Road Trip To The Four Corner States

Seems like you had a great trip by the looks of your map. I'm a Utahn and it looks to me that you missed some exceptional parts of Utah, like Moab, Arches National Monument, Canyonlands and Zions. By your map it looks like you made it to Bryce. If you did miss any of these well, it looks like you will have to go back!!!

Barb

Hi Barbara! Your right I did miss some exceptional parts of Utah! I do hope to get back someday, thanks for connecting with me!

Thought I might add a couple more images of my road trip this year.

Love the area. I stay often in Durango CO, and Mesa Verde is one of my favorite places.....

Heading out there in mid-September. Crossing Nevada from Reno to get to Wyoming via Utah/Idaho (Tetons, Dinwoody sites) then down through northeastern Utah to northern New Mexico (via a piece of Colorado) to hike Bisti and visit a couple other favorite places nearby, then into northeastern AZ and up across southern Utah (making several loops in southern Utah so I don't miss any of my old haunts) and on to Vegas, across Death Valley then up Hwy. 395 through Mono Lake, etc., to get home. I've set an ambitious schedule to hike and shoot as many of my favorite places as possible in 6 weeks. No motels, spas, restaurants, camp grounds or tourist traps (other than National Park tourist traps). Sleeping in the back of my truck in out-of-the-way places and doing all the cooking on a one-burner. I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to revisit these places one last time before I become too decrepit to walk and pack gear.

Found very cool (free) site, http://scribblemaps.com/ where I'm plotting my routes/alternate routes and noting special stops along the way. It can be saved online and the link shared so others have an idea which states to search if I don't come home, LOL.

I know where I want to go and what I want to do but if anyone has any tips on cool places they want to share, I'd love to hear about them.

@Kathleen - that's how I always travel especially in that area. AllStays is what I use (app) to figure out where to stay for free everywhere. Sounds like you may have out of the way places to crash already figured out.

There's a free campground (Stateline) down by the wave, there's a little known (at least in the off-season) BLM area on the Springdale side of Zion.

The Wahweap Marina at Lake Powell is a good place to get a shower, do laundry and free wifi to upload some photos along the way.

The Lazy Lizard in Moab is a good place to crash for a night or 3 to access a shower, kitchen, wifi. $10 for a bunk or $7 to camp there.

If you do any Utah state parks, paying to camp there is often cheaper than paying the entrance fee and then burning gas to go find a free spot, especially if you want to catch sunrise and sunset which would probably require 2 entrance fees. At $20, the Valley of Fire comes out about even too with the $10 entrance fee.

You can often blend in in the Rubys parking lot at Bryce for the night, use free wifi and be right there at the park.

DV gas is outrageous but if you can manage to buy it in Beatty its about $2.00 a gallon cheaper. Paying for campgrounds in DV is usually cheaper than burning the gas to get to a free spot unless there is somewhere to crash for free in the park.

Any tips for staying free around Teton? That's one place I've never been able to figure out how to do free? If they would just put a big ugly Super Walmart there all problems would be solved!

4 Corner States:
Like Washington, California, Florida and Maine....That would be fun also. I've been to all four.
This is a beautiful country sans the mess we humans have made of it.

But your trip most have been wonderful. Happy for You...

Thanks, Adam! Some very useful information. I plan to sleep on Shadow Mountain in Jackson Hole. It's Forest Service land and free. The other free place I heard about is east of Hoback Junction near the hot springs but it is too out-of-the-way for me. There's also FS land just east of Moran Junction and also out past Slide Lake. I may camp out there and do some hiking to the east. I've found cheap motels in Jackson in the old days but I'm afraid they are long gone. I thought about just parking along a residential street in town if I get there late but my California plates would be a give-away.

I've also camped free in Teton Canyon on the west (Idaho) side of the peaks behind Alta. Really pretty up there and very few people in the fall.

One of my favorite places to camp on my way east is beside Torrey Lake, just east of Dubois. Lots of wildlife in a beautiful setting and it's near a favorite trail.

I've slept at that turnout along the road by the CB/TW trailhead on the Arizona side a number of times but it's been years since I was there. Now that it's become so popular, I doubt I'll be able to get a permit this time but it's high on my list. When I used to go, I'd be the only one out there and it was amazing, especially during monsoon lightning.

Thanks for the tip on showers at Lake Foul. It always seems like a minor miracle to actually get clean with hot water when I'm out in the bush.

I'll check out the place in Moab for a shower but will probably camp out on the west side where a very bad jeep road ends at an overlook. Have had some pretty interesting dreams at that spot.

I looked at Google Earth near Valley of Fire and it looks like BLM land near each entrance so I'll probably park behind the gravel piles. I hate the idea of paying entrance fee there but I do want to see their version of The Wave.

Thanks for the tip on Bryce wifi. Did you need a password?

I will definitely tank up before crossing DV. I don't plan to drive around in there much so should have enough to make it to Lone Pine.

Did you go to Ah-shi-sle-pah in NM? Is it much different than Bisti?

If you think of anything else, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

The Wave will be almost impossible to get a permit for a CB but if the truck can handle it Coyote Buttes South often has them. Buckskin Gulch (slot canyon) is a cool day hike down there that starts at the same place as the trailhead to the wave.

Whenever I'm trying to get Wave permits in Kanab I always sleep at the "Truck Stop" right across the street. Just a little way down the street toward Kanab there is a little restaurant that had an all you can eat pizza/pasta lunch buffet for $4.99 or maybe $5.99.

White Pocket looks stunning but is another rough road that's a $250 guided trip that I've not done because of that. No permit needed. Yellow Rock is another spot there I want to get to (free) about half way up the road that goes from 89 up to Kodachrome State Park. You could park anywhere on that road for the night in a wide spot. Just be sure there is no rainstorm coming.

Paria Town site has awesome Badlands and it about midway between Page, AZ and Kanab. The town was burned down so nobody goes down there.

The Wahweap Marina is my "office" when down there - the laundromat.

The wave at Valley of Fire is nothing like the one in CB but the whole park is quite impressive.

At DV, the dunes can make for cool photos but you almost have to incorporate people into them. Dante's View is pretty cool and you can go just outside the park for the night there.

The crater area near Scotty's castle on the Beatty side is pretty awesome and the Scotty's castle tour is awesome. The Story of that place would make a perfect Robin Williams movie. The wildlife refuge outside of DV on the Beatty side was a big disappointment and not worth the trip.

I hasn't yet bit to Bisti or anywhere around there but hope to next year.

Wifi at Rubys by Bryce was open in Feb or whenever I was there last.

Thanks for the tips on Teton! Have always stayed in Jackson Hole at Hostel X which is cheap for Teton but still $20-$30 a night.

If you wander into Colorado at all, Maroon Bells (can park there overnight) and the Crystal Mill are both awesome stops too as long as the snow hasn't started.

Adam, was it the movie set that burned or the old townsite across the river? Yeah, I'm not counting on CB this time but I will certainly try. Thanks for the tip about the truck stop across from BLM. Early birds sometimes do get worms! Paria Plateau was part of my old stomping grounds. I actually drove the canyon years ago (way before it was designated). It was scary but very beautiful. There is/was an old route all along the river but it was pretty sketchy with quicksand, etc. and if you get a 4-wheel stuck, you are truly stuck. Took me 2 nights and 3 days but I finally hit a solid jeep road somewhere south of Cannonville and followed it up to 12. Another time I nearly froze to death sleeping near the confluence of Cottonwood Creek and Paria River. Ice everywhere but again, I had the place to myself. Did you ever hike Rattlesnake Gulch south of Fredonia? Amazing stuff a few miles in. That's where I broke my hip but I still want to go back.

Re DV, my SO was a ranger there for a while and I can't get him to say there's anything worth seeing there but he's not a desert person. I've been to the usual tourist spots before so unless there is some beautiful light for shooting, I'll probably not do the tourist thing this time and just get across to Lone Pine. Hoping the road to the bristlecones won't be closed by then but there's liable to be some snow in the high places before I get back.

I've seen gorgeous photos of Maroon Bells and have always wanted to go there. Will see how far off track it is. Six weeks seems like a long time but it's just a blink when there's so much to do, so I'll have to keep moving.