Regional Guide

The Mountain West by Season

When to drive the mountain west, read off eight years of our own dated photographs: the Colorado high country May to November, the desert in winter.

Mountains reflected in a still lake in Glacier National Park, one of us looking out across the water

The trip stories on this site are journeys: one drive, in order, in our own voice. This page is the same eight years asked the other question. Not where we went, but when, and what a reader driving the same mountains would find there in a given month.

Everything below is read off the dates on our own photographs. Nothing is a recommendation we picked up somewhere else, and nothing is filled in to make a month look covered.

One thing to know before the season band. The Front Range was home for most of these eight years, so a good share of the frames counted there were taken within an hour of a Denver driveway rather than out on a trip. That is why no month on the band below is empty. The place lists underneath come from our trip record instead, and they are the better guide to an actual drive.

The evidence

Which months we can actually speak for

Every photograph we took in the mountain states, counted by the month we took it, across 9 different years from 2016. Not the trips: every frame, including the months we were living somewhere rather than driving. There is no month we have no photographs from here, and a short column means a quiet month rather than an absent one.

194 January: 194 frames
273 February: 273 frames
89 March: 89 frames
168 April: 168 frames
433 May: 433 frames
331 June: 331 frames
363 July: 363 frames
251 August: 251 frames
440 September: 440 frames
364 October: 364 frames
258 November: 258 frames
155 December: 155 frames

Glacier and the Northern Rockies

2 of 10 places · 2022

Montana and Idaho, from the Canadian border down to the Snake River plain.

We only made it to two corners of this one, Glacier's high country and one night in Coeur d'Alene, both in the same September. It's the chapter we most want to go back and fill in.

We have been here in Sep

The stories from here The West Coast Roadtrip

Glacier NP Sep 2022
Whitefish MT no dated photos yet
Kalispell MT been, no dated photos
Coeur d'Alene Sep 2022
Missoula no dated photos yet
Bozeman no dated photos yet
Red Lodge MT no dated photos yet
Boise no dated photos yet
Craters of the Moon no dated photos yet
Twin Falls no dated photos yet

Yellowstone, the Tetons and Wyoming

4 of 7 places · 2018, 2021, 2022

The oldest national park, the range south of it, and the long empty drives between.

We've come back to Yellowstone and the Tetons three separate times now, in early summer, midsummer and full autumn, and it looks like a different park each visit.

We have been here in JunJulOct

The stories from here The First Trip, Before the Build Was Done Yellowstone and the Tetons The West Coast Roadtrip

Mammoth Hot Springs Jun 2021
Devils Tower no dated photos yet
Cody WY no dated photos yet
Yellowstone NP Jun, Jul, Oct 2018 and after
Grand Teton NP Jun, Jul, Oct 2018 and after
Jackson WY Oct 2022
Cheyenne no dated photos yet

The Black Hills and the Badlands

7 of 7 places · 2024

The eastern edge of the mountains: South Dakota, and the North Dakota badlands above it.

That August hit us with brutal heat, so much that by the time we got to Wind Cave we almost didn't want to get out of the car. We went in anyway, and it was worth it. It also happened to be Sturgis week, so we shared every road in the Hills with a few thousand motorcycles.

We have been here in Aug

Theodore Roosevelt NP Aug 2024
Medora ND Aug 2024
Sturgis SD Aug 2024
Rapid City Aug 2024
Mount Rushmore Aug 2024
Badlands NP Aug 2024
Wind Cave NP Aug 2024

The Colorado Front Range

15 of 17 places · 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

The cities against the mountains, from Fort Collins to Pueblo. Home for most of these eight years.

We never actually lived in Denver, we lived just outside it.

We have been here in JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Fort Collins been, no dated photos
Jackson Lake SP CO Aug 2020
Estes Park Jul, Aug, Sep 2016 and after
Rocky Mountain NP Jul, Aug 2021 and after
Shadow Mountain / Granby Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct 2017 and after
Boulder May, Sep 2017 and after
Golden Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec 2016 and after
Denver Feb, Mar, Apr, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec 2016 and after
Red Rocks Park CO Mar, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec 2016 and after
Evergreen CO Aug 2023
Bailey / Pike NF CO Jul, Oct 2017 and after
Devils Head Lookout Apr, Jul 2017 and after
Cave of the Winds Sep 2020
Garden of the Gods Jan, Sep 2020 and after
Colorado Springs Sep 2020
Paint Mines CO Sep 2017
Pueblo CO been, no dated photos

The Colorado Rockies

23 of 29 places · 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

The high country west of the divide: the Interstate 70 corridor, the Arkansas valley and the Western Slope.

We've chased this chapter through every season for almost a decade, hot springs in June, aspens turning in September.

We have been here in JanFebMayJunJulAugSepOctNov

The stories from here The West Coast Roadtrip

Strawberry Park Hot Springs Jan, Jul, Oct 2016 and after
Steamboat Springs Jul, Oct 2016 and after
Winter Park CO been, no dated photos
Green Mountain Res. CO Jul, Oct 2021 and after
Idaho Springs CO Aug 2023
Georgetown CO Aug, Sep 2020 and after
Rifle Falls May 2020
Vail Oct 2025
Dillon / Silverthorne Feb, Jul, Oct 2018 and after
Hanging Lake / Glenwood Canyon May, Sep 2016 and after
Glenwood Springs Aug 2018
Breckenridge been, no dated photos
Leadville CO Sep 2020
Fairplay CO been, no dated photos
Aspen Aug 2018
Fruita CO Nov 2022
Twin Lakes CO Sep 2020
Maroon Bells Aug, Sep 2016 and after
Grand Junction Nov 2022
Colorado NM Nov 2022
South Park CO Jul 2020
Eleven Mile / South Park Jul 2020
Crested Butte been, no dated photos
Buena Vista CO May 2024
Nathrop CO Jun, Oct 2017 and after
Mount Princeton Hot Springs Jun 2017
Browns Canyon NM been, no dated photos
Gunnison CO been, no dated photos
Salida Jun 2017

Southern Colorado and the San Juans

7 of 10 places · 2017, 2020, 2024, 2025

The San Luis Valley, the southwest corner and the gorges on the way there.

This one came together slowly: a waterfall in February, a gorge in July, the dunes in 2024. What we know of it is scattered, but it's real.

We have been here in FebAprMayJunJulSepOct

Black Canyon NP Jun 2017
Royal Gorge Jul 2017
Cañon City CO been, no dated photos
Ouray CO Jun, Oct 2017 and after
Telluride Jun 2017
Great Sand Dunes NP Feb, May, Sep 2017 and after
Zapata Falls Feb, Sep 2017 and after
Alamosa CO been, no dated photos
Durango been, no dated photos
Mesa Verde NP Apr 2017

The Colorado Plateau

12 of 16 places · 2016, 2017, 2020, 2023, 2026

Utah's canyon country, and the Page and Monument Valley country that belongs to it in everything but state lines.

Between Arches and Zion we've covered most of this chapter, though always in the shoulder seasons, spring or fall, never summer's full heat.

We have been here in FebAprMaySepOct

Great Salt Lake no dated photos yet
Flaming Gorge May 2020
Salt Lake City no dated photos yet
Vernal UT / Dinosaur May 2020
Arches NP Feb, Sep, Oct 2016 and after
Moab Feb, Sep 2016 and after
Capitol Reef NP Oct 2020
Canyonlands NP Feb, Sep 2016 and after
Bears Ears NM been, no dated photos
Bryce Canyon NP Apr, Oct 2017 and after
Zion NP Apr 2023
Lake Powell Apr, Oct 2017 and after
Lone Rock / Wahweap Bay Apr, Oct 2017 and after
Monument Valley been, no dated photos
Horseshoe Bend Apr, Oct 2017 and after
Antelope Canyon Apr, Oct 2017 and after

The Southwest Deserts

11 of 13 places · 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

Arizona and southern Nevada: the Grand Canyon, the red rock, and the winter cities below them.

Our real winter down there was spent in Gilbert, southeast of Phoenix.

We have been here in JanFebMarAprMayOctNovDec

Las Vegas Apr, Nov 2022 and after
Grand Canyon NP Jan, Oct 2017 and after
Flagstaff Jan 2017
Petrified Forest NP Jan, Mar 2017 and after
Sedona Jan, May 2017 and after
Montezuma Castle Jan, May 2017 and after
West Phoenix AZ Jan, Feb, May, Nov 2017 and after
Scottsdale Jan, Dec 2017 and after
Phoenix Jan, Feb, Nov, Dec 2021 and after
Mesa AZ Feb, Dec 2021 and after
Saguaro NP been, no dated photos
Tucson no dated photos yet
Tombstone AZ Nov 2021

New Mexico

4 of 7 places · 2017, 2021

Taos down to the boot heel, and the gypsum and limestone at the bottom of the state.

New Mexico is still mostly ahead of us. Two short trips years apart gave us Albuquerque and White Sands, but the rest of the state is still on the list.

We have been here in JanNov

Arroyo Seco NM Nov 2021
Santa Fe been, no dated photos
Albuquerque Jan 2017
White Sands NP Nov 2021
City of Rocks NM Nov 2021
Deming NM no dated photos yet
Carlsbad Caverns no dated photos yet

Questions we get asked

When is the best time to drive the Rocky Mountains?

We have been up there in every season. For a drive, our answer is May to November: nearly every dated photograph we have from the chapter we call the Colorado Rockies falls in those months, from Rifle Falls in May to Grand Junction in November. The winter ones are Strawberry Park Hot Springs in January 2019 and Dillon and Silverthorne in February 2018 and February 2021. Across all ten states September is our heaviest month and May is second, though the Front Range was home for years, so those totals include a lot of ordinary life.

How many places on this page have you actually been to?

Eighty-five of a hundred and sixteen. The other thirty-one are listed and labeled as places we have no dated photos from, because a guide that quietly dropped them would read as though we had covered the whole mountain west. Every month and year beside a place is the date on one of our own photographs, or the span of a stretch we were based there.

When should I go to Utah's canyon country?

We have been on the plateau in February, April, May, September and October, and never once in June, July or August. Arches in February 2017 had snow on the mountains behind it. Capitol Reef, Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon were all October 2020, Bryce was April and October, Zion was April. If the summer is what you are asking about, we cannot answer it from our own record.

Have you been in the Arizona desert in summer?

No. Our Arizona and Nevada months run January to May and October to December, and there is no June, July, August or September anywhere in them. We spent the winter of 2021 based in Phoenix, from November to February, which is the season that part of the country is actually for.

What this page does not know

31 of the 116 places above are ones we have no dated photographs from. Some we have been to and some we haven't. They are listed anyway, and labeled, because a guide that quietly dropped them would read as though we had covered the whole of the mountain west.

The season band above and the place lists below are counted differently, on purpose. The band is every photograph we took, so it sees the months we were living somewhere and not driving. The lists are places from our trip record, which finds the drives well and finds standing still badly. That gap is why Phoenix, where we spent a winter, would otherwise read as a place we have never been to at all, and why the years we were living on the Front Range are counted here from the photographs rather than from the trip record.

If you already know roughly where you are going, build the route and it will tell you which month fits it.