National park trip for total newb that is clueless
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Anonymous
| For spring break this year (last week in March) we’d like to try going to a national park in the U.S. All of our vacations have been to European cities and the Caribbean so this would be completely new territory for us. I am completely clueless on how to plan this trip and I trust real people as opposed to Google or AI. We have a tween and teen daughter. None of us are really big hikers per se (I think the extent of our hikes have been the rainforest in Puerto Rico and great falls, Virginia, although I’m sure there have been others I can’t remember) but we are in good shape and have no problem clocking 20k+ steps a day while trekking all over a European city. I am totally stuck on the logistics of this future national park trip. Where should we go? Where should we stay? We are hotel people and need two rooms or a suite with at least two bathrooms, or would consider very highly rated air bnb in good location. Do you always need to rent a car when you get there? What do you do everyday? I can’t imagine hiking every single day. Do we stay for a full week or more like 4 or 5 days? Please help this newb out that has no clue how to plan a National park trip, or which park to go to, or where to stay. Thank you!! |
Anonymous
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That’s great! Our NP are fantastic. Not all parks have abundance of hiking. Some parks parks require more or less time. And some parks are easier to travel to and stay at.
I think the first thing to do is to narrow down your list to the parks you want to visit first. Then advice can be more detailed. |
Anonymous
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We've done national parks in two different ways. One, rent a car and drive to a different park every few days. We've done this in Utah (Zion, Arches, Bryce, Canyonlands, Capital Reef) and Colorado/Arizona (Rocky Mountain, Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley). That takes a lot of planning in advance.
Another way is to pick a home base and get to know one area well. We've done that with Yosemite and Olympic. You could also do some of the Utah parks that way by staying in Moab. Most days would be hiking, but depending on where/when you go, there may be other activities like rock climbing or white water rafting (you'd need to hire guides for both). |
Anonymous
| Oh, and since you are looking at March travel some parks may not be ideal to visit. You’ll likely want to look at NPs more south or west. |
Anonymous
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I think a great trip is to do a trip flying into Vegas and out of Phoenix and seeing some parks in between (yes renting a car and staying 1-3 nights at different spots). Here are is a list of parks/sites you could see but you can’t really see all of them so you need to decide how to spend your time. If you can get lodging inside a national park it’s always worth imo.
Hoover Dam Valley of Fire (state park) Zion NP Bryce NP Page AZ (Lake Powell, Horseshoe Bend, slot canyons) Grand Canyon Sedona |
Anonymous
Yes to this, but consider adding antelope canyon and monument valley (both run by Indian tribes, not a NP). Antelope Canyon was a highlight of a recent trip. |
Anonymous
Yikes!! That sounds like a lot of driving. Don’t think we want to spend hours in a car and packing up and moving around a ton. What two would be good to pick from this list? Thank you from OP! |
Anonymous
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I am a reluctant hiker but I like walking tours and nature talks.
At National Parks, the ranger programs and guided walks are great. You can usually find online listings of the offerings but if not, then there are postings and paper flyers at the information centers inside the park. In March, you will probably prefer a park in the Southwest as people are noting. If it was summer, I'd recommend Yellowstone for you due to its large size and varied attractions. Hotels and cabins inside the parks are expensive and book far in advance. So check now on the ones for parks you are interested in. |
Anonymous
| Hello OP. If you want to pick two parks that will work best for your family and will have nice weather when you're able to go, consider checking out what your library has. IME, libraries have a good selection of domestic travel books. I like starting with books. The amount of info online can be overwhelming. |
Anonymous
I'm the pp who suggested antelope canyon, but if you're only doing two from that list, I would do Zion and Bryce. |
Anonymous
This is a lot for a week (not my style), but you can consider how much to attempt. I did want to mention some options that don't involve hiking since you said that's not necessarily how you roll. You can drive to the Hoover Dam or take the new bridge to cross between Nevada and Arizona. At Lake Powell, there is a multi-hour boat tour that you can do and also some people rent houseboats. Antelope Canyon is so photogenic. You pay the Native Americans to get access and walk through. At the GC, you can walk a bit and then take a shuttle back. In Sedona, the "pink jeep" tours take you up in the red rock hills --very scenic. There is also a park called Slide Rock State Park which is fun (check the temps before you go in March though). |
Anonymous
| We went to Joshua Tree for spring break a couple years ago. Stayed in an air bnb right outside the park. The kids spent time doing ranger programs, exploring the different trails, and tons of time just climbing the rocks. Then after we tired of that, it was an easy trip to LA to do non-national park things. |
Anonymous
Yes — if you don’t like driving and want to stay put somewhere for 4 days or so but you don’t like hiking then you should put some time into trying think about what park/park experience you are looking for. |
Anonymous
| we did this. Flew into Salt Lake and drove to Park City where we hiked & biked. Drove to Moab - stayed overnight. Then went glamping in Zion for a few days! (loved this). Ended up in Las Vegas for pool days & fun. |
Anonymous
| This will be a great trip! Recommend flying in/out of Vegas, seeing Hoover dam and spending a few days at Zion and then a few at Bryce. We did this trip in March years ago and weather was cool with even a bit of snow. But we loved it. Get your hotels on the properties now. |