No one have mentioned the idea of renting a four wheel drive or AWD (all wheel drive) vehicle. With FWD or AWD you would be able to drive most weather conditions. Both Hubby and I have AWD cars. We live in Northern California and have a vacation home near Bend, OR. We also go to Lake Tahoe in the winter. We have never had to put on chains (legally you need to carry them) over the mountain passes. In California if the road is too snowy for FWD or AWD Caltrans will close the road/highway/freeway. Just a thought.

How far is it from San Luis Obispo?

Ferndale is around 500 miles/800 km from San Luis Obispo, using the main north-south highway (US 101) but it's probably the most important 500 miles on your trip for scenery and diversions. You'd also have to travel through the full length of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and in the winter the short daylight hours would almost certainly mean it would be a pre-sunrise to post-sunset day. If you possibly can, take the coast road - California Hwy 1 - from Monterey to San Luis Obispo. It's one of the most beautiful roads in North America and absolutely worth the extra time it requires.

C'mon people, pay attention.

there is nothing about this trip which has anything to do with Ferndale to S.L.O..


The correct answer is "approximately 515 miles (7.5 hours)" from S.L.O. via Death Valley to Las Vegas.

(this number entails the path taking you to Death Valley Junction, CA and via Shoshone, CA, so as to pass Badwater {lowest point in North America})


Now a major problem is that the Sun is out from 7am until just 4:45pm at Death Valley Junction on January 10 or so. (wouldn't be too important the final 90 minutes from Shoshone, CA to Vegas)


When looking back at your most recent itinerary, maybe it is more efficient to do S.L.O. before you do Yosemite... for then a backwoods path(aka - the lesser traveled area of California) from Yosemite to Death Valley to Vegas is a better fit.

AND with that you could travel down some of the better part of the California Coast, say from Santa Cruz to S.L.O. on the coast highway, via Big Sur, etc.

(adjusting further, along that line of thought, might entail making tracks toward Bishop, CA, late on your last day at Yosemite, to stay there, and then have a more manageable trip to Vegas via Death Valley)


SO, San Fran. to S.L.O. via Big Sur & the coast highway = 4 hours, and 250 miles.

S.L.O. to your Yosemite lodge: 191 miles, 3 hours 20 minutes


And Bishop, CA to Death Valley to Shoshone, CA to Las Vegas = 5 hours, and 310 miles.


PS - I never would have got "Dear as Poison" from mere context clues!!

NorthwestMale, you have made excellent suggestions. Further to this, I have made modifications to my itinerary. I am going with your suggestion to go from SF down to SLO, THEN up to Yosemite. This was a great idea, and I have made the changes to my accomm booking in Yosemite. It makes total sense. From there, we will go to Tonopah and spend the night there. The following day we will head through Death Valley, stopping at Scotty's castle and Badwater, and anything else along the way that takes our fancy. We will then continue on to arrive in LV that evening.

I really like the idea of seeing a bit of the inland too, having really hugged the coast all the way down from Seattle.

I am also going to make Ferndale the stop on that leg of the trip.

colloquialisms - they'll get you every time!!

And, Yes, we have rented a 4WD or AWD in the shape of a Jeep Cherokee or 'similar'. They don't commit til you get there. But, we have definitely got our name down for an AWD.