Floridafran

My husband and I (both late, mid-fifies and in decent shape) will be making this trip from June 21 to July 2, 2004. This is our itinerary so far, but none of this is etched in stone. When we visited Yellowstone last summer we were up before dawn every morning in order to beat the crowds and often didn't head back to our lodgings until after dark. Will do that this trip as well.

Our primary interests are not too strenuous day scenic day hikes with phot ops. We're both into photography, from grand vistas to macro shots of interesting mineral deposits/rocks/plants, etc.

1. 6/21 Fly into Las Vegas around 8pm, pick up rental car, hit WalMart for supplies and overnight on west side of Vegas.

2. 6/22 Drive through Death Valley via US 95 to Nev 373/CA 127 to CA 190. Get on US 395 at Lone Pine to Bishop where we will overnight. Plan only to stop for some photos in Death Valley. Suggests on sites or route? If time, will detour at Big Pine to see Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. If not will backtrack and do that 6/23am.

3. 6/23 Continue US 395, stop at Mono Lake, then take Tioga Pass to our lodging at Cedar Lodge in El Portal. (Couldn't get anything in the park.) Balance of 6/23 in Yosemite Valley. Suggestions for must see/do?

4. 6/24 Yosemite Valley, overnight again at Cedar Lodge.

5. 6/25 Depending on driving time info from you guys and route suggestions, leave Yosemite and drive to lodging at John Muir Lodge, Grant Grove, Giant Sequoia Nat'l Mon.
Balance of day in this general area. Would like to drive Kings Canyon Scenic By-way and walk abit.

6. 6/26 All day in Kings Canyon, Giant Sequoia Nat'l Park areas. Overnight in Visalia.

7. 6/27 Drive to Las Vegas. My plan now is Visalia to Bakerfield to Barstow to north side of Las Vegas. Not the most scenic route, so I've heard, but I don't know a better way. Overnight LV.

8. 6/28 Drive to Bryce Canyon with side trip through Valley of the Fire State Park and in and out of upper Zion NP. Plan to drive through Cedar Breaks Nat'l Mon. to Bryce. Overnight at Bryce Canyon Lodge in Park. In Bryce want to hike Queen's Garden/Navaho Loop combo trail and Bristlecone Loop trail. Other suggestions?

9. 6/29 More in Bryce early if necessary otherwise head out early for Zion via US 89 to UT 9. Overnight in Springdale. While in Zion want to do the following hikes - Weeping Rock, Canyon Overlook, Emerald Pools (both), Gateway to the Narrows. Others?

10. 6/30 More in Zion. Drive back to LV via UT 9 to St George then I 15 to LV. Splurge and overnight in one of the nicer casino hotels. Suggestions?

11. 7/1 Early drive out to the Red Rock Canyon area, do a bit of easy hiking and photography. Overnight in LV, same locale.

12. 7/2 Turn in rental car at airport and fly out noonish.

I know this is a lot of driving but we're used to long days. This is a "scouting trip" so to speak. We just want to get a feel for these areas so we know what we want to come back to for a longer stay. That said, are we crazy to try all of this at once? Are we spending too much time in one area and not enough in another? One guy I know told me you could see Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon in 3 days. Seemed a bit much to me, but made we wonder if we've alloted too much time for those 2 parks and not enough for Yosemite/Kings Canyon/Sequoia.

I know this is terribly long but I wanted to give you as much info as possible up front so you wouldn't have to ask me to fill in a lot. Thanks in advance for your help. I got a lot a useful info from Fodors forums last year before our Yellowstone/Grand Teton trip.

utahtea

Considering how you like to travel, I think it can be done.

The day I have the most concern about would be 6/28. You are attemping a lot with the Valley of Fire, Kolob section of Zion, Cedar Breaks and hiking 3 miles in Bryce. I would consider doing the Valley of Fire on 6/30 because you already have a lot of hiking planned for Zion.

6/29 Do the Canyon Overlook as you come into the park so you won't have to drive back up thought the Tunnel. Weeping Rock won't take to long. I would save either the Emeral Pools (there are 3 - lower - middle and upper) or Gateway to the Narrows (AKA: The Riverside Walk) for the next morning.

Utahtea

maj

Your interests are similar to ours. Did you do a trip report of your Yellowstone trip that I can look up? We've been there twice, but it's been a while and we are planning to go back in the future and like tips from people. Did you venture into Idaho? We'll be going to Yosemite before you, so I'll post anything we found that hasn't been covered here for you after our trip.

Floridafran

Thanks for the input utahea and the promise of an update maj. To answer your question, maj - no, I didn't post but have a journal of our trip and would happy to answer anything I could for you. How do we swap email addresses?

Anyone know if the route I listed in #2 is the best/most scenic through Death Valley? There are two scenic routes shown on my map, one is much longer than the other but I think driving time is similar.

Thanks,
Frances

maj

I don't know how to exchange email addresses without posting them. I emailed fodors to ask if there is any way to do it, but haven't heard an answer yet. Maybe someone reading this knows a way. I don't have any actual questions yet since we aren't in the process of planning our trip yet (Yellowstone), but would like to keep you in mind when we do--thanks.

bob_brown

Let me get this straight. You are going to Death Valley in late June?
The average high is about 116 degrees!
Should be enjoyable.
We once fried an egg on the hood of the car.

audra

Bob Brown, Most of our travels have been in the summer. We did Death Valley one summer and yes it was very hot. We didn't do any hiking but stopped at Badwater for photo ops and there were many other families there, also. If we wouldn't have gone then, we wouldn't have seen it. We might go back sometime when the weather is better, but maybe not. Too much else to see in the world. So we're glad we went when we did. Do it Floridafan, its worth it.

Floridafran

Thanks, everyone for your input.

Special thanks to you, Audra, for your encouragement. We plan to leave Vegas before dawn,we so should miss the worst of the midday heat. Also, we occasionally get summertime highs over a 100 here and I work outside in it. We'll have plenty of water with us and don't intend to do any real hiking, just stop for some photos.

Maj, here's my email, contact me when you start planning on Yellowstone. [email protected]. Enjoy your Yosemite trip. I look forward to hearing about it.

If anyone has other suggestions about our itinerary, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks,
Frances