San Jose to Grand Canyon 16-day trip plan

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Originally Posted by adv4fun

What if AC is not working.......

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You'll know before you go, and get it fixed. It would have to be a real co-incidence if it stopped working right there. It is not as if it takes days to drive through Death Valley.

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Originally Posted by adv4fun

Flat-tire seems quite common?

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I don't think so. The roads are paved, and so long as you stay on them the chances are as great as anywhere else you drive. And even if it were to happen, it is not as if you are days away from help. (That only happens to those who go off the paved roads ill-prepared.) Death Valley has traffic going through it all the time.

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Originally Posted by adv4fun

Maybe i am a little too conservative?

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Yes you are, but so was I. It took until my third visit to the Southwest, before I was game to visit. All the horror stories I had read, terrified me.

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Originally Posted by adv4fun

Though I really want to experience DV landscape.

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Go ahead and do it, and afterwards, you will have a great chuckle and wonder why you worried. I know, I did.

That place is amazing!

Lifey

Thanks your guys so much for sharing .. it's very important to me.. Yes, I think I have been worried too much about DV :-).

Afterall, I decide to take the DV route after reading you guys' response. It only takes a couple of hours to cross, we can leave at 6AM in the morning from Lone Pine. It seems hotel is expensive at Lone pine(only one i found is Comfort Inn which charges $160/night). Any suggestion on a cheaper hotel at Lone pine?

Try the BW Plus Frontier Motel.

Bw Plus Frontier Motel
36.59881, -118.06002
Star rating not available
1008 S Main, Lone Pine, CA, 93545 United States 866-539-0036

Another - and possibly better - option may be to stay in Bishop. There are several hotels there, and I see rates starting around $60. It's only an hour from Lone Pine.

I know it's a bit of a cliche', but 'it's a dry heat'.

110 degrees with close to zero humidity is a lot more comfortable than 80 degrees with high humidity.

Just make sure you buy a couple quarts/gallons of water along the way, stay on the paved roads, and in the highly unlikely event of a breakdown, STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE.

Most people get in trouble, both in DV and in the piney woods, when they strike out on their own in stead of waiting for help.

I've passed through the valley in the summer... it's not that bad. In fact one summer they were running an ultra-marathon through the valley when we were there. Now THOSE people were crazy!

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Originally Posted by CalOldBlue

In fact one summer they were running an ultra-marathon through the valley when we were there. Now THOSE people were crazy!

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That is a while ago, I remember that. Steve Monaghetti ran in it. Was widely publicised. It was from reading about that, that I got my (misguided) fear of Death Valley.

Thanks all for your reply. It becomes clear that we are going to take DV route. Now the question is where we should stay for 18th night after yosemite before Zion. I am trying to stay one night between Yosemite and Zion. Since I want to get to Zion earlier on 19th so we spend more time at Zion. Below are some options I have:
1> Stay at Bishop or Lone Pine, the drawback is that it's a long drive on the 19th, I may get to Zion in the afternoon
2> Stay at LV. Then questions is what's the good time to enter DV on 18th so we could avoid the highest heat in DV? is 5PM still too hot and have enough time to cross DV before dark? If staying in LV on 18th, is it safe to drive in the evening from DV to LV?
3> Stay somewhere closer to DV right after crossing DV before getting to LV? where?

Any thoughts ?

I have stayed in Beatty, right by DV. The beaut part was being able to go into DV after dark, and really experience the stars, without any interference from city lighting. This was a few years ago. There was a choice of half a dozen or so establishments.

I would look at staying in either Beatty or Pahrump. Pahrump would get you closer to Zion. There's an unnumbered shortcut from Death Valley Junction (190/127) to Pahrump (State Line Road/Ash Meadows Road/Bell Vista Ave). It's paved and posted at 55 mph as I remember.

If you leave Yosemite valley after lunch as ealier planned, then I would stop in Lone Pine or Panamint Springs, it will be evening by the time you get there. If you leave the valley early and take a little time to enjoy Tioga pass, you could then make it across Death valley to the towns mentioned above and have time to stop at viewpoints etc.

Have you given any more thought to stopping in Vegas on the way to Zion so that you don't have to add miles going back to Vegas after Grand canyon on route to Sand Diego ?

It'll be a long day to Vegas, but it will maximise your time in Zion if that is your goal.

Yes, I think I should stretch a little more to reach LV at 18th. What's a good time to enter DV if we plan to get to Vegas at the night? I wonder if 5PM is still hot to cross LV? or we should actually just enter whenever we are ready after enjoying Tioga pass/mono lake etc?I may be OK to cross DV even around 3PM, right? with AC any way ;-).