LC

Hi there,

Looking for suggestions for a 10-day road trip in mid-October. Need to start and finish in San Francisco. Would like to do some camping, some hotel overnights. Definitely want to be outdoors as much as possible. We're east coast transplants and have been up the North Coast of California, but not east of Oakland.

A few options under consideration:

North through Oregon and Washington. (Though I fear the weather may be too cold and wet that time of year.)

Southwest through desert--Death Valley, Arizona, New Mexico.

West to the Sierras, Nevada, Utah.

Many thanks!

Janice

If your starting and ending in SF than the SW is WAY out of your way so forget NM and AZ. IMO best bet is Oregon. You say 10 days. Oregon caost is WONDERFUL. You could very easily have a great trip going north from SF and seeing the Redwoods parks in CA along coast then seeing the fabulous 364 miles of all public beach and shore or Oregon, You could come back via fast inland roads like I-5 and then cut over to SF.

janis

I agree - north on hwy 1 as far into Oregon as you want - the northern CA and OR coasts are spectacular - and then turn inland and visit Crater Lake, Mount Shasta, Lassen and then back to SF through the foothills/gold country if you have time or straight back via I 5 if time is short.

Nicol

I agree with the northern route up through Oregon, I bet it will be beautiful that time of year. Don't know about weather, maybe someone else does.
I would also like to suggest Yosemite. It took me 3ish hours to drive straight there from Alameda. I'm not sure about which pass would be open, but if it's not too cold camping would be a great experience. The scenery is gorgeous on the other side of the Park, but it doesn't really lead anywhere and gets really desolate. Unless your driving to Vegas, no need to go past the park.
Enjoy your trip and let us know how it goes!!

Nicol

Oh, forgot to add that SW (Death Vally, Arizona) is not that far out of the way. You can make it to death valley in a day easily. We made it to Vegas in a day and Phoenix the next day. Probably skip NM, it look just like AZ.

John

I don't think you'd go wrong with either the Pacific NW or the Calif. desert alternatives. The weather in mid-October in Western Oregon and Washington (not Eastern OR or WA, another story) can be drippy, but more often than not you can have incredible autumn days, empty roads, and cheap hotel/motel rooms. If you add to that crossing the Cascades at some point, chances are you can have quite good fall color, too, a fact not generally appreciated about the NW. With your time, I'd seriously consider north through the Redwoods, up the Oregon coast and across to Portland, up the Columbia Gorge to eastern Oregon, then back down the east side of the Cascades, through Lassen Park in NE California, and back to SF. Great trip, lots of wonderful western scenery, interesting places.

Death Valley is a blast, too, and from there you can head easily over to Las Vegas, or hit the Sequoia/Kings Canyon NPs for more mountain and big tree scenery. I'd agree that AZ/NM is probably too far given your time, and don't forget that many of the main destinations in the SW are at high elevation and prone to be getting chilly later in the month.