Upcoming long road trip - any tips/advice?

[WarEagle28]

My fiance and I are currently planning a long road trip for late October. I'm hoping to get some advice or tips to know before taking on this trip, whether it be 4Runner specific or not. I'd like to hear from anyone who has taken a long trip and learned something along the way they wish they could have prepared for beforehand.

So here's the trip: head from Atlanta to Utah and northern AZ and hit some of the big national parks and sights. We are taking a week from work which may be squeezing us on time but we feel confident we can do it.

Our rough plan is as follows, and this is entirely open to change:

Friday - depart ATL that evening after work and stop in Birmingham, AL to stay the night with some family. This could give us a small head start out of Atlanta.

Saturday - depart Birmingham early that AM and trek all the way to Amarillo, TX. This is a big haul for one day but we plan to take turns driving.

Sunday - get another early start and drive to Monument Valley at the AZ/Utah border. Take in the sights on the scenic drive, then carry on to Moab, UT for the night.

Monday - Spend entire day exploring/hiking Arches NP

Tuesday - Spend entire day exploring/hiking Canyonlands NP.

Wednesday - Get an early start to Bryce Canyon NP, spend rest of day there. That evening we'd make the trek to Zion NP. (Or make the drive to Zion first thing Thurs. AM)

Thursday & Friday - Zion is the big one we both want to see the most, so we're dedicating two days to this and hoping to camp in/near the park Thursday night. Friday evening we'll depart Zion and drive to Page, AZ.

Saturday - get a really early start and see Horseshoe bend. After that we'll load up and start the stretch back east. If time allows we'd like to pit stop and check out Albuquerque, NM. We'd like to make it back to Amarillo that night and catch some sleep.

Sunday - finish the final leg back to Atlanta.


I plan to remove the rear seat bottoms to fit an air mattress in the back to allow a place to sleep, and we're looking at free campsites and places to park as our primary sleep plan. We'll also bring standard ground tent and camping equipment along. I'd love to have a RTT for this, but sadly that is out of the budget. All 4Runner sleeping advice is welcomed! We may snag a room in Amarillo just to get out of the car and in a bed after the long driving stretches.

This is a really ambitious trip and we may be crazy for even thinking we can do this, but we're excited to get out west. This will be our longest road trip we've ever taken on. We will of course be smart with driving and not push it if we're too fatigued, we'd rather the trip run a day or two over plan than risk driving when we really shouldn't be. I'm open to any thoughts, comments, concerns, equipment recommendations, etc. Or if you just think I'm stupid for planning this, I'll take that too.

Thanks!

 

[JayceeP]

I Google Mapped your route. You can do it, but it’s possible you might have more memories of being in your 4Runner on the highway than the actual destinations. I’ve historically liked road trips but I don’t think I would tackle this distance in such a short time for vacation/adventure. The places you are going look incredible but it’d be great if you could try and sneak a few extra days on either end of your trip.

Give how long you will be sitting and not moving much, I would plan your diet accordingly. Eat light, get some fibre, and drink water (also don’t consume a bunch of liquid 5 minutes after you stop for gas... try and wait until you are closer to your next planned stop). It can be tempting to eat junky food on road trips but might not be the best idea.

Have a great trip!

 

[Louise]

Ditto what Jaycee said.

 

[SilverTEP]

If you're going to sleep in the car I highly recommend a decent USB fan and one of those batteries that charge your cell phone to run it off of.

 

[WarEagle28]

I Google Mapped your route. You can do it, but it’s possible you might have more memories of being in your 4Runner on the highway than the actual destinations. I’ve historically liked road trips but I don’t think I would tackle this distance in such a short time for vacation/adventure. The places you are going look incredible but it’d be great if you could try and sneak a few extra days on either end of your trip.

Give how long you will be sitting and not moving much, I would plan your diet accordingly. Eat light, get some fibre, and drink water (also don’t consume a bunch of liquid 5 minutes after you stop for gas... try and wait until you are closer to your next planned stop). It can be tempting to eat junky food on road trips but might not be the best idea.

Have a great trip!

That’s been our biggest concern is trying to squeeze this much in a week. The parks each have way more than a day’s worth of exploring to them so I’d hate to cut any short. We’ve even debated foregoing the road trip and just flying out there and getting a rental, but something about road tripping it has us hooked because we’ve never done that. Maybe it would even be worth dedicating more time to just two parks and really experience those and save the others for another trip. Her job is pretty much limiting her to the one week, but I’ll keep working on her to see if she could spare any extra time. In a perfect world I’d love to make this a two week trip.

And that’s a good point on diet, I didn’t really think of that. I tend to be a cheap and quick eater on the road so I’ll stay away from that. We’ll have a cooler we can keep stocked with lighter healthier stuff.

 

[WarEagle28]

If you're going to sleep in the car I highly recommend a decent USB fan and one of those batteries that charge your cell phone to run it off of.

I sleep with a fan by my bed every night so this would be an absolute must-have or I won’t sleep at all. I’ll make sure to get these. Thanks!

 

[RAD4Runner]

Nice destinations!

...
I plan to remove the rear seat bottoms to fit an air mattress ...
...This is a really ambitious trip and we may be crazy

Not too ambitious in a 5th-gen; I did Route 66 from So Cal to Texas in my 30-YO first-gen.

Good idea to remove the rear seat bottoms. Air mattress is bouncy. I got roll-out memory foam sleep-over mattress from Costco. 39-inch wide.

Have fun! Utah's lovely.
Forget RTT. Too much drag, and it sits at the parking lot while you sleep in more awesome places.

 

[WNY PAT]

I’d say just check everything over with the 4R. All fluids, etc to start. If you’ve never used an underbody spare, look at that and figure out how to lower it and use the jack while you’re at home. I’d loosen and retighten the hardware to make sure it breaks free easily and then spray it with some lubricant even on a 2017. If on the off chance you need the spare,it’ll make life a lot easier that fighting with that crap on the road. I’d say be prepared too. You never know what the weather will be like in late October, especially when you’ll be changing elevations. Sounds awesome! Many moons ago my wife and I, newly married, took my 1997 T-100 from Western NY through S. Dakota (Badlands and Rushmore), then out to Yellowstone, the southwest out to Yosemite then back west tonthe Grand Canyon with lots of camping and other parks in between. We took 3 weeks but it was a trip we will never forget. I’m sure the 4R will take good care of you! Have a blast!

 

[Prototype_X9]

Im in the middle of a large roadtrip myself. All states parts of canada in a gen5. My advice, budget a good amount of time at your destinations. You dont want to drive all that way just to setup and leave. Take more photos and especially videos of the scenery and eachother. You wont know how much you love it till you have it. Or realize you didnt take enough.

 

[swampdodo]

You'll want to have provisions like food and water for the unexpected.

But I would just 'Forrest Gump' it like I sort of did on my cross country trip several years ago...you never know what you might see on the next hill...

'...when I was hungry, I ate...when I was tired, I slept...when I had to go, I went...'

Or something to that effect.

 

[Jetboy]

I have a lot of armchair qb suggestions.

Get a printed copy of utah public lands map with sufficient detail to figure out where BLM and Forest Service lands are. I really like the Delorme Atlas and Gazateer. I almost always keep a copy in my 4Runner for all the states I'm camping in. They are really helpful for determining land as private/state/federal/etc in remote areas. It's not usually marked. BLM land is the best place for primitive free camping around southern Utah.

As far as driving plan - I would be to pair down what you want to see if possible or add some days if possible. Assuming the same plan, I would re-order your trip just a bit as follows.

Amarillo to Canyonlands instead of Moab. The needles is the best part of Canyonlands IMO, but probably the first place I would drop from the schedule because it's not easy to see quickly. However, either way - I would stop short of Moab on that leg. It's a long day and that is about 1.5 hours shorter than going into moab. Second - it's a lot nicer and easier to find camping spots in BLM land (free primitive camping). Moab is not like it was 10 years ago. Getting in late and finding an open camp site is not a given. Save yourself the frustration and stop a bit early. So you could camp there and then continue on to Moab in the morning, or camp there and visit the needles.

Don't try to go out on the elephant hill trail alone on a trip when you have limited time. It's fun and I'm sure your 4Runner would make it - but it's easy to get in trouble out there and you're a long way from help and from home if something goes wrong.

Also, just FYI - October in Moab you should expect night time temps to go into the 40's or possible 30's. Bring something warm to sleep in.


Arches has a lot of great short hikes. It may be crowded though. You can hike every marked trail in Arches in about 2.5 days. It's a fairly small park. One day will give you a good chance to drive the main road and see stuff and do a couple hikes.

Canyonlands is a lot bigger. The island in the sky is a cool drive out near Moab - but frankly - skip it. The one hike there is okay. It's the same thing you see from the parking lot. Just a mile further down the cliff. The shafer trail/potash road is great. The 4Runner will have no problem going down/up there if you have time. IMO dead horse point is a better than the Island overlook. They're right near eachother.

Again - given enough time - the drive from Moab to Zion would be the best if you can head through Capital Reef going more south than the highway option Google will map for you. Capital Reef has a pay camp ground that is one of the best camp grounds anywhere. It's fairly cheap - maybe $20 and it's just beautiful between the cliffs and river. The town/area is called "fruita". It's perfect for tent camping. If you had more time - cathedral valley is right by there and is a half day extra drive to go through. It's very similar to monument valley. Often confused in pictures. And it has a free campground overlooking the valley. However - if it's wet/rainy - that drive may prove very difficult for a stock 4Runner. So check the weather. I was out there in a Tacoma on 34's two years ago and I wasn't sure at a few spots if we were going to make it. On a dry day - easy 2wd. I've towed my camper through it.

Even if you don't get out to that area - the drive through Hanksville and Escalante route is a lot nicer scenically. You'll also pass directly by the Bryce canyon entrance. Skip the hikes there. Just drive out and look from the overlook. The hikes are great - but not good enough given your limited time.

Sorry for the long scattered thoughts. I live in Salt Lake City and spend a lot of time down there. If you have more specific questions about where to camp, where to shower, stuff like that, pm me.

A few other random thoughts:

Tent camping is perfect. No need for a RTT. If I had one - I'd leave it at home anyway driving all the way from ATL. DO bring a ground cover for under your tent. You'll be sleeping on sandstone a fair bit and it's very abrasive. It'll wear through a nice tent floor pretty quickly. I've come to find that I really prefer a heavy canvas tarp over the plastic ones. Ranch stores usually have them for $25 or so. It's worth the extra $10 over a plastic tarp.

Carry extra water hiking - especially if you're hiking canyonlands. The distances don't really reflect how strenuous those hikes are. I've run out of water and daylight out there before. Hiking back in the dark without water or a flash light sucks. In zion or Arches - there's a billion people and the trails are pretty well worn and marked, so it's not as much of an issue.

Good luck! It's a beautiful place. Depending on when you're there I might also be down in Moab for a weekend, but I don't have a specific plan.

 

[90Duck]

ambitious!

We are doing a similar trip from Oregon down to North Rim Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, and Grand Staircase/Escalante in the SW corner of Utah (and Northern Arizona) over 10 days. We've been to Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, and Natural Bridges in the SE corner of Utah (and into Colorado) on prior trips. It's your trip, but if it were me, I would pick one area and concentrate on either the SW Utah parks or the SE Utah parks and enjoy them more. Since Zion is your priority, SW makes sense and there is plenty to see there for the five days you would actually be in the parks!

This website has lots of good information on free campsites:

https://freecampsites.net/

On this trip we are generally staying in the park lodges (big round number birthdays trip for my wife and my buddy's wife who we are traveling with, so kind of splurging.)

I just got my '18 4Runner set up for camping with the window/latch mod talked about in this thread:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-g...own-hatch-pop-ignition-off-7.html#post3060945

The ability to open and close the window and hatch from inside will make access through the hatch much easier when sleeping back there.

I picked up some of these gutter screens for ventilation mentioned in this thread:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/174536-my-4-dollar-window-screen-4.html

And I got this Air Bedz mattress: https://trail4runner.com/?s=air+bedz...nce=223280112b

Ebay apparently has a 15% off coupon today, so that helps quite a bit on the the mattress. I got mine from this vendor, who was selling them for quite a bit less than everywhere else I could find:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/PPI103-Air...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

The coupon got the cost down to around $150 with free shipping, just palatable enough for me to do it. It fits in there perfect with the rear seat bottoms removed and is really comfortable. We don't have the slide out tray or third row seats, but the mattress is thick enough that it makes the hump irrelevant.

Have fun, it's beautiful country down there!

 

[jb10]

recently took a long trip through northern colorado and wyoming. the gazetteers are great! as kids my brother and me would spend hours looking at these types of maps when we were getting ready to go on a trip. recently bought a couple and i'm still doing the same thing.
here are a few things i learned.
keep extra water. even if you think you have enough you will probably need more. especially if you have a campfire. it takes a lot of water to completely put them out.
you can get water from some full amenity camp grounds. i needed water badly and was looking for a camp spot. i didn't want to stop and buy 6-8 gallon jugs. came upon a place that was full but spotted a spigot near one the the vault bathrooms.
if you are taking any kind of meat with you double bag it. i had mine in new ziplock bags and it still got wet and of course leaked into the rest of the cooler
IF that does happen the diy car washes are a great way to get your cooler and the stuff inside clean again.
go over your gear a few times. ask yourself if you will really need/use it. i got home and unpacked and there was a few things that i didn't use at all and removed from my gear

came across this about a week ago.
https://www.fs.fed.us/ivm/index.html

 

[jb10]

oooh and have fun and enjoy!

 

[mtnbiker49]

I don't think one day at those locations is sufficient. It is much more fun when you aren't rushing to see as much as you can before departing. Decide which trails you want to hike beforehand and check the FB pages for closures and such.

 

[Industrialwrench]

You might want to add another week to your trip. Way too much driving. I’ve done a ton of road trips. If you stick to a schedule such as this you will be stressed out, and seriously robbing yourself. Each park is a weeks destination. Read desert solitaire by Edward Abby.

 

[WarEagle28]

I appreciate all the feedback! We’ll keep weighing our options. I definitely don’t want to make the trip then regret not taking enough time to enjoy our stops out there.

 

[Baystate4Runner]

...Her job is pretty much limiting her to the one week, but I’ll keep working on her to see if she could spare any extra time. In a perfect world I’d love to make this a two week trip.

Your fiancé could fly back to Atlanta from Albuquerque and you do the drive back alone. Would give you 1.5 more days at the parks/attractions.

 

[MeefZah]

I've done a lot of "rushed" road trips, sleeping out of the back of the 4R. Link in my signature (including a 8 day Utah NP trip that covers all the stuff you want to do, so maybe check it out).

The big takeaway specific to Utah NP travel is that Zion is off the hook busy. You can't allow 1 day because you will not see the park. The shuttle that you have to ride, when we were there, was a 4 hour wait in line. Cars everywhere. No parking at the visitors center, you had to park elsewhere and walk in.

Other than that, if you are not hiking long distances or doing a lot of stuff away from the car, you can do the other parks in a day each - it'll be slightly rushed, but you can drive through them at a leisurely pace and stop for sights. Canyonlands might require more time if you want to do the White Rim or something. We did a part of it and then came back since we didn't have enough time to dedicate to the whole route.

I would say that it's better to experience several NPs in a week than just one; if anything by going to several and spending a day at each you can decide which ones you might want to come back to for more in-depth travel at a later time.

If you are sleeping in the back you can sleep pretty much anywhere, we use a bunch of off the grid places / rest areas / parks that the ranger has gone home for the night / NF lands / BLM lands / etc and never pay for camping. You can get cheap showers at an RV park, just go in and ask to buy a shower, they are like $5; or at truck stops, you can both get in one shower for about $12.

If you don't have a 3rd row model then be wary of the "hump" in the cargo floor, some people can sleep on it fine but I personally cannot, so test out the sleeping plan and mattress before you leave to make sure you aren't miserable. I had to build a pallet to raise up the cargo floor to make it level. Details and other people's ideas on that are here:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/general-discussions/238746-sleeping-comfortably-2017-4runner.html

Have fun!

 

[Bumbo]

I spent a month on the road away from home alone… with the intention of sleeping in the truck for a large part of it.

Don’t overpack… I overpacked making it more difficult to actually sleep in the car. I needed to remove Pelican cases to make room, and depending on where you go, not the best idea. I did have a cable lock which I used to lock my cases to my sliders but it was still inconvenient.

I had plenty of time between destinations, nothing was actually planned out, very nomad style of travel. My problem was food and drink during extended stays. I wanted to stay longer in certain places but I kept needing ice. Food safety became a thing, and I did get sick on the trip at one point with a stomach bug. Ended up paying some big bucks to post up in a hotel for a couple days. Bring a good cooler that can keep ice for the duration you need, but this was my excuse to get a fridge, and I did. Trips have never been the same again after adding refrigeration to the truck. To this day I wish I just bought it sooner, and the hotel costs would have just about paid for it.

Getting sick… prepare for it. First aid kit, medication, thermometer. I had a simple first aid kit that came in very handy.

Radio communications… sometimes you need it, sometimes you don’t. Ham radio isn’t for everyone but if you do this sort of thing often, it’s a huge safety net. I went to many places with no cellular and my only line to get help was via radio. For those that don’t like that option, rent a sat phone for emergencies.

Not much else to add, those were just my random thoughts based on my own experience.

Have fun, enjoy the moments, and for me, the drive was very, very good. Nothing like open road once you get out of the city especially though beautiful areas.