7 days Road Trip Help. Really need advice
 

Hi,

Both me and my husband(We live in San Francisco) are exploring the option for a road trip from 25th Dec till 1st Jan.
We have two options:

1) Either go on Road trip to Utah.
2) Or go on a road trip towards Oregon.

Considering winter weather, what would you all suggest? We dont want to get stuck in snow. We love nature/scenic places/hiking , but not skiing :-)
Please suggest which is a better option. Or if you have any other suggestion.

Thank you!
Megha

Unless you go up the coast and back you will either hit snow or icy roads.

I-5 from northern CA into southern OR can be bad - same w/ I-80/Hwy 50. Though no storms are on the immediate horizon. Last week it was extremely cold (teens/low 20's, lower in paces like Trukee) but this week is warmer. Even w/ the warmer weather nights are in the 20's in Reno and mid 30's in SLC.

I'd stick to the coast to be on the safe side.

Having driven both routes many times - I think the potential for bigger storms/more road stranding is on the way to Utah than up to Oregon. And if you do stay along the coast - once you get up closer to Oregon - you should be fine.

Having said that - years ago - at the Christmas break - some of my college classmates and I drove from Denver to San Francisco (through Utah) - without too much trouble - and then I picked up my two sisters who were going to USF and headed up to Oregon.

About Red Bluff - the snow was starting to stick - heavily - and by the time we got to Dunsmir - we were snowed in for the night. No problem - they opened a Church - and we all stayed warm - and even caught a few winks - and the next morning - they had the roads open. :)

Thanks a lot for your valuable advice.
Actually if we go to Utah, we would not go through I-80.
Rather, we would go through Vegas and then Arches national park and other parks in Moab desert.

Do you think this route should be fine in winters?

The Utah national parks tend to be at high altitude (I think Arches is one of the lower ones at 5500 - 6000 feet) so in winter it can be dicey. Also traveling by way of Las Vegas on some of the shortest daylight days of the year might make the trip a bit more rushed than you'd like.

If you stick to Calif. Hwy 1 and US 101 up the coast, there won't be any chance of snow, but of course it can be rainy. That doesn't bother me too much - the Redwoods are lovely in the mist, and you might luck out with a storm on the northern California or Oregon coasts - spectacular.

We drove down the coast from Seattle to N. California last January and lucked out with spectacular weather, e.g.

Oregon coast -
http://gardyloo.us/20130116_38HD1a.jpg
http://gardyloo.us/20130116_84HD1a.jpg

Redwoods -
http://gardyloo.us/20130117_51a.JPG
http://gardyloo.us/20130117_57a.JPG

I'd look at stops in Mendocino, Ferndale (lovely Victorian town in the Redwoods) and Bandon in Oregon. Visit the Avenue of the Giants byway off of US 101, and have a meal at the Samoa Cookhouse in Samoa (across the bay from Eureka) - family style food in a lumber mill mess hall, served by your grannie. Fun.

I posted some pictures along with brief trip report to Arches/Moab the weekend before last (12/7 & 12/8). Got caught by early season snowstorm (I don't think the norm however):

https://docs.google.com/presentation...i=1#slide=id.p

Agree with the folks suggesting the CA/OR coast. Some great places to visit/see/hike, etc.
Point Reyes Nat. Seashore, Redwood State and National parks, wine county in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino. Quaint towns such as Bodega Bay, Guerneville (a few miles inland on the Russian River), Mendocino, Crescent City. You could even go into Southern Oregon coast depending on what stops you make.
Rain maybe. Snow, not likely. Just watch if heavy rainfall is forecast, that can close US 101 in places due to flooding.

From Vegas - you can get to Zion pretty easily - and the lower/entrance at Zion may not be snowbound - but as you head toward Bryce and onto Arches - you do climb and it's altitude most of all where the heavy snowfall piles up.

if you don't mind "winging" it...wait a few more days and look at the long term forcasts. and accommodations could be an issue too if going to some popular spots.