Events/Trails Road trip suggestions?

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TL;DR: DO NOT MISS GOING TO GLACIER. It is beautiful.

The last good road trip I got to go on was out of Nashville, TN by way of FL. We had a beach week with the family and then my Dad, my son and I drove off into the sunset. We dis have to get he oil changed at Toyota of Panama City before moving on. We headed west across Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and made our way to big bend.

The real trip started at Big Bend. We looked a the Mexican border and waved to people on the other side. I say waved because, being the bad father that I am, my son doesn't have a pass port yet. From there we moved north through El PAso. We went through Albuquerque and on to Santa Fe.

We did Durango, Sliverton, Ouray and the Alpine loop. The we headed west to Utah and Dinosaur national monument. We all three found dinosaur We the green river at Flaming gorge.

Then beat a path north to Grand Teton and Yellow Stone. Yellow Stone is cool and there is a lot to see. I will say that if you have never been to Yellow Stone you have to go. It is worth seeing but it is packed unless you get out into the back country which is hard with out hiking. Dad is in his 70's and isn't much of a walker to say nothing of hiking. We left Yellowstone via the west gate.

Dad nor I had ever been to Glacier before. So we kept going north. We made it to Glacier and the Canadian border(again bad father...waved at people in Canada). We camped at Kintla Lake, this was the best camp site of the entire trip. The next major road trip I get to go on will include Glacier no matter what I have to do to make it happen. The going to the sun Road was packed but still breath taking. So many trails and beautiful things to see. In short it was my favorite stop in the entire 6000 miles. From there we started back east. We ran hard but still made stops at Mount Rushmore, Devils tower, The Arch in St. Louis. Then rolled in to Nashville just in time to get the boy to the first day of school.

my .02
 
It was a bit of overload but I grew up making long trips like that with my parents and my sister. Dad makes a great travel buddy and we enjoyed the time with just the boys.

We did western loops many times when I was a kid. We drove everywhere though. One time we went up and out through Maine to Nova Scotia and came back in via the UP of Michigan. Key west a couple of times and lord knows how many drives in the 8 hour range. 8 -12 hours is a comfortable drive.

Last Labor Day weekend my buddy was moving to California. We drove his jk out with a uhaul. We made one stop just west Denver to sleep in hammocks in the mountains before getting up and driving the second leg to Huntington Beach.

I felt like somebody beat the hell out of me. You really appreciate the comfort of an LC after driving that wagon cross country.
 
If I had two weeks off I would drive cross country and visit Baja California. That's always been on my wish list but never get the time. I would get one of those auxillary 70 gallon gas tanks before going.
 
linuxgod said:
Where are you at in Chicago? We live in Evanston and have done 3 road trips for ~2 weeks over the last 3 summers, plus some shorter trips.
  • Badlands, Black Hills/Mt Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Yellowstone, Grand Teton. (We missed Wind Cave)
  • Breckenridge CO, Grand Mesa CO, Moab, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce (and drove through Capitol Reef on the way home)
  • Telluride/Ouray CO, Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, Taos NM, Santa Fe NM, Guadalupe NP, Big Bend NP, Mark Twain national forest
Lots of good hiking and mountain biking, but what you see/hike varies by location. Some of the places have great SUV trails too while others don't have anything. I've got photos from our trips at Travel - The Silver Family Photo Gallery if you want to get some ideas of the parks, and of course I'd recommend snagging the National Geographic national parks book to get you started.

From Chicago, we also did Michigan's UP (near Marquette) this summer and spent a day on Grand Island. All easy hiking and the forest trails were easy in the LC... worst of the trails was the mosquitoes. Years ago we hiked in Cuyahoga NP in Ohio, also surprisingly nice and again about a day's drive from flatlandia.

Voyagers NP and Isle Royale are on our list possibly for next year, as they're a (long) day's drive from Chicago. We're trying to hit all the national parks a few at a time.
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Looks like I found someone from Chicagoland who has the same zeal as me to do road trips, long ones.... I recently got an LX (just in time for summer) and looking forward to hearing recommendations/suggestions to road tripping from Chicago.

Love to hear more from you on your adventure s. By the way I am not planning to modify anything on the LX. Use it as it comes and travel. Not sure how much offroading you did with the stock vehicle. Love to hear on that part as well. Thanks in advance
 
Head west until you hit the Rockies then follow them all the way north until you get to Jasper, AB then turn back home. You'll want a few months to do it but the farther North you get the better it gets. I've had a lot of people ask me about my time traveling through Patagonia and I tell them all to head to Canada. I think the Canadian Rockies are more impressive. Banff is a nightmare from a traffic standpoint but places like Waterton still remain relatively quiet. If you want to say in the US, I agree, Southwestern, Colorado is amazing if you want mountains. The San Juans are incredible. I say that as a died in the wool desert rat who rarely seeks out mountains, yet I've been going to the San Juans for almost 25 years and they never get old.
 
All the rest too but this especially.

dmc said:
The San Juans are incredible.
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I’ve spent a fair amount of time along the i70 corridor mountains but SWCO is just different.
 
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I have done road trips - Grand Canyon North and South rims, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons from Salt lake City. Did the Trail Ridge road/Estes Park/Grand lakes from Denver. None of them are from Chicago directly. So curious about doing them from Chicago but concerned about huge 16 hours just to escape flatlandia,. ;-) perks of living in Chicago
 
Diytech123 said:
Love to hear more from you on your adventure s. By the way I am not planning to modify anything on the LX. Use it as it comes and travel. Not sure how much offroading you did with the stock vehicle. Love to hear on that part as well. Thanks in advance
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You can go quite far on the stock setup, especially with an LX which will give you a 2" left when offroad if you just select the Hi position. Non-street tires would be my one recommendation, which honestly you'll want in Chicago anyway. You won't run the Rubicon on an LX (at least not without body damage) but you'll be able to do moderately difficult forest and mountain trails without issue.
 
Diytech123 said:
I have done road trips - Grand Canyon North and South rims, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons from Salt lake City. Did the Trail Ridge road/Estes Park/Grand lakes from Denver. None of them are from Chicago directly. So curious about doing them from Chicago but concerned about huge 16 hours just to escape flatlandia,. ;) perks of living in Chicago
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Iowa and particularly Nebraska are tough. Very flat, very boring. When we go west we feel the need to go for at least 2 weeks to make it worthwhile. We'll do 3 weeks this summer which will cover Rocky Mountain NP in CO and the LCDC and then Sequoia/Kings Canyon and Yosemite in CA.
 
linuxgod said:
Iowa and particularly Nebraska are tough. Very flat, very boring. When we go west we feel the need to go for at least 2 weeks to make it worthwhile. We'll do 3 weeks this summer which will cover Rocky Mountain NP in CO and the LCDC and then Sequoia/Kings Canyon and Yosemite in CA.
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That sounds fun... too much .... Sure, jealous I am...
1 week is great, 2 weeks is luxury and 3 weeks mean retirement for me....
Best!
 
linuxgod said:
You can go quite far on the stock setup, especially with an LX which will give you a 2" left when offroad if you just select the Hi position. Non-street tires would be my one recommendation, which honestly you'll want in Chicago anyway. You won't run the Rubicon on an LX (at least not without body damage) but you'll be able to do moderately difficult forest and mountain trails without issue.
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I have Bridgestone Alenzas in 285/50R20. Is this a good set to drive on gravel? Or just road and snow at the best? Definitely not planning to go rock climbing or crawling!
 
I can't speak to those tires specifically but the factory Bridgestone Dueler H/L tires I had were fine on dry pavement but awful on snow. Even an inch or two and I could spin the wheels from a stop sign and the ABS would kick in routinely. Fast forward to now I have Nitto Ridge Grappler A/T tires which grip nicely in snow and rarely does my ABS kick in. They are noisier than the Bridgestone tires and mileage suffered though.

@TeCKis300 might have some advice for you as I know he runs different tires on his LX. If you're going to do even light trails I would look for a good A/T tire. I've done some early trail driving on the factory Bridgestone tires on very light trails and they leave a lot to be desired, nevermind poor performance in snow and lots of wheel spin in very light mud when my trailer was attached.
 
linuxgod said:
I can't speak to those tires specifically but the factory Bridgestone Dueler H/L tires I had were fine on dry pavement but awful on snow. Even an inch or two and I could spin the wheels from a stop sign and the ABS would kick in routinely. Fast forward to now I have Nitto Ridge Grappler A/T tires which grip nicely in snow and rarely does my ABS kick in. They are noisier than the Bridgestone tires and mileage suffered though.

@TeCKis300 might have some advice for you as I know he runs different tires on his LX. If you're going to do even light trails I would look for a good A/T tire. I've done some early trail driving on the factory Bridgestone tires on very light trails and they leave a lot to be desired, nevermind poor performance in snow and lots of wheel spin in very light mud when my trailer was attached.
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Thanks for the advice. Did you go with 20" or 18"? Currently I have snow tires (Bridgestone Blizzaks from previous owner) on my LX. I was told it's not good to drive on them long distance as they get overheated and might rip . So I was thinking of going with Bridgestone Duelers. Do you think Nittos will be noiser than snow tires good? If I have to go 18" then I may need new wheels as well..

Please advice.



Thanks for the advice.
 
We’re in Idaho Falls. We’re in the parks almost every weekend. Yellowstone and the Tetons are getting crowded. Expect traffic and full parking lots. Suggest early a.m. and late p.m. to avoid the worst of the crowds and traffic.

Also consider Craters of the Moon. Totally different landscape. About 1.5 hrs from Idaho Falls on the way to Sun Valley/Ketchum. Sawtooth Wilderness also amazingly beautiful. Less crowds. Tons and tons of hiking options in addition to mountain biking.

I can give you some backroad tips if you’re interested. There are some really nice gravel roads that will get you some peace and quiet. Our state parks are also pretty amazing.

No fires out here yet. Nothing is burning around these parts. So expect it to be smoke free for now assuming you are heading this was soon.

Still some snow up high. Expect snow above 9,000 to 10,000 ft. We tried fishing an alpine lake a few weeks ago and lake was still frozen. Lots of water running. Wildflowers blooming. It’s beautiful right now.

Hit me up if you want more info on some forest service roads. Salmon/Challis and Targhee NFs are beautiful places.
 
Diytech123 said:
Thanks for the advice. Did you go with 20" or 18"? Currently I have snow tires (Bridgestone Blizzaks from previous owner) on my LX. I was told it's not good to drive on them long distance as they get overheated and might rip . So I was thinking of going with Bridgestone Duelers. Do you think Nittos will be noiser than snow tires good? If I have to go 18" then I may need new wheels as well.
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I went from 18" to 17", but up from the stock 285/60R18 (31") to 285/75R17 (34").

Size aside, any A/T tire will be noisier than most all season tires. I can't speak to snow tires (I've never run them). I've run Nitto Ridge Grapplers on this vehicle and Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo tires on my 4Runner and both had some noise but neither are that bad compared to a mud tire. They are comparable to wind noise from my roof rack

There are 20" A/T tire options out there, but someone with an LX can hopefully comment on the optimal sizes/options. I think there may be a BFG KO2 option
 
I would agree with the recommendation to head to the Canadian rockies. Best trip would be to do Glacier then drive to Sandpoint, ID and then up highway 95 to Radium and then to Banff and up to Jasper. Try to fit in time in Canada's Glacier, Yoho, Banff and Jasper parks. It's absolutely incredible and better then Glacier/Yellowstone with less people. There are a lot of other areas in BC that are pretty amazing and have a lot less tourist though it's increasing there too.
 
Diytech123 said:
Thanks for the advice. Did you go with 20" or 18"? Currently I have snow tires (Bridgestone Blizzaks from previous owner) on my LX. I was told it's not good to drive on them long distance as they get overheated and might rip . So I was thinking of going with Bridgestone Duelers. Do you think Nittos will be noiser than snow tires good? If I have to go 18" then I may need new wheels as well..

Please advice.



Thanks for the advice.
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Hi Diytech123. From my cursory read, looks like you're looking for a well balanced tire that doesn't sacrifice too much in noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH), yet looking for solid capability and durability in mild trail use, but with a need for cold/snow weather performance?

I think you're looking for an AT tire, but do understand it might give up something to gain something. There's a span of mild to aggressive AT tires. It's also a slippery slope down the AT route, for a cool and aggressive looking tire that ultimately gives up something in daily use.

The list of AT tires on the market today that are Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) rated:

2014087

  • BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2
  • Cooper Discoverer A/T3 4S
  • Cooper Discoverer A/TW
  • Falken Wildpeak A/T3W
  • General Grabber APT
  • General Grabber AT 2
  • General Grabber ATX
  • Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure with Kevlar
  • Hankook Dynapro AT-M
  • Kumho Road Venture AT51
  • Nitto Exo Grappler AWT
  • Pirelli Scorpion All Terrain Plus
  • Sumitomo Encounter AT
  • Toyo Open Country C/T
  • Yokohama Geolander A/T G015

Of these, I can only speak for the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W as that is what I have on my LX. It's a touch less aggressive than the benchmark KO2 largely on account of a softer rubber compound. That quality helps it have better cold/wet whether traction and a bit less noise. I've been absolutely happy with my choice on this tire and would buy again.

In regards to sizing. The easiest no brainer upgrade in tire size is simply to go one aspect ratio up. Stock is 285/50/20 at 31.2" overall diameter. A 285/55/20 would be a super easy fit. It's also not too tall that it'll result in much noticeable clearance, brake, or power impact at 32.4", yet will fill the wheel wells nicely. I'd highly recommend that size. As you're going up in overall diameter, you'll gain sidewall even without downsizing wheels. I would have never said this 10 years ago, but 20" wheels with large diameter tires have proven to be a great combination. For better on road handling and stability. Yet enough sidewall to airdown on trails to have sufficient traction.

I run a slightly more aggressive size - 305/55r20 at 33.2" tall but I recognize it may not be for everyone.

2014098
 
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