Ambitous? Salt Lake City to Halchita Utah in a day via UT95

[Basil]

I was thinking on doing this drive as part as an overall trip starting at Rushmore via Yellowstone and on to Salt Lake City. I only have a day to get to Halchita from Salt Lake City or thereabouts with the intention of driving via Monument Valley Utah on way to North Rim Grand Canyon after staying a night in Halchita.

Not knowing road conditions and as an Australian used to driving on the opposite side of the road is driving the UT95 in a day too ambitous?

Your advice is welcomed.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Actually, getting from Salt Lake City to Halchita, UT in a day should be quite doable, but there are a few things you should be aware of. Unless you already have an exact place to spend the night in mind, you should be looking at nearby Mexican Hat, UT instead. Halchita is a small village on the Navajo Reservation and you should not expect to find typical accommodations there. There are few enough places in Mexican Hat just outside the reservation. And while the 360 mile drive can be made in about 6 hours of driving time, you should plan on at least one meal break and spending a couple of hours (at a minimum) at the spectacular Arches National Park which is directly on your route.

AZBuck

[glc]

Welcome!

I had to really dig to find Halchita - you are spending the night in Mexican Hat?

It's about 360 miles from SLC to Mexican Hat, and it can be done in one pretty full day, I'd guess about 8 hours or so. The open road speed limit in Utah is generally 65 mph. You can cut off 40 miles if you are up for driving down the Moki Dugway (UT-261, if you take it I recommend you obey the 5 mph speed limit!). Is there a particular reason you are taking UT-95 rather than US-191?

Is this the same trip that is in this thread? If so, it looks like you have made quite a few changes!

[Basil]

Thanks for information.

It is mexican hat we are intending on staying at. I think I used Halchita as a reference point for google maps.

[Basil]

Thanks glc

On google maps it is the 191 sorry my mistake.

I doubt I will be driving at 65mph the canyon heights spook me a little. I think on our last visit driving Tioga pass and down into death valley I was a bit conservative with my speed (maybe 40-50mph when going around canyon areas) as it seemed like a long drop of the edge.

Plans have changed somewhat due to time factors so we are flying into New York for 5 nights Via LA or San Francisco. Flying to Orlando/Miama for two weeks including a carribean cruise and then we fly to Denver to start the driving part of the Holiday as follows;
Denver - Keystone - Gillette - Cody - Yellowstone - Jackson - Rexburg - Salt Lake City
Mexican Hat - Grand Canyon North Rim - Springdale - Vegas, Santa Monica?, Cambria?, Fresno, Yosemite and San Francisco befor returning back to Australia.

Part of the problem was the previous trip was geared towards what I wanted to see/do(forgot about my other half) so I had to balance it out. Plus I loved San Francisco, Yosemite, Vegas so I have to go back. All up its about 6 weeks.

[glc]

You will have no problem maintaining 65 mph on most of 191. It's an excellent road.

[Southwest Dave]

You can certainly do the trip from SLC to MH same day quite comfortably and without rushing. If you have an extra night to spare in your itinerary, you could consider stopping in Moab for Arches NP and/or Canyonlands. An option worthy of consideration would be to head to Bryce canyon instead of MV. I personally found Bryce canyon far more rewarding and it would save you a couple of hundred miles of driving.

Vegas, Santa Monica?, Cambria?, Fresno, Yosemite and San Francisco before returning back to Australia.

This route setting would have you miss Death valley, the Tioga pass and the spectacular coastal highway around Big Sur. Unless you decide you definitely want to go to Santa Monica and the urban sprawl of LA, here's what I would do. Las Vegas to Yosemite NP via Death valley and the Tioga pass [CA120] with an overnight stop around Bishop. Yosemite to Cambria and then around Big Sur to Monterey and back to SF. Personally I would find that more rewarding and you would save a few miles as well !

[Basil]

Thanks Southwest Dave

I forgot to mention our last trip we covered pacific highway from Cambria to San Francisco then Tioga Pass to Death Valley. This time I was thinking of viewing Yosemite from the South eg Glacier Point via Glacier Point Road and thus the zig zag on way to Yosemite.

Also we a dependent on best value airfares for example if we try to book over the next month our flights to New York with a 1 night stop in LA they want over $7000 (for 2) coach class. Same airfare next April (3 months before trip) expecting $3500.

In addition the car hire companies want around $600 one way fee if we pick up car in Denver and drop of San Francisco/LA, so we may fly from Miami and pick car up in vegas drive southern Utah as planned up to Rapid City (via Moab), yellowstone etc and head to Yosemite via Lake Tahoe and finish in San Francisco or Santa Monica dependent on airfare arrangement. The one way fee would drop by $400 and give us more to spoil ourselves on the roadtrip.

So at the moment the shell of the trip is there but final route is still being researched. If we do fly into San Fran Cambria, Fresno and Santa Monica will be dropped (if we pick up car in Vegas SLC will also go) and we will increase time in Utah and Yellowstone.

Thanks again everyone this website has been a great research tool.