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Check the site for Rocky Mountains National Park, but it will be a miracle if it is open in a few weeks, seeing it was closed on and off back in September. At that altitude, it probably gets snow before any other road.Quote:
Originally Posted by wetworx
A fantastic drive though!
Lifey who finally drove it on her fifth attempt
haha...thanks for the tip lifey...
speaking of snow, I just heard that the drive up from Cali to Seattle is unmanageable without chains on my tyres.
Should I expect that leg of my trip to take a couple days versus the half-day I planned.
Hi wetworx,
Whatever will be will be but I wouldn't expect to get from Cali to Seattle in half a day whatever the weather. If the Interstate required chains to make it manageable then no one should be on the road accept the crews who are clearing it. If it's that bad elsewhere you either need to wait it out or head to the Interstate.
Trail Ridge road is great, but as Lifey said probably not an option. If weather permitted and you wanted a scenic detour off of 1 70 Loveland pass is spectacular as it crosses the Continental divide and rejoins I 70 at Dillon. It's an all year round route but will close under extreme conditions and if open could still be treacherous. At Grand junction you could also detour to the Colorado NM and drive around the Rim road, spectacular views !
While in the Moab area and if time permits, I would recommend driving to Grand view point in the "Islands of the sky" section of Canyonlands and walk the Trail to the end which isn't to far. Great views all the way around you of the rock formations and canyons below. Other points of interest on that section with quick stops are Mesa Arch and Shafer trial viewpoints.
I'm a little concerned that you think that California to Seattle is a half day drive - unless by half day you mean literally half of the entire day or 12 hours. Its 500 miles from the California/Oregon border to Seattle, which is a solid 9 hour trip - a full day of travel with minimal stops in good conditions.
If you are starting from Redding, you're looking at a 10-12 hour trip, a very long day on the road, and if your starting point is Sacramento, you're looking at more than 750 miles, which pushes you up into a fairly unmanagable distance for one day requiring a good 14 hours on the road.
And again, that assumes clear dry conditions and you are taking I-5. If you start hitting a snowstorm at elevation you're travel times will increase signficantly, and if you are talking about taking US-101 up the coast basically double the time estimates I provided.
Also, since you've listed this trip as a half day drive, I'd also be taking another look at other legs of driving you are considering, as I suspect you may be severely underestimating those distances too. Which could really become a snowballing problem for your overall trip.
Here is more information about the mountain passes on I-5 and traveling in winter conditions.
I too was concerned as you mentioned "a couple of days" in the same sentence as a half day, and you wouldn't drive 48 hours without rest, so I took it as a half day on the road meaning 5 or 6 hours or so.
For clarity and to get the best advice I would post your updated route and an idea of your timeline so that you can get the best advice. At the moment your trip is going to be in the region of 2,700 miles or more by the time you have detoured into parks etc. It can be done but you will be driving 5 hours a day just to cover the ground, and going into a National parks or a City will eat up valuable time on top of that before you can even get out of the car.
Once again this is without any weather disruption.
Trail Ridge Road is already closed for the season. If The chain controls are in effect on I-5 between CA and Seattle, they would be for the Siskiyou Pass area. You have 2 choices - wait it out or take US-101 along the coast. Either way is going to delay you considerably.
Thank you for all your concern, I would like to be prepared for this trip as much as I reasonably can.
I understand this schedule will have to be flexible, essentially it's CO (drive thru) > UT > Napa > SF > Redwoods > Seattle...so if we need to drop a destination in loo of the schedule we will.
There are also two drivers, if that matters.
12/12 arrive DEN 9:30am, let's say on the road by 11am (rental car)
get onto I-70 West through the Rockies/Vail Pass (may take a detour to Loveland Pass)
I-70 > SR-24 > SR-12 > Bryce (by evening)
I think we'll camp at Bryce, but I need to call to check whether the time of arrival will be an issue. If so, any suggestions?
[alternate route, Den > I-70 > US-89]
[alternate alternate route, Den > I-25 > I-80 > I-15 / US-89, 2 days]
[alternate camp, US-89 > SR-9 > Zion]
12/13 - 12/16, try to see a few of the following : Zion, Bryce Canyon, Coyotte Buttes, Canyonlands...I realize each of these will be a day or two of activity, but how much time will it take to drive to each relative to Bryce Canyon?
12/17 depart camp, early morning
I-15 North > I-80 West > Bonneville Salt Flats, by afternoon.
after which drive US-93 South > US-50 West > I-80
[stop not determined yet...either campground, motel or truckstop]
12/18 arrive Napa at night (in time for dinner?), stay overnight
12/19 depart Napa in the early morning, arrive in SF by noon
12/22 morning depart SF, via SR-1 > US-101. Arrive Redwood National Park by afternoon.
[stop not determined yet...either campground, motel or truckstop]
12/23 early morning continue US-101 to Seattle, arrive at night to drop off rental car (maybe able to push it to the morning of 12/24)
Please let me know, what works and what doesn't. Thank you all again.
Well, you've got a few things that you'll really need to reconsider.
That first step is a doozy - as in not a feasable plan. You really need to rethink your first day.
Denver to Bryce is almost 600 miles. That's at least a 10 hour day on the road, if you don't take any extra detours or significant stops, and don't take the detour you're looking at. So, even in the best case planning, you're not going to get there until 9pm - about 4 hours after dark at this time of year. Going via UT-24 will likely push your arrival to near midnight. Also note that Bryce is up at about 7,000 feet of elevation, and it will likely be very cold at night. You're going to need serious winter gear for camping here.
I'm also under the assumption that you'll be coming in after an overnight international flight? Trying to do that much driving after that kind of flying is not a smart idea. Its also probably very optimistic to assume that you'll be on the road by 11, once you deal with customs, and car rental.
I any case, I would strongly suggest you dramatically reduce your plans for the first day. Moab would be about as far as I would even consider traveling (even that will be a good 6 hours and is probably pushing things), but that would make more sense if you are thinking of visiting canyonlands anyway.
Your coastal plans are also simply not feasable. SF to Redwoods via the coast is again a very full day on the road and unless you leave at dawn, you likely won't arrive there until after dark. Redwoods to Seattle, even if you cut over to I-5 from Crescent City to Grants Pass and weather is good will likely be another 12 hour drive. That will have left zero time to spend any time in the redwoods. Going from the Redwoods to Seattle in one day via the coast is simply not physically possible.
actually we're both flying in from NY haha
and I have some experience camping in the winter at altitude (yes it is very cold even with serious camping gear hehe)
but you're absolutely correct about that first leg, it would make more sense that Moab is as far as we can get that first night. I'll look for overnight lodging there with plans to setup camp the following morning.
Can anyone tell me how long it would take to drive from Bryce to the Coyotte Buttes in AZ?
as for SF > Seattle, I'll have to think about the scheduling of this and discuss it with my gf.
Oh and is that middle section, Bryce > Bonneville Salt Flats > Napa seem doable in the time given?
my gratitude for the reply ;-)
I have not been there but if memory serves me correct I think it's about 6 hours by the rough Johnson canyon rd and slightly less going via Kanab, not something I would recommend this trip given your schedule. I still think your under estimating the time it will take just to get an overview of the places you are wanting to visit.Quote:
Can anyone tell me how long it would take to drive from Bryce to the Coyotte Buttes in AZ?
How I see it is,
If you arrive in Moab on the 13th you won't have any daylight hours to sight see. It will take you most of the 14th to drive through Arches NP and Islands in the sky of Canyonlands, it will be a full day if you get out of the car to take short walks to the viewpoints/Arches, possibly start heading towards Bryce. The 15th continue to Bryce and stay the night. The 16th will give you time to see some of Zion and then you can get to Bonneville Salt flats 17th and Napa on the 18th.
To be perfectly honest I would head to the Redwoods from Salt lake and then to Napa and fly out from San Fran and make the whole trip more relaxed with a cushion for any weather disruption, but hey that's me, it's your trip and I wish you well with it.
BTW the Arches campground is in a great spot at the far end of the canyon.