Planning a family trip to a national park in the West? Start now; here's how.

Over the holidays my spouse and I had numerous opportunities to see old and new friends as well as family. Frequently the topic arose as to renewing travel plans in the new year, what with the pandemic beginning to recede, travel restrictions being lifted and the sense of optimism that comes with a new year.

Several popular destinations came up in different conversations. One was a trip to the Southern California desert area, taking in national parks like Death Valley or Joshua Tree national parks in the late winter or early spring. Another was several variations on a theme of touring Wyoming and Montana and exploring three of our most iconic national parks, Yellowstone, Jackson Hole and Glacier, absolute gems of those lovely states.

So let’s share thoughts about advance, savvy planning for trips to those major attractions. We will offer our experience and the resources we’ve discovered for making such trips fun, painless and truly memorable. Our resources: our vehicle’s GPS system, Susan’s (my copilot) cell phone, AAA, the internet, national park and state park websites, travel apps like KAYAK and Hopper, hiking apps like AllTrails and state and local travel agencies. For impressions of fellow travelers of motels, restaurants and travel destinations, TripAdvisor and Yelp will provide cumulative and individual ratings by real travelers. Internet searches will lead you to specialty sites (should you be seeking a dude ranch stay, to sites like duderanch.org, which offers detailed options in many western states).

We’ll start with a discussion of trips to the Southern California desert area, taking in Death Valley and Joshua Tree national parks and also point out some nearby additional key attractions that should not be missed. Those include the eerie Salton Sea, Anza Borrego, California’s largest state park and perhaps a stop in the nearby old winter destination of the Hollywood set, Palm Springs. Probably the best time for planning a tour of the two SoCal national parks would be late winter or early spring, for both Death Valley and Anza Borrego can get unconscionably hot by May.

If you’re going to include one or both national parks, the two national park websites are invaluable tools as to what to see, when to go, camping and lodging options within each park, kids activities and more. Similarly, the California state parks website will offer similar detail for Anza Borrego (as well as 279 other California State Parks).

Next, take a look at sites such as visitCalifornia.com, or visitPalmSprings.com. Scanning such sites, you’ll see memorable nearby destinations, such as the eerie, Salton Sea, just east of Anza Borrego State Park. The sea was once the Salton Sink, the second lowest place in the continental United States, at 260 feet below sea level, almost as low as Death Valley. Over the course of recent history, it has been flooded routinely by overflow from the Colorado River, including a massive spill in 1904-05, which created the Salton Sea, 60 miles long, 30 miles wide and 50 feet deep.

In the 1930s and 40s, gamefish were introduced to the new inland sea and a variety of resorts sprang up on the shores attracting such talent as Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.. However, drought continually reduced the depths of the sea, dealing a blow to resort traffic; then huge floods in the late 1970s overfilled the sea, essentially causing abandonment of these big resorts around the lake. Today they represent a number of eerie ghost resorts, perhaps the most interesting, Bombay Beach Resort on the sea’s east side. On several camping trips to Anza Borrego, we have taken day trips to tour these almost abandoned resorts.

Well before you depart, take a remedial lesson on your vehicles GPS system, on many cars an invaluable travel resource. The same advice goes for exploring the mapping and way-finding abilities of smart phones. Being an old Army platoon leader, I still fancy paper maps, so several times a year I will visit AAA offices and update my supply of state and regional maps. My insurance company also offers me good travel map atlases, another handy tool.

To book hotels, motels, we use KAYAK, TripAdvisor, or Hopper. If it’s not peak travel season, we will often wait until late in the afternoon to book a motel, using Priceline.com, often saving up to 50% off regular rates as motels strive to fill empty rooms.

Veteran travelers will reserve campsites at desirable destinations six months in advance. Should you wait until a month before your trip, you’ll likely find these parks totally booked out and have to rely on “first come first serve” campsites, which demand an early morning arrival in hopes to land an empty campsite. Similarly, if you want a lodge or motel/hotel site near your park destination, book well in advance. Typically, you can cancel advance reservations if your plans change with no penalty. For advance camping reservations, you can generally cancel should plans change with only a penalty of $10.

Should you be setting your plans on the three parks in Wyoming and Montana (or, the five national parks in Utah) - face reality, they will be swamped in the summer when school is out - so best options are probably late May to early June, or, September and October. And because millions upon millions of fellow citizens are thinking similar travel scenarios, advance, savvy planning will pay untold dividends.

As always, don’t overlook Covid-19 planning; taking a supply of face masks and rapid tests should a new variant present itself, as well as medications for family members. Pre-prepping your personal auto, by checking the brakes and properly-inflated tires; a recent tune-up will allow your auto that can deliver 30 MPG to actually deliver that result.

For more information; Anza Borrego State Park, parks.ca.gov; Death Valley National Park, nps.gov/deva/; Joshua Tree National Park, nps.gov/jotr/; Palm Springs, visitpalmsprings.com; Salton Sea, visitgreaterpalmsprings.com. For camping reservations, recreation.gov for national park/federal campsites; reservecalifornia.com for California state park campsites.

Contact Tim, tviall@msn.com; Happy travels in 2023!

This article originally appeared on The Record: Planning a trip to national parks in Utah, Wyoming, Montana? Start now