

RobertKK

Anonymou wrote: »

Just looking to see if anyone has done a holiday/trip to this neck of the woods and how they found it? Would be very interested to hear any experiences

Yes, it is a most beautiful part of the world.
I was in all three last summer in August, perfect weather, was there for the eclipse and to visit the national parks. Only in the corner of Montana in West Yellowstone as a base for Yellowstone National Park - between the countless volcanic features and the wildlife, don't rush it, it is a special place.
There is a Grizzly bear and wolf santuary in West Yellowstone where animals were rescued and also birds of prey.
The Grand Tetons National Park, the mountains just rise out of the ground and tower above the valley, the Jackson Hole area is just stunningly beautiful, take a float on the snake river, visit the town of Jackson.
Utah has more national parks one should visit and great drives that are so scenic, also the Navajo nation with monument valley.

If you love nature, beautiful scenery, wildlife and a laid back feel, then go. I just loved it.

Elvisjuice

RobertKK wrote: »

Yes, it is a most beautiful part of the world.
I was in all three last summer in August, perfect weather, was there for the eclipse and to visit the national parks. Only in the corner of Montana in West Yellowstone as a base for Yellowstone National Park - between the countless volcanic features and the wildlife, don't rush it, it is a special place.
There is a Grizzly bear and wolf santuary in West Yellowstone where animals were rescued and also birds of prey.
The Grand Tetons National Park, the mountains just rise out of the ground and tower above the valley, the Jackson Hole area is just stunningly beautiful, take a float on the snake river, visit the town of Jackson.
Utah has more national parks one should visit and great drives that are so scenic, also the Navajo nation with monument valley.

If you love nature, beautiful scenery, wildlife and a laid back feel, then go. I just loved it.

was yellowstone and teton very busy in August planing going there next year , did you do glacier too ?

RobertKK

Elvisjuice wrote: »

was yellowstone and teton very busy in August planing going there next year , did you do glacier too ?

I didn’t go to Glacier.
It was extra busy as they had extra tourists in the region for the solar eclipse last August, but it wasn’t a big problem.
It’s just a wonderful part of the world.

Elvisjuice

RobertKK wrote: »

I didn’t go to Glacier.
It was extra busy as they had extra tourists in the region for the solar eclipse last August, but it wasn’t a big problem.
It’s just a wonderful part of the world.

great thanks looks stunning .

Dev84

Dont bother with the map. Ensure the rental has Sat nav.

Fr Tod Umptious

Like a few more posters it's been almost 20 years since I have been to that part of the world.

Really great scenery.

Moab and the area around Arches National Park in UT is fantastic.

Salt Lake City and the Temple area downtown are worth a visit.

I stopped in Missoula MT, really cool college town, again fantastic scenery.

Someone mentioned Butte MT earlier, a run down old mining town, but with a huge west Cork infulence, at one time a hundred years ago or more the city with the biggest proportion of Irish people in the US.

Mount Rushmore is well worth a visit if you can make it that far east. I loved it.

Some day I'll head back that direction and spend more time there.

I love the west.

Enjoy it OP.