From mid-June to mid-September, Judy and I will be going on a long road trip in the Western US, mostly living out of our SUV, doing a mix of normal and dispersed camping. These are the rough plans for the northbound half, which should last about 6 weeks.

We are planning to hit the road on 6/21. We’d love to meet up with others for any part of it - message me if you might be in any of the parks or cities we plan to stop in!

Car camping glamour

Week 1: Texas and New Mexico

kicking off the summer with a trip through the desert

Destinations

Notes

  • 8 hour drive between Austin and Guadalupe 😵
  • We’re skipping Big Bend for now. We’ll hit it on the way back! Texas is HOT right now.
  • Sadly, we must avoid the northeastern area of New Mexico due to the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak wildfires.

Weeks 2-3: Colorado

All four Colorado national parks!

Destinations

Notes

  • For hiking, the second two parks have much more than the first two, so we’ll be spending more time at those.
  • Some of the peaks in Colorado are really high. Mount Herard in Great Sand Dunes is at ~13,300ft. Not sure yet if we’ll take on that extra challenge…

Weeks 3-6: Wyoming, Montana, and Canada

Weeks 3-6: Wyoming, Montana, and Canada

Destinations

Notes

  • There’s major flood damage in Yellowstone as of 6/13/22 (see cool/scary video from NPS). We will probably have to skip it. Maaaybe it’ll be partially open by the time we get there.
  • TWO 8 hour drives this time.
  • Most of these parks are huuuge, so I’m looking forward to spending multiple days at each. It’ll be nice to have longer breaks from driving.
  • I’ve been to Banff once before and loved it. Can’t wait to be back.
  • There’s lots of nature around Vancouver too. Haven’t planned that part yet, but will include it as part of the southbound itinerary, whenever I post that.
Banff in June 2019

And that’s it! The southbound trip will mostly follow the coastline until Los Angeles where we’ll turn east to head back to Texas.