The Western Part of the Western World - Part 4: The Inner-Western States Apr 05 '04 (Updated Apr 08 '04)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet The Bottom Line Not the best section, but at least it has a lot of variety... At long last, the final installation of this four-part trip has come. I have already reviewed many of the parts of this section, but this helps to tie them together and gives a good idea as to how long it will take. This section takes you from Denver, Colorado to Calgary, Alberta, but you can join in the loop at any place you wish. If you've yet to read any of the other sections of this trip, an introduction to the whole idea can be found in Part One. Part 4: The Inner-Western States - 19 days The problem with this section is that it has many nice areas, but the areas that connect them are generally hideous. This will take you through some places that every person should see at least once in their life, places like Yellowstone National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Mount Rushmore, and Glacier National Park. The only place I truly want to go back to is Grand Teton National Park, but I'm still very glad that I saw the others, and now you can do it in two to three weeks. Denver to Estes Park, Colorado 1 day If you took the alternate route that was mentioned in Part Three, your already in Estes Park, so you can skip this. From Denver, you have a number of options, but I'll keep it simple and just say to head north along Highway 36, which passes through Boulder. That will take you directly to Estes Park, the hub for Rocky Mountain National Park, which is one of the nicest parts of Colorado. Estes Park & Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado 4 nights, 3 days Three days was a nice amount of time to spend in the area, but you could certainly spend longer. I don't believe there were any accommodations in RMNP, but Estes Park is right on the border of the park and offers numerous campgrounds, motels, hotels, B&B's, and other such places, but I never saw a truly luxurious place (reservations are a good idea, but don't need to be made months in advance). As for food, Estes Park has large grocery stores and a variety of restaurants - but prices were a little expensive everywhere we went. As for night activities, the main street has lots of stores, but most of the places were tacky and exactly what you'd expect to find at a tourist destination. Only spend your night in Estes Park; spend the day in Rocky Mountain National Park. Trail Ridge Road You should spend one day driving around the park, and in particular, drive up the Ridge Road. It is busy, narrow, steep, and winding road with numerous oversized RV's moving slower than a turtle that you rarely get a chance to pass. However, it takes you to the top of a ridge where there is a visitor’s center, gift shop, and a cafeteria. Right next to the Visitors center is an easy, but busy trail that will take you to an elevation near 12 000 feet - if you have lived somewhere like Miami your entire life, just arrived in the area, and are not fit, the lack of oxygen won't be very fun. This should take up a half-day or so, so for the remainder of the day you could drive down the other side of the ridge and visit a less disturbed area, which was the only place I saw any wildlife. Hiking There are many, many hikes in RMNP, but I only liked one. The trail went to Black Lake, passing Alberta Falls along the way, and with a few additions I made to the end of it, it was about 20 miles total. I would have gone further, but weather took a turn for the worse, changing the hot and sunny atmosphere into one filled with lightning, tons of hail, and rain, in the matter of minutes. It quickly reverted back to the sunny sky soon after though, and I slowly dried out & warmed up. More popular hikes (it's hard to call them hikes, since they had paved trails) were ones to Emerald Lake, which wasn't enjoyable for me since there was just too many people, many of whom were completely ignorant of the environment. Other Stuff There are a few places to bike, but you are mainly confined to roads. There are a couple of places where you can canoe or kayak, but it wasn't a popular activity. Basically, you hike, and see scenery, not wildlife. The biggest problems I had with the park though, was that there was billions of people, some of whom ignored signs, like the ones to stay on the trail and not walk all over the tundra. It may be a National Park, but I don't see it being conserved for very long if things stay the way they are. For more information on this area you can check out my other review by clicking here. Estes Park, Colorado to Custer, South Dakota 1 day This was a horrible drive. Straight roads, bald prairie, and absolutely nothing to do. Best of all, I did this on my birthday. However, the Black Hills were far better than I had been expecting, so it was worth it. From Estes Park, you head east on Highway 34 until you reach I-25, at which point you head north until Cheyenne, Wyoming. Just past Cheyenne, you head northeast on Highway 85, and it is broken up for a short distance by Highway 20 (head west), and then highway 85 continues north and then turns into Highway 18 which you take to Hot Springs, South Dakota. Hot Springs was a run down and disgusting place. Head north to Custer, where there are some campgrounds and a couple of hotels, and good place to stay. Custer and the Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota 3 nights, 2 days Custer is a decent place, but the dining tops out at the Pizza Hut. The thing I liked the most though, was the weather. Through the day, huge storms developed, and at evening they would have spectacular displays of lightning. Even looking at the clouds was amazing, as they just had a very different look about them. The Black Hills are home to a number of interesting things, and it has quite the history between the Natives and US Government. It is home to Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Mountain (many, many years until it will be completed), Jewel Cave, and there are places like Wind Cave National Monument and Custer State Park. There's a big mix of parks and attractions, so here's what I think you should do: Day One Jewel Cave is one of the largest cave systems around that is still being explored, but the rock formations weren't as spectacular as some other caves are. Still, it's nice and cool, and the cheap tour was interesting. Following that, drive the Needles Highway in Custer State Park. It has some of the most spectacular scenery in the area, and was personally my favourite part of the Black Hills. Day Two Drive to Crazy Horse Mountain, which will make Mt. Rushmore look like a joke once it is finished, but that may not even be in my lifetime. It wasn't cheap, and you never did you get close to the mountain - but it's not even funded for or protected by the government, so for a private thing it wasn't bad. Next, go to Mt. Rushmore. It's so American that it made me sick. I first went a night, where they have a ceremony and light up the faces, and that was actually good. The next day, while driving to Rapid City, we stopped to get a look at it in the light of day, and fifteen minutes was more than enough for me. Custer to Spearfish, South Dakota 1 day How you get there is up to you. You could drive to Rapid City, and take the interstate north, or you could stay in the Black Hills. I did half and half, but a recent forest fire had burnt up much of the area around the road in the Black Hills, so it brought new meaning to the name Black Hills. The only thing of slight interest along the way was Deadwood, but it was basically just a bunch of casinos. There was also a huge mine at Lead (pronounced as Led), but all you can do is look at the big hole in the ground. Once you reach Spearfish, there are a few places to stay, and there are a number of chain restaurants to eat at - like Applebee's. Spearfish, South Dakota to Cody, Wyoming 1 day Again, a horrible day of driving, but with one nice section. First of all though, just across the Wyoming border, head north to Devils Tower, and then drive back south and continue west on the I-90 once you are done. Once you reach Buffalo, head north to Sheridan. At Sheridan, head west on Highway 14, and just go all the way to Cody. The nice section is the Bighorn National Forest, but then it gets ugly again until you reach Yellowstone. Cody is the last major place to stay before Yellowstone, and as such it is incredibly expensive. If you can, just continue west and camp in one of the many campgrounds of Shoshone National Forest. For some more information on Wyoming, click here. Cody to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 1/2 day Entering Yellowstone requires a $10 park pass, which is also good for Grand Teton National Park. Yellowstone campgrounds tend to fill up quickly, so find a spot early. There's a limited number of lodges, which you will need reservations for during the summer months. I stayed at Bridge Bay, which was filled with inconsiderate people that made my stay in Yellowstone miserable. Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks 3 nights, 2 1/2 days Yellowstone could have been awesome, but sleeping in a tent made it all suck. People were always noisy, they walked through our campsite, and it just wasn't a pleasant experience. During the day, it was enjoyable but did not compensate enough, with some very nice scenery, and a little wildlife. For much more information on Yellowstone, click here. Grand Teton National Park was so much better than Yellowstone, as it wasn't busy, it had better scenery (but no wildlife), and is one of the best national parks I've been to in the United States. If you want to do some real hiking, you should camp in a campground down there rather than Yellowstone, and give yourself a few days. However, for most people, you can cover a large portion of it in a day by following a route that I did. For details on the route and a few other things about Grand Teton National Park, click here. Spend the half-day you have remaining to go to Old Faithful and a little ways past it to Madison. The next day, head south to the Grand Tetons, where you can cover a lot of it in the one day. The next day, you'll drive north and visit many of the other attractions, like the Upper & Lower Falls. The day you leave, you'll drive past that and see places like Tower Falls and Mammoth Hot Springs, and end the day in Helena, Montana. Yellowstone National Park to Helena, Montana 1 day From Yellowstone Lake, drive north, making a few stops along the way at the major attractions you've yet to see. A short distance from Mammoth you exit Yellowstone, and once again you're in some pretty ugly terrain. However, as you get closer to Bozeman it gets greener and much nicer. A ways east of Bozeman, you join the I-90 once again and head west, and stay on it until you reach Highway 287, which will take you up to Helena; which offers many places to stay at excellent rates and offers many restaurants. Helena to Glacier National Park, Montana 1 day There are a few ways to get to Glacier National Park, but the easiest is to just head north on the I-15 until you reach Highway 2, at which point you go west. Glacier National Park has a few places to stay, but not a lot, so you'll need to look into it and try to make a reservation. I always stay in Canada, in the bordering Waterton National Park and just drive south for the day. You should be able to find a place in Whitefish or Columbia Falls at the very least. For some more information on Montana, click here. Glacier National Park, Montana 2 nights, 1 day I've never hiked in Glacier National Park - at least nothing more than the crowded boardwalk at Logan's Pass, which is hardly a hike - but there are a few trails that you can take. From the road, I've only seen a few trailheads, but apparently there are a number of hiking options. I suppose it's the crowds that keep me from taking a huge interest in hiking in Glacier NP, when it is so much more serene across the border. The scenery is spectacular anywhere you go, but the rest of the world seems to know that as well, so you won't be alone. The easiest thing to do is drive and stop where you can. My suggestion is that you find a place to stay on the western side of the park, and just go straight there without any real stops. The next day, you can slowly move back the way you came, making stops along the way, and up into Canada. Glacier National Park, Montana to Waterton National Park, Alberta 1 day Considering the parks are bordering each other, it takes a very long time to drive from one to the other, but it's decent scenery most of the way. From St. Mary, head north until you reach Highway 17, which will soon take you to the US/Can border and offers some nice views of Chief Mountain. Soon after crossing the border, you'll want to head east on Highway 5 to Waterton, which has two campgrounds, some cabins, and a few hotels. Waterton National Park, Alberta 3 nights, 2 days Waterton is friendly to the hiker, but nobody else. It offers many different trails, of varying difficulty, and it's generally not too busy. Most of the trails start off from the town site, one of which requires you to take a boat across the large lake. The town site is fairly small, and has a couple of restaurants, one of which was excellent but I can't recall the name. There was a place I didn't try, called Borderline Burgers, as the name didn't make it sound like they had good burgers. The prices were fairly reasonable all around, even though it is a fairly remote area. As for hikes, two of the better ones are Crypt Lake (the one that you have to cross the lake for) and Rowe Lakes/Lineham Ridge - but neither are short or very easy. Along the trail to Crypt Lake, I ran into a black bear, and while on the Rowe Lakes/Lineham Ridge trail I ran into two grizzly bears, and near the end of the hike I came within ten feet or so of a black bear. I came to see 8 other bears in the four days I spent at Waterton on my most recent visit. Waterton National Park to Calgary, Alberta 1 day The drive from Waterton to Calgary is mostly through the foothills and prairie, and it is actually pretty nice. There are few vehicles along the way, until you get close to Calgary. For a quicker trip, but less scenic, drive north to Pincher Creek, head east, and then head north on Highway 2. For a more scenic route, go to Pincher Creek, head west, and then head north on Highway 22. When at Longview, make sure to get some beef jerkey, it's very good. After Longview, turn east on Highway 7 that will take you to Okotoks and Highway 2. A little ways north, and you are in Calgary, and the beginning of Part One. That's the end of this section, and this trip. It's a part of the world that should be seen at least once, but doing it all again isn't something that interests me. If I end up with kids some day, perhaps then I'll do it all again, but it's otherwise not likely. For now, I'm ever so slowly gearing up towards driving to Alaska in 2005. Click below to go to the other sections of the trip: Part One: Western Canada Part Two: The Western US Coast Part Three: The South-Western States

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