Las Vegas to Yosemite

[Sandy Anderson]

Planning a trip from Las Vegas to Yosemite, any help would be appreciated. Does not have to include death valley as we can do this next time and we would like to stop overnight in a place with character and good food!

your advise would be appreciated

Sandy

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

Death Valley is basically on the direct route from Vegas to Yosemite (you can go other ways, but it doesn't save you many miles), so I'd suggest you at least take a quick drive through. I suspect at the least that would give you a taste that will make you want to go back there sooner rather than later.

There are several towns along US-395 that could make for a good stop. I suspect that Bishop or Mammoth Lakes would be the kind of places that you would be looking for.

[glc]

Welcome!

There are essentially 2 main ways to get from LV to Yosemite - through Death Valley and in via Tioga Pass, and around south through Bakersfield. Either way is an easy 2 day drive with time for sightseeing.

I personally would much prefer the former, and the largest town between LV and Yosemite would be Bishop. A nicer place to stay would be Mammoth Lakes - it's a ski resort town and considerably more upscale than Bishop. It's about 325 miles from LV to Mammoth Lakes through Death Valley, and can easily be driven in 8 hours including some sightseeing.

[Southwest Dave]

I too would opt for the drive across Death Valley via Pahrump on 160 and take the Locals route along Bell Vista Ave/Ash Meadows Road to Death valley junction and use 190/136 to 395.
The actual quickest route would be to head up US95 to NV266/CA266/NV264/US6/CA120 to Lee Vining and into Yosemite. From CA266 you could take CA168 to 395 and Bishop/Mammoth Lakes for the night.

As already mentioned, the Death Valley route would be favourite, but if you wanted to 'save' it for another day, I personally would still opt for US95 and drive the Tioga Pass rather than heading via Bakersfield, plus it is also quicker.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Other options....

Sandy, most of us really like the DV route, but here are some alternatives....

Offline, I mentioned that my second favorite route (and perhaps #1 in the summer months) is the route that goes through the White Mountains. Especially since you can also visit the incomparably cool bristlecone national forest. Information here. This is also the route favored by Megan Edwards which originally led you to this site!

If you're looking for a town enroute with lots of character.... None can surpass Goldfield and Tonopah. The famous Wyatt brothers operated a bar in Goldfield and much of the original hotels are still there. Tonopah boasts one of the very best mining museums in the West. Lodging: The Jim Butler Inn is a classic road trip destination - A bit rustic, but memorable.
and if you took this route, you'd then proceed to US-395 along US-6 (very scenic).

Bishop is home to Schat's Bakery and the Mahogany Meat Company.

Near the turn-off for Yosemite is the drive to Bodie....
Photos by Jon

As is always the case, there are too many places to stop and see along such a route.

You could also take I-15 from Las Vegas to Barstow and then west on CA-58 to US-395 and travel the entire highway to Bishop. And in early summer that is a darn nice route.

Mark

[Mark Sedenquist]

Actually, maybe you'd like to stay in Barstow? Barstow is a Route 66 town. The very first Del Taco is there and the Idle Spur Steakhouse is memorable.

There are lots of murals and other historic attractions.

And you could visit the Kelso Depot and Mojave National Preserve on the way.

Mark