Sibling Road Trip: Phoenix, AZ to Miles City, MT in 4 days

April 27, 2017 11:33 PM

At the end of May, brother and sister duo in their early thirties will have four days to drive from Phoenix to Miles City, Montana before proceeding onward to our respective home towns in Canada. Origin and destinations are fixed, as is the tight time frame. Please help me make this fun and memorable!

We've each spent quite a bit of time in the greater Phoenix area. We don't get to spend a lot of time together, and as a single dad, this short trip will probably be the only one he gets to take this year. He loves to drive and I love to plan and navigate - we are both excited.

Google suggests three possible routes to get there, and I'm hoping you can help me decide which one we should take and what we need to do along the way to make it fun and memorable:

1. Arizona > Utah > Idaho > Montana
Originally I had grand dreams of a trip that would include a stop at the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Salt Lake City, up to Grand Teton and Yellowstone, then up through Montana. I would still love to take this trip someday when there is more time.

2. Arizona > Utah > Wyoming > Montana
Admittedly, I know very little about any of the places along this route. I'm sure there are cool things to do and beautiful landscapes.

3. Arizona > New Mexico > Colorado > Montana
I'm leaning towards this one. I've always wanted to visit New Mexico. Colorado seems fun and beautiful.

He is excited to drive for extended periods of time, drink coffee from McDonald's, eat beef jerky and listen to music with swear words. He might have a cider at the end of the day.

I am excited to do short hikes, see beautiful and diverse landscapes, photograph quirky roadside attractions, drink beer, eat food, and discover fun experiences to share along the way.

To my delight, he is happy to relinquish navigation and planning duties! I'm going to get an Instax camera and collect bits and bobs along the way to make a scrapbook for him for Christmas. Thank you for your suggestions and recommendations!

posted by Juniper Toast to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

So I live along Option 3 and I'm pretty familiar with the stretch between Santa Fe and Fort Collins. (Others may be able to speak more knowledgeably of the other points, so I'll just come up with a plan for that particular stretch if you're set on Colorado.)

The route Google picked for you is all interstate, and being along the interstate, there's a lot of desolation and big trucks and not a ton of the interesting landscapes and quirky roadside attractions you're looking for. The stretch between Castle Rock to Fort Collins in Colorado has boomed in the last several years and is traffic, traffic, traffic. Denver is a fine city and you'll go right by it/through if you have your heart set on Denver. But if you stay on I-25, you'll be nowhere near the mountains, and that's where the beauty is.

If you do pick NM/CO, you'll have more fun on state highways. These are well maintained, and while you can't go 80mph, you'll get more scenery per mile. Instead of taking I-25 from Santa Fe northward, hop on 285 at Santa Fe and zoom on up towards Taos. (Or veer over to Ojo Caliente to take in the waters for a couple of hours. The desert between Ojo Caliente and Taos has earth houses, old buses, and the breathtaking Rio Grande Gorge suspension bridge over the river on Highway 64). Taos is great and there's good eats and things to see. You will see so much adobe your head will spin. From Taos, NM 522/CO 159 to Fort Garland is a really pretty stretch, flat in Colorado but one of my favorites, with big skies and mountains in the distance.

At Fort Garland, I'd veer west and head up towards Salida and Leadville. Salida is sweet and has a neat riverwalk and an old downtown area that's starting to get fancy. From there, you can keep winding up through the mountains and wiggle through ski country as you like, heading either up toward Wyoming or down to Estes Park and back to I-25.
posted by mochapickle at 12:41 AM on April 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

Route 2 (which I think is AZ, UT, CO, WY, MT) takes you right by Arches National Park. Arches is unspeakably beautiful and has some stunning short hikes.
You could also vary it just a bit up near the NW corner of CO to hit Dinosaur National Monument; I haven't been there since I was little but I quite liked it then.
And in AZ you'd be right by Sedona which has some lovely places for lunch (I found one here on askme). I dont' know anything about the WY/MT parts of that route though.

Route 3 could add another variation besides mochapickle's at the start: take highway 60 from Heber Overgaard east, going through Show Low and eventually Pie Town (In NM). This will also take you past the VLA, which if you like radio telescopes is pretty fun to see. Then you hit 25 and keep north until Santa Fe.
posted by nat at 5:29 AM on April 28, 2017

If you go with Option 2, I highly recommend turning north at Kayenta so you can drive through Monument Valley. It will only add a few minutes/miles, and even if you don't get out/stop anywhere, it's totally worth it. N'thing stopping at Arches National Park, also.
posted by csox at 7:27 AM on April 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

Seconding that you stop in at least one of Utah's National parks! I liked Arches, but it is very close to my favorite, Canyonlands' Islands in the Sky section and if you go there, you must also stop at Dead Horse State Park. From there, you get a really awesome view of the Colorado River.
posted by soelo at 7:54 AM on April 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

Island in the Sky is one of the most amazing places on earth, it is above the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers, with views that inspire. The first time I stepped to look off the Green River Overlook, I was 19 years old and alone out there, so I was comfortable dropping to my knees and crying over the magnificence. After Moab, you drive over Soldier's Summit, and down Spanish Fork Canyon taking care all the way, then you are on 1-15 in Provo, Utah. Put the pedal to the medal until Salt Lake City, there are lots of places to eat, and stay in SLC. You can roll up toward Pocatello and Idaho has a lot to see on the way North, there is Craters of the Moon, lava fields, and all that stuff near Jackson, Wyoming, Island Park, Yellowstone and whatever else is up there. Monument Valley, and a meal at The View is worth it. Some Navajo ladies have put their Hogans up as Air BnB's. The town of Bluff has a nice stop at Twin Rocks, big gallery of Native American Art there and good food. Before Bluff is Mexican Hat, and after that is The Goosenecks of the San Juan River, that view is another thing, you won't see anywhere else. Then Garden of The Gods is out there, it is a nice drive. There is a road that goes up a cliff face after the Goosenecks, that takes you up onto a mesa above it all, and you can see Muley Point from there, which is also another view of The Goose Necks. That road will take you to Hanksville and Hite, then over on the 70 to 1-15, or to Green River but you miss Moab that way. You can see The Goosenecks and be back on the road toward Bluff, Blanding, Monticello, and Moab.
posted by Oyéah at 9:40 AM on April 28, 2017