South Utah & Arizona motorcycle road trip

[nicjac]

We are in the midst of planning a 7-day motorcycle road trip leaving Las Vegas and doing a loop north through southern Utah and back through Arizona (late April/early May). Itinerary so far looks like this:

Las Vegas to Bryce Ut (Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, )
Bryce UT to Moab UT (Scenic route 12, Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Colorado River)
Moab UT to Bluff UT (Monument Valley & Four Corners)
Bluff UT to Winslow AZ (Chinle NP, Route 66, Petrified Forest, Painted Desert)
Winslow to Williams AZ (Via Grand Canyon NP)
Williams to Prescott AZ (Sedona and area tour)
Prescott AZ to Las Vegas

In the early trip planning stages, we were going to go where the wind took us. We then decided we'd be better off planning our itinerary to see the most we can see in 7 days. We're hoping we haven't been overly ambitious (It is our vacation after all) and we'll be on a motorcycle which can be trying at times (due to weather, etc) This is basically a scenic drive tour, with very little hiking (or at least we don't think we will have time for hiking). We have booked some hotels along the way.

Now that we look at the amount of parks, canyons, etc that we will see - we are already overwhelmed -- but excited about our trip.

This site has been very helpful to us. Would appreciate any feedback, tips, comments with regards to our planned itinerary. Especially for the last two days (must sees, etc.). We've tentatively planned Prescott as our last night but would be open for any suggestions (Jerome, Sedona, Lake Havasu City??). Also, we are curious about cell phone reception in these areas. Our experience here on the East Coast of Canada is that our National Parks or remote areas have little or no reception.

[Mark Sedenquist]

We are in the midst of planning a 7-day motorcycle road trip leaving Las Vegas and doing a loop north through southern Utah and back through Arizona

Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum! Your trip seems like a lot of miles to cover in seven days -- but it is going to be gorgeous.

Especially for the last two days (must sees, etc.). We've tentatively planned Prescott as our last night but would be open for any suggestions (Jerome, Sedona, Lake Havasu City??).

Prescott is an up and coming bedroom community -- whereas Jerome is perched on the side of the mountain -- I can't even remember if there are any level places.... If it were me, I would stay there. Lake Havasu has London Bridge --

Actually I would suggest driving on old Route 66 from Seligman and go over Sitgreaves Pass into Oatman and the follow US-95 back to Las Vegas (you will miss crossing Hoover Dam and that's too bad), but that old road up to Oatman is pretty great. And RTA Member Pahsnit runs the finest motorcycle routing site on the Web. You WILL get some ideas from looking around his site.

Also, we are curious about cell phone reception in these areas. Our experience here on the East Coast of Canada is that our National Parks or remote areas have little or no reception

That is true here as well. Cell service is always going to be spotty here in the states. Generally, you can count on cell service within 2-3 miles of any interstate highway in America and in most towns and all cities. Beyond that -- only satellite service approaches reliability.

Welcome to America!

Mark

[nicjac]

Mark, thanks for your prompt reply. We will check out Jerome for our last night on the road and will check out Pashit's site for more info.

And we'll have to choose between Hoover Dam or Sitgreaves pass for our route back to Vegas.

[Utahtea]

WOW, that is ambitious! That's a lot of parks in a short amount of time! Buy the National Park Pass for $50 to get into all the National Parks, it will save you some money.

Utahtea

[nicjac]

Utahtea -- Thanks for the great tip on the national parks pass! Do you think our itinerary is overly ambitious? We expect a lot of scenery and drives through scenic routes, but know that we won't be able to spend hours at any given stop. We don't want to drive at night and we expect early starts each morning to start the day.

Thanks again for the info. This is a great site and we've enjoyed planning our trip with all the great info from this site!

[Utahtea]

You are looking at driving about 1500 miles in 7 days. You will better know if that is something you are up to or not. Your smart to keep your traveling to daylight hours. You can check sunrise and sunset times here: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html It looks like you will have about 13 1/2 hours of daylight at this time of the year. You can get a wide range of temps at this time of the year.

You can drive through Zion on Hwy 9, but to see the scenic canyon drive you will have to ride the free Zion Shuttle buses. This will take about 1 1/2 hours and please take the time to do this. I also recommend the 2 easy 2 mile Riverside Walk at the end of the canyon. Bryce can be seen by stopping at a few of the major overlooks like Bryce Point, Sunrise and Sunset points. Scenic Hwy 12 will blow your mind away. Capitol Reefs can be seen on the scenic drive into the park. You might consider a little detour to Goblin State Park just north of Hanksville, Utah.

At Canyonlands do the Green River Overlook and the Grandview Overlooks. Drive the scenic drive in Arches. If you do one hike on this trip, try to fit in the 3 mile round trip hike to Delicate Arch! Monument Valley can be seen from the main road. I don't know if they allow motorcycles on the dirt roads into the park.

From Flagstaff drive north on Hwy 89 and take the 395 loop past Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monument. Enter the Grand Canyon at Desert View entrance. Make sure you stop at the scenic overlooks as you make your way to the Grand Canyon village.

I'll second the recommendations for taking old Route 66 from Kingman to Oatman! You will really get a feel for what the old route was like. Oatman is a kick!

I'd love to hear about your trip when you get back.

[nicjac]

Thanks Utahtea for all the great info and advice. We'll be sure to report back when we get back from our road trip.