Western US travel suggestions needed

We are planning a trip west in September, 2019 from NY. We have mapped it out pretty much up until Denver, CO area. We hope to stay at Walker Lake, NV with our final destination Portland, OR. We are looking for suggestions for places to stay/visit on the route between Denver an Walker Lake. We are relative newbies for a western adventure. Most of our previous travels have been up and down the east coast. Any ideas would be appreciated.

H2oboxer said:

We are planning a trip west in September, 2019 from NY. We have mapped it out pretty much up until Denver, CO area. We hope to stay at Walker Lake, NV with our final destination Portland, OR. We are looking for suggestions for places to stay/visit on the route between Denver an Walker Lake. We are relative newbies for a western adventure. Most of our previous travels have been up and down the east coast. Any ideas would be appreciated.

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LinDen Engineering in Golden, CO.

Keith.

How many days have you budgeted for Denver-Walker Lake?

Well come and see us by all means for a Sprinter shop talkfest But.
Colorado has lots of attractions:-
Glenwood Springs my all time short vacation getaway. Weekend retreat.

https://www.hotspringspool.com/
The nearby Glenwood canyon & Hanging Lake.

Durango & Silverton Railway:-
https://www.durangotrain.com/

One of my customers :-
Devils Thumb Ranch
https://www.devilsthumbranch.com/

Then of course there is the official site:-
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g28927-Activities-Colorado.html

And I once heard this on the car radio in Lancashire UK. Year about 1975!
I had to come and see what it is all about. Took a while but in came and never left .
Thirty years later and grown six kids & I am now like the old America furniture on the porch.

Be careful, because Colorado is infectious & once you get Colorado Pox you can't get rid of it!
I love this place Worts 'N All!
Dennis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWooDCkkkVQ


Cheers Dennis

Probably 4 days .

Ohw

Just enough time for some boozy goodness then.
Another client .
We maintain their signature 1960's Series 2a Landrover dray.
https://breckenridgedistillery.com/
Dennis

lindenengineering said:

Ohw

Just enough time for some boozy goodness then.
Another client .
We maintain their signature 1960's Series 2a Landrover dray.
https://breckenridgedistillery.com/
Dennis

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Is alcohol truly a requisite for one to have a good time?

H2oboxer said:

Probably 4 days .

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How much time are you planning for on the east side of the divide?

Do you like geology? Colorful/shapely canyons? Dinosaurs?

At the west edge of Colorado is the Colorado National Monument, with a loop road that takes you up and around a fascinating series of canyons. Has a campground up on the rim. Take the Fruita exit.

On that same exit, just south of I-70, is a quite decent dinosaur museum

Typical vista in the Monument:



Typical vista in the museum ("Dinosaur Journey")



Our trip there last year (scroll about 40% down).

--dick (at that point we drove north to the Dinosaur National Monument in/near Vernal, Utah ... which is still "towards Portland")

Heading a bit south in Colorado?

We stayed at a KOA in Pueblo and did some day trips.

Worth seeing.

S. Park City Museum Fairplay, Colorado
https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60041

Garden of the Gods
https://gardenofgods.com/

And if heading that direction (Bryce, Zion), include Highway 12 in Utah. The Hogback. We took Utah 24 down from I70 to Torrey Highway 12. Utah 24 was a beautiful drive too.

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?p=682075#post682075

vic

Aqua Puttana said:

Heading a bit south in Colorado?

We stayed at a KOA in Pueblo and did some day trips.

Worth seeing.

S. Park City Museum Fairplay, Colorado
https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60041

Garden of the Gods
https://gardenofgods.com/

And if heading that direction (Bryce, Zion), include Highway 12 in Utah. The Hogback. We took Utah 24 down from I70 to Torrey Highway 12. Utah 24 was a beautiful drive too.

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?p=682075#post682075

vic

Click to expand...

Have you guys tried this: Harvest Hosts: https://harvesthosts.com

Cheaper, more solitude, live among the Farms, Vineyards, Ranches !!

cheers...

OrioN said:

Is alcohol truly a requisite for one to have a good time?

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No!
But for some it is!
Besides Colorado has some fine craft beer & spirit factories where they also serve fine dining and short order food.
We even have designer coffee and tea purveyors.

Here's some more of my customers.
https://novocoffee.com/

http://www.dazbog.com/

Dennis

H2oboxer said:

We are planning a trip west in September, 2019 from NY. We have mapped it out pretty much up until Denver, CO area. We hope to stay at Walker Lake, NV with our final destination Portland, OR. We are looking for suggestions for places to stay/visit on the route between Denver an Walker Lake. We are relative newbies for a western adventure. Most of our previous travels have been up and down the east coast. Any ideas would be appreciated.

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Walker Lake? This lake has been drained way down by irrigation needs and is not a very pretty spot. And the nearby town, Hawthorne is a military ammunition storage facility. I’d head an extra hour west to the Owens Valley where you’re between the 14K foot Sierras and the 14K foot White Mountains, and then continue north on highway 395 to see Mono Lake and maybe Tahoe if you have time. Coming through Utah on highway 12 from Capitol Reef to Bryce could well be the most memorable part of your journey.

Gary

+1 on 395. One of the best highways in America. Eastern Oregon is about as remote as you can get in the lower 48. Coming from the east coast just driving that big empty space, not seeing another human for hours may be a memorable experience. Check out Steens Mountain Loop Road; https://www.statesmanjournal.com/st...g-most-spectacular-routes-in-oregon/77163386/

Drive on through Crater Lake National Park then Bend and Crux brew pub. Warm Springs Indian Reservation has an awesome campground/hot pool about a day out from Portland. Three days is not much time....

ranchworld said:

Three days is not much time....

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Very true ... from Denver to Portland by the shortest/fastest route is over 1300 miles.

Denver-Craig-SaltLakeCity-TwinFalls-
(stop at look at the falls... for that matter the entire cliff face oozes water and falls if you "shun pike" around their southern/western face)(also "base jumpers" parachuting off the bridge)
-Boise-Pendelton-Portland. ... hardly time to pee.

One time we cut across Nevada to Winnemuca, then north on US 95 into Oregon, then angled NW on various Oregon roads (such as 78) to pass through the Antelope reserve to New Princeton, then over to US 395 in Burns.
An alternate is Winnemuca to Nevada 140, which takes you over to where you can go North to Fields, Oregon, then on Or 205 to Frenchglen and Steens Mtn ...
Further into Oregon you've got the three units of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.

Our "travels" page hits these things across the years...

Bend Oregon is just north of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument... drive up into the crater and clamber over a vast obsidian flow.

--dick

Mein Sprinter said:

Have you guys tried this: Harvest Hosts: https://harvesthosts.com

Cheaper, more solitude, live among the Farms, Vineyards, Ranches !!

cheers...

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For that part of our trip we rented a trailer on the KOA site. That saved us dragging our travel trailer from NYS west and back, not to mention through the mountains. It was a good solution for us.

Some friends have used Harvest Hosts and highly recommend it. One downside is that some areas don't have many Harvest Host locations. Word is the sites are increasing though.

vic

My suggestion is avoid California at all costs.