San Fran - Yosemite - LA - Vegas in the depths of December

[unklerosco]

Hello from rainy Dublin... New to the forum with my first post...

About two years ago I drove from San Fran to LA along the coast... Was a great trip and hoping to do the same this year but via Yosemite...

We're flying into NYC this year and are looking towards getting a train to Niagara Falls then making our way to Park City UT(plane) and then onto San Fran.. Not sure how I'm gonna get to San Fran from Park City, I had thought about driving but the weather/snow would put me off.. The thoughts of getting stuck due to road closes would be a bit of a pain. Then again, I've no idea what the roads are like around there that time of year... Open to suggestions..

Anyways, the driving part of the holiday will be from San Fran towards Las Vegas...

I'm just wondering what the best route would be..

We're planning on leaving San Fran on the 28/29th December with a view to getting to LA on the 31st(cousin lives there and planing to spend new years with them)

I was thinking of making my way out of San Fran and heading for the following route - SR-156 to SR-152 to SR-59 to to SR-140 to SR-41, through Coarsegold and Oakhurst (I saw it in another thread n it looks like a great drive) Will that route be doable in at the end of December, with the roads be passable??

From there... Well, I dunno... Haven't gotten that far yet. Not really sure where to go as I'm not sure what the routes will be like at that time of year.

From LA to Vegas, we're either gonna drive it ourselves or leave the car in LA and drive there with my cousin. From Vegas I plan to fly to Orlando and end the holiday with some warmer weather :-)

[AZBuck]

Céad Míle Fáilte! Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

The train you'll want is called the Empire Service

People drive from Park City to San Francisco throughout the winter. All you really need to do is leave yourself a day or so of 'wiggle room' so that you don't have to drive during a storm. The major motorways (Interstates) are generally cleared within a few hours to half a day after a storm ends. There are also airport shuttles (passenger vans) between Park City and Salt Lake City airport.

The route you've laid out from San Francisco to Los Angeles would certainly work and gets you to the Yosemite area. Just note that in winter all the passes across the Sierra Nevada are closed including Tioga Pass east of Yosemite on CA-120 so that much of the park at higher elevations will be inaccessible to you, but you can get into Yosemite Village and the Canyon.

AZBuck

[glc]

You may not have to put them on, but you may be required to have tire chains to enter Yosemite in December.

You must have tire chains or cables in your possession when entering a designated chain control area, even if you're driving a four-wheel drive or rental vehicle. (Designation is by a sign that says, "CHAINS REQUIRED.") Conditions dictate when chains are required, therefore, it's not possible to predict if chains will be required ahead of time. You should have chains when visiting Yosemite from November through March (chain requirements may be in place on occasion as early as September or as late as May).