Building our tentative itinerary from Southern California to Canada & back...

jlrray

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San Diego
In the process of building our itinerary for our trip from SoCal to Waterton Lakes & back down. Our first stop looks like Salt Lake City via Las Vegas (I-15).. Looking for a good place to stop over that isn't much fuss and off the road. Most of our road trip we are focusing on is in Montana, Canada & Wyoming this trip so we're just trying to get there quickly. So far it looks like our trip is going from

SD ->Vegas -> SLC
-> Flathead Lake area of montana
-> Glacier
-> Waterton Lakes
-> Great falls
-> Yellowstone
-> Dinosaur national Monument
-> Arches
-> Vegas -> Home

Any help for the SLC area is welcome. At this point, we're considering Cabelas just before SLC to stop off... Then again, offroad somewhere close to the interstate is good too :)

Joe
 
Probably too short of day for you, but I will highly recommend Valley of Fire NVSP and Cathedral Gorge NVSP as good/scenic places to overnight.
 
Thom- Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to hit that maybe on our way back. Any good spots to dispersed camp in or around Glacier NP and/or Yellowstone NP? Near a river is even better :)

Joe
 
Great area around Glacier/Flathead is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungry_Horse_Dam -- we camped/hiked here a few nights and it was awesome. It offers many single sites or regular campgrounds. http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/flathead/recreation/camping-cabins/recarea/?recid=66166&actid=29



Outside of Yellowstone, we stayed in a very remote, mountain top (basically middle of cattle grazing land) outside of Cody, WY in Shoshone National Forest. Here's info on actual campgrounds- http://www.fs.usda.gov/recmain/shoshone/recreation

Or there's a cool little gravel road coming from the west that splits Grand Tetons and Yellowstone that had some pretty sweet sites that were free. http://www.touristlink.com/united-states/ashton-flagg-ranch-road.html
 
4Buckeye- Ashton Flagg Ranch Road looks awesome. I'm gonna pull open Google earth and see what kinda camp spots show up. Another one of these would be awesome. I wonder if there are any like this within the park.

Any real issues with grizzlies while camping dispersed? In CA, the black bears are not really a threat, but have any of you guys had to put all your food & toiletries into bear canisters while in the back of your camper?
Joe
 
jlrray said:
4Buckeye- Ashton Flagg Ranch Road looks awesome. I'm gonna pull open Google earth and see what kinda camp spots show up. Another one of these would be awesome. I wonder if there are any like this within the park.

Any real issues with grizzlies while camping dispersed? In CA, the black bears are not really a threat, but have any of you guys had to put all your food & toiletries into bear canisters while in the back of your camper?
Joe
Joe the Ashton/Flag ranch road has some awsome camp spots.The frist few are about 4 miles in from Flag ranch,on the Teaton/Yellowstone end. The couple We stoped at overlooked the Snake river bottom,with willows and wildlife.They sit above the river on a high bank.I haven't traveled the whole road but have friends who said the road is "good" not a 4x4 road,just a good truck with clearance.The sites have 1,2 or maybe 3 camp places to use.I think they have water and a vault toilet .
If you are going between Teaton and Yellowstone you might check them out.You can drive all the way into Idaho to the west.I think you come out near Ashton.
In yellowstone you might check out Pebble Creek or Slough Creek.Both are great but fill up early in the day.You can ask at the other camp grounds what time they filled the day before and that might be of some help as to weather you will be able to get a spot.
Indian Creek is also nice quiet but close to the Lamar Valley where all the animals can be seen.
There some camp spots to the east of Yellowstone by Cooke City but some might not be open yet due to bears.
I find that if you make sure to keep all food and thinks that have a smell out of sight in the truck or camper you should be ok.
Yellowstone is VERY strict about camping items left around your camp site.The ranger/host will come and take the left out items from your camp site and you may not get them back and get a citation,not a good way to enjoy the trip.
Have a good trip.
Frank
 
Beartooth pass looks like a great section. I'll have to bring that up with the people going. Anything close to west yellowstone?
 
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