We will be traveling through a number of National Parks in CA in May: Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Sequoia, and Yosemite. Where should we go next? We have 3 days, we are thinking San Francisco, Lake Tahoe or your suggestions. We love wine so are taking a detour to Pasa Robles. If we go to San Francisco, then we will stop on Sonoma. After this stop, we are headed to Lassen Volcanic National Park, Crater Lake then flying home from Portland. Thanks for your suggestions.

You know that the road through Lassen may not be open in May, right? Also at Crater Lake you may only be able to drive up to the lodge and not along the rim.

Skip crater and lassen in may. Go to sf. Drive to redwoods and then drive the coast north and cut over to Portland. Oregon Coast will be a lot better that time of year.

Crater lake, Lassen, Tioga Pass, and the Yosemite back country will all be closed.

There will be access to the parks at both Lassen and Crater Lake but not much will be accessible at all.

Go to the coast/Redwoods after Yosemite Valley and forget about Lassen/CL

Highway 1 from Cambria to San Francisco is one of the US's most scenic drives, and the redwoods and the Oregon coast from Brookings to Cannon Beach and well worth a look. These will be open.

HTtY

Sorry, I missed that you are going to Paso Robles. From Paso Robles there is a beautiful drive on Highway 46 to Cambria, and from Cambria you will be situated to drive San Francisco on scenic Highway 1.

HTtY

Happytrailstoyou, we are going to Pasa Robles between Death Valley and Sequoia.

Paso is a big detour between Death Valley and Sequoia. Perhaps look at the wine areas along the Sierra Foothills instead. It sounds like you're skipping the coast.

Detouring to Paso Robles between DV and Sequoia is way out of the way. I would do this:

A: DV, Sequoia, Yosemite then head west to Paso. From there, head up the coast to Carmel/ Monterey, then San Francisco.

B: DV, Sequoia, Yosemite then hit the wine growing areas in the foothills. Murphys in Calaveras County or the Plymouth area in Amador County. Hwy. 49 connects these areas.

I totally agree . . . Paso Robles between DV and Sequoia makes no sense.

Thank you all for your input. So we decided to skip Paso Robles. We will check out the San Francisco and Oregon wineries and coasts instead. How many days should we plan for Death Valley and Sequoia? Since we took out Paso Robles, should we extend our stay somewhere else or is there someplace to stop in between them? Thanks again for all your help.

Please don't tell anyone that Crater Lake NP is closed.
https://www.nps.gov/crla/planyourvisit/hours.htm
Route 62 and the south entrance was closed for a few days last month due to an avalanche.
Most Saturdays there is a Ranger led snowshoe walk that starts near the Crater Lake Lodge.
Check the website for current conditions the day before you visit.
In between Joshua Tree and Death Valley drive through the Mojave National Preserve which has some sand dunes, Joshua trees and some other interesting volcanic features.