Making the most of my first vacation

ShinyRedKnight

Hello everyone!

This past year I finished school and got my first full-time job; after years of financial troubles and depression (which still effects me) I am immensely grateful that things seem to be going the right way. Now, at the end of August, I will have the chance to take my first real vacation; before this I had gone with family and these trips were often limited to the beach.

However, this time I'm completely in charge of my own trip and I want to make the most of it, without getting overwhelmed. It has always been my dream to see mountains and the clearest night sky possible. I have a week off, access to a car, and should have a decent amount of money for a simple trip. I live just outside Chicago, and my goal is to drive to an area of wilderness where I can camp out for a few nights by myself, see more stars than ever before, and depressurize for the first time in far too long.

As you can probably note, it is very important for me to be in the wilderness and to see stars. If possible, I would like to be in a place where I can see the arms of the Milk Way. So far I have created a list of possible destinations in the US:

Devil's Tower, Utah
Chaco Cultural Park, New Mexico
The Headlands, Michigan
Clayton Lake State Park, New Mexico
Rocky Mountain Park, Colorado
Natural Bridges, Utah
Goldendale Observatory, Washington
Observatory Park, Ohio

My car is an '08 Jetta that we bought new and has held up very well, and has never been in any major incidents. I also have a friend who owns his own repair shop who can check it out before I head out.
I have basic camping supplies such as coolers, clothes, and footwear, I just need to get a new tent and sleeping bag.

At this point, I need help choosing a destination and figuring out whatever else I need to plan for. I would greatly appreciate any tips or suggestions for the trip! I still haven't decided on a budget, so I am flexible in that area in the sense that I just need to get a feel for the options first. Thank you!

davidsdurions

Good idea!

First, just a quick correction, as Devil's Tower is in Wyoming.

And a couple additions to the list::

Glacier National Park, Montana
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Grand Tetons National Park, Wyoming
Flaming Gorge National Rec Area, Wyoming
And if you are interested in fishing or boating, just go to Alcova reservoir and float the Miracle Mile and catch all the fishes.

Those are all high on the list, but a diversion that I can't recommend enough for the purpose you are describing (camping out, looking at stars, getting generally recovered from modern life) would be Voyaguers, Minnesota.

Here you can see and touch rocks half as old as the world, experience the life of a voyageur, immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of a boreal forest, view the dark skies, or ply the interconnected water routes.

I'd also point out that the Badlands of South Dakota and especially in Montana are prime for huge, dark skies but I'm not sure how hospitable the camping would be on your own. I have family around the area so we always just end up staying at the old family farm. But the skies are immense and occasionally you can spot the Aurora even.

The places you've listed are great, the places I've listed are great. It's a tough choice! If you have questions about any of the places, post them, I've been to most of the ones on your list and to all the ones on my list.

Oh, god, I almost forgot more Wyoming destinations:

Snow Range Mountains west of Laramie
Curt Gowdy State Park

You said you have a week, so this itinerary might not be feasible and certainly not enjoyable, but I think it's fun to see what all you can pack into a round trip:

Crazy Google Maps trip

shadowane

If you only have a week, it makes more sense to choose somewhere a bit closer so you aren't driving for half your vacation.

schuss

Yeah, you really want to hit one, maybe 2 major things in your vacation to actually make it relaxing and fun, rather than just snapping pictures as you're traveling.

I'd normally recommend Utah, but at the end of August it will likely be very hot. Also, being near Chicago means that flying places is super-easy, so I'd recommend flying to Denver or Montana and going somewhere from there. I very much enjoyed Rocky Mountain National Park while I was there, and you have plenty of other mountainous terrain nearby to explore (flatirons etc.)

RichardTauber

I'll just recommend getting proper boots and breaking them in before

ShinyRedKnight

The amount of driving has been on my mind.

A BIG loop of 3 parks and back to Chicago would be a total of 50-55 hours, broken up by stops at the sites. Honestly, I'm not too worried about driving for a long time, I tend to drive around just as stress relief; the only time I hate it is when I'm a passenger.

Although you are right that I should be careful not to waste half my vacation driving, so I will be careful with the timings.

Thanks @davidsdurions! I will go through those options and see if I can figure out a smart and quick way to hit a couple of places in a straight shot.

As for gear, I already have good boots and hiking shoes broken in. I tend to go camping/ hiking in Illinois with friends and family a couple of time in the year, but nothing this adventurous.

However, since I have usually gone in groups, I have never had to take care of permits on my own. What kind of forms should I be looking at filling out ASAP?

Nocren

Are you just going to a single location?
I'd recommend packing a few extra days worth (1 or 2, maybe 3) of food and water. Also pay attention to the weather as it gets closer and be prepared for any possible changes such as sudden storms and such.

ShinyRedKnight

Yup, the more I think and research this, I am certainly going to be hitting one place to get the most of it. But that is true, packing an extra few days of food will help. I'll calculate my caloric needs (and keep them higher than usual since I'll need more energy) and put together a list of foods.

Kipling

I did a tour of Colorado National Parks and other areas after graduation. The best place for a sense of remoteness for me was the Sand Dunes National Park. Wide open vista and an almost fake-looking view of sand dunes with mountains in the background. Rocky Mountain can be better because in the lower basins you can be isolated from any lights. In the middle, I stayed at hot spring hotels in the mountains that were on shitty gravel roads.

Most remote and dark with "mountains" within a day drive from Chicago would probably be Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Porcupine Mountains or Keweenaw Peninsula are dark as long as you know where to go. It would be on par with Northern Minnesota.

Cabezone

Are you planning on going to a premade campsite or are you comfortable with just going to national forest and camping anywhere? I personally don't like premade campsites as I prefer to limit contact with other people when camping. If your'e going solo to national forest it's important to have proper gear.

some sort of fire starter, waterproof matches or ferrocerium rod
compass and paper maps of the area you will be in. Make yourself familiar with the wilderness map of the area.
camp knife, I'm partial to the KA-BAR myself
shovel
don't forget the TP! I actually use baby wipes instead, Huggies
If you set up your own campsite I prefer doing my business in a bucket to digging a hole. If you go this route, get some kitty litter.
tent, I usually sleep in the open in good weather
sleeping bag
mattress, air mattresses are great, don't forget a patch kit if you go air
headlamp and flashlight
water, save a two gallon container for emergencies and I recommend keeping purification tabs on hand also.
If you're up in the high mountains you can get by with one of the water filtering bottles, they don't do viruses but you don't need to worry about that much in the high mountains.
550 cord
first aid kit
don't use an ax to cut wood, bring a saw
whistle
waterproof tarp


I prefer to camp near a lake or river myself but I also always fish. You'll have an amazing sky in any of the "remote" wilderness areas.

tinwhiskers

Have you ever driven long distances solo before? Just asking because some people can do it easily for other people it is torture. And if you are intending to do the 20+ hours to get to Utah or such...It really helps if you can pound it out in 2 days Also unless you are a big big fan of either AM talk radio or Top20 Country music make sure to bring plenty to listen to. Podcasts and Audiobooks are great at keeping me engaged when I am driving around bumble fuck for work.


I'd recommend you head up to Michigan personally. Its a somewhat better drive than the cruise through IL/IA/NE to get you out west. And you'll spend like a 8 hours driving each way instead of 20.

Skeith

+1 for someplace within 10 hours of driving time in a single direction. More than that in a day will drive you bonkers and cost a lot in gas. You may want to budget for that, too; you can dig out the manual for your car, look up the MPG, find the distance to wherever you settle on, figure out how many gallons it'll take you to get there, multiply by the cost of gas and then double it.

zepherin

If you are doing a Utah Wyoming Colorado trip, you can optimize the drive.

I would avoid New Mexico if you only have a week. Driving from Chicago to Colorado is something you can do in a day, it's a sucky drive (I've done it twice), but you can power through it. Rocky Mountain National Park is a cool place, but it is busy during the summer, you may want to do a reservation if you want to camp there.

I used to live in Colorado and did a ton of camping. I found the most peaceful camping with the best views on the western slope. Mueller State Park is pretty great, and if you are in the area check out the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife center. When I was younger I went with my uncle to do a feeding tour their and it was pretty sweet. Glenwood springs is an amazing place to unwind, but it might be a bit more city than you want, Camping in Glenwood Canyon was decent.

I guess to the OP, how far do you want to drive, and are you looking to visit a couple of sites or just hit one for a week?

Veevee

I live in Madison and I've done the drive to (and over/through) the Rockies several times. I highly recommend having at least a second driver so you don't have to stop to sleep, and plan the Nebraska/Kansas/Dakotas portion of the drive for the night. The first because it saves a fuckton of time that can be better used to see things, and the second because there is nothing to see in those states when driving down the highway.

As for where to go for star gazing, I like DarkSkyFinder's light pollution map. You'll notice that pretty much anywhere west of Missouri will give you more stars than you could see anywhere in Illinois, except for right around the interstate and towns of course. You'll also notice that you can head up to northern Wisconsin/Minnesota and the UP for some great star gazing as well, so keep them in mind as they do have incredible camping as well.

Oh, and keep an eye on weather reports so you don't drive right into a monster storm on the plains. Or if you're crazy like me, so you do drive into one because driving in a thunderstorm is just the best.

Inx

Wherever you go, check the weather (as well as recent trends and the trends of previous years if you can) so you can pack accordingly - you don't want to pack for hot weather only to find that it's going to be unseasonably cold, or vice versa.

Nocren

Inx wrote: »

Wherever you go, check the weather (as well as recent trends and the trends of previous years if you can) so you can pack accordingly - you don't want to pack for hot weather only to find that it's going to be unseasonably cold, or vice versa.

Building on this, and what you're doing here, once you figure out where you're going see what kind of local information you can get that isn't on a website or tourist board by asking people in that area. You might get infor like animals that might be seasonally in the area.