Road trip LA to Phoenix via Grand Canyon

Old Mar 27th, 2017, 05:56 PM
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Road trip LA to Phoenix via Grand Canyon

Hi we are looking at hiring a car in LA and taking 7 days to drive to Phoenix via Route 66 and the Grand Canyon. We are a family of 4 with 2 teens and will be leaving LA 16/12 arriving Phoenix 22/12. Is it safe to drive at this time of year? How likely are we to encounter snow? How close can we get to the GC with the car or should we consider other options when we get there like the train or organised 4WD tours? Any suggestions for routes and places we 'must see' appreciated. We are from Australia and have not been here before and are looking at taking our time to see as much as possible. From Phoenix we fly to NYC for Xmas/new year so dates are pretty firm. TIA
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Old Mar 28th, 2017, 07:02 AM
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You'll have to check with the Grand Canyon Railroad folks as to how late in the year they run the train all the way to the South Rim. https://www.thetrain.com/special-eve...polar-express/
You could take the Amtrak Southwest Chief from Los Angeles to Flagstaff and rent the car there.
I won't try to predict when the first snow of the season will fall north of Williams Arizona.
Until it happens, you will be safe to drive all the way to the South Rim.
Route 66 through the Mojave Desert is not all that interesting.
Central Avenue in Albuquerque is the old Route 66 if you would like to fly to NYC from there instead of Phoenix.
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Old Mar 28th, 2017, 07:20 AM
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>>taking 7 days to drive to Phoenix via Route 66 and the Grand Canyon.
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Old Mar 28th, 2017, 08:19 AM
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There are all kinds of places you could visit along your route but as noted, just what weather you may encounter is unknown. You could find snow at the GC even on the South Rim. The average high at the GC South Rim in December is 43F/6C. You could find even the drive down from Flagstaff through Sedona to Phoenix a scary descent.
https://www.arizonahighways.com/blog...zona-road-trip

I would not try to plan a route in the area you are talking about beforehand at all. For example, that little 30 mile stretch of hwy 89 has a difference of 2600 feet/800 metres of elevation. You could find it bare and dry one day and a white knuckle drive the next.

Let's face it, your timing is not the best for the area you are asking about. If it were me, I would choose a route farther south to follow and avoid the possibility of snow as much as possible or change the timing of the trip.

For your trip as loosely outlined, I would expect to have to pack winter clothing at least. Is that what you really want?
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Old Mar 28th, 2017, 11:21 AM
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Not sure what the fascination is with Route 66 for some overseas visitors but I would not waste more than an hour or two on it.
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Old Mar 28th, 2017, 06:38 PM
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The most interesting site on Route 66 is the historic town of Oakman located slightly west of Kingman.
Video of that route
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdzMIE4mHb8

Web site
http://oatmangoldroad.org/

Vaga
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Old Apr 5th, 2017, 06:45 AM
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If you are concerned about the possibility of snow, you are planning the wrong time of year or the wrong route. I don't recall the last time a major snow storm did NOT occur at some point during the month of December sometimes closing the highway between Flagstaff and Phoenix. Of course, there is no way to plan this in advance. The road between G.C. And Flagstaff has road closure gates for winter weather. There was snow on the ground in Williams as recently as 2days ago even though not enough to cause problems driving. Pink Jeeps will drive you to G.C. and Super Shuttle provides transport between Flagstaff and Phoenix. You might want to check with those companies for more details. You might also want to check out Grand Canyon railways; I believe they run a holidays train to G.C.
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Old Apr 5th, 2017, 07:12 AM
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Oops. I meant Arizona Shuttle not Super Shuttle
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