Denver - Monument Valley - Four Corners -- and home!

hi Jamie --

Just got your book on Amazon as four of us are planning a Denver to Denver road trip from The UK next June .The roughly planned route is Denver 1 night unless there is a concert on we would like at Red Rocks maybe 2. Then up to Cody as I have a keen interest in anything native American/ Wildwest and would like to visit the museums.

then 4 days in the Yellowstone area for obvious reasons. On from there to Salt Lake 2 nights.

Then to Moab 2 nights so we can do Monument Valley.From there on to Cortez 2or3 nights for Mesa Verde and then head up to Denver maybe a might at Colorado springs for a night on the way back .then fly home.

This is just a rough sketch but were talking about 16 17 days altogether.
any thoughts o r tips would be most appreciatted.

enjoying the book by the way.


thanks
Martin

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Hi Martin --

Many thanks for your message. You said you are thinking of this trip for next June, so I hope I am not too late to help.

Basically, it sounds like you have a great plan. The Cody museums are indeed amazing, and I think you might want to add in a detour down to Grand Tetons and the town of Jackson, which is very Wild West and played a vital role in the old fur-trapping frontier days (the pre-railroad era is about my favorite period of US history).

My one tweak to your plans would be to add more time around Moab (for Canyonlands / Arches / Capitol Reef), maybe cutting back on Cortez. Mesa Verde is amazing, but it won't really fill 3 days (unless you cruise down to Canyon de Chelley and/or Chaco Canyon, across the border in New Mexico.) The thing about Mesa Verde is that visits to the cliff palaces are pretty much by tour and ticket, so you can't really linger at your own pace.

The whole Four Corners region is just about my favorite place on earth -- apart from certain stretches of the Cornish coast -- and if you are inclined to read more on the subject, a friend and sometime Road Trip USA contributor, Julian Smith, wrote a great book (it came out in 2009, but is still v good!: Moon Handbooks Four Corners: Including Navajo and Hopi Country, Moab, and Lake Powell).



One more thing: you didn't say what your accommodation plans are, but I hope you're planning to hike and camp! Staying in motels will cut you off from all the best scenery, and it's expensive, while camping out is a winner in every way.

And finally, if you like movies, watch "127 Hours", which does a grand job of capturing the wildness of this part of the world.

OK, hope this free-association barrage helps you plan and have a fantastic adventure next June! Let me know how your plans shape up.

Happy Trails,


Jamie Jensen
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Road Trip USA