kodi

Unless I'm going crazy, I know I posted this last night, but it seems to have disappeared.

Anyway,
I'm in the preliminary planning stage and would like some advice on our itinerary so far. I need to make a couple of hotel reservations in the very popular areas, so I want to figure out the timing now.

3 full days in SF.

3 days enjoying the coast down to approx Cambria.

1 day driving to Death Valley

3 days in Death Valley . We won't be hiking, but want to drive to many of the sites.

1 day driving to Yosemite .

3 days in Yosemite

1 day driving back to SF.

Does this sound like a good trip. We want to be able to enjoy everything along the way, but don't want to be dragging our heels either. Is there anything we could add or change.

Thanks so much for any help.

wildblueyonder

Hi kodi

I don't know that I can totally be trusted (because I've only been to Calif once - and never to Death Valley, although we plan to go there this year!), but I would think that 3 days in Death Valley was maybe too long? The drive from Death Valley to Yosemite isn't straightforward, in that you can't drive across the Sierra Nevadas, and you might want to move one of your nights in DV to a night en route somewhere to Yosemite? Or you could maybe (NOT my favourite place) have a night in Vegas? Just my 2p/2c, for what they're worth.

Barbara

First, when is your trip?

You really don't need three days in Death Valley, IMO, two days should be enough to see everything.

Your route from DV to Yosemite depends on the time of year. Once the Tioga Pass opens, the route is direct, though long, north on 395 through Bishop.

Also for Yosemite, if your trip is this year, you are already late to book rooms. You need to book your rooms there, then plan around that.

janisj

no one can give you any useful advice w/o knowing when the trip is - time of year makes a HUGE difference . . . . .

kodi

So sorry. I realized after I posted that I hadn't included the time of year.
We will be arriving in SF on Sept 18th.

Wow, I thought I WAS being early for Yosemite! Any suggestions for near by towns with reasonable accommodations. By that I mean Holiday Inn Exress or similar.

I'm guessing we will aready be chopping a day from DV.. Thank you for that advice.

wildblueyonder

Hi again kodi

Don't know if it would be your kind of thing, but, if there is no accommodation left in the park (or if it's too expensive), when we went to Yosemite, we stayed in a little house called Cozy Bear (there are two little houses next to each other - duplexes) http://www.cozy-bear.com/ It was very quaint - bears everywhere!! It's about a 15-20 minute drive from the Valley.

Also, if you do have a spare day and you are looking for somewhere close-ish to Yosemite to break the journey, I would thoroughly recommend Sequoia National Park. We stayed at the Wuksachi Lodge, which was lovely. http://www.visitsequoia.com/lodging.aspx

janisj

OK - in Sept you will probably be fine driving from DV to Yosemite. The road could be closed but it is unlikely. As for DV - in Sept, the average high temps in Sept are about 106F - so take that into consideration. Better than June/July/Aug but still hot.

You may be able to get accommodations in Yosemite Valley if you book now. Being well after Labor Day there may be availability. Definitely stay IN the Valley if you can. Yosemite is not really a HI Express-type area. In the Valley are National Park concessions, and outside the park are mostly rustic-y motels/resorts.

Barbara

You'll probably get something in Yosemite. Have you looked at the reservation web site yet? If it's all booked up for the days you need, keep checking every day. In fact, call every day, because there are always cancellations.


On the plus side, the Tioga Pass will be open. It will be a very long day driving from DV to Yosemite Valley where most of the lodging is. You could break it up and stay overnight in Bishop or Mammoth Lakes, especially because you want to be able to appreciate the fabulousness (new word!) of the highest part of Yosemite and not have to rush through it to get to your hotel.

kodi

You guys are great!
It sounds like the best thing to do is to break up our journey and stop for a night.

Barbara, Yes we do want to enjoy the fabulousness ( great word!) of it all, and don't want to be too rushed to enjoy it all.

Janis, we like rustic-y motels. That would be great with us.
When you say to stay in the valley, do you mean within the park itself. Sorry, I'm not at all familiar with the area. What towns on which highways would be considered IN the valley? I must get busy and book something.

Wildblue, the places you've suggested look great. We love those kind of places.

Thanks for the great advice.

J_Correa

Yes - when people say "in the valley" with regard to Yosemite, that is inside the park. Yosemite Valley is where most of the park highlights are concentrated - it is actually a relatively small part of the park with regard to size since much of the park is wilderness without services. When you enter Yosemite from the east, you drive through the high country (Hwy 120, Tioga Pass) and then drop down into Yosemite Valley, which is at about 4000 ft elevation.

I would definitely recommend staying in Yosemite Valley if possible for a first time visitor. It is just a really neat experience to wake up and go to sleep and be right there - plus early mornings and late afternoons/evenings are my favorite times there. It also makes the most of your limited time because you wont spend time driving back and forth. Loding is through the park system. Check out this link for lodging choices in Yosemite:

http://www.yosemitepark.com/Accommodations.aspx

Outside Yosemite, the closet lodging to the valley is in El Portal on Hwy 140. About 45 minutes to an hour farther west is the town of Mariposa, which also has motels, cabins, etc.

Just beyond the south entrance of the park, Hwy 41, is the town of Fish Camp, which has the Tenaya Lodge.

There are also some options west of the park on Hwy 120, but I am not familiar with any of them.

Barbara

When Janis talks about "in the Valley", she's referring to Yosemite Valley, which is inside the Park. When visiting Yosemite, the best place to stay is inside the Park and the Valley is the most central area and is where most of the concessions are.

Here's a link to maps of the Park from the web site.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/maps.htm

The web site has lots of information, plus some terrific pictures. Look under "current conditions" for the web cams.

kodi

Again, thanks for the help and the great information.
I've been trying to reserve a cabin at Curry Village, but the system seems to be down.
I tried phoning, but they are working on that system too.

I'll keep trying. Once I get that reservation made, the rest of the planning will fall into place.

Barbara

Another suggestion! If you do stop overnight on the way from DV to Yosemite, pick up a picnic lunch when you leave. Then you can stop at a picnic table at Tenaya Lake and really enjoy the scenery.

kodi

Barbara, thank you. A picnic sounds like a great idea. There is nothing better than being outdoors and enjoying beautiful scenery.

patlueras

Your trip sounds great with the exception of Cambria to DV. There is no good way to get to DV from Cambria and the highway you will need to take will take you out of the way. The only way to get to DV is through Bakersfield to the south of the Sierra's. Then over to Ridgecrest to the south DV entrance. I have driven parts of the 46 from Cambria to the 5 freeway and from Mojave on the 14 to the 395, the roads are fine but will take you all day. I might change my trip to add Cambria to the end of your trip. Start in SF then go over to Yosemite go through the Tioga pass to DV and back in to Yosemite before heading to Cambria. Just something to think about.

kodi

I've made my reservations for Yosemite. I've reserved a cabin at Curry Village. SO, my plans will now start to take more shape.

Thanks everyone for the great advice.

Pat, I'm not quite following your plan. Are you saying to go all the way back up through Yosemite from Death Valley, back to SF and THEN down the coast? It seems to me that would take longer.. Then after traveling down the coast to Cambria area, we'd have to go back up to SF again.

I like the counter clockwise idea, and I've allowed a day to get over to Death Valley.

kodi

What if I came further down the coast before cutting over?
It looks like if I came down to Santa Maria, I could go along 166 and zig zag over through Bakersfield, then pick up 395.

Highway 166 and 395 are both designated as 'scenic' in my map book.

Does this make sense?

mdc8k

During your time along the coast, I highly recommend stopping in Monterey and taking a sea kayaking tour through the bay. My wife and I took a similar trip about 5 years ago, and that was definitely one of the highlights.

September is a great time in Yosemite. The weather is great, and it's early enough in the year that most of the park is still accessible, but late enough that the crowds aren't bad at all. The only downside is that many of the waterfalls will be completely dried up, and none anywhere close to their full glory.

I think 3 days in SF and 3 days in Yosemite are just about right, but depending on your interests, I'd suggest more time along the coast. Monterey and Carmel are both fun little towns, and you could easily take 2-3 days there alone. There is also a lot of great hiking at the various parks along Highway 1 in the Big Sur area. Hearst Castle, while a tourist trap, is still neat, and Cambria itself is worth spending 1/2 a day or so. There are also a couple of missions in the area if you're at all into history. If any of this sounds at all interesting to you, I think you'd feel rushed with only three days.

Also, have you given any thought to trying to include Tahoe or the wine country in your trip? I think you'd have to cut out one of your current destinations, but for whatever it's worth, we enjoyed those stops a lot more than Death Valley. I also think they might be slightly more convenient to get to than DV. In any event, I wholeheartedly concur that three days in DV is too much.

kodi

mdc, thanks so much for the great ideas. It sounds like you had a really good trip.
The kayaking sounds like fun.. I just don't know if I'm fit enough!!

I'm not a wine drinker so the wine country doesn't really interest me. I wouldn't mind going to one , if we had time.
Tahoe sounds good too..
but Death VAlley is a the top of the list for my travel friend. It can't be dropped!

mdc8k

It was the trip of a lifetime. I like reading threads like yours because they always bring back memories of the vacation.

Re the kayaking, the tour is pretty slow-paced, and there is a lot of stopping for the guide to explain various things. Most places also do a quick lesson before you get way out into the bay. My wife was not enthusiatic about it, either, but I more or less strong-armed her into doing it. I hardly ever hear "you were right, dear," but I heard it that time.

Another fun thing that I forgot to mention earlier is the Exploratorium in San Francisco. I think it markets itself as a children's science museum, but we were in our late-20's and had a blast. Just a lot of really neat, hands-on exhibits.