West Coast Route Suggestions

[Stealth13777]

We plan to work south along the California Coast then over to Napa Valley, then turn east to Yosemite. From Yosemite head East to MOAB area, Canyonlands or Arches National Park. Then on to Rocky Mountain National Park for a long stop before pushing east toward home. This is what I have so far, but open to suggestions:

- Hwy 120 to Tioga Pass (9,943ft) into Yosemite. Hwy 120 out to Hwy 6 East through Montgomery Pass (7,149ft), then... ???

Have not picked campgrounds yet, so in addition to route, would love suggestions from Napa Valley to Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, to include Yosemite. Do not *need hookups, although climate matters - if it will be above 80, I would rather have electric than run our generator all the time, especially since you can't run at night. We are doing a mix of no hookups to full hookups throughout the trip.

Would love to hear weather / terrain / traffic considerations as well. My typical limit for crosswinds is 30-35mph - after that I can wait on weather, just like you would in aviation.


Background:
East Coast RVer here. Have an opportunity to take the wife and do a cross country 3 month trip May-July 2022. We are in our early 30s, so looking to take advantage of what may be our only chance for many many years. We plan to do a northern route up into Maine, then work west until we hit Whidbey Island, WA and take about a week break (provided we get a spot in that campground here in a few weeks.) I will probably have a lot of route questions as we get more into those details. I have a decent amount of experience towing, she is getting some practice now, we are a couple years into RVing, and have what I believe is a very solid setup (see sig, feel free to offer advice or ask questions I may not have thought of). I do almost all my own maint with a mechanical background. Generator is a Champion 3500W dual fuel inverter that I so far have only run off propane. We are trying our hand at zero hookups this summer / fall locally with only overnight experience up to now. Have long trip experience and pushing even further this year, but we've only ever had a week at a time to travel. Plan is to have a 2x Group 24 battery setup just to buy a little buffer when running the heater. Between the generator to recharge when needed, and our general camping style, we will never be long term boondockers .. 2-3 nights is our comfort level now, will see how this year goes. We have a long list of prep and maintenance items for our equipment to get ready for the trip.

Anyway, thanks for looking.

[D2Reid]

Check Yosemite Travel Alerts. The tunnel precluded me from taking 120 through Yosemite, plus is was still closed for winter when we were there. We ended up going around to the south via Bakersfield, CA. But that led us through Alabama Hills BLM area, great boondocking spot.

Think about staying on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park. East side is super crowded, tight, and hard to get summer reservations. If you do get into Estes Park with the trailer avoid the downtown intersection of 34/36. If you ever get there think about making that corner with a 41 foot trailer, you will understand my stress level that day.

Lots of good boondocking and BLM camping around Moab. A little known but fun day can be spent at Goblin State Park. , Excellent boondocking near the entry road intersection.

Dead Horse Point State Park recently expanded their RV campsites, if you can get a site it is a really good place to spend a day or two.

Safe travels...

[Stealth13777]

@D2Reid Your map looks full - awesome you’ve been able to travel that much

Appreciate the tips! We were looking east of Rocky Mountain so will definitely check out west. We know we will have crowds (which we hate) so whatever can be done to mitigate is great. Estes Park is the one my wife picked out to call - we have the first date they open up spots in our calendar to try. I just pulled up that intersection on google and will watch out!

We will probably head to Goblin State Park and check it out - had not heard of that one before.. Appreciate the boondocking tips too - for overnights on the road they will be perfect. Once in MOAB we will probably pay for hookups just due to temps in July.


While I’m here, second route question would be routes between Chicago - Mount Rushmore - Yellowstone - Glacier - North Cascades WA. I know there are some mountains in there that we will have to negotiate, and some beautiful roads we don’t want to miss!

[D2Reid]

[MENTION=6508] I know there are some mountains in there that we will have to negotiate, and some beautiful roads we don’t want to miss!

Here is my goto reference for mountainous roads: Mountain Directory.

My friend tells me the new app works pretty good, I still operate off of the original e-book on my laptop. Know before you go....