California/Utah trip... Could anyone help with a route?

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Matt.

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I'm thinking of making a short (10-12days) trip around California/Utah in late September/early October this year. I am stuck on a route though, so am after a few ideas!

If anyone would like to draw something up on Google maps, or just give some ideas, that would be greatly appreciated :)



Thanks
 
Matt. said:
I'm thinking of making a short (10-12days) trip around California/Utah in late September/early October this year. I am stuck on a route though, so am after a few ideas!

If anyone would like to draw something up on Google maps, or just give some ideas, that would be greatly appreciated :)



Thanks
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I will a look on google maps, r u driving or bus or train?
 
I will have a butchers and see what I can come up with, (PS ANY ROOM FOR A FAIRLY LARGE WHEELCHAIR AND PASSENGER) lol
 
For California I recommend Highway 1 along the coast; some amazing sceneries to be found there. Further north around SF you have Yosemite where Ansel Adams spent a lot of his time. In the south you have Joshua Tree National Park which is great for some barren early morning shots. When leaving caliornia you should at least partially drive on the historic Route 66. Some great towns and people along that one.

Unfortunately I don't know much about Utah since I spend most of my time while in the US in California.
 
Would say if you like Beer take some into Utah with you.
They have a limit on the strength that can be sold in the Mormon state and it ain't very high
 
When I did this trip, we flew into LA and flew back from Seattle. We were out there three weeks, and we drove to the Grand Canyon, Vegas and Yosemite as well as pretty much all the way up Highway 1. We didn't book any hotels (apart from LA when we arrived, and San Fransisco the day before we got there) and had no problems with getting a room.

For photographic opportunities, you could probably spend a year in Yosemite and still not see it all. That place redefines "big".

Highway 1 has some great views along the way, and is extremely pleasant to drive. If you do get into Oregon, the Redwoods are pretty amazing.

Ian.
 
We did a tour from Vegas to Yosemite via Death Valley for a night, then on to San Francisco, then flew down San Diego where we stayed for the final 6 days and saw the local area. It's a holiday I'll never forget (partly because we got married whilst there!).
 
As has already been said....Highway 1 or Pacific Coast Highway is great....Yosemite is amazing.....Joshua Tree is the most peaceful and serene place I have encountered......highlight for me though was Monument Valley which is in Arizona but not that far from Utah (or California)......Bryce Canyon was lovely but am told Zion is where you should head for some stunning rock formations.

I did 10 weeks across the US on a motorcycle last Spring.....blog of the trip is below...it might give you some ideas....

http://carlusabiketrip.blogspot.com/
 
The Pacific coast/Highway 1 will not take you in the direction of Utah - specifically the southern part where all the best bits are - within your 12 day allowance.

If I get time I'll pick out some places and vague routes later.
 
tijuana taxi said:
Would say if you like Beer take some into Utah with you.
They have a limit on the strength that can be sold in the Mormon state and it ain't very high
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I like that trip of a life time and if your going to Utah take your own ale. Only a party animal could come up with that :thumbs::woot:
 
I literally got back from Honeymoon last week where we started in SF and drove to Yosemite (which is truely breathtaking), then did the Highway 1 down the coast along Big Sur, which was equally stunning. Monterey Bay is worth a stop if you get time!

:cool:
 
Some other suggestions in that Region...

If you're gonna check out Grand Canyon also think about visiting Sedona in Arizona.

If you're going more Utah direction take a look at Monument Valley. Also consider visiting Bryce Canyon.

I am very jealous. I spent a few days in Monument Valley / Grand Canyon / Sedona this time last year.
 
Oh and finally don't underestimate the distances over there. The US is B I G!

Aim to spend a day or two in each destination. Maybe a few more in the Grand Canyon if you decide to head there. Otherwise you'll just spend all your time on the road driving. :thumbsdown:
 
Does anyone have any ideas of routes?

My current route looks like this (this is from my random playing on Google maps... so doesn't mean a great deal!):
- San Fransisco (fly in)
- Yosemite
- Sequoia / Death Valley / Kings Canyon
- Vegas (would rather avoid this though)
- Zion
- Bryce Canyon
- Monument Valley
- Canyonland
- Arches
- Grand Junction (fly out)
= ~1,500 miles
 
I like that trip of a life time and if your going to Utah take your own ale. Only a party animal could come up with that
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Would have been true at one time, but since I found out alcohol could trigger my cluster headaches i'm teetotal
Probably a couple of years since I last had a pint, still get the headaches anyway, but no point risking more if I can help it.
 
12 days is looking a bit tight for this lot, so I'm assuming you've just thrown a few in to the pot to think about. Not saying it's not do-able. It depends what type of road trip you really want to do.

Some questions:

Are you going to be handicapped by wife/kids whining about all the driving and you stopping to take photos, or are you going to be a free man? This can significantly affect the type of holiday you will have.

Do you want to pre-book accommodation and have to stick to a daily schedule, or is it ok to find what you can as you go along? Some night stops can be pre-planned and booked.

Any reason you don't want to go to Vegas? It's not as bad as some people believe, and wonderfully photogenic at night.

Have you missed the Grand Canyon off deliberately?

I can give you a couple or more places that are well worthwhile, but it depends on the answers to the above.
 
I'm on my own and mid 20's, so can do things quickly :)

I've actually been to SF/LA/LV/SD when i was younger and so don't really need to see those again, that also explains the Grand Canyon not being there, but that's one that could make it back.

If it's a 10-12 day trip i need a schedule otherwise it just wont work, so yeah i'll have everything planned.
 
I think you're trying to do too much. You're going to spend all the time in the car rather than time at the destinations enjoying them.

Miss out Vegas! Why not have a think about the North Rim of the Grand Canyon?
 
Miss out Vegas! Why not have a think about the North Rim of the Grand Canyon?
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I would add a strong plus one to that sentiment.

The North Rim is just as, if not more beautiful than the south and a much less busy and more intimate experience too. The drives off road to places like Fire Point are easily done in a standard car and you will most likely be rewarded with the canyon all to yourself. Magical!!

Also, if you're in that neck of the woods make time for Antelope Canyon. It's not big, doesn't take that long to explore but will be a world apart from all the vistas you'll be taking in.
 
Not wanting to hijack the thread, but often thought about doing this sort of trip in a hired motorhome, anyone got any experience of doing this and any advice to offer?

Thanks
 
Could anyone try putting together a 10-12 day route? :)
 
Yes it's a big place, but if you put your mind to it you can do it. I did LA, Palm Springs, Scottsdale, Grand Canyon, Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite, San Fran, Monterey, Santa Barbara and back into LA to fly home in 13 days driving, with a couple of 2 day stop overs.

Must admit the CA1 coast road was a fantastic drive with spectacular scenery, one of the highlights and hidden gems though was Sedona, the red rock canyons are just breathtaking and was one of the friendliest places I visited during the whole trip.
 
My wife and I spent 2 three week holidays in this area in 1999/2000 and I can say that 2 weeks would not be enough time to do all the things on your list.

Something no one else has mentioned is when do you intend going?

Several of the places you mention suffer heavy snowfalls latter on in the year, our trip to Yosemite was planned around being able to get in over the Tioga pass, if that has been closed it would have meant a major re route for us.

I would say that all the places on your list are worth a visit, the weather you are lucky or un lucky to have will be the one thing most shaping your trip memories and photos.

If I had to make a must see list it would have Death Valley, Bryce Canyon, Yosemite, Canyonlands, and Joshua Tree NP.

The costal drive up route one was pretty good, sepecially Hurst Castle and the Pacific sunsets, but we did most of it in grey overcast weather so not so many good memories of this.

Some more usefull info and a couple of my Bryce pictures HERE

HTH

David

PS if you are going to Yosemite don't do what we did and get caught out by a holiday weekend when all the accomadation has been booked months in advance. We spent two nights in freezing temperatures in a tent in Camp Curry, memorable for all the wrong reasons.
 
The Tioga pass is generally open after the end of may, we went early June last year and it was open, however we also had a bit of snow on the way in to yosemite. The weather was a bit of a shock after driving up from death Valley where is was 100 degrees so was in shorts and a t-shirt when we arrived in Yosemite it was 43 degrees :eek: . We stayed here in yosemite and it is highly recomended and well situated http://www.tenayalodge.com/

Whatever you decide though you will have a great time and sample some fantastic scenery.
 
I am planning ~25th Sept -> ~7th Oct. If the weather is likely to be bad then i'll delay a year, as i always seem to go to places when the weather is changing and usually for the worse!

I have already been to California (though i was about 15!), and we did San Fransisco, LA, Vegas, San Diego, Grand Canyon and Pacific Coast Highway. So i really don't need to see any of those unless they are on the way to somewhere else.

I have no problem with camping anywhere though, infact i wouldn't mind a bit of camping :) (if it's all sorted for me and i don't need to provide any gear).
 
I haven't forgotten. It will be well in to the weekend before I can get back.
 
Matt. said:
I am planning ~25th Sept -> ~7th Oct. If the weather is likely to be bad then i'll delay a year, as i always seem to go to places when the weather is changing and usually for the worse!
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I think bad is how you view things.

Snow can be fantstically photgenic, but might hinder you gettting about.

Our early morning tour round Bryce afrer it snowed I will remember for a long time. There was a bout a foot of snow on the ground but they had already ploughed the roads to allow access.

Later in the year sees less tourists (always a bonus for me even though I am one when on holiday), people have more time to talk, and are more likely to do so, and if you got to Death Valley temperatures are more bearable.

David
 
Matt. said:
I am planning ~25th Sept -> ~7th Oct. If the weather is likely to be bad then i'll delay a year, as i always seem to go to places when the weather is changing and usually for the worse!
Click to expand...

The weather is as random as anywhere. We (my best mate and I) toured the USA a few years ago - New York to Los Angeles in 17 days (and 5,500 miles). We went about the same time of year (something like 20th September to 7th October) and the weather was fabulous; we only had one afternoon and evening of rain - and that was while we were driving. The only time we wore anything more than jeans and t-shirts was when we stopped at the visitors centre in the Rocky Mountains, as the air temperature there was below 0C (it was still nice in the sun though).

My advice would be don't plan too much; keep flexible. We left with the following plan:

1: Fly from Heathrow to NY JFK.
2: Spend 2 nights in NY.
3: Get to Washington DC.
4: Hire a car and drive to LAX for the flight home.

We had a few places in mind that we would like to visit, but basically just winged it. Apart from NY and DC, we didn't book any accommodation, we just stopped at a motel when we felt we had done enough driving for the day.

I think if we'd planned the trip too much, we'd not have had anything like as good a trip as we did. As it was, if there was nothing to see, we did extra driving, so that we had extra time to spend in the places we wanted to see. We'd have probably struggled if we'd set ourselves targets for the driving based on what the maps said it should take us to drive (~2,800 miles).

I'd suggest working to where you want to go, not how much driving you want to do; the driving is easy. What sounds a long way in the UK really isn't when you get down to it. 500 miles in a day is nothing. When we'd got going, the first 10 minutes driving each day seemed to drag a bit, but after that the miles just roll by.
 
I do wish i wouldn't keep reading about rattle snakes in Yosemite, it's putting me off :D

I'm getting a few Lonely Planet books in now though, so am trying again to pick a route. It really is hard though as wherever i go, i need to end up at a relatively large airport, and this means having to drive further :(
 
I did an Alain Briot workshop in California a couple of years ago.

Locations you really don't want to miss are:

- the scenery around Lone Pine: real western territory
- Manzanar, where Ansel Adams made many photographs
- the bristlecombe pines in the Eastern Sierras
- Mono Lake (absolutely amazing at sunrise)
- Bodie ghost town

It is a terrific location for landscape photography. Take enough memory cards for thousands of shots.

Cheers

Simon
 
First you said you were finishing at Grand Junction. Now it's "a relatively large airport". This doesn't help anybody plan anything for you.
 
As has been said before the USA is big and 10-12 days is short :)

I've done the San-Fran to San Diego (with a detour to Vegas) via the PCH and a tour of Wyoming and Montana among other USA trips, the biggest tip I can give anyone is DO NOT pre book your hotels for each day. The last thing you want to do is miss something just because you HAVE to get to your hotel. We have always gone off our planed route, to see something that was unknown to us before the trip started.

John-S in the reply a few before has it spot on, just wing it.

Our 15 days on the PCH Plan

Fly to San-Fran and stop in a pre-booked hotel for 3 Days
Hire a Car ( our visit list had Hearst Castle, LA, Vegas, Palm Springs (we we did not even get out of the car there and drove on to somewhere different and totally unplanned and unheard of by us or anyone else :lol:) San Diego

The only thing we had to do was be in LA on a set date as I had ticket for Nelly Furtado gig ( this was in 2002)

Get to LA for the flight home.

The 15 Days in Wyoming Plan

Fly to Jackson Hole (have a friend there for first night and longer if required)
Hire Car (we had a provisional list of places to go like Yellowstone, Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore)
Get back to Jackson Hole for the flights home.
 
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