Zion/Bryce Canyon/Yellowstone/Bozeman

[Groundhog66]

Hello all, planning a trip for early Oct, hoping to get some opinions and assistance.

Leaving from Bay Area, CA heading over to Zion, we will stop over somewhere after Bakersfield for the night, plan to stay in the South Campground for a few days (no availability in Watchman). I know there are BLM/Dispersed options, but not sure how secure this would be if we plan to be gone most of the day? Also, wondering if Bryce Canyon is worth a day trip, or there will be enough to see in Zion?

Then up to West Yellowstone for a few days, we were hoping to stay inside the park, but nothing available to reserve, and I'm not sure I was to gamble with the first come options. Any lesser known "must see's" in the park that you are aware of?

After YNP, we plan to head up to the Bozeman area for a few days, but this is not carved in stone. I am contemplating other options earlier in the trip, and nix MT all together, any thoughts?

Home through ID, where we plan to stop off to see some friends who relocated, then a stopover at some point on the way back to CA.

[pnoetzel]

Hello all, planning a trip for early Oct, hoping to get some opinions and assistance.

Leaving from Bay Area, CA heading over to Zion, we will stop over somewhere after Bakersfield for the night, plan to stay in the South Campground for a few days (no availability in Watchman). I know there are BLM/Dispersed options, but not sure how secure this would be if we plan to be gone most of the day? Also, wondering if Bryce Canyon is worth a day trip, or there will be enough to see in Zion?

Then up to West Yellowstone for a few days, we were hoping to stay inside the park, but nothing available to reserve, and I'm not sure I was to gamble with the first come options. Any lesser known "must see's" in the park that you are aware of?

After YNP, we plan to head up to the Bozeman area for a few days, but this is not carved in stone. I am contemplating other options earlier in the trip, and nix MT all together, any thoughts?

Home through ID, where we plan to stop off to see some friends who relocated, then a stopover at some point on the way back to CA.

One of our favorite stops on 58 is Mountain View RV park near tehachapi ca.
Nice park on private air strip.
Near Zion is sand hollow state park, hurricane Ut not far from Zion.
On a lake and tiered RV sites.
I would go to Bryce, and beyond Bryce Canyon, go to Kodachrome state park
13 miles east of Bryce Canyon turn off. One of the best state parks setting in the country.
Have fun

[Groundhog66]

One of our favorite stops on 58 is Mountain View RV park near tehachapi ca.
Nice park on private air strip.
Near Zion is sand hollow state park, hurricane Ut not far from Zion.
On a lake and tiered RV sites.
I would go to Bryce, and beyond Bryce Canyon, go to Kodachrome state park
13 miles east of Bryce Canyon turn off. One of the best state parks setting in the country.
Have fun

I appreciate that feedback, time to do a bit of research, thank you.

[JM0397]

First, so jealous! We were supposed to do that loop this year, but kicked the can down to next year.

Second, word of warning for October in Bozeman area. We were not in a rig, but vacationed in Livingston, MT 2 years ago, flew into/out of Bozeman. On the day we left, driving the Bozeman pass between the two cities, in mid-October, it was a near white-out blizzard. It was white-knuckle enough in an AWD SUV, can't imagine getting stuck in that in our rig!
Keep an eye on the forecasts!

[Groundhog66]

First, so jealous! We were supposed to do that loop this year, but kicked the can down to next year.

Second, word of warning for October in Bozeman area. We were not in a rig, but vacationed in Livingston, MT 2 years ago, flew into/out of Bozeman. On the day we left, driving the Bozeman pass between the two cities, in mid-October, it was a near white-out blizzard. It was white-knuckle enough in an AWD SUV, can't imagine getting stuck in that in our rig!
Keep an eye on the forecasts!

Good advice, we will keep an eye out for sure.

[DougW9876]

Definitely watch the weather. We got caught in a nasty snow/sleet storm between Bryce and Zion in mid September several years ago. It wouldn’t have been too bad except we were on the motorcycle. I was SO glad I had put the Trike kit on that year because there was no place to get off the road so I just kept the front tire in the tire track of the cars ahead of me and kept going slow until we ran out of it a few miles later. We also planned to go through Durango and over Wolf Creek Pass that trip but when we were headed that direction there was 13 inches of snow on the pass so we went around and took that left turn in Albuquerque.

[BobLandry]

Laurent Martres is a photographer who has written a series of books aimed at different sections of the Western states. He covers all of the National Parks, most of the state parks, and a lot of county parks, many gems that you would never know about.
These books are what landscape photographers dream of.

[orbiker]

Zion is nice, but Bryce Canyon area is a bit nicer in my opinion.
Going North could be a bit late in Oct. Sometimes winter comes in Sept.

Utah and Grand Canyon might be a better idea. KEN

[Canyonlight]

@Groundhog66 - in addition to what has been shared, conducting s search using Bryce or Zion or Yellowstone will yield several threads and posts shared over the years with much good information and advice.

We have been to all three with going to Bryce and Zion twice most recently in May of 2019. Our daughter and SIL along with young grandson are avid hikers. We hiked most of the trails and doing so will take more than a day depending on several factors of course.

Pay attention to and be prepared for the weather. Enjoy these spectacular parks and share pictures after you return !

Dan

[dryfly]

Also, wondering if Bryce Canyon is worth a day trip, or there will be enough to see in Zion?

Then up to West Yellowstone for a few days, we were hoping to stay inside the park, but nothing available to reserve, and I'm not sure I was to gamble with the first come options. Any lesser known "must see's" in the park that you are aware of?

.

Bryce is definitely worth the trip. To me it's just different than Zion, and while I enjoyed both, if I had to recommend between the two it would be Bryce. We stayed 4 days at Bryce and 2 days at Zion, but length of stay obviously depends on what activities you want to do.

Was in Yellowstone in June and it was already packed for the summer. First come first serve sites are at a premium. Some of the private cg's in West Yellowstone said they did have occasional openings, but they were full when I drove through.