Trip Coach: May 22, 2007

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Seattle WA: My husband and I want to take our kids, ages 11 and 13, to the Nat'l Parks in the southwest. Since missing school is something we'd like to avoid, we can go either this July or August, or next April, for nine days (a week with weekends on either side). We plan on car camping in the parks. Given our timeframe, what is the best way to do this trip? Should we drive straight through? Should we fly then rent a car? What is the best place to fly in/out of from Seattle? Which parks should we see? We want to be immersed in the natural habitat. My son loves reptiles so we want to see the snakes, lizards, and really take in the spendor of the rocks and canyons. We hope to spend less than half the time actually on the road. Is that possible?

Thank you for time.

Kurt Repanshek: Hi Seattle,

The Southwest has some great parks, ones that will amaze you with their "rock architecture" as well as with their natural and cultural history. But you probably don't want to visit them in July or August, as that's the hottest time of the year, with temperatures reaching, and surpassing, 100 degrees Fahrenheit, often on a daily basis.

April, though, would be a perfect time. The weather is gorgeous -- daytime highs in the 60s and 70s -- and crowds reasonable as long as you avoid Easter weekend. Driving from Seattle probably isn't a good idea. The Southwest is a large, sprawling region, and depending on your trip you could face a lot of windshield time once you arrive there.

Here are two options: You could fly into Las Vegas, rent a car, and tour Zion, Bryce Canyon, and the Grand Canyon, or you could fly to Grand Junction, Colorado, rent a car, and tour Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde and perhaps Natural Bridges National Monument.

The first option offers the towering walls of Zion with the deep chasm at Grand Canyon and the haunting hoodoos at Bryce Canyon. While Zion is only about two hours from Bryce Canyon, from Bryce to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon it's a good day's drive. While the North Rim is much closer to Bryce, unfortunately its facilities typically don't open until mid-May.

You easily could spend two or three days at Zion, two at Bryce Canyon, and several at Grand Canyon, more if you manage to land a room at Phantom Ranch and hike or take a mule down to the canyon floor. Each park has good campgrounds and plenty of lizards to go around.

The second option offers Arches, the park with the most rock spans in the world, Canyonlands with its panoramic vistas and colorful landscape, Mesa Verde with its rich tableau of human history, and overlooked Natural Bridges with its massive rock bridges and ruggedness. All four have plenty of lizards and snakes if you really want to find them, and Canyonlands and Natural Bridges also have ruins and artifacts from the ancestral Puebloans, though not as many as you'll find at Mesa Verde National Park.

Arches and Canyonlands, which practically border each other, are only about two hours from Grand Junction. From downtown Moab, the gateway to those two parks, Natural Bridges is only about two hours to the south. From Natural Bridges, Mesa Verde is only about two hours away to the east.

With this option you could make a nice loop tour of the parks. You could use Moab as a base camp for visiting Arches and Canyonlands (and possibly to add a day rafting the Colorado or mountain biking the Slickrock Trail), then swing down to Natural Bridges, then head over to Mesa Verde, and then head back to Grand Junction.

Depending how much hiking you like to do, you easily could spend four days visiting Arches and Canyonlands, another night and a day at Natural Bridges, and at least a night and a full day at Mesa Verde touring the cliff dwellings.

There's a nice campground at Arches--Devil's Garden--and one of my favorite campgrounds, Squaw Flat, is in the Needles District of Canyonlands. If you somehow can't land a spot in Devil's Garden, there are plenty of BLM campgrounds along the Colorado River just east of Moab, and Dead Horse Point State Park located between Arches and Canyonland's Island in the Sky District has a nice campground and great views of the Colorado River. There's also a reasonable commercial campground just outside the Needles District if you can't land a site in Squaw Flat, which fills up early.

Natural Bridges has a 13-site campground that in April shouldn't be hard to find a spot in. If you can't get one, the surrounding landscape is mostly Bureau of Land Management lands with lots of camping opportunities.

Have a great time!

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Lilburn, GA: I'm going to Yellowstone and Grand Teton NPs in less than 4 weeks. Where is the best chance to spot a moose?

Kurt Repanshek: Greetings Lilburn, Georgia,

Best bets for spotting moose are in Grand Teton, particularly in Willow Flats right behind the Jackson Lake Lodge. There also are a number of wildlife-viewing pullouts along the renowned Oxbow Bend area of the Snake River that often reward you with views of moose.

That said, I've also found moose along the Snake River right across from the park's Moose visitor center and in ponds along the Cascade Creek Trail on the west side of Jenny Lake. Yet another reliable area is in the wetlands along the Moose-Wilson Road between Teton Village and Moose Junction.

By looking in the mornings and evenings in these areas you'll increase your odds of spotting some.

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Yucaipa, CA: I have a questions regarding local roadtrips to hit up several national parks. My husband and I live in So Cal and we have a small group of teenagers that we mentor. (9 teens) One of the boys is graduating from Highschool so my hubby decided to surprise him with a roadtrip! They really only have about 4 days and would like some adventure. Have any ideas? Thanks for the help! My husband and I are both in college right now and are having trouble devoting time to planning.

Kurt Repanshek: Hey Yucaipa, California

You have a few great options, depending how adventurous you want to get and how much your budget allows. You could take a boat out to Channel Islands National Park for a camping trip. That certainly would stand out. If that sounds interesting, check the park's website, www.nps.gov/chis, for a list of companies that can get you to the park and their fares.

Of course, being so close to Joshua Tree National Park you might want to consider a backpacking trip there, but it might be too close to be truly unique.

One envelope-stretching possibility would be to head east to Zion National Park in southwestern Utah for a two-night backpacking trip. Zion actually is closer to you than the Grand Canyon, Sequoia, or Kings Canyon national parks. Plus, the landscape with its towering, redrock cliffs is so different than what you have in southern California.

A great section of Zion to retreat to for a backpacking trek is the northwestern corner, also known as the Kolob Canyon entrance. There you'll find a 7-mile-long trail that heads into the backcountry along LaVerkin Creek.

In this corner of Zion stands Kolob Arch, which at roughly 310 feet across just might be the largest free-standing arch in the world. Of course, the trouble with heading to Zion in late May or early June is it's really starting to get hot down there, with daytime high temperatures at least in the 90s. Still, LaVerkin Creek provides plenty of water and even a place to cool off in, and the arch is incredible.

The easy section of this hike is the way in, as it's downhill. Coming out can be a grunt under a hot, glaring sun.

Enjoy your adventure!

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scranton pa: We are driving to the Blue Ridge Mtns and on to the Great Smokey Mtns at the end of October. We will be traveling with friends from Great Britain and want to showcase our beautiful parks. At a loss for lodging with some "character"; somewhere close to day hikes and noted scenery/views. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Marianne