For our 2021 Trip we wanted to visit some of our favorite places since it's been 5 years since our last trip. Our plan was to drive 5,710 miles over 16 days. The following was our plan for the trip:
Day 1 Driving Day- Camp in Franklin State Forest, TN
Day 2 Driving Day- Camp at Robert's Bluff Access, MO
Day 3 Sioux Falls- Camp in Fort Pierre National Grassland, SD
Day 4 Badlands National Park- Camp in Sage Creek Campground in Badlands NP
Day 5 Badlands National Park- Camp in Sage Creek Campground in Badlands NP
Day 6 Mammoth Site, Cascade Falls, Theodore Roosevelt National Park- Camp in Cotton Wood Campground in Theodore Roosevelt NP
Day 7 Theodore Roosevelt National Park- Camp in Fresco Reservoir, ND
Day 8 Glacier National Park- Camp in Flathead National Forest, MT
Day 9 Driving Day- Camp in Custer Gatlin National Forest
Day 10 Yellowstone National Park- Camp at Clearwater Campground in Shoshone National Forest, MT
Day 11 Grand Teton National Park- Camp at Teton Canyon Campground in Caribou-Targhee National Forest, MT
Day 12 Driving Day- Camp in Arapaho National Forest, CO
Day 13 Rocky Mountain National Park- Camp in Roosevelt National Forest
Day 14 Driving Day (Kit Carson County Carousel)- Camp at Woodridge Public Use Area, KS
Day 15 Driving Day- Camp near Nashville, TN
Day 16 Drive Home
One of the most important things when planning a road trip like this is to be flexible . Before we left I was able to reserve Cottonwood Campground in Theodore Roosevelt National Forest and Clearwater Campground outside of Yellowstone National Park. I also was able to make our timed ticket for Rocky Mountain National Park. We didn't end up keeping any of these original reservations. We could have made ourselves stick to the schedule, but being flexible and canceling these reservations worked better for us. Our trip ended up being a little longer than planned at 6,898.9 miles. These big trips are always longer than planned because of the time spent driving around inside the National Parks.
