Utah/Vegas road trip - directions
 

Hello everyone -
We will be road tripping through Utah/Vegas later this year. I plan to bring my iPhone and will use Google maps. I'd like to bring a back-up too just in case the reception is poor in a few areas or if it runs out of juice mid-way to our destination. What would you recommend: road map? printed out Google directions? pay extra $13/day for the GPS from the rental car place? Thanks!

I actually did a similar trip a few years ago, flying into LV and then visiting the Grand Canyon, Page, Four Corners, Monument Valley, Arches, Canyondlands, Capital Reef, Bryce, Zion, and back to Vegas. I used a Garmin Nuvi which ALWAYS had GPS reception and I would highly recommend one instead of a cellphone's map programs. Coverage was ok with the cell but always on with the GPS. A good-ole area map would be a good back-up. You can buy a TomTom or Garmin for $100 and then always have it for future road trips. Better than the rental costs to the rental car outfit.

A detailed paper map us essential. You must have an understanding of the area and not just drive around blindly following any GPS.

I agree with Dayle.

Lee Ann

A road map or road atlas for sure. (more reliable than your iPhone/google maps).

THANK YOU everyone! i guess the old school way is the best way for this road trip :)

I think it depends on where you're going and whether you plan on taking a lot of back roads. If you're only hitting the major sights and staying on main(ish) highways, a printed Google map is fine. You really only need a detailed road atlas if you're going to more remote locations and/or driving some serious back roads.

For example, I went to Horseshoe Canyon and I would recommend a road atlas for that drive. But if you're sticking with Moab to Bryce and Zion, there's really no need for an atlas.

I beg to disagree with you WhereAreWe. This is how we loose people every year. They underestimate the extreme and quickly changing weather and have no concept of the geography. Take a wrong turn, get out somewhere where there is no coverage, cell OR satellite, and you are unprepared. This just doesn't result in a fun vacation.

Just spend a few dollars on a good detailed map as backup. What does it hurt?

Well, you can disagree if you want.

Does someone really need a detailed map to drive from Zion to Bryce? Absolutely not. Hence my advice to consider the destination and route before deciding what is needed. I don't think it's necessary to have a detailed map just because it's Utah.

In fact, I would argue a detailed road atlas would lead more people to stray off the beaten path and try to go places they shouldn't. They look at the atlas and see something interesting and a route to get there, and then make a last minute decision to go for it - but lack any awareness of real road conditions and have no idea what's in store for them out there.

Best plan is to map out an itinerary ahead of time and prepare for that itinerary. If it requires a detailed atlas, great. But if you're going from Arches to Bryce and then Zion on main highways (which is the type of trip most people on here do), that level of detail is really not necessary.

Be careful on Time Of Day. I always get confused in Arizona and Utah Times. It is really strange...even the indian reservation can have a different time than the state you are in.

GPS is great but sometimes makes very grave mistakes....and the American West can be unforgiving. We once had out GPS suggesting a route we knew was wrong (because we had the map out)and would take 3 times as long...we would have run out of gas. The DeLorme Atlas series is great and has lots of information on sites included.

Where We Are--of all the tourists who get stranded in southern Utah--and there are many--they all followed GPS--not a map!!! The map is marked with things like--4WD or high clearance vehicle only etc. GPS can give wonky directions when there is poor reception. And what do you do if there is a rock slide on a road?? I travel to southern Utah all the time--and I always take a map--even for going from SLC to Moab. It is always better to be prepared.

Stop at the Welcome Centers or Visitor Centers to get free Nevada and Utah maps.

We always carry the old fashion paper maps. AAA has the best but you have to be a member.

We have a Garmin GPS and you wouldn't believe where it's told us to make a turn some times. Once it wanted us to make a right hand turn in Mesa Verde National Park. If we had never been on this road before and if it had been pouring down rain like it can do...we would have driven off the side of a cliff! There was NO road at all!

Utahtea

>>I don't think it's necessary to have a detailed map just because it's Utah. <<

I disagree, IMO/IME one should always have a paper map when traveling in the rural western/southwestern states. GPS is fine -- but they do get stoooooopod sometimes. (Same in the UK/Ireland BTW -- you would not believe the number of people who get stuck in farmyards by following a GPS/SatNav)

I will always remember the picture of the visitors who drove into the bay because their GPS told them to. it may have been a hoax, but still....

I heartily agree with all the posters who urge you to carry paper maps.

Earlier this year, two people died in San Diego County when their GPS took them entirely the wrong way. They were so lost it took two weeks to find them.

http://www.cbs8.com/story/29146491/m...ad-woman-alive

AAA has a map called Indian Country Guide Map. We've received it free with our AAA membership and bought it once for ~ $5. It shows lots of details including the unpaved roads through the reservation areas.

So does everyone agree you need a paper map to get from Zion to Bryce?

WhereAreWe,

The original poster never mentioned Zion or Bryce! They talked about Utah & Las Vegas. We don't even know where in Utah they plan to travel. What if they do plan to go from Zion to Bryce and there is another slide and the Zion Tunnel is shut down again like it did in late September of this year? What if there is flash flooding in Kanab again like several years ago.

It never hurts to be prepared!

Utahtea

I never had the batteries die on a map.