manishbit

Dear Friends,

Needed some suggestions on a 7 day “Photography” road trip from Vegas to Denver during the Christmas/New Year week. 2 of us will be reaching Las Vegas on Sat evening (24th)around 7 PM and have a return flight from Denver on Sun morning (1st) 1 AM.

Keeping in mind that it will be winter time, I have listed down some key places which I would like to visit, all open to change though (in the order from Vegas to Denver). My primary interest is Photography (Nature, Wildlife, Sunrise/Sunsets, Star trails, Milky Way etc). Please let me know the most scenic and feasible routes to cover during my trip and which are the must have places that I should visit.

• Sequoia
• Mojave National Preserve
• Joshua Tree NP
• Red Rock, AZ
• Saguaro NP
• Tucson, AZ
• Tombstone, AZ
• VLA, NM
• Petrified Forest, AZ
• Canyon De Chelly, AZ
• Tent Rocks, NM
• Santa Fe, NM
• Taos, NM
• Colorado Springs
• Denver

Thanks,

janisj

I have to pop out and others will have suggestions but your list is VERY long over a VERY large (humongous) geographic area and would be next to impossible in summer and I'd guess totally impossible in winter. And if you will have a rental car -- chains are almost always prohibited.

You'll definitely have to drop all three sites in California -- you simply don't have the time.

MmePerdu

Just to give you an idea of the scale of what you're attempting, I used to live near Tombstone and drove regularly to Denver. I always stopped overnight in Santa Fe, as it's a 12 hour drive (without any stops).

You'd do much better flying into Tuscon to pick up the SE Arizona sites and out of Denver. Even then, assuming you don't go to California which just won't be possible in the time frame, it'll include some long days of driving.

Into Tucson, you might see Tucson/Saguaro/Tombstone, then NE to Santa Fe & Taos, then on to Colorado. If you must fly into LV, then pick up Canyon de Chelly on your way to NM & CO and skip SE AZ.

Keep in mind that the Navajo Reservation is tricky in winter. I had friends at Tsaile near Canyon de Chelly and got caught in a winter storm on my way out once. Don't expect a snow plow when you need one.

If CA is important then you could fly into LV but fly out of a CA airport. In any case, some major retooling is in order.

MmePerdu

I'll add, if I were to do this trip, I'd plan for a month, rather than a week.

emalloy

Good advice so far. I'd add that you need to stay flexible for the possibility of bad weather and hope for the best.

That said you've missed some of my favorite places for fantastic scenery. I'll give you one plan I would take for the things you mention wanting:

If the weather is nice,
While you are in Vegas, you could do a day trip to Death Valley for the desert vibe. Depending on how early you get in, perhaps go there the afternoon, do sunset spend the night, do sunrise and morning head for Grand Canyon in the afternoon. If your flight is late, this would have to be pushed back to day 2.

I would want to see sunset and sunrise at Grand Canyon and also get some shots from down Bright Angel trail or south Kaibab trail if it had not snowed. If it had snowed the shots from the rim would be even more spectacular with the contrast between snow and canyon but I would not hike down. One night here.

If things look dry, then I would head for Canyon de Chelley. Except for one hike to White House Ruin, you can only go into the canyon with a Navajo Guide. This would require one night.

If things still look dry then I would head north on 191 to Moab and spend 2 or 3 nights there visiting Arches and Canyonlands Island in the Sky district, in various light conditions. Be sure to go to Mesa arch in Canyonlands for sunrise and Delicate Arch in Arches for sunset. Bring very good flashlights.

That 's 5 or 6 of your 7 nights, so I would then head towards Denver and hope for some very good weather on the way.

There are lots of other very valuable places to see and if it is snowy you need to hunker down and stick to the interstates after the storm passes.

Best of luck.

manishbit

Thanks all for your quick replies...I actually recently completed a whirlwind trip thru Death Valley, Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands and MV, so don't want to try that. GC i am planning to save for the Summers...so I wanted to take a southern route via Arizona...

... As for the distances, I already did my homework and understand the distances, just want to get a better idea of the best places so that I cover those, mainly for Photography, with a preference for dark skies....

...Also I plan to travel 5-6 hrs everyday to cover the key places, so want to know which are the BEST places in a southern area. I do not plan to cover ALL the places that I mentioned

Thanks

MmePerdu

From Tucson I suggest you make a quick stop in Tombstone, if you must, but continue another 25 miles on 80 to Bisbee, a far more interesting & photogenic historic town, worth staying the night. From there, you can continue on 80 into NM and back up to I-10, saving a bit of time.

emalloy

Ok, that makes more sense. I would keep Canyon de Chelley as long as the weather cooperates. If you want to do more than take pictures from the top you will need to get a Navajo guide to take you into the park IF they do that in the winter. Otherwise the only trail allowed is down to White House Ruin. When you leave CdeC, you can go through Window Rock which is worth a quick stop or head down to 40 and could stop at Petrified Forrest . I would probably skip this if you are expecting to see a "forrest" all the petrified logs are laying down. There is some nice rock art there though.

Not far from I-40 as you head east are elMorro/Inscription Rock and also Acoma Pueblo. Both are worth a stop on the way through Albuquerque to Tent Rocks to Santa Fe.

While you are in the Santa Fe area, about an hour east is Bandelier National Monument (very interesting ancient Native American site with houses carved into the soft rock of the hillside.

Stay flexible and if it snows, there are plenty of places to visit that are farther south.

emalloy

By the way, did you ever post your photos from the other trip?

MmePerdu

"While you are in the Santa Fe area, about an hour east..."

Also Pecos National Historic Park, just off I-25 not far from Santa Fe on your way to CO.

https://www.nps.gov/peco/index.htm

emalloy

Also, on Christmas day, many places will not be open so be sure to have food and a full gas tank the night before.

Also I misspoke, Bandelier is about an hour west, Pecos is east and as Mme said, worth a visit.

manishbit

Thanks all for your inputs. I removed Sequoia and will be going south from Vegas towards Joshua and then westwards towards White Sands, up towards Petrified, canyon de chelly etc etc till Taos and finally Denver....Any last minute suggestions ?

tomfuller

If you are headed toward Joshua Tree,try going south through the Mojave National Preserve. You'll see lots of Joshua trees and several different geological features.