Your Next Vacation Destination.....?

[cs02132]

Anyone have experience at national parks? I think my next trip I want to see some nature and I love the PNW/Vancouver type

Banff national park would be my ideal destination

Not much of an outdoorsman tho, only been camping once and I wasn’t a fan but I was a younger. I have a rav4 so car camping on the roof might be a possibility

 

[アミーゴ]

Anyone have experience at national parks? I think my next trip I want to see some nature and I love the PNW/Vancouver type

Banff national park would be my ideal destination

Not much of an outdoorsman tho, only been camping once and I wasn’t a fan but I was a younger. I have a rav4 so car camping on the roof might be a possibility

My chatline is open - hit me

 

[turbospartan]

Anyone have experience at national parks? I think my next trip I want to see some nature and I love the PNW/Vancouver type

Banff national park would be my ideal destination

Not much of an outdoorsman tho, only been camping once and I wasn’t a fan but I was a younger. I have a rav4 so car camping on the roof might be a possibility

What do you need to know?

You can find hotels / airbnbs near the National Parks, and make day trips from there. You can also see a lot from your car in many parks, but I highly suggest getting out and hiking / seeing things that aren't seen from the road.

If you wanted to camp in your rav4, you could definitely sleep inside. Fold the back seats down and get an air mattress or sleeping pad that fits, sleeping bag, etc. I wouldn't spend the money on a roof top tent (RTT) unless you plan to start camping a LOT. Usually can't camp inside of a NP, but many of them have BLM / National Forest (public lands) outside of the park where you are allowed to camp (dif rules for dif states, but usually "dispersed" camping [meaning not at a pay campground, that has specific parking spots/pads and usually toilets etc] allows for up to 14 days in the same location before you have to move).

 

[lovehateself]

Anyone have experience at national parks? I think my next trip I want to see some nature and I love the PNW/Vancouver type

Banff national park would be my ideal destination

Not much of an outdoorsman tho, only been camping once and I wasn’t a fan but I was a younger. I have a rav4 so car camping on the roof might be a possibility

download the NPS app
unless you want to drop 3-5k on a roof tent set up, you better learn to like sleeping on the ground buddy.
but like its mentioned above, you can lay down the seats and sleep in the car if youre not an outdoor type...or just go the route of hotels/ airbnb's near the parks

 

[cs02132]

Damn I had no idea roof top tents were that much

I haven’t planned anything yet it’s just a thought so far. I’ve never been to a national park before either so it’s all completely new to me

I’m kinda thinking about doing a road trip from here in Boston to Banff or somewhere else. Take the road trip then spend a couple nights at the park and head back maybe

Idk who this girl is but I just wanna see some stuff like this. Looks beautiful af

 

[lovehateself]

Damn I had no idea roof top tents were that much

I haven’t planned anything yet it’s just a thought so far. I’ve never been to a national park before either so it’s all completely new to me

I’m kinda thinking about doing a road trip from here in Boston to Banff or somewhere else. Take the road trip then spend a couple nights at the park and head back maybe

get the nps app
look up the park , look up camping/ hiking / viewpoints etc options and from there you can start to plan your itinerary

most parks require campsite reservations ahead of time, while others are FCFS

 

[アミーゴ]

Banff is amazing, if you need anything PNW related I got you.

Your road trip idea sounds great

 

[turbospartan]

I very much disagree... you couldn't pay me to drive from BOSTON to BANFF.

That is 40+ hours of driving, over 2500 miles... the majority of which is through absolute no-man's land. There isn't **** to see on that drive from Niagara Falls until you hit the Rockies inside of Canada - aka like 80%+ of the drive. 40 hours of combined driving means that just to get there, you are taking at least 3 full 12-hour+ days of driving, not even including stopping for gas, food, sleep. Not sure the longest you've ever driven, but 12+ hours multiple days in a row isn't going to be comfy - especially if you're trying to hike and sleep on the ground in between each drive.

If I were you, I'd either focus on NP's on the East Coast that you can road-trip to... or figure out a plan to fly to Banff (or PNW) and rent a car / place to stay, and make day trips from a "base camp" (whether that is camping, or hotel / airbnb). The problem with this is that if you fly you won't be able to bring your vehicle and the gear you need (depending on how much you have and want to bring). You can also rent those adventure Sprinter Vans that come decked out with a lot of gear and room to car camp.

You could fly into Seattle, and hit Olympic NP + North Cascades NP + Mount Ranier NP. Then hop over the border and hit Pacific Rim NP + Gulf Islands NP, and then make the 9+ drive over to Banff NP + Kootenays NP + Jasper NP. You'd need at minimum, like 10-12 days to make that a trip (if you wanted to hit all 8 of the NP's I listed, in one road trip).

Again, depends on how much time you have and want to spend. Even if you only spent 1 day at each park... you need time to drive between each location, find and setup camp if you don't pre-book, time to eat / plan / prep for the next days, etc.

But that's like, just my opinion, maaaaan

 

[アミーゴ]

It ain’t like it’s the middle of America - I know OP, he’s great and will make the most of it

 

[cs02132]

Yea I was actually gonna say the route is through Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota and a bunch of places I don’t give a **** about visiting I wouldn’t mind passing through Chicago

The thing is if I’m doing an outdoor trip I want to be able to bring my dog with me which got me thinking of a road trip vs flying somewhere

 

[ahat]

Banff wild overrated

 

[アミーゴ]

Yea I was actually gonna say the route is through Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota and a bunch of places I don’t give a **** about visiting I wouldn’t mind passing through Chicago

The thing is if I’m doing an outdoor trip I want to be able to bring my dog with me which got me thinking of a road trip vs flying somewhere

Yeah that’s what I thought

Let me know if you decide to come out to PNW though, happy to help

 

[turbospartan]

Yea I was actually gonna say the route is through Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota and a bunch of places I don’t give a **** about visiting I wouldn’t mind passing through Chicago

The thing is if I’m doing an outdoor trip I want to be able to bring my dog with me which got me thinking of a road trip vs flying somewhere

Dogs aren't allowed in a National Parks, btw

 

[lovehateself]

Dogs aren't allowed in a National Parks, btw

Dogs are allowed in national parks, just not on trails

 

[turbospartan]

Dogs are allowed in national parks, just not on trails

So basically not allowed... You can keep them in your car and some parks have dog run areas or allowed on paved roads, but if they aren't allowed on any trails... no reason to even bring them

State Parks are usually more lenient, and then many trails just in National Forests / BLM you can do whatever you want

 

[akademikgenius]

Just Applied to Global Entry a Last week and got Fully approved this morning.
Skipping Immigration lines all 2024

 

[mplsdunk]

The drive over the Great Lakes on the Canada side. Cut down by Thunder Bay through MN, drive south on 35 to 94. Rip that to billings at 100 mph.

That minimizes the suck

Plus you can hit Toronto I’ve done that drive it’s cool above the lakes

 

[アミーゴ]

Lawlz what are we doing here lads?

Here’s a few photos from Osaka

 

[アミーゴ]

Just Applied to Global Entry a Last week and got Fully approved this morning.
Skipping Immigration lines all 2024

Longer than that my guy

 

[akademikgenius]

Longer than that my guy

trust me bro. I Wasn't expecting the conditional approval this soon.
One of the offices here had a cancellation last night and as soon as I got the email, I swooped on that time slot so fast. Just pure luck

 

[アミーゴ]

trust me bro. I Wasn't expecting the conditional approval this soon. One of the offices here had a cancellation last night and as soon as I got the email, I swooped on that time slot so fast. Just pure luck

Proud of you! Where we going in 24?

 

[akademikgenius]

Proud of you! Where we going in 24?

Thanks fam.
Japan will be the first country on the list. Recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[アミーゴ]

Thanks fam.
Japan will be the first country on the list. Recommendations would be appreciated.

I got all the Omakase ready for ya

 

[lovehateself]

So basically not allowed... You can keep them in your car and some parks have dog run areas or allowed on paved roads, but if they aren't allowed on any trails... no reason to even bring them

State Parks are usually more lenient, and then many trails just in National Forests / BLM you can do whatever you want

cmon guy
water we dewing here

 

[turbospartan]

cmon guy
water we dewing here

Just my opinion. I live in CO and go to NP's out here, and prob my biggest gripe is that I can't take my dog. Which alters my plans of longer trips because its just too much of a hassle to bring the dog and leave him in my truck for hours every day while I do **** without him. I wouldn't make that drive, or bring the dog if I were focusing on NP... buuut do what you gotta do.