Hi all, got my vacation time from mid october onwards for 14 to 16 days and looking for a holiday location.
I was wondering what the weather would be like at this time of year and what type of things would be possible at that time of year.
While October can be a beautiful time of year to visit the Rocky Mountain west, there are several things that you need to be aware of, the weather being one of them, as well as closing dates and limited access within Yellowstone.
If you visit this website and really explore it in depth, many of your questions will be answered.
Snow starts falling in Yellowstone and many high elevation areas around the first of October. As noted above roads may be closed for the season at any time. Even if not closed until Spring they can be closed on a day to day basis depending on conditions. A couple years ago we wer ethere on Oct. 2nd and some roads in the park were closed part of the day due to an overnight snow. We had to take a round about route to Yellowstone Falls and it was quite cold (near 0°C) and very windy.
Many of the tourist services (food, gift shops) will be closed even if the roads are open. A great time to see the park (if conditions permit) due to no crowds and animals coming down from higher elevations but it is still a gamble. If I were going to travel all that way I think i would opt to visit when the risk was less or visit somewhere else not so likely to be into Winter mode.
Instead of going so far north, head to Arizona and New Mexico and the various national parks there. Will be perfect weather in Oct.
Suggest instead the S. Utah National Parks. You can fly into Las Vegas or Salt Lake City and do the route suggested, below.
Thanks for the advice guys - I will heed your warnings and stick to the further south.
I'll plan on being in Las vegas for my 40th for 4 to 5 days and then hit the road to maybe the grand canyon, bryce and zion NP's
Edited: 17 April 2010, 20:10Having been to Vegas for many years and also the parks you mentioned I think your revised plan to visit further south in Oct is a good idea. GC, Bryce and Zion are fantastic places to visit, I won't even try to explain Vegas( I love it there). You'll have a great trip.
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