sight seeing Las Vegas to Palm Springs to Sante Fe
 

We are thinking of driving this route. Joshua Tree NP will be a definite stop. Does anyone have favorite sights/site along the way.

What time of year?

Lee Ann

March

I think the Palm canyons near Palm Springs are cool.

From LV to PS will you be taking the back route? Leaving Las Vegas you exit at Nipton Rd from Interstate 15 which takes you through the Mojave National Preserve, the old RR station at Kelso, Amboy off route 66, and right by Joshua Tree. It's really so pretty with so little traffic you often feel like you're the only ones there. However if it is raining I would avoid it because there are a lot of dips in the road, and I can imagine that they can get flooded pretty easily.

How many days do you have between Palm Springs and Santa Fe?

Dai, back routes are often the best.

Patty, pretty much as many as we want. It could be done in a long day, but 3 or 4 days seem right.

Just so you know - There are lots of Joshua trees in the Mojave National Preserve. I also like the sand dunes and volcanic features of the Preserve.
The old Rt. 66 (National Trails Highway also runs through the Preserve.

basingstoke2: I think that if you were to leave LV early and go that back route, you'd still have plenty of time to go through Joshua Tree national park entering from the town of 29 Palms (a town on the back route) down through the park to the 10 Fwy. Once inside the park, follow the signs to the Cholla Cactus Garden as you make your way through the park. From the 10 fwy, you go west a bit before taking the exit for Palm Springs. You can always go back on a different day to go on a hike or two in JT if that interests you, since it is so close to PS. Although there are plenty of scenic hikes in PS and immediate vicinity.

The driving directions say that the normal back route (not including going through JT national park) is 4 hours, but it has always taken us 4 1/2. If you left early from LV you could make a full day of it with enough stops along the way before you reach PS. In other words it wouldn't feel like you were rushing through anything, but you would see a lot of the high and low desert, a national park, along with interesting vegetation which can all be so beautiful in the spring.

You have a really good chance of seeing a ton of wild flowers in March. We have had an unusual amount of rain in the desert this winter, which will make the spring season spectacular with everything in bloom.

Sedona is a good place to break up the drive and you could easily spend a few days there.

Last month we drove through the Mojave National Preserve on our way from Las Vegas to San Diego. We really enjoyed getting off the interstate and the drive through the MNP. I agree to skip if it's raining.

We stayed one night in 29 Palms and drove through Joshua Tree the next morning making a few stops (Barker Dam and Keys View) along the way.

The night we stayed in 29 Palms we drove into the park after dark for stargazing. It was absolutely amazing! I hadn't seen a sky full of stars since I was a kid. My young adult sons had never seen a night sky filled with zillions of stars so it was a great experience.

Just an FYI. I-40 through the Flagstaff area is in awful condition with BIG potholes.