Short Road Trip California Arizona – Less than a week

[ralphwigum]

Hi all,

After a few days in NY and LA, a friend and I plan to do a road trip on the West Coast of the US (California Arizona) which would last 6 days (starting from LA). We do realise it’s a short time for a road trip. That is why I would like to present you the itinerary we intend to follow to see what you guys think about it::

29 March : Los Angeles - Lake Havasu travelling through Joshua Tree park
30 March : Lake Havasu – Page (Lake Powell) travelling through Grand Canyon
31 Mars : Page (Lake powell) - Las Vegas travelling through Zion National Park
1 April : Las Vegas - Fresno travelling through Death Valley. The overnight stop as Fresno is to avoid doing Las Vegas – Yosemite in just a day. By the way, would you have some better overnight stops to propose than Fresno for the Las Vegas – Yosemite trip?

2 April : Fresno - Yosemite Arrival at Yosemite in the morning
3 April: Yosemite – San Francisco Arrival San Francisco end of afternoon

What do you guys think about it? For the Lake Havasu - Lake Powell bit, how long should be stop at Grand Canyon?

PS: we cannot take more days for our holidays.

Thanks !

[Lifemagician]

Hi and Welcome to the Great American Roadtrip Forum.

With so much on your list in such a short time, the most you will be able to do is drive through all the places you mention. Places which really need a lot more time to see anything at all.

If this were me, I would pick two or three of the sites on the top of your list, and spend a little more time in each. That way you will actually feel as if you have seen something, rather than just crossing sites off your list.... without really having seen anything.

Lifey

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I think you've got a good start to your plan, but there are a couple things I'd think about changing.

Right now, you really aren't giving yourself much time at all for the Grand Canyon. Just driving from LH to Page would take you about 7 hours. I think you need at least a half day to check out the Grand Canyon, and a full day is much better (it really is a big place, with miles of different viewpoints). Your current plan would only give you a couple hours, tops, to see it.

I think I would skip Joshua Tree, and spend your first day driving to the Grand Canyon - or at least Williams - and spend the night. That way you can start seeing the Canyon first thing on day 2, perhaps even getting to see the sunrise, and have at least the morning there, before heading onto Page - which is still 3-4 hours away from GC Village.

Page to Vegas via Zion is possible, but again, you're not going to have much time to explore Zion. Are you hoping to see anything in Vegas? Right now, you pretty much will only have time to use it as a place to sleep. Skipping Page/Zion and just going from GC back to Vegas might be another place to trim to give yourself more time elsewhere.

Vegas to Fresno via Death Valley is another day where really all you would have time to do is drive through DV without any significant stopping. Spending the night around Bakersfield or Lake Isabella would be closer to halfway. Since you're spending another night in Yosemite, and don't have to be in SF until Late Afternoon, you'd still have about 24 hours in Yosemite, even if you cut that drive a bit shorter.

However, if you are flying out of SF in the late afternoon (and thus probably need to leave Yosemite first thing in the morning), then I'd probably stick with your "drive through" Death Valley plan, since it seems Yosemite is a top priority for you.

[Southwest Dave]

Personally I think you would get more out of the trip by attempting less. LA to GC to Vegas to Lake Isabella to Yosemite to SF would be the most efficient with a possible detour into Sequoia NP.