Westward, Ho!

The big day has arrived. In a few hours, I hop on a bus down to New York City, where I meet my friend Gabe and catch a flight out to Denver where our tour of the great American West begins. We have an ambitious itinerary set up, though I have no doubt we'll be able to do everything we've planned. I've been extremely excited about this trip for weeks, and in an attempt to share how much I'm looking forward to it, I've decided to reprint our itinerary.

While I'm away, It's A Magical World will be on hiatus. Check back here on Thursday, August 24, for many stories and pictures.

Saturday, Aug 12 - Arrive in Denver. Should we book a hotel there? We are not arriving until midnight so we may not wish to hit the road immediately.

Sunday, Aug 13 - Drive from Denver to Rapid City. Road Atlas says that this takes about 6 hours. Despite getting in late, we may be able to leverage our East Coast clock to leave on the early side.

First stop: Wind Cave National Park, Fairgrounds Cave Tour. Wind Cave's most strenuous hike is half a mile long and suggested to take 90 minutes. Last tour is at 4:20pm, but hopefully we will arrive catch one earlier. (P.S. This tour is not the spelunking tour, just a hike through the cave.)

Next drive: Iron Mountain Road in the Black Hills National Forest - Tunnels in road that look out on Mt. Rushmore.

Last stop: Mt. Rushmore National Monument. See monument and easy hike on the grounds to see it from different views.

We end the day outside the eastern entrance to Badlands National Park.

Monday, Aug 14 - Badlands National Park. We should inquire as to the best trail to hike while there, but I believe it will be the 10 mile Castle Loop Trail. We will enter at the East entrance because that is what gives us the first overlook over the park. By hiking, we can hopefully get closer to these amazing structures and continue to be baffled.

If we end up staying close to Badlands this night, that is fine. If we end up making our way towards Rapid City and beyond, that is good too.

Tuesday, Aug 15 - Drive from Rapid City to Yellowstone. The road Atlas says that this drive takes 8 hours. We will take a 1.5 hour long detour to go hike around Devil's Tower (45 min driving, 45 min hike). There are several places to stay all along the route to Yellowstone, although I don't imagine that we will have trouble making it. We may have trouble with finding vacancies around Yellowstone... should we look at reservations? One good thing about the park itself is that it caters to people who bring their own tents etc. If we bring sleeping bags and are ok sleeping in the car, there will be showers/sinks/toilets for the next morning. That said, a climate controlled bed environment is definitely preferable.

Wednesday, Aug 16 - Yellowstone. There are TONS of hikes here and I can't begin to decide even though I have looked through them. Flip through them and see what looks interesting. We should also consult the park rangers when we get there.

Thursday, Aug 17 - Yellowstone. The park itself is HUGE and there is lots to do other than hike. Two days will be needed to drive around to see the animals and geysers. Between Tuesday afternoon and Thursday morning, we should make two full days, so we can depart Yellowstone at noon, driving south through Grand Teton NP and through Teton Pass (the steepest drive, by far, that Gabe took on his 2003 cross-country trip) en route to Craters of the Moon in Idaho. Ideally, we'll be able to stay nearby.

Friday, Aug 18 - Spend the morning hiking around Craters, then drive to Zion. This drive takes about eight hours. Overall, we will be resting our muscles from Yellowstone and resting up for tomorrow's hike. Hopefully, we can stay close to Zion.

Saturday, Aug 19 - Zion NP. Hike up Angel's Landing. Round trip expected to be 4 hours. Strenuous. We should do this one first, and preferably early. We will have time to do other hikes. After Zion, we should stay close to Bryce Canyon NP for our sunrise excursion. Take about 1.5 to 2 hours to drive from Zion to Bryce.

Sunday, Aug 20 - Bryce Canyon NP. Sunset Point for sunrise (it is much better than Sunrise point). Best hike for us is the Queen's Garden Trail, a 2.9 mile trail that offers the best views of the geology.

Given the size of the park (small) and the hour that we will arrive, we will probably be ok to leave early to mid afternoon. The drive to Moab, UT takes about 4 hours and most of that is across the largest national monument, called Grand Staircase Escalante in southern Utah. There are plenty of places to stay on I-70, or we can drive all the way to Moab.

Although we are coming from the West and taking Highway 191 from I-70 to Moab may be faster, Highway 128 (3 exits furter) is the best road that I drove outside of a national park and well worth the additional half hour.

Monday, Aug 21 - Arches and Canyonlands NP. Arches has one hike that is absolutely necessary (Delicate Arch) but is otherwise very small and manageable. Canyonlands - We need to see the Grand Overlook and a hike on Murphy's trail is probably in order.

Tuesday, Aug 22 Rocky Mountain National Park, - Moab to Denver. This drive should take about 6 hours. We can travel viawhich is one of the only places you can frequently see
Bighorn sheep. It has some amazing high altitude rocky mountain overlooks too, including one that spans the Continental Divide. I have a friend in Denver with whom we should be to stay on that Tuesday. I will call her to find out her availability.

Wednesday, Aug 22 - 11:05 flight out of Denver.