marcinny

Hello everyone,

I am planning to take my elderly mother on a road trip again. This time I would like to show Her national parks in Utah and Colorado (10-14 days). Do you have any suggestions/itineraries how to visit them? My mother is not able to walk a lot but I still hope that she can see beautiful places there. I am looking for an easy access by car/shuttle. It did work out great visiting Great Canyon, Yosemite, Death Valley etc, so hopefully I can put something together also this time. We are planning to be there in May. Thank you!

oldemalloy

Get a map and mark the places you want to visit. Then plan a loop to include the sites you are most interested in seeing. The places are beautiful, but distances are far apart, so make sure you can handle many hours of driving. The landscape is beautiful, so for us that is part of the fun.

We have done loops from Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Denver and Phoenix, depending on which parks we were heading for and what other events were in our plans.

The parks that I have found that you can see lots of beauty with not too much walking are Grand Canyon, Arches and Canyonlands, Bryce, Zion, Death Valley and Rocky Mt. NP. Seeing all of them would involve thousands of miles of driving. You should be aware that DV is in California and Grand Canyon is in Arizona, so do get a large paper map and put things into perspective.

You are also a little late in terms of getting lodging in or near the parks. Look into that once you have decided on where you want to go and in which order.

MoBro

The month of May can still see snow in Colorado, so be aware of that. And some high mountain roads-- like Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park-- may not be open yet.

mlgb

Zion would be a good choice, can you fly into Las Vegas and rent a car? There is TONS of lodging in Springdale. The La Quinta Inn and Suites worked out for my last trip. However their ground floor rooms may be kings only. No elevators.

You might try the Holiday Inn Express Springdale, they have queen bedded accessible rooms.

PrairieHikerII

Get a Rand McNally Road Atlas and then plan your itinerary. I agree with the above post: fly into LV and rent a car. You can see the national parks in Utah fairly easily as they are in the south.

isabel

I would start in Denver. If you went I-70 it's just over 5 hours to Moab (assuming good weather and light traffic which obviously is not guaranteed). But the scenic route is more like 8 hours. I'd do that and break it up into two days. So probably 3 nights if you need to spend the first night in Denver. Then 3 nights in Moab with one day for Arch's and one for Canyonlands/Dead Horse Point. Also in both directions from Moab for about an hour is the Colorado River Scenic Byway. Both Arch's and Canyonlands have lots of trails that are short and easy. Then drive to somewhere near Capitol Reef (Torrey) and see that park. The one main trail there is flat. I saw a woman with a walker on it. (Although the ground is a little uneven for walkers. It's an in/out trail so you can just go as far as you want and turn around). En route stop in Goblin Valley State Park. Now you are up to 7 nights. Then continue on to Bryce (absolutely gorgeous National Scenic Byway between Capitol Reef and Bryce). The 'best' hike in Bryce is pretty steep but there are lots of over looks. Then to Zion where there are plenty of easy trails (and plenty that you won't want to do!). Then continue on to Vegas to fly out of. En route stop in Valley of Fire State Park. The state parks I've mentioned are as good as the National Parks. That's a minimum of 12 nights, could easily add an extra night to any of those stops. I would try to get the full 14 days to have a more leisurely trip. There are usually pretty high car rental rates to pick up in one location and drop in another but this plan does give you all 5 Utah National Parks plus Colorado. If you absolutely have to do it as a loop I'd do it from Denver, skip Zion and Bryce and loop back to Denver via a different route, maybe stopping in Mesa Verde/Durango.

Here's my photos of all those places - https://andiamo.zenfolio.com/f764149109

HappyTrvlr

I would try to find what handicapped access the national parks offer as that may give you some good info on where she would be able to handle the terrain.

NorthwestMale

This might be the dumbest suggestion made this year on Fodors (unlikely, but still in the conversation... {not really} ) BUT:

WHEN you are in your rental car, and ready to drive off into the high country... (really high, I mean... the highest)...

Stop at a STORE... and buy a bag of POTATO CHIPS (get a bigger bag, not that 'snack size')... and if your mother has no will-power... buy TWO BAGS!!

Then leave at least one of the bags UNOPENED in the back seat.

Then, when you get to the high-altitude destinations... be sure to LOOK at the bags of chips you bought.

(it's more entertaining to those who live near sea level than to those who live at considerably high altitudes... but even if you aren't entertained at all...

you'll still have ALL THAT AND a bag of chips (or 2) !! )