US Roadtrip - Your thoughts on this route

[Matt..]

I have been putting off booking this for a long time, but i'm not sure i can ignore it now. This trip is meant for end of May into June.


1 - Washington DC (fly in, and a quick look at some of the sights)
2 - Pickup car and drive to Pittsburgh
3 - Drive to Indianapolis
4 - Indy 500
5 - Drive to Chicago
6 - Chicago
7 - Chicago
8 - Drive to Sioux Falls (stop over)
9 - Drive to Badlands NP
10 - Badlands NP
11 - Drive to Denver (stop over)
12 - Colorado Springs (drive up Pikes Peak)
13 - Great Sand Dunes NP, Ouray (Millon Dollar Highway)
14 - Moab
15 - Moab (Canyonlands NP)
16 - Moab (Arches NP)
17 - Monument Valley
18 - Page (Antelope Canyon)
19 - Page (Horseshoe Bend)
20 - Grand Canyon
21 - Grand Canyon
22 - Phoenix
23 - San Clemente (pickup Corvette from LAX)
24 - San Clemente
25 - San Clemente
26 - San Clemente


It's a lot of driving. Nearly 4,000 miles on Google maps (so easily 6,000 when driven), this is 200-250 miles a day.




Option 2 is as follows:
1 - Indianapolis
2 - Indy 500
3 - Chicago
4 - Chicago
5 - Chicago
6 - Fly to Denver, Colorado Springs
7 - Great Sand Dunes
8 - Ouray
9 - Moab
10 - Moab
11 - Moab
12 - Monument Valley
13 - Page
14 - Page
15 - Grand Canyon
16 - Grand Canyon
17 - Sedona
18 - Phoenix
19 - San Clemente (pickup Corvette from LAX)
20 - San Clemente
21 - San Clemente
22 - San Clemente


This is more like 2,000 miles on Google maps, so far less driving. It is not coast to coast though, and doing coast to coast is massively appealing!



The only real difference between them is the pre-Denver stage. One is driving it, and one is flying in to Indianapolis/Chicago. I will be on my own, and have driven long distances on US roadtrips before so that isn't a major issue.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated

[Sortie 10]

I drove coast to coast for the Millenium (NYE in Vegas was memorable) - long distances shouldn't scare you (in mid winter three weeks was ample for 5000 miles including sightseeing and days off from driving). Indianapolis did not appear a pleasant place, but may be better when the race is on. Be flexible with your itinerary (do not pre-book all your hotels) as you may "discover" places that float your boat and other "shoe-ins" may disappoint.

There really is so much to see in the States that you cannot go wrong. The Grand Canyon is incredible, I will never tire of San Francisco, the coast between LA & San Fran should be driven (preferably North to South so you are on the ocean side of the road). Denver was special (an unexpected 2 night stay - check out the Wyncoop micro-brewery in the city centre). In the east, not so far from Washington Shenandoah National Park is scenic and has some great driving, Alexandria and Richmond in Virginia are worth a look too. Engage with the locals who may be able to recommend some interesting places. Accommodation-wise, if you are happy with basic motels pick up flyers to negotiate and play one against another (many will accept competitors' vouchers). We found it perfectly acceptable on driving days to stay at out of town motels having seen the scenery during the day, ready for a full breakfast and ready for a good start the next day.

You've whetted my appetite - now off to research (and check out my photo's of my best ever holiday).

Enjoy!

[American iv]

Cooo!

I spent 6 weeks touring the West Coast and covered 6k by myself (well with a few backpackers en-route) - I was parked up in San Fran / LA for a couple of weeks too. It's easily doable and most of the sight-seeing is done by car anyway.

Moab: you can see Canyonlands and Arches in a day pretty much, although it is really pretty and CanyonLands was my favourite park. Moab is a Mountain Biking Mecca btw...

On your way to Monument Valley from Moab stop off at Natural Bridges park - its awesome and deathly quiet.

Route 24 from Moab (ish) across towards Zion / Bryce is just so pretty.

Outside Page, there is also Wirepass canyon (free) and if you can get tickets Coyote Buttes... Try for tickets - I missed out 3days in a row and was gutted

Continue West from Page and hit Zion National Park - it's fluffing amazing. You also have Bryce Canyon which is stunning.

Grand Canyon is OK but I found it a little big for me and much preferred the later canyons (I did your trip in reverse) - we did it in a day, hiked down and what-not although saw some other parks in the area too on previous days.

Between Flagstaff and Phoenix is Sedona which is pretty but very touristy.

There is naff all in Phoenix. Literally naff all. You'd be better off heading to Vegas



Oh and look on ebay / gumtree for a park pass. they cost $80 and give you a pass into all National parks (for your car). Monument Valley isn't however a National Park.

[davepoth]

All I'll say is that it'll be stupid hot at that time of year in the desert.

[Matt..]

Btw, I did a roadtrip in 2011 that was yellowstone, grand Teton, slc, capital reef, Bryce Canyon, Zion, valley of fire, Death Valley, mammoth lakes, Yosemite, sf, pch, Carmel, Santa Barbara. This kind of thing isn't new to me, and this is primarily a photography trip.

Distance on this one is a lot higher, but the majority of it is early on (eg Chicago to badlands is 900 miles!),

[Matt..]

I have a very minor change to this to give an extra bit of time in Colorado:

1 - Washington DC (fly in, and a quick look at some of the sights)
2 - Pickup car and drive to Pittsburgh
3 - Drive to Indianapolis
4 - Indy 500
5 - Drive to Chicago
6 - Chicago
7 - Chicago
8 - Drive to Sioux Falls (stop over)
9 - Drive to Badlands NP
10 - Badlands NP
11 - Drive to Denver (stop over, maybe in Rocky Mountain NP)
12 - Colorado Springs (drive up Pikes Peak)
13 - Great Sand Dunes NP
14 - Ouray (Millon Dollar Highway)
15 - Moab
16 - Moab (Canyonlands NP)
17 - Moab (Arches NP)
18 - Monument Valley
19 - Page (Antelope Canyon)
20 - Page (Horseshoe Bend)
21 - Grand Canyon
22 - Grand Canyon
23 - San Clemente (pickup Corvette from LAX)
24 - San Clemente
25 - San Clemente
26 - San Clemente

~3,800 miles (obviously it will be more like 6,000!)

There are 3x ~8hr drives though... (Chicago to Sioux Falls, Badlands NP to Rocky Mountain NP/Denver, and Grand Canyon NP to LAX)

[David Beer]

Doing something similar in July. Done many road trips, mix of motorhome, camping, not from ny to la before, via Nashville Yellowstone Salt Lake Moab Vegas Joshua Palm Springs. A mix of hotels motels and my Tipee in parks. A one way rental is not cheap but 21 days for 1400 in a 300 bhp SUV seems fair. Had a Camaro SS convertable the last three trips, you just can not get a convertable one way.

[Matt..]

I am in the process of booking this now
Flights are sorted, so just hotels, cars, and tickets to some sporting events!

[Matt Harper]

Indy is pretty bloody gnarly today, I can reassure you of that - sky looks like the world is about to end....

[Matt..]

Matt Harper said:

Indy is pretty bloody gnarly today, I can reassure you of that - sky looks like the world is about to end....

Hopefully it wont be like that in a months time!

(Corvette for California part of the trip is now booked!)

[ViperDave]

If your not straying far from the car badlands wont take long, we did it on the drive to from Minneapolis and rapid city. But while your in the area don't forget to take a look at Mt Rushmore and crazy horse.

you can also bolt horseshoe bend onto arriving/departing page. unless your going to raft the river its only a short stroll in 100F heat out for a peer over the edge and back again.

[Matt..]

ViperDave said:

If your not straying far from the car badlands wont take long, we did it on the drive to from Minneapolis and rapid city. But while your in the area don't forget to take a look at Mt Rushmore and crazy horse.

you can also bolt horseshoe bend onto arriving/departing page. unless your going to raft the river its only a short stroll in 100F heat out for a peer over the edge and back again.

This trip is mostly for photography, so horseshoe bend is a given!

[ViperDave]

Matt.. said:

ViperDave said:

If your not straying far from the car badlands wont take long, we did it on the drive to from Minneapolis and rapid city. But while your in the area don't forget to take a look at Mt Rushmore and crazy horse.

you can also bolt horseshoe bend onto arriving/departing page. unless your going to raft the river its only a short stroll in 100F heat out for a peer over the edge and back again.

This trip is mostly for photography, so horseshoe bend is a given!

fair enough but you could still fit it into the remainder of the day after antelope, doubt even with photography you would need much more than 90 mins.

If your into photography you may want to look at hummer adventure tours and their secret canyon tour. Granted its only 98% as stunning as antelope, but they are the only operator to secret canyon and only one hummer at a time so max of 6 of you in the canyon. Antelope can get quite busy these days and you will be lucky to get a shot without people in. Secret on the other hand will probably only have one or two photographers in the group and everyone is together and co-operating to get people free shots.

http://www.hummeradventures.net/tours

If you got horseshoe done on the slot day or on the way to GC you could also spend the now spare day to hop on a boat to rainbow bridge and see the stunning scenery of lake Powel

Edited by ViperDave on Thursday 18th April 19:38

[Matt..]

I will be doing the Antelope Canyon photo tour (2hrs, no guides, far less people around). Hopefully that will be good.

Thanks for all the other ideas If you have more, please let me know!

[ViperDave]

are the numbers, days or just places to see?

[Matt..]

ViperDave said:

are the numbers, days or just places to see?

1-26 are the days.
Obviously there's all the driving to take into account, and it is significant. 8hr+ drives are in there...

[ViperDave]

Matt.. said:

ViperDave said:

are the numbers, days or just places to see?

1-26 are the days.
Obviously there's all the driving to take into account, and it is significant. 8hr+ drives are in there...

Kind of what I was thinking, Sioux falls to rapid city is doable with a visit to badlands if you just want to see it and take a few photos, but not really get our and hike. There is bugger all else between the two other than the Mitchel corn palace (wrong time of year) and wall drug store which will have bill boards counting down from about 300 mi to go. Everything else is sunflowers giving way to cattle as you get closer to rapid city.

Quite a bit of tourist tat places in rapid city these days (wolf/bear parks etc) Mt Rushmore is good in the morning with the sun lighting it up and worth returning to for sunset and the lighting ceremony. Crazy horse is also well worth a look. There are a some nice roads around there also with pig tail bridges and tunnels that frame Mt Rushmore in the distance.

Devils tower is not far from rapid city, its interesting as a side show and the prairie dogs are quite cute etc, given your schedule though I would give it a miss.

The drive to Denver will be quite long and I doubt you will have time/stamina for Rocky MT NP at the end of the day, you could probably spend half to a whole day doing it as a loop from Denver

Plenty of place between Denver and page, Messa verde was more interesting than I expected for holes in the ground people used to live in and cliff dwellings, who knew America had any real history lol. There is also black canyon of the Gunnison was nice when we were there but I cant recall anything specific about it now so I cant recommend it feature as a major destination as its blurred in with memories of hells canyon and various other similar places.

I agree that you could fit arches and canyon lands into one day if you are going to do it from the car or only short hikes, you could easily spend more time in arches if you get out of the car, maybe not so much in canyon lands, its not much more than the view from the end of the road, unless your really going native.

Painted desert/petrified forest isn't bad if your close, but on your scale I would miss it out. Don't even bother with 4 corners, very expensive for not a lot, we took a short detour once and saw the price and turned around.

You will likely drive past Mexican hat, you can see it from the main road but worth the few mins down the track if you have time. Goose necks state park is also in the same area, its similar to horseshoe bend but more of them and different rock and river colour.

Don't think you have seen monument valley from the main road, there is so much more if you go in the park that isn't apparent from the main road.

I have said a bit about page already, but I would have a back up slot canyon plan if I was you and photography is important, antelope has been ruined by the crowds, we went first in 99 and just about got people free shots, in 06 it was impossible, even if your on a photo tour there will be other tours there and everyone wants the picture of the light shafts. 2011 we went to secret canyon, 6 of us in total no people in the photos, just a shame it was a cloudy day.

I would defiantly get our on lake Powel if you can, we have done house boat trips so had the best of the light and dark for milky way photos, but the day trip to rainbow bridge will take you past some stunning scenery with the stark contrast of the red desert rocks and outcrops and blue lake water.

Grand canyon south can be done in a day unless your hiking. you could always do the north rim, and onto Bryce and zion but the north doesn't have so many over looks but if you got a permit for the wave I would do that and go back to the GC south another day.

I'm not a big fan of zion as most seem to be though, its nice in winter when you can drive up it but I don't fell its worth the effort in the summer with the crowds and having to take the bus when there is so much else around.

Agree there nothing in phoenix unless your in need of medical care. so unless you want to do oak creek and Sedona I'd go to Vegas and hover dam

There are so many other places you could go between Vegas and the pacific, Death valley, to Yosemite, then either san fran or south to kings/sequoia and LA, or north from LV and across us 50 "loneliest road in the US" to Tahoe and san fran, or up to salt lake and across I80 to Bonneville, Reno Tahoe san fran or any other combination.

I best shut up now or you will miss your flight.

[ViperDave]

PS

Google is getting pretty accurate at solid driving times, but it doesn't take into account piss stops, lunch and stopping for a photograph, I would nowadays work on it taking an hour or two longer than Google says whereas in the past you could shave a couple off tom tom /map point times etc. And don't forget the time zones, but for you they will only help.

[Matt..]

Btw, I've travelled a lot in the US so this isn't new to me at all

I have done bryce/Zion/Yosemite/etc...

Photography is the aim of the trip and will take up most of the time I'm not driving. Hiking will very much be happening too, but not for any great distances. I will be planning more specifics over the next few weeks and will hopefully post more of a list of all the options I've found for each area.

I am aware that the time of year could give me weather issues, so know I could miss things!

[ViperDave]

Sorry didn't mean to sound like I was teaching granny to suck eggs lol

I'll just leave these here then to wet your appitite for lake powel

scenes from the lake



the "leisurely" way to do it


the destination (the pic doesn't do the scale justice)


at night




goose necks