California in January?

[Bristol spark]

Ive had a little itch for a while to visit USA.

I also conveniantly have a load of amex air miles to use, and have enough for a return upper class flight (with just taxes to pay) to certain USA Airports.


The only downside is due to being self employed i need to go at my quietist time of year which would be January.


Im thinking around the California area, i can fly to either Vegas, Los Angeles or San Fransisco in this region.


I understand it won't be super hot weather, but TBH I'm not the biggest fan of super heat! as i melt easily!

I imagine death valley etc should be a bit more bearable! a bit of snow would be a bonus


So has anyone been to the California area in the winter?

I guess hotels etc should be cheaper at this time of year as well?


So anyone got any experience/advice?

Cheers

[anonymous-user]

San Francisco in June was fking freezing. Sunny, and dry but absolutely bloody Baltic.
Also been to the Grand Canyon in October - the car started bonging at night to say it was below freezing.

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 26th April 12:29

[David Beer]

Was there over Xmas and new year, have been twice a year, summer and winter for twenty years. Ok a couple of years done other. This year the weather was great again, a couple of days in 26 days had cloud, but turned the Motorhome around and went to Arizona for two nights!

[p1stonhead]

Someone once said (not sure who) 'The coldest Winter I ever experienced was a Summer in San Francisco'

Its such a bizzare microclimate I was there last August and one minute it was glorious, the other fking freezing your bks off!

[Thankyou4calling]

What are you actually asking?

California is a huge place so the weather will vary massively, likewise LA is VERY different to San Fran and Las Vegas is in Nevada!

What are you looking for from your trip?

[battered]

It will be fine. The coast will see some rain, the mountains snow, the desert interior over towards Nevada and Death Valley will be dry and cool. Travel to the bits that do what you want.

[Bristol spark]

Thanks guys.

No i haven't booked flights yet, there are still some availability in Jan, more so in Vegas than Los Angeles. So will get flight booked ASAP.

TY4C - Just after general advice, whats best to do at this time of year. Am just after a relaxing driving trip around to see part of america.
Oh and 1 must is to find a firing range, as have always wanted to fire a "real" gun

As well as visiting, Vegas, Death valley, San Fransisco (have an urge to drive down ) etc.



One other thing, would it be foolish to hire a Mustang at this time of year? Or Would a SUV like a Grand Cherokee be more suitable?
Both are around £450 for 2 weeks.

[ViperDave]

The sensible choice is the SUV and make sure you get one with 4x4/AWD and good tread depth on M+S tires. with that combination you can go pretty much anywhere, with 2wd if your in a snow storm in the mountains you will likely be in mandatory chain control and you will be required to fit them to proceed beyond the checkpoint. With an 4x4 SUV the only place I have been asked if I was caring chains was Yosemite with a BIG storm forecast, although legally you are required to carry them none the less in chain control areas.

If your intending to go LV > death valley > San Francisco, you will have to go around the top US50 and lake Tahoe/I80 or around the bottom via Bakersfield as Tioga pass will be closed.

Weather will be dependent on if you have a high pressure giving blue sky and warm air from the south/down hill or a trough bringing cold air from the north and storm systems from the pacific. You can be in San Francisco in shirt sleeves at lunch time in the sun and shivering in a ski jacked in the rain by evening. Drive 100 miles in California or Nevada and you can go from 70f to -35f.

Vegas is the same, depending on the weather it could be shirt sleeves and sun block or shivering in a ski jacket in the rain, after all you can ski within 30 mins drive of the strip! Generally most of the pools in LV will be closed at that time of year and some of the attractions such as TI pirate show are in maintenance. But the fountains of bellagio and Eiffel tower and high roller etc should be running.

Edited by ViperDave on Wednesday 27th April 15:46

[louiebaby]

We did San Fran to Vegas in a 4-Runner in March, going through Yosemite.

We should have had snow chains, but didn't. We were fine, but certain parts had snow over 10 feet at the sides of the road, that they had cut through with some kind of combine harvester thing. (It wasn't just a pile created by the wind and a snow plough.)

They get serious weather that high, and in Jan, I wouldn't want to be cocking about.

San Fran weather is always hugely unpredictable, Vegas was very pleasant at that time of the year, comfortable shorts and t-shirts.

I've never been to Florida, but it is where I'd be considering if it had to be the USA in Jan. Since I ski like a giraffe,

[David Beer]

Have done camaro convertible at Xmas, but did not go to higher elevations. this Xmas did Palm Springs, joshua tree, Death Valley, Vegas parking the motorhome front of the mandarin hotel while staying for two nights and the pool was open, whenever staying at the ballagio , aria or mandarin always the pools have been open. Then to Yuma then back to Palm Springs for relaxing by the pool at the rv park Have you thought motorhome? You can stay nat parks for great scenery, walking etc. works out about 90 a day. Ok 10 mpg !
If you can do Heathrow the upper class lounge is worth getting there 3 hours early, although doing upper class you don't have to .

[anonymous-user]

Forget Camaros, Mustangs and SUVs. Do it properly......

[Thankyou4calling]

San Francisco is one of my favourite cities. It's easy to walk around, very compact and has some reall bucket list stuff.

Alcatraz, Golden gate bridge, Sausalito, haight Ashbury, Union Square. Great shops, bars and more.

You can head north to the wine country in Napa and head south and follow the Pacific Coast highway that is one of the worlds great drives through Monterey, Carmel, 18 mile drive and Big sur until you reach LA which i found a let down although Malibu is nice.

As regards car why not get a convertible, if you get the roof down that's great and if not itll be fine too.

I would get a good guide to San Francisco and go from there.

[Bristol spark]

Thanks Guys,

This is my first (very rough) route, with probably a day at each stop, and a couple of days at San Fransisco, and Los Angeles.




Does this look a bit ambitious over 18 days?


Also, yes i did look/consider a small camper, but TBH hotels look pretty damn cheap at this time of year!

Oh and yes i know most is not actually "California", but the California "Region"

Edited by Bristol spark on Thursday 28th April 12:16

[louiebaby]

Bristol spark said:

Thanks Guys,

This is my first (very rough) route, with probably a day at each stop, and a couple of days at San Fransisco, and Los Angeles.

Does this look a bit ambitious over 18 days?

Also, yes i did look/consider a small camper, but TBH hotels look pretty damn cheap at this time of year!

Oh and yes i know most is not actually "California", but the California "Region"

If you are going on a driving holiday, it looks doable, but it's a lot of miles. (Depends on your choice.

I know it's not part of your route, but we did LA (next to the Santa Monica Pier) to Vegas, through Joshua Tree and the Mojave in a day. It was a long day of driving due to being on the smaller roads, to get a better feel of the desert.

Run it through Google Maps and see what your driving time looks like, longer days in the USA are easier than in the UK, but still mean a long time sat looking out of the windscreen.

(Also, the route from Montana to Washington, is that a mountain pass, as in Jan I suspect it will be under many feet of snow?)

[The Moose]

Bristol spark said:

Thanks Guys,

This is my first (very rough) route, with probably a day at each stop, and a couple of days at San Fransisco, and Los Angeles.




Does this look a bit ambitious over 18 days?


Also, yes i did look/consider a small camper, but TBH hotels look pretty damn cheap at this time of year!

Oh and yes i know most is not actually "California", but the California "Region"

Edited by Bristol spark on Thursday 28th April 12:16

Funnily enough, that's almost the exact route that I'll be doing in June/July this year for my honeymoon.

We're starting in Coeur d'Alene and doing the full loop.

My soon to be wife's family live in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene and the weather there seems to either be a lot of snow or nothing!

I wouldn't be doing that route on a motorbike in January.

My preference for Jan would be to go to Southern Florida - it's a fantastic climate around that time of year.

[ViperDave]

Its defiantly doable with the exception of if your top bit is through Glacier NP.

We did somewhat the reverse starting in Vancouver after a ski accident three days into a 4 week holiday. The lure of 80F in San Diego was more appealing than a flight home, so after a few days initial recovery we set of south on the I5, about northern California the weather changes and San Diego was now 60F so not so sitting by the pool weather. at this point we turned east as we had never been the great basin NP because it was so bloody far from anywhere. Halfway across US 50 in NV was where we saw temps of -18c. From there we did Zion (you can drive up the canyon in the winter) and Brice, you can park where you like as your one of about a dozen visitors and half the pull-outs are coved in snow. Further north after a brief stop in Salt lake for stitches to be taken out we headed over to twin falls and took in some of the snake river along to Boise. Then headed north again up from Boise up through the mountains to Pullman (check out old spiral Hwy at Lweiston, don't take the main road bypass up the hill! before heading across Washington back to Vancouver.

On other trips we have gone into Yellowstone on a snow coach both to old faithful and the canyon, both trips are excellent, but i would say resist the urge to do the park on a snowmobile, its tightly controlled so its follow my leader and no messing about, whereas the snow coach is relatively warm and you get a guide giving commentary. Reserve the hoonig on a snowmobile for the 100's of miles of trail in the national forest outside the park, just rent some sleds from a local outfitter in west yellowstone and grab a map. Its also worth driving around and going in the north entrance where you can drive through the lemar valley where there is lots of wildlife.

The winter things i would recommend on that trip are

Brice and zion (see above)
West Yellowstone, take a snow coach into the park, rent a snowmobile for the national forest outside (100's miles of trails
Twin falls on the snake river
old spiral Hyw
Grand Coulie dam and Dry falls
Colombia river gorge (better view than the I90 through the mountains)

The I5 south of redding is pretty boring, but a quick way to get through CA.

Munching that many miles in January I'd reiterate the use of an SUV, you could do it in a mustang but a week of snow and you'd be screwed, at least with an SUV you can make some progress or not really be held up at all.

Bryce and Zion in Jan



Middle of nowhere US50 Nevada



Snowmobiling outside Yellowstone


Slowcoaches inside the park





Wildlife in the park





Twin falls ID




Bernard Falls east of Redding CA

[ViperDave]

Oh yeah I was going to say also at that time of year I'd wing it on the plan, have a rough idea so you don't get too far behind and know the things you really want to see. But be flexible so you can accommodate weather and things you find you didn't know were there. But in January we rarely bother booking up many days in advance, often it will be in the morning we will book that evenings accommodation or book a few days in a row as we decide where we are going etc.

Just be careful around salt lake city mid Jan as the outdoor retailers expo usually clashes with the Sundance film festival so getting a hotel can be problematic and expensive.

[Bristol spark]

Brill thanks Dave, that looks good. I assume i can find a list of closed roads on google somewhere to get from Montana? (or is it back to Idaho and across?)

[ViperDave]

When your on the trip you can use the states department of transport websites to give you up to date travel info (Udot,NDot,caltrans etc) Finding the info of seasonal closures can often be found on their websites also but can be harder to find, and is usually found along with chain laws and winter driving tips.

Roads in national parks you can usually get info from the national park site, ones that i can think of that close for the winter are

Going to the sun (glacier)
All of Yellowstone other than north entrance and lemar valley
Cascades national park
Tioga pass and most other trans Sierra routes south of Tahoe
The passes around the back of Mt Rainier are late to open as is the road up to spirit lake, St Helens
A few of the roads crossing the cascades in Oregon west of bend only go as far as ski resorts in winter also

To be fair for a lot of Idaho and Montana the roads are essential for travel so are kept open, and to be honest a lot of it is minimal snow or temporary anyway unless its in a valley or on a mountain, so other than crossing major mountain ranges or roads to tourist attractions with limited other traffic use you shouldn't have too much of an issue. But you will notice that Idaho doesn't have a lot of east-west roads.

What were you plans in Montana and where were you wanting to get to in Washington? My Rand Mc Nally shows seasonal road closures if you want to ask specific routes.

[ViperDave]

Cant find any useful info on Montana but here is California's mountain pass closure info

http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/clsdlst.htm

Washington

http://www.wsdot.com/winter/PassDates.htm