Western USA instead of XC road trip - Qs

Old May 31st, 2016, 04:59 PM
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Western USA instead of XC road trip - Qs

Hello

I am retooling my trip and I think that instead of a roughly 3 week XC-XC trip in my own car... flying out west and doing a 16 night more concentrated tour.

How does this sound to anyone who has done this?

Fly into Las Vegas and fly home from Denver

Non-comprehensive, non-geographically logical (yet) list of sites to visit in 16 nights.

Grand Canyon
Monument Valley
Arches National Park
Zion NP
Los Angeles (friends)
San Francisco (friends)
Redwood trees in CA (unclear where)
Death Valley
Yosemite
Yellowstone (is this wayyyyy too far off the rest to consider on this trip??)
Telluride

I have rellies in Albuquerque but that really seems far afield too.

I am sure I can think of at least a few more places to add, but with only 16 nights that is pushing it. There is a lot of ground in between many of these places. And the places I will visit friends will likely be a two nighter for each place (albeit probably arrive late and leave early with one full day in between). If I had to pick one CA city to drop it would be LA, though. which would lop off a lot of driving as I'd go from Death Valley up to SFO.

What do you think of this? Crazy in 16 nights? I'm flying home from Denver. I have to put them in logical order, too. Is there something you'd add in lieu of what I listed?

In 16 nights, it would be great if I had no more than 60 hours of driving, total. That is four hours a day average. I could bump the average up but I don't want this to be all about just driving - I want to take sunrise or sunset photos, and do some hikes. And eat some good food, etc. Not just fuel up and go (car and me).

thank you for any thoughts...
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Old May 31st, 2016, 05:15 PM
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You probably will have a drop off fee since you are picking up the car in one place and going home from another. If you haven't already done the air, check to see if there is a significant difference on which place you start and end the trip. Sometimes the rental companies want cars moved from one place to another and some places have much higher taxes.

I love Yellowstone, but it really is an outlier on this trip.

Between Denver and Zion, loop through Rocky Mt. NP at least take trail ridge road and drop down and visit Arches and Canyonlands.

Drag out the paper map and think about what you want to do on the trip. Check out some trip reports from folks who have gone to similar sites
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Old May 31st, 2016, 05:58 PM
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you have a minimum of 11 destinations that are hundreds and hundreds of miles apart, several of which would require a minimum of two nights, and only 16 nights. You will run out of nights about 2/3 of the way through this list.
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Old May 31st, 2016, 09:10 PM
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I agree with janisj. I think you should focus on California. Play with google maps and see just how much driving you have there alone.

Drop Colorado, and Utah. Those two together are probably 16 days.

GC- 2 nights, LA two nights, SF 2 nights, let's say Yosemite- 3 nights. Driving between, at least 2. That's 11 already. 3 more if you want Redwoods NP- 14. That leaves 2 nights elsewhere- maybe Death Valley or Joshua tree, but I think I'd add 1 night to SF and one night to Yosemite.
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Old May 31st, 2016, 10:39 PM
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Thank you!

Then my next question would be: is flying home from Denver too far afield. Should I just make this a loop from LV and end up there again... Hmmm

If I drop LA and Yellowstone it's nine destinations but again you're right - how many of there will need two nights.
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Old May 31st, 2016, 10:43 PM
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Re-reading the comments... Really very helpful. I haven't gotten the plane tickets yet, wanted to think about destinations first... And all of your comments help a lot. Lots of driving... I might have to pick between arches and Zion for instance too. I know I want to see monument valley.
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 02:14 AM
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Doing a loop from Las Vegas will probably be the least expensive in terms of vehicle expense. Car rentals are generally much less there than the other western cities.

Check out this map and mileage list that was posted by another poster here and I have found very helpful for planning loops.

http://ohiohickstraveltips.weebly.co...-utah-map.html

When looking for air fare, don't forget to check Southwest as well as the consolidator sites like kayak or travelocity as they don't post on other sites. They have a page called low fare calendar which gives the cost on every day of the month for a particular route and picking the day can save hundreds of dollars.
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 05:06 AM
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Hi again

OK, here is what I put into google maps. This is for LV arrive and LA depart. The car drop-off costs don't make that much of a difference especially compared to backtracking merely to fly home.

1. Las Vegas arrival - get in the car and go. I think I can reach Grand Canyon this day although which rim would be better (both from a view perspective and ease of getting around - I heard the North Rim is less busy but is the view as nice? 275 miles that first day but unclear where Google is taking me - N or S.

2. Grand Canyon, AZ : I am thinking at least two nights here are needed esp since I'm going to be tired from an early start and a long day of driving. Plus I want both sunrise and sunset photos. I'd visit Antelope Canyon after leaving here and before MV next. AC would be an overnight, too, since I want to do a lot of photos here.

3. Monument Valley, UT to get here from the GC is 175 miles. At least one overnight. Sunrise and sunsets are key for photos... of the iconic long road leading to the "monuments". Have no idea how close the nearest lodging is, either.

4. Telluride, CO : 200 miles. The reason I am adding this is that I've had friends tell me this is the prettiest place they have seen in Colorado. It's also the easiest to cut out, so if anyone thinks "save for later" let me know why? I would think for the distance I'd want two nights here, to have the middle day to do hiking or whatnot.

5. Arches NP, UT: 140 miles. I would arrive by lunch time, I'd expect, and could do some hiking that afternoon/early evening and then sunset/sunrise photos. 1-2 nights.

6. Zion NP: 300 miles. A long day. This would be only about driving and then crashing. I'd need two overnights to get anything out of this.

7. Death Valley: another 300 miles. Crikey. Again, drive all day and then hike and visit the next. Two nights.

8. Yosemite: 240 miles. Two nights to get the most out of it.

9. San Francisco: 220 miles mostly to visit friends. Two nights.

10. Los Angeles 400 miles. This would be to fly home - two nights. In looking at this, I might want to fly home from SFO and instead of cutting Telluride cut LA. I could add another night or two to SFO and instead head down the PCH for a little bit and come back...

This above is 2300 miles and 38 hours of driving per google. In 16 nights. For comparison, when I bought my BMW in Munich we had something like 15-16 nights there, but only maybe 12-13 of those were driving as we stayed in Munich a few nights on either end. I put at least 1500 miles on my car in that amount of time - not as many stops, but lots of leisure time.

If I cut LA it's under 2000 miles of driving and only 32 hours of driving. I think that is pretty doable in 16 nights. If I cut LA then I can do nearly two nights for each place and still have three nights in SFO at the end. That sounds more sane.

Thoughts? Thank you so much for humoring me! I literally wrote this out using Google maps just now...
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 05:49 AM
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>>This above is 2300 miles and 38 hours of driving per google.
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 05:56 AM
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All this is proving to me is that I was crazy to think I could do an XC road trip in three weeks. It would be whistle stop for sure...
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 06:01 AM
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Oh -- don't get me wrong -- I love road trips w/ lots of driving. But IMO they are mostly for the fun of the drive, not for seeing/doing things and aren't great for first time visits.
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 06:06 AM
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I think I am going to cut Telluride.

Now to decide whether to cut LA and just fly home from SFO. If I do that, it's only 1600 miles of driving.

Leaving from SFO would save me 400 miles of driving but it might also be fun to spend a night or two in LA and see a few friends and some comedians. Is it worth an entire long day in the car, though... as opposed to flying out there some other time.
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 06:13 AM
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My suggestions for 2 of the places.

3. The View Hotel in Monument Valley.
6. Zion Lodge inside Zion National Park.

Both are excellent, beautifully located and with good breakfasts, lunches and dinners available. Convenient after long drive days...
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 06:16 AM
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This is personal preference, but I'd do one or the other =
a western park tour OR a California tour

I'd fly into Denver and make a big loop including Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde NP, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Arches and Zion, but loop back to Denver.

OR I'd do a California trip.

I've done all of the above and that would be my preference.
I'd also stretch myself and add in Grand Teton NP and YNP and (if you are going in July) loop back through Cheyenne for a day at Stampede Days. If not, come back to Colorado for Estes Park and Rocky Mountain NP.
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 06:48 AM
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I just got the tickets

17 nights. LV to SFO.

This gives me plenty of leeway to add other things.

Overall it's going to cost 1200 bucks for the flight/car rental, and save me five nights of hotels and driving (and my car). I think that is a decent trade. That is 240 bucks a day (for the five days saved) for comparison, and while I think the hotel and gas and food for five days would not have cost me that much, it will save me at least 10K miles on my car if I did the XC coast to coast. Right?

This itinerary isn't set in stone but it seems logical. I have time to play things by ear...
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 06:49 AM
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ps. thank you for the new comments, too.

Starrs, I've spent a fair bit of time in California but none in Utah so I'm going to try to mix this up a little bit... going all the way to Denver after all this is a lot. SFO is mostly to see friends at the end.. although just hanging there is nice too.
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 07:42 AM
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I think it depends on the time of year and whether you've been to Yosemite. If this is summer, I'd cut a night from DV and add it Yosemite- 2 nights at the latter is really not enough and the time google maps gives to get there isn't accurate.

For GC route you can enter one of the NP buildings and that'll get you to south rim.

Telluride...hmm...I'd skip it because if I were doing your trip (which sounds amazing) I would want less driving time. But, hey, if this is your only chance, go for it. And it sounds like you're more about the photography than the hiking elsewhere.
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 08:06 AM
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1. If you get to Vegas by noon you could visit either rim by sunset IF the plane is on time and the rental car doesn't take too much time. t prefer the south rim of GC for views, but the north is nice and less likely to be crowded. If you are not planning on camping, there is more lodging near the north rim, if the in the park lodges are full, look in Tusayan(15 minutes south) or in the Cameron Trading Post (30 minutes east).

2. Antelope Canyon can only be visited with a Navajo Guide. There is an upper and a lower and there are photo tours. The upper regular tour takes no more than an hour and IMO is great if it is sunny even if it is not at noon. The other tours can be longer, but if it isn't sunny I wouldn't take the time to do the tour. You can stay in Page where there are lots of motels. In the morning take the walk out to look at Horseshoe bend.

3. If you can't get lodging for Monument Valley in the places mentioned above, look in Kayenta (10 minutes south) or Mexican Hat (20 minutes north).

4. I would skip Telluride this trip.

5. I would want to spend at least 2 nights in Moab. Go to Arches and do get those nice sunset pictures, do the Devil's garden at least out to Landscape arch and if you do Delicate arch for sunset, bring a flashlight for the trip back. In the morning go to Canyonlands Island In the Sky district and hike out to Mesa Arch and do the Grandview area at least.

6. Stop at Bryce on the way to Zion, maybe take the longer route through Capitol reef the scenery along the way is awesome. Spend a couple of nights.

7. If you are going before November, do not spend two nights in Death Valley. I love Death Valley, but you will not be able to spend much time outside so drive through check it out and come back in the winter.

8. I hope you have lodging for Yosemite, if not call every day and pray for a cancellation.

9. Are you cutting LA and just going to San Francisco?
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 08:37 AM
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I am skipping CO entirely. Sadly...

I already have rez on the south rim! two nights! and one night in Page, near Antelope Canyon... I figured it would be nice to have a few things sorted before I left... Maswik lodge
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 08:39 AM
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Hi

thank you!

I am skipping Telluride and LA. Ending in SFO and doing 17 nights total. Yosemite is a challenge huh? Darn it... I will look up the rest.

I have my first three nights, out of 17, booked. I wanted to do this as I went but it sounds like a challenge?
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