Route ideas (to inc Yosemite, and Zion)

[Matt..]

I am stuck on thinking of a route for my trip that will take place in late August/September. I will more than likely be on my own (late 20s). What i'm looking for is amazing scenery to photograph, but also at least a few stops in large cities. I also could do with some adventure (even if it's just a few of the more interesting hikes!). I do not want to end up having to stay in the middle of nowhere with no one around for miles, as being on my own this wont be much fun.

I would like to at least include Yosemite, and Zion. Other than that the route is open to suggestion, and will be approx 3 weeks in length.

I do not want to visit LA, and do not do tacky tourist activities, so please keep those away from any suggestions you have. If i have to stay in Las Vegas, i would prefer it to be a quick stopover.

The budget is strictly limited, so i can't stay in high end hotels either, though will have a car for the entire time if required.

Please help, as i've been saying i'm going on holiday for years now and not actually gone anywhere


Thanks

[Rollin]

GF and I did a 3 week trip from LA to Denver last year. We spent 5 days in Page at Glen Canyon. This seems to be the place where people base themselves to visit the various nearby National Parks. LOTS of activities around there and a good selection of cheap hotels, bars and restaurants. We managed to hire a kayak and took it from Glen Canyon Dam down the Colorado River to Lees Ferry. We had camping gear so camped overnight on Horseshoe Bend. It was an amazing experience since no one else was there.


Antelope Canyon is also near to Page, great place for photography.

North Rim of Grand Canyon is not far.

We also spent a few days in Springdale which is at Zion Canyon. Lots of very good hiking around there. Try the Angels Landing if you're brave enough (we weren't)

The Zion Canyon virgin river hike is great too. We hired all the gear from the local outdoor sports shop in Springdale.

We actually drove through Kanab on the way to Springdale and it looked a great place to stay. The road to Springdale is fantastic by the way.

Didn't have time to see much of Bryce, but will be going back in future.

I went to Yosemite the year before so missed that bit this last time.

Have a great time, it is a truly amazing area.

Whatever you do, DO NOT go to this place in Hurricane UT...The reviews are all true

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g57...

[fatboy b]

Though I love Yosemite, I'd avoid it in the peak-summer. I'll be mobbed.

[sassthathoopie]

In my early twenties I did a three week organised road trip with American Adventures. Not sure if they are still running the same style trips, but these guys are. http://www.trekamerica.co.uk/

Trips are usually singles or groups of 2/3 who are aged early twenties to early thirties. Some tours are purely cities but I choose one that in three weeks did:

Seattle, Olympic NP, Mount Rainer, Yellowstone, Tetons NP, Moab, Arches NP, Zion NP, Canyonlands NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Grand Staircase Escalante NM, Grand Canyon NP, Las Vegas, Sequoia NP, Kings Canyon NP, and finished in LA.

We travelled in a large comfy minibus with all our gear on the roof. Over night we would camp but after 5 days I didn't bother with the tent and slept on a bedroll under the stars.

The guides have a chunky folder with notes written by previous guides so whilst you might initally arrive in a tourist trap (eg Grand Canyon of Yellowstone) within 10 minutes you are away from all the comotion with some great scenery seemingly to yourself.

Jeep Trekking in the Canyonlands


At the top of Angels Landing (Zion NP) (The white vehicle in the triangle is an enormous coached sized RV towing a small car.)


I would thoroughly recommend it.

[andrew311]

Not the best time of year for Yosemite IMO. The water falls such as Yosemite Falls will be all dried up, we were there at the beginning of October last year and got lucky that there was a storm one night which meant it was flowing the following day. Yosemite is however awesome at anytime of the year it’s just that if you have flexibility to consider missing the school holidays. For Yosemite Valley proper, accommodation is limited to either the Anwahee hotel which is about £400 a night then it’s self camp or stay at one of the permanent camps such as Curry Village or House Keeping Camp. Avoid staying at the weekend it will be busy and rates jump. I like the HKC better as it’s the only place you can have your own fire.

If you like photography then I’d recommend Death Valley for a couple of nights. Will you have a car? We had 3 weeks but slightly different criteria to you for our holiday we did this:

Flight into San Francisco, Stay in SF. I love SF been several times and never get tired of it. Quite small and compact and easy to get around, has allot of character and views.

Drove to Sonoma, wine country. Went on a few wine tours, beautiful place but if you no interest in the plonk I can’t see the attraction although the coast is nice too.

Drove to South Lake Tahoe. Second largest Alpine in the world, stunning place and a scenic drive with plenty of places to stop off and take pics. Bit of an odd place in some ways with a few high rise casinos up there on the Nevada side. Kind of like building something 10+ stories high next to a Lake in Cumbria.

Yosemite, the drive from SLT is also very scenic. Enter Yosemite via the Tioga Pass.

Yosemite to Death Valley is a bit of a long stretch we broke this up with an over night stay in Mammoth Lakes. When you’re in Death Valley It’s not too far to the Grand Canyon, we’d been before so didn’t include it on this trip.

From here our holiday tastes differ we did San Diego and LA, although we stayed in Santa Monica which is a really nice town, I’d not stay in LA proper though. We did some of the usual touristy stuff which we concentrated into one day the rest of the time we explored the sea side towns.

From here we took our time driving up highway one. Staying over night in Cambria before heading to Monterey Bay staying in Pacific Grove. Would recommend some Whale Watching here. We stopped of at Big Sur and umpteen other places along the way and a must do IMO.

We then ended up back in SF for a night before flying home. My route didn’t have any huge drives but the driving for me was a big part of the trip and despite the huge arrow straight roads there were many twisty roads to enjoy and scenery around every corner.

These are just some ideas anyhow, 3 weeks is a nice amount of time to have there but it’s difficult planning a route that will let you see what you want to see without coming back on yourself too much. You could fly into SF and see allot of the national parks and then fly out of LA but then you’d miss the coast road.

[Matt..]

I will look at this later when i have more time, but just a quick note to say thanks for the comments so far I have previously (on a family holiday!) been to California, and done the coast road, SF, LA, SD, LV, Grand Canyon, etc... So i'm not that worried about seeing any of them.

My current thoughts on dates will mean that i'm starting this part of the trip in September, which i think is after all the school holidays? I will also have a car for the entire time. My idea at the moment is to fly in to Denver (with a stopover in Chicago), and fly out from San Francisco.

[Bill]

andrew311 said:

Not the best time of year for Yosemite IMO. The water falls such as Yosemite Falls will be all dried up, we were there at the beginning of October last year and got lucky that there was a storm one night which meant it was flowing the following day. Yosemite is however awesome at anytime of the year it’s just that if you have flexibility to consider missing the school holidays. For Yosemite Valley proper, accommodation is limited to either the Anwahee hotel which is about £400 a night then it’s self camp or stay at one of the permanent camps such as Curry Village or House Keeping Camp. Avoid staying at the weekend it will be busy and rates jump. I like the HKC better as it’s the only place you can have your own fire.

Is there still non-reservable camping at Sunnyside? Out of season there should be space if so, turn up early to be sure of a spot. The hike up Half Dome is the obvious trip to do if you fancy a walk.

[Matt..]

I have had more of a think and so far have this:
Dates: 27/August > 18/September
Flights: London > Chicago > Denver, San Francisco / Los Angeles > London

27: Fly in to Chicago
28: Chicago
29: Chicago
30: Fly in to Denver
31: ?
01: ?
02: Drive to Arches NP
03: ?
04: Drive to Bryce Canyon NP
05: Bryce Canyon NP
06: Zion NP
07: Zion NP
08: Drive to Las Vegas
09: Drive to Mammoth Lakes (maybe), via Death Valley
10: Mammoth Lakes
11: Drive to Yosemite, via Mono Lake
12: Yosemite
13: Yosemite
14: Drive to San Francisco
15: San Francisco
16: ?
17: ?
18: Drive to LA, and fly home



There are a lot of gaps to fill!

The reason for adding LA as a possible end point (even though i don't want to stay there, just fly from there), it to add some time at the beach. There's also the added benefit of Highway 1. I have done this route before when much younger on a family holiday, so am not to worried if my trip ends in SF and i miss it.

Ideally i would also like to ignore Las Vegas and stay somewhere else, but i'm not sure there are that many options in that area. I am also undecided on Death Valley or Sequoia.

Please help me fill some gaps Remember that the main purpose is photography, and i will be on my own. Ideally i don't want to be camping (unless it's on a group activity trip or something like that), and also do not want to spend a fortune on hotels. My last major trip was to NZ and i found it much simpler to find very good low end accommodation, this is something i am struggling with in the US at the moment.

I am having problems finding a rental car for a reasonable sum of money also. The one way fees seem extreme for this route. It's cheaper to go Cali to Denver, but i'd rather go the other way and end my trip by the sea.

I can't help but think my above route isn't ambitious enough though, and that i should be going further. Being on your own means everything can be done quicker, so maybe i should add a few extra miles in?

Any help would be appreciated, this is my last trip before i buy a house, so it needs to be a good one!

[BigS]

I did a trip around LA, Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite, San Francisco and then back to LA via the Pacific Coast Highway last year and took the same amount of time driving between SF and LA as you are planning.
I spent the 2 nights in Log Cabins at KOA (Kampgrounds of America) Sites, they were the Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay KOA

and Santa Margarita Lake

which is a bit in land from Morro Bay, but not too far in and there's some nice scenery on the way there.

You can find post with info and more pics here which may give you some ideas, it may be a bit slow loading though due to the number of pics.
I also found www.roadtripamerica.com a very useful site for info, in particular this post on their forum, which I based a lot of my initial planning on for the route, adding in or removing bits that I wanted to do etc. I'd have loved to have done the loop around the Grand Canyon, taking in Zion, Bryce Canyon and Monument Valley that he did, but that would have added another week to the trip and I couldn't have that much time off work, I'll just have to go back again at some point instead
Like you I wasn't too keen to go to LA (still wouldn't rush back there and definitely wouldn't want to live there!), but there were some things I wanted to see there and it seemed like a good place to start and end the trip as the flights to there were cheaper than to SF.

Edited by BigS on Monday 21st March 21:10

[JM]

Matt.. said:

There are a lot of gaps to fill!

Fill them by adding Monument Valley and Death Valley (stay at Panamint Springs) and if possible hire a 4x4 and go offroad a bit in DV area.

Also worth a visit could be Big Bear, south east of LA in the mountains, LA's ski-resort!

[Matt..]

Dates for this are going to be pushed by 1 week, therefore it will fully be in September. I have concerns about it being too hot in September though, and not as interesting to photograph. Can anyone comment on that?

[Matt..]

I still have heat/haze concerns for this time of year, but am still tempted to go with it. I am looking into alternate routes that bypass southern Utah though.

Please help

[davepoth]

Matt.. said:

I still have heat/haze concerns for this time of year, but am still tempted to go with it. I am looking into alternate routes that bypass southern Utah though.

Please help

I went through in late October, being chased by the first winter storm. Southern Utah's well worth a visit though. Heat haze will only be an issue once the sun is properly up, you should still get some amazing photos near sunrise and sunset.

[Herman Toothrot]

Buy UTAH & ARIZONA national geographic maps from Amazon, the give loas of details an suggestions of stops, what to see etc as well as showing all the road details. I'm going in September as well, doing a loose loop round the Grand Canyon from Vegas and Finishing at Vegas, taking in Canyon Village, Holbrook creator, petrified forest, Monument valley, steps, zion, bryce canyon. Looking forward to it.

[BigS]

Matt.. said:

I still have heat/haze concerns for this time of year, but am still tempted to go with it. I am looking into alternate routes that bypass southern Utah though.

Please help

I went in June last year and it got up to 116°F (46°C) in Death Valley, but I was driving through there with the air con off and all the windows down and it was ok as the humidity is so low, about 12-15% if I remember rightly, then any air flow will cool you. It was 38°C most days when I went to Florida and 80-90% humidity and that was far worse, in fact opening the car window there was like sticking your face in front of a hair dryer. Just make sure you've got plenty of water with you, enough to last you a while in case you break down too, as at that temperature and that low humidity you will get through a fair bit, I think I got through about 8 litres in the day I drove from Las Vegas through Death Valley to Lone Pine and the furthest I strayed from the car was out on to the dry lake bed at Badwater Basin and back, about a mile out and back going by google earth, before going I had been intending to head up to the Racetrack Playa to see the sailing stones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racetrack_Playa) but as getting there involves a 20 or 30 mile drive down a track and then a 2 mile walk from the car park I decided not to risk it as I was there on my own.
Having said all that though, Death Valley is a sun trap and outside of there the temperatures are not quite as high, I think it was in the mid 20s when I went to the Grand Canyon about 2 days before that.
Really as long as you're prepared for it you should be fine, it's better to have too much water than not enough with you and make sure someone knows where you're planning on going and when you're planning on coming back/getting in touch with them again and that they have contact numbers for things like the police or the ranger station if you're in a National Park.
I took a cool bag (as it would fold flat to go in my suitcase) and filled it with ice every morning from the hotel's ice machine, stuck it in the passenger footwell and kept a couple of bottles of water in that I replaced with more from the 2 slabs of 1/2 litre bottles I bought in Walmart in LA at the start of my trip (they had Nestle ones on offer for about $2-$3 for a slab of 24), I think I was actually down to 1.5 slabs by the time I left Vegas for Death Valley and I'd added 4 gallon bottles (looked like the 4 litre milk ones you get from the supermarket here) from a petrol station on the way and 20 litres in those collapsable water containers for camping that i knew would taste bloody horrible and only had it there in case I did breakdown and had to wait for a while or if the car overheated I could use it in that. I also had snacks in the car, beef jerky and crisps mainly, which I don't think Ray Mears would have approved of, but it's better than nothing, actually if you're in that heat then you do want salty things with you to replace what you lose through sweating.

I picked one of these up at the start of my trip and found it handy, they seem to have doubled in price since last year although they do have a [url]cheaper option|http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2763759&retainProdsInSession=1[/ur] I had it mainly so I could get the latest on whether the Tioga Pass into Yosemite was open or not as I wasn't sure I'd be able to get on to the National Parks website to check before leaving Lone Pine.

[Breadknife]

Southwest USA is a fantastic place. Hubby and I have visited and photographed most of the places you are interested in going. We have always visited in the spring (Mar through to May) so I can't comment on September conditions. I am not sure of your reasons for stopping in Chicago... can I suggest an schedule which skips this?

Day 1 Fly in to Denver
Day 2 Drive to Moab
Day 3 Moab (Canyonlands and Arches NP)
Day 4 Moab (Canyonlands and Arches NP)
Day 5 Drive to Monument Valley
Day 6 Monument Valley
Day 7 Drive to Page
Day 8 Page (Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend)
Day 9 Drive to Bryce Canyon NP
Day 10 Bryce Canyon NP
Day 11 Drive to Springdale (Zion NP)
Day 12 Zion NP
Day 13 Zion NP
Day 14 Drive to Stovepipe Wells (Death Valley NP)
Day 15 Death Valley NP
Day 16 Drive to Mammoth Lakes
Day 17 Drive to Yosemite NP
Day 18 Yosemite NP
Day 19 Yosemite NP
Day 20 Drive to San Francisco
Day 21 San Francisco
Day 22 San Francisco
Day 23 Fly Home

The only places I have not visited are Denver and Mammoth Lakes (We stayed at June Lake rather than Mammoth Lakes). Please feel free to ask for further details on any of the above.

[Matt..]

Breadknife said:

Southwest USA is a fantastic place. Hubby and I have visited and photographed most of the places you are interested in going. We have always visited in the spring (Mar through to May) so I can't comment on September conditions. I am not sure of your reasons for stopping in Chicago... can I suggest an schedule which skips this?

Day 1 Fly in to Denver
Day 2 Drive to Moab
Day 3 Moab (Canyonlands and Arches NP)
Day 4 Moab (Canyonlands and Arches NP)
Day 5 Drive to Monument Valley
Day 6 Monument Valley
Day 7 Drive to Page
Day 8 Page (Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend)
Day 9 Drive to Bryce Canyon NP
Day 10 Bryce Canyon NP
Day 11 Drive to Springdale (Zion NP)
Day 12 Zion NP
Day 13 Zion NP
Day 14 Drive to Stovepipe Wells (Death Valley NP)
Day 15 Death Valley NP
Day 16 Drive to Mammoth Lakes
Day 17 Drive to Yosemite NP
Day 18 Yosemite NP
Day 19 Yosemite NP
Day 20 Drive to San Francisco
Day 21 San Francisco
Day 22 San Francisco
Day 23 Fly Home

The only places I have not visited are Denver and Mammoth Lakes (We stayed at June Lake rather than Mammoth Lakes). Please feel free to ask for further details on any of the above.

A Chicago stop over is not essential, but i would like to see a few beaches at the end, so would prefer to fly out from LAX so i can go down the PCH. I would like to go to the Hurley Pro in Trestles (south of LA), but i don't think i really have time

One slight concern i have is that i will be on my own, so would like to stay in a few places with lots of people around so i don't feel to alone! I guess that's one reason that Chicago was there. Plus, adding Chicago makes my flights cheaper!

03 : Fly in to Denver
04 : Rocky Mountain NP
05 : Drive to Moab
06 : Moab
07 : Moab
08 : Drive to Monument Valley
09 : Monument Valley
10 : Drive to Bryce Canyon NP
11 : Bryce Canyon NP
12 : Zion NP
13 : Zion NP
14 : Drive to Death Valley NP
15 : Death Valley NP
16 : Drive to Mammoth Lakes
17 : Mammoth Lakes
18 : Drive to Yosemite NP
19 : Yosemite NP
20 : Yosemite NP
21 : Drive to San Francisco
22 : San Francisco
23 : PCH
24 : PCH
25 : Fly out from LAX
~ 2,300 miles


Option 2:
03 : Yellowstone NP
04 : Yellowstone NP
05 : Yellowstone NP
06 : Grand Teton NP
07 : Drive to Salt Lake City
08 : Salt Lake City
09 : Drive to Bryce Canyon NP
10 : Bryce Canyon NP
11 : Zion NP
12 : Zion NP
13 : Drive to Death Valley NP
14 : Death Valley NP
15 : Drive to Mammoth Lakes
16 : Mammoth Lakes
17 : Drive to Yosemite NP
18 : Yosemite NP
19 : Yosemite NP
20 : Drive to San Francisco
21 : San Francisco
22 : PCH
23 : PCH
24 : PCH
25 : Fly out from LAX
~ 2,100 miles

Edited by Matt.. on Monday 4th April 21:50

[Matt..]

I'm costing this up now, and finding accommodation very difficult. The US really doesn't appear to do good budget accommodation. Aus/NZ does this extremely well and the US just doesn't! ~£80+/night for crappy looking motels is how it seems. In fact, one cost saving idea i have is a night in Vegas in a 5 star hotel instead of one in Death Valley in a ~2star motel! Crazy.

[fatboy b]

Matt.. said:

I'm costing this up now, and finding accommodation very difficult. The US really doesn't appear to do good budget accommodation. Aus/NZ does this extremely well and the US just doesn't! ~£80+/night for crappy looking motels is how it seems. In fact, one cost saving idea i have is a night in Vegas in a 5 star hotel instead of one in Death Valley in a ~2star motel! Crazy.

Have a look on www.booking.com

I found them good for US hotels & Motels, plus you get an idea how good they are. Also look at B&B's. I've not tried them myself, but have heard good things.

[BigS]

I'm not sure of the route you're currently looking at as I can see a couple of different ones above so here's the list of places I stayed in case there's any overlap.
Night 1 - LAX Hilton
Night 2 - Best Western at the Conference Centre, Long Beach
Night 3 - Best Western at the Conference Centre, Long Beach
Night 4 - The Excalibur, Vegas
Night 5 - The Excalibur, Vegas
Night 6 - The Excalibur, Vegas
Night 7 - Best Western, Lone Pine
Night 8 - Camp Curry, Yosemite NP in a "Tent Cabin"
Night 9 - Shilo Inn Suites, Oakhurst
Night 10 - Royal Pacific Motor Inn, San Francisco (right in the middle of Chinatown, booked due to cental location, decent reviews and free parking )
Night 11 - Royal Pacific Motor Inn, San Francisco
Night 12 - Royal Pacific Motor Inn, San Francisco
Night 13 - Santa Cruz KOA (Kampgrounds of America) in a log cabin
Night 14 - Santa Margarita Lake KOA (inland from Morro Bay)
Night 15 - LAX Hilton
They were all booked based on reviews on tripadvisor, apart from the Yosemite one as that was the only one that was available that was a couple of hundred for the night and the campgrounds.
Like you I found there was a lack of cheap decent accomodation in some areas, especially along the Pacific Coast Highway, which is why I went for the campgrounds along there, that and I quite fancied staying in a log cabin If I remember rightly I think the Santa Cruz one also offers Airstream caravans as well as the cabins, but I don't think they're cheap.
I can't say any of them were bad, some were pretty basic but then I wasn't spending that much time there as I was out seeing the rest of the area.