Lost_Luggage_in_SEA

+1 for Moab, but only if you can afford the hotels there in October. Hotels in Moab can be a bit pricy in October as this is known to be a good time of the year to visit. The air quality (and therefore, the views) are often better in October than in the summer. Arches NP is right next to Moab and the northern part of Canyonlands is nearby. You can get to other places (eg. the southern section of Canyonlands and Natural Bridges) with a bit of driving.

You might want to consider Rocky Mountain NP for a day or two at the start of your trip. Although Trail Ridge Road usually closes in October, it might still be open. Also, there is the very popular elk rut to observe in early to mid October and the aspen trees turn yellow. You'd need a reservation from recreation.gov for the Bear Lake Corridor until mid October (reservations for October will open on September 1). The Bear Lake shuttle buses run until mid-October and there are still plenty of hikers in the Bear Lake corridor at that time too although it's less crowded than earlier in the year.

In Yellowstone, the facilities inside the park (eg. lodging, restaurants and gas stations) start to close after Labor Day and are likely to almost all be shut by the time you would get there (although some facilities in gateway towns should still be open). The roads themselves stay open until there's enough snow to close them (only the road in the north of the park from Gardiner to Silver City is open all year). Personally, I always found it a bit depressing hiking around Yellowstone in mid to late October, knowing that at the end of my hike, I was a still couple of hours drive away from any hot food. Grand Teton can be scenic in October, Jackson WY hotels are reasonably priced then (unlike the summer) and you are never too far from Jackson's facilities but you are always rolling the dice with the weather in that area.

Chemystery

Isn't Arches doing timed entry through the end of October this year? That might be something to consider, as I think the tickets are available three months out. If they are anything like ones for Glacier, they'll sell out in minutes so be sure to look into how/where/when to order one.

If you do get to Utah and are looking for more things to see/do, we really enjoyed Goblin Valley State Park, as well as Capitol Reef, especially driving Capitol Gorge Road. We didn't do the hike at the end of Capitol Gorge Rd because of incoming weather during monsoon season (good choice, given videos I've seen of flash flooding in that area) but it's a gorgeous drive...pun fully intended. If you do visit Goblin Valley, be sure to pack food and beverages as there is little to nothing nearby. We overnighted in one of the yurts there and it was very peaceful and the night sky was stunning, but I'm not sure how late in the year those are available. I also loved driving the hogback, the scenery in that area of Utah was incredible.

Yellowstone, I'm with others who suggest it might not be the best choice at that time of year. The roads aren't scheduled to close until the end of October, but that doesn't mean there won't be weather-related closures before then, and facilities are sparse at best. Jackson is lovely at any time of year so the Tetons may be an option, with the weather caveat that Lost_Luggage_in_SEA mentioned.

Lost_Luggage_in_SEA

This is correct (and thanks for mentioning it as I'd forgotten about timed entry at Arches - I've never been there when it's been required).

More generally, timed entry is the future for popular national parks in the US. It's now always a good idea to see if the park you want to visit has timed entry and how it works.

According to:
https://www.nps.gov/arch/planyourvis...eservation.htm
timed entry reservations go on sale for October at 8am on July 1. Personally, I'd buy them as soon as possible after they go on sale, just to be on the safe side. Depending on how much hiking you want to do in Arches, you will need reservations for 1-3 days IMO (Arches isn't a large national park and in my experience, three days is enough time to hike every official, maintained, trail in the park and one day is enough if you don't do much hiking).

If you are late in getting reservations and they have sold out when you try to buy them at recreation.gov, you have two options for visiting Arches:
1) buy the reservation at 6pm MDT the day before you want to visit
2) enter the park (meaning that you pass the entrance station where a ranger collects your money or checks your park pass) before 7am (or after 4pm).
Both these options can have issues. I can't speak about Arches directly, in this respect, but I can speak with extensive knowledge about how this system "works" at Rocky Mountain National Park.
WRT option 1) if Rocky's Bear Lake Corridor is anything to go by, for a popular day, the reservations to enter next day at a popular time (eg. 9am) will be sell out within 90 seconds of going on sale (and I am not exaggerating).
WRT option 2) I believe you can enter Arches 24 hours a day but there will be a ranger collecting entrance fees and checking passes and reservations at the entrance station in the morning and afternoon. If the ranger starts work at 7am, showing up at 6..45 am will probably work as it's unlikely there will be a long line of cars if everyone is driving right through. If the ranger shows up at 6am to start collecting entrance fees, there will be a long line of cars waiting to get into the park at 6.45 am and many won't make it by 7am. (At Rocky, the trail ridge road timed entry reservations are required 9am to 3pm so, of course, huge numbers of people without reservations show up at 8.45 am thinking they can beat the deadline and then find themselves in a line of cars THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS long to get into the park and fail to make it in time.)

djp98374

on any trip thst includes Rocky Mountain national park is do this at the end of the trip due to altitude. This thr highest hiking in the national parks at 10,000 feet and higher.

the bear lake area has always been car restricted where they close car access early in the morning and force you to park and use a shuttle bus.

my understanding is the entire park is off limits without a pre-entry timed reservation or a camping site reservation. They have early am and late pm entry times.

Arches has the timed entry unless you have in park camping reservations. As a result of access restrictions, thr line to island in the sky in canyonlands is horrendous.

Aside—- I don’t understand why Arches doesn’t have a park shuttle bus system set up. Similar to Zion, therr is also a shuttle bus from Moab to visitor center that serves the main road

yellowstone ….

roosevelt closes after Labor Day weekend then others close in late September. The last campsite and lodging closes after Columbus Day weekend. In Teton thr lodging closes in late September/ early October with signal mountain lodge closing after Columbus Day.

you have real winter chances in this area in October. At some point in late September/ early October the first cold front moves thru bringing snow risk doen and the temps fall from highs in mid 60s to highs in mid 30s

asvof last time I looked—- the secret summer deal in jackson, wy is the 15,000 pts per night rate the super8 has. Similar super8 in west Yellowstone and Cooke city are 30,000 pt per night rate. If thry still have the 15K pt rate you can buy points either at a discount rate or bonus point rate for $160 per night.

for Moab, what was a great deal with points was the Hyatt in Moab at 6000-9000 per night. Now it’s higher.

another deal I do is buying IHG points. Right now they have the 100% bonus pt offer where $100=20,000 pts so the point rate on the holiday inn in west Yellowstone is under the cash+ tax rate.

for utah parks…..Moab, St. George/ cedar city , Kanab and page have regular supermarkets. Therr isn’t much in other areas in terms of food/ supply.

jackson and Bozeman have supermarkets and large retailers.

serpens

And about to go up, as noted in a thread in the Hyatt forum, from category 4 to 5 (which will also put it out of reach for a credit card free night certificate).

kochleffel

Thanks for the helpful posts about the Moab region. My plans have been put ahead to 2024, because at work I invited a guest speaker who is only available during the time I would have gone there. I will retire in June so plans next year will be more flexible.

Unless the trip is longer than I have been thinking about it will be primarily Arches and Canyonlands, perhaps also Capitol Reef and Glen Canyon, but not Bryce or Zion, because I don't want to spend that much time driving.

DELee

Hate to say it but exploring the Western United States is lots of driving. Period.

David

Chemystery

Congratulations on the impending retirement and added flexibility for your travels.

Many of the drives in southern Utah are incredibly scenic, and are some of my favorite parts of our Utah trips. As the previous post mentioned, almost anything out west will include lots of driving, but it's so different from where I'm from that it's part of the fun.

kochleffel

Having lived in the West, I am well aware of that. It doesn't mean that I want to spend all day, every day, driving.

bitterproffit

We took a great trip to Colorado/ Utah last July to see some lesser visited parks. Mesa Verde, Capitol Reef, and Great Basin NP in NV.

We flew into Durango, Stayed at the Statler Hotel.

Visited Mesa Verde NP, took a tour of some cliff dwellings and stayed the night at the hotel in the park.

Drove to Capitol Reef and stayed in a nice hotel in Torrey UT (Red Sands Hotel). Hiked the ridge and Fruita canyon.

Drove to Great Basin NP and spent two nights at 'Hidden Canyon Lodge", one of the most remote and unique places I have ever stayed. Great Basin NP is very quiet. We went on a cave tour and then hiked some alpine lakes at the foot of Wheeler Peak. The hike was at about 11,000 feet, but it was pretty level.

Drove to Salt Lake and spent two nights at the Hilton and had a great time at the Museum of Natural History and exploring Temple Square. It was also Pioneer Day so we learned a lot about the LDS and their arrival in Utah.

It was a bit of driving, and some dirt roads to get to the Hidden Canyon Lodge in NV, but the scenery was spectacular and we had a big SUV rental. For July, there these parks were not very crowded and while the drives were long, the scenery was spectacular.

amanuensis

Great Basin National Park is really a gem. I've been there several times.

azepine00

Considered several times but somehow never made it there... embarrassing given countless trips to utah parks and other destinations nearby... what is the best time to go and do you have any pointers?

bitterproffit

We went in July. It was not very hot. There were also storms running around in the afternoon.

There is not a whole lot there, but we toured Lehman Cave and while not as expansive as other cave tours, it was fascinating and well done.

You can drive up to a hiking area at about 10,000 feet. It was in the 70s up there. There is a nice hike to some alpine lakes. You are at the base of Wheeler Peak, so close but not in the snow field in July. Might be in the snowpack earlier in the summer.

It is a dark sky park and there are some night astronomy events for people camping. We stayed at the Hidden Canyon Retreat nearby and they turn off all the lights at night as well and the Milky Way was spectacular.

Here is a link to the place we stayed. It was very nice and a very unique place to stay.

Hidden Canyon Retreat | Great Basin

I think a full day in Great Basin is enough. Its just not near anything else. Which means its not very crowded in peak times.

Lost_Luggage_in_SEA

I've been to Great Basin twice. The first time was late May and I was surprised to find many of the trails were still covered in snow (I honestly did not expect that in Nevada). My second visit was at the end of July and while there was still some snow, the trails I did were free from snow (although I didn't attempt Wheeler Peak so I don't know if that trail still had snow). Although it's a small park, relatively speaking, I thought it was very scenic and I liked Lehman Cave, the Alpine Lakes loop and the bristlecone pine nature trail. FWIW, I stayed in Ely both times. Unless things have changed since I was last there in 2019, Ely is the nearest place with a largish grocery store. However, Ely is roughly a1 hour drive to the park.

amanuensis

The cave can be done at any time of the year since it is underground but hiking is best done in the summer. And the hikes to see the ancient bristle cone pines is what the real attraction is. The cave is pretty good, but there are better to be had, e.g., Wind Cave, Jewel Cave (which are actually one huge cave complex) and Carlsbad. Another feature is how dark it gets at night. Rangers sometimes set up telescopes.