US of A - off the beaten track
Discussion
Washington state can get you off the usual mass tourist routes, still things to see such as the cascades, grand coulee dam, dry falls and the scab lands (read up about this before you go) Spokane, hells canyon on the snake river, head back via the Columbia river gorge and take in some touristy stuff at Mt St Helen's and Mt Rainer, maybe out to the Olympic peninsula before back to Seattle, Also the Boeing factory but that's a bit touristy. You can head down into Oregon for mt hood and crater lake also, chances of hearing an English chav <1%
Last year we went East to West. The only bookings we had were the hotel in Washington and the flight home from San Francisco. We zig-zaged across country getting "off the beaten track" deliberatly. No Brits etc, just local people that probably hardly (if at all)come across tourists. Experiance ghost towns, its a different side of the U.S, and i'd say its the best holiday i've had to date.
Just a suggestion...might not be what your after at all.
Just a suggestion...might not be what your after at all.
Another trip we did was starting in phoenix, down to Cactus national park on the Mexico boarder and Tuscon, a visit to bio sphere 2 was good, across to Alamogordo and white sands NP, Roswell which sounds touristy but isn't really, Carlsbad caves and on to big bend np (that's pretty remote) back along the Mexico boarder and then up to Albuquerque and Santa Fe before heading back across towards the grand canyon stopping at painted desert, you could carry on to the grand canyon if you can stand a bit of mass tourist and haven't been but we cut the corner through the forests back to Phoenix.
Lots of driving, most of it remote and some fantastic and varied scenery, keep your passport handy when close to the Mexico boarder as there were checkpoints 50 miles "inland" the AZ and NM boarder patrol's were pretty relaxed but TX wanted to see the passport and stood around hand on gun whilst we got it out of the case, all good though!
Lots of driving, most of it remote and some fantastic and varied scenery, keep your passport handy when close to the Mexico boarder as there were checkpoints 50 miles "inland" the AZ and NM boarder patrol's were pretty relaxed but TX wanted to see the passport and stood around hand on gun whilst we got it out of the case, all good though!
koenig999 said:
Oregon, inland can get very quiet and non-touristy, quaint too.
Koenig
Very true, lots of trees though, we nearly got wiped out on a narrow back road cutting across to the back of mt hood, turned out to be mainly a logging road and the driver of the massive logging truck was as surprised to see us coming the other way as we were him, no doubt less worried for his existence than we were. Koenig
Edited by ViperDave on Sunday 8th August 23:23
ViperDave said:
Washington state can get you off the usual mass tourist routes, still things to see such as the cascades, grand coulee dam, dry falls and the scab lands (read up about this before you go) Spokane, hells canyon on the snake river, head back via the Columbia river gorge and take in some touristy stuff at Mt St Helen's and Mt Rainer, maybe out to the Olympic peninsula before back to Seattle, Also the Boeing factory but that's a bit touristy. You can head down into Oregon for mt hood and crater lake also, chances of hearing an English chav <1%
^^^^^^^ ThisPlus treat yourself to a visit to southern Utah in September. Warm weather but most of the tourists have left, and unlike most places in the US the distances between places of interest are reasonable.
Stay in Moab, if you've ever ridden a mountain bike before ride the slick rock on a rented full sus bike.
Arches NP - This is best done early in the morning. I watched the sunrise sat next to delicate arch - recommended.
Canyonlands NP- rent a Jeep Wrangler and have the most ridiculously good time as the only people in an entire valley. (there are over 100 to choose from)
Bryce Canyon NP - quite touristy this one, so just stop at the viewing point if people annoy you.
Zion Canyon NP - Will be crowded at the bottom, so either visit from the top or take one of the tough trails that the fatties can't handle. Angel's Landing is great fun.
Grand Staircase Escalante - looks awesome, but no one's ever heard of it - hence no one there.
I hate crowds too. You'll find that in most US national parks all you have to do is briskly walk for 5-10 minutes away from the car park/viewpoint and you'll be on your own in stunning surroundings (eg Yellowstone)
Also Wyoming/Montana if you like great mountains with no one around, and aren't fussed with 'culture'.
RDMcG said:
Marfa, Tx?.......real remote , this one
your not wrong, we stayed in marathon which is two towns over and one town too far on the way to big bend. the place had one hotel and a caravan park.I think we stopped in Marfa for gas on the way back to van horn which by that stage seemed like a major city as it had a maccy d's.
I guess as two ph's have been there its out as too touristy!
ViperDave said:
RDMcG said:
Marfa, Tx?.......real remote , this one
your not wrong, we stayed in marathon which is two towns over and one town too far on the way to big bend. the place had one hotel and a caravan park.I think we stopped in Marfa for gas on the way back to van horn which by that stage seemed like a major city as it had a maccy d's.
I guess as two ph's have been there its out as too touristy!
koenig999 said:
Oregon, inland can get very quiet and non-touristy, quaint too.
Koenig
Another vote for the North-West. You could add Vancouver, Canada to you itinerary if you decided to roadtrip around those parts...Koenig
An alternative 'off-the-beaten-track' destination would be the Oregon sand dunes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Dunes_National_Recreation_Area - it's so 'off-the-track' that the Wiki entry is tiny!). We were recommended it by a garage owner in Vancouver who was really into his offroading, so on our way down the Pacific Coast Highway we stopped and had a look. We found a tour company that takes groups of tourists out in large dune buggys and had an amazing hour being driven up, over and around the dunes at high speed. You'll be brushing sand out of your hair for weeks afterwards, but I can't recommend it highly enough!
When I first saw 'Southern Comfort' as a teenager, I was really drawn to the scenes set within the 'rural' communities in Louisiana. That feeling of 'drawn to' but simultaneously a bit 'scared'.
Recently, watching 'True Blood', both my wife and I agree that we find those areas fascinating.
But, given that I'll be very much an outsider, who doesn't believe in God, can't stand Elvis and has many gay friends
is driving around within the triangle of New Orleans, Jackson and Shreveport likely to get me a warm welcome?
Recently, watching 'True Blood', both my wife and I agree that we find those areas fascinating.
But, given that I'll be very much an outsider, who doesn't believe in God, can't stand Elvis and has many gay friends
is driving around within the triangle of New Orleans, Jackson and Shreveport likely to get me a warm welcome?ViperDave said:
RDMcG said:
Marfa, Tx?.......real remote , this one
your not wrong, we stayed in marathon which is two towns over and one town too far on the way to big bend. the place had one hotel and a caravan park.I think we stopped in Marfa for gas on the way back to van horn which by that stage seemed like a major city as it had a maccy d's.
I guess as two ph's have been there its out as too touristy!
Beardy10 said:
ViperDave said:
RDMcG said:
Marfa, Tx?.......real remote , this one
your not wrong, we stayed in marathon which is two towns over and one town too far on the way to big bend. the place had one hotel and a caravan park.I think we stopped in Marfa for gas on the way back to van horn which by that stage seemed like a major city as it had a maccy d's.
I guess as two ph's have been there its out as too touristy!
V8mate said:
When I first saw 'Southern Comfort' as a teenager, I was really drawn to the scenes set within the 'rural' communities in Louisiana. That feeling of 'drawn to' but simultaneously a bit 'scared'.
Recently, watching 'True Blood', both my wife and I agree that we find those areas fascinating.
But, given that I'll be very much an outsider, who doesn't believe in God, can't stand Elvis and has many gay friends is driving around within the triangle of New Orleans, Jackson and Shreveport likely to get me a warm welcome?
One year we drove the blue ridge parkway from Washington through Shenandoah and then onto the parkway all the way down to the smokies. We did it in spring and it was very quiet. Its amazing how you can drive all that way with the views out over the hills and mountains and not see any towns or roads, but turn off the parkway and you are only a few minutes away from a decent town or interstate. when we did it the views were amazing as there were no leaves on the trees, i would imagine it gets busy in the summer though. Recently, watching 'True Blood', both my wife and I agree that we find those areas fascinating.
But, given that I'll be very much an outsider, who doesn't believe in God, can't stand Elvis and has many gay friends
is driving around within the triangle of New Orleans, Jackson and Shreveport likely to get me a warm welcome?There are some dodgy tourist traps on the route with real hill billy character and proper southern hospitality, when we did it no brit accents all the way, but it is a merkin tourist trap, especially when you get to pigeon forge on the opening day of dolly world, complete with dolly parton in a parade through town.
Edited by ViperDave on Saturday 14th August 22:23
Head frm Denver to pheonix via Durango, stopping in Ridgeway, and Ouray. (you drive past Ralph Lauren's ranch for a round half an hour !!!)It's BIG !!!
On to bedrock, thru monument valley and mexican hat down to Grand canyon. (stay a while as it is not overated)
Moab is the nuts, and camping is the way to go there .(you can detour at Bedrock)
Happy trails
On to bedrock, thru monument valley and mexican hat down to Grand canyon. (stay a while as it is not overated)
Moab is the nuts, and camping is the way to go there .(you can detour at Bedrock)
Happy trails
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