What to Pack for a Long Road Trip to Utah and Colorado
For almost two weeks, I adventured with Korri through Utah and Colorado on a long road trip through various western US national parks that culminated in attending one of my younger brothers’ college graduations! We stopped in Moab to check out Canyonlands and Arches (plus a few others) and Cortez to check out Canyons of the Ancients, Hovenweep, and Mesa Verde before the graduation. Afterward, we stopped by Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Colorado National Monument before heading home! I haven’t shared too much of the trip on Instagram yet because I took thousands of photos and videos and I’m overwhelmed every time I go to look through them all, haha.
In the meantime, let’s kick things off with a packing post! Here are all of the clothes, shoes, and accessories I packed for a long road trip through Utah and Colorado (plus I noted what I didn’t end up wearing), outfits ideas and tips for all of the activities (hiking/outdoors, daytime/lounge, travel), and what we packed in the car. Let’s dive in!
READ NEXT: Southeast Utah and Southwest Colorado National Parks Road Trip Itinerary
What to pack for a long road trip to Utah and Colorado
It’s always hard to pack for a long road trip because the weather forecast is not super reliable past about five days. (I can say this because my partner and I are both meteorologists. 😉) That was true of our trip; we weren’t expecting to have storms on the day of graduation, but the forecast changed as we got closer and we were met with some random sprinkles and crazy wind throughout the day.
I packed all of my clothes in a carry-on-size suitcase (except for my shoes) and relied heavily on layers for the unpredictable spring weather. We experienced summer-like conditions in Utah, with temperatures reaching 90 degrees, and we felt the chill of the mountain air in Colorado. I brought along a couple of items I knew would work in case of storms. All in all, we had great weather and I was quite pleased with what I packed!
I tried to stick to a somewhat cohesive color palette to make outfits easy every day, but looking back it feels a little bit random. Here’s what I packed in my suitcase for a long spring road trip to Utah and Colorado:
Four tank tops
Three base layer tank tops (not pictured)
Three short-sleeved tees (one linen)
Two long-sleeved tees
Two open-front cardigans
One buttoned cardigan
Two sweatshirts
Three pairs of shorts (two pull-on, one denim)
Four pairs of lounge/athleisure shorts
One pair of bike shorts
One pair of jeans
Four pairs of leggings
Four sports bras (three not pictured)
One pair of joggers
Two pairs of sandals
One pair of ankle boots
One pair of sneakers (not pictured)
One pair of hiking shoes (not pictured)
Three baseball caps
One beanie
One scrunchie
Two pairs of earrings
One wallet
One crossbody bag
One tote bag
One small backpack
One rain jacket (not pictured)
One packable puffer coat
I wore everything except for the red striped short-sleeved tee, the denim shorts, the black pull-on shorts, the green leggings, and both pairs of earrings. It always feels ambitious to bring along jewelry and I rarely wear it when I’m on vacation, especially an outdoors-focused road trip like this!
Because we were on a road trip, I had multiple bags with all of my things in them. When I travel by plane, I’m really good at packing in a carry-on only. For road trips? All bets are off. I fill up the car with bags, haha! For this trip, I had carry-on suitcase for clothes, a bag for shoes, two tote bags with toiletries, and a paper bag with coats/hats.
Shop My Utah and Colorado Road Trip Packing List
Utah and Colorado Road Trip Outfit Ideas
I planned the trip to have many days of sightseeing and hiking along with some downtime once we got to our main destination. I kept my outfits simple and comfortable. Light layers were key! I’m glad I brought a variety of shorts and pants/leggings, so I was prepared for any sort of weather situation.
Outdoor/hiking outfits
The main purpose of the trip was to explore the many national parks and monuments along the way. I scheduled six full days of exploring (half of our trip!). Because of the hiking, I packed a little bit heavier than usual; I didn’t plan to rewear any of the items I wore hiking. Moab was hot when we were there, so I was pretty sweaty by the end of the day. I wore an airy tee and shorts (either my bike shorts or lightweight knit shorts) for those days. The leggings came in handy on the cooler days in Colorado. I brought a couple of cardigans to add warmth when necessary, and one cardigan has UV-blocking technology! I also cycled through my baseball caps. I bought hiking shoes before the trip and highly recommend a pair if you don’t already have one! I felt much more secure hiking around in those.
Dinner outfits
We did venture out to dinner most nights of our trip (!). We selected patio seating when available or well-spaced interiors when not. I felt pretty safe, thanks mostly to my second vaccine! Post-hiking, I was too exhausted to dress cute, so I just threw on my Vuori joggers and changed into sandals.
Daytime/lounge outfits
We spent a few days of the trip with my family ahead of my brother’s graduation, and those outfits fall under this sort of random category because we didn’t hike or spend much time outside, and we weren’t traveling. These outfits were simply everyday outfits that were part athleisure, part “typical” outfit. My graduation outfit is the dressiest of the bunch with the buttoned cardigan, but it’s still quite casual with the grey denim and beanie.
Travel outfits
For travel days, layers are the name of the game. I opted for a tank top worn under a sweatshirt, but a cardigan would work just as well. It was easy to remove a layer if I got too hot, but I never had that problem. My joggers were also fabulous for spending time in the car! I definitely recommend unfussy clothes that can stand to get messy.
I didn’t dress up for graduation because the ceremony was held outdoors and spring weather in Colorado is unpredictable. I wore buttoned cardigan as mentioned above and my Madewell grey Roadtripper skinny jeans (my most comfortable and best-fitting pair of jeans right now). I also brought the Blondo Sydney ankle boots specifically for graduation since they don’t look like rain boots but are waterproof just in case of inclement weather.
What to Bring in the Car on a Long Road Trip
Here is a list of everything we brought along with us in the car! My best tip, if you’re traveling with a cooler and not camping, is to stay in a hotel with a fridge (preferably a full-size fridge if you can swing it). You can empty the cooler contents in the fridge and re-freeze the freezer packs (we got a few of these YETI reusable freezer packs and they were amazing). Mini fridges can be hit-or-miss; sometimes they have a good freezer section, sometimes they don’t.
Cooler (with sandwich meat and cheese, macaroni salad, potato salad, water, other drinks, etc.)
Snacks and other non-perishable food in a cooler bag
Extra water/other drinks (Gatorade, etc.)
A separate bag with compostable paper plates, compostable silverware, napkins, etc.
“Medical” bag with bug spray, sunscreen, medicine, bandaids, antibiotic cream, etc. (*do NOT forget chapstick with SPF!)
A roll of paper towels in case of spills
Maps—especially for areas with poor cell coverage
Magazines/books/deck of cards (if you won’t have internet to keep you occupied)
Music! I always have CDs and my iPod.
Car phone charger
Sunglasses
Snow brush/ice scraper (if snow/ice is in the forecast)
Extra blanket (kept in my emergency bag)
A bag for car trash plus a spare trash can (but ours tipped over a lot so would definitely recommend a can that is anchored behind a seat or something!)
And since we’re still in a pandemic, I also brought along:
A small tote bag with many face masks and a bag to separate the used face masks
Multiple bottles of hand sanitizer
A container of Clorox wipes
The fun things we brought:
Camera + all necessary camera gear (extra lenses, charger, extra batteries, tripod, etc.)
Drone (*note that drones can’t be flown in national parks)
National parks annual pass (spend $80 and you can visit any national park for a full year!)
National park passport book
Binoculars
Cooling towel (appreciated this on hot days)