September Roadtrip: SF to Las Vegas and Beyond

[Sykotyk]

I will admit, Four Corners is there strictly for the novelty of it. If not for arbitrary lines on a map, it would hold no significance whatsoever.

Basically, if you're passing through the area, it's a neat tourist trap, but not worth going out of your way for, to me. (I went up US550 from Albuquerque, so it was on a few miles extra from Teec Nos Pos to hit it).

Sykotyk

[davidwebb_uk]

Well after lots more reading and even booking some hotels our itenary is looking a lot more full. We have the last few days to close out, waiting to hear back from some people on reservations but so far here it is. If people have comments, suggested sites, routes I'm more than open to hearing them.

Thanks for all the help so far, not just on this thread but every other thread I've garnered info from.

9th Sept - Fly into SFO staying at Hotel Diva for 4 Nights.
9th - 13th San Francisco inc. Alcatraz at Night

13th Sept Drive to Yosemite and Stay at Curry Lodge for 1 night.

14th Sept Drive to Death Valley (via Tioga Pass) and Stay at Panamint Springs for 1 Night. Would like to go to the racetrack (i've seen an excellent night shot) but unsure how viable this would be.

15th Sept Drive to Las Vegas staying at hopefully New York New York for 4 nights.
15th - 19 Sept Explore Las Vegas (my 30th is the 17th so suggestions for something big would be cool)

19th Sept Drive to Grand Canyon North Rim and stay at Kaibab Lodge for 4 nights
19th -23rd Sept Explore the North Rim inc. Torroweap, Widforrs Trail, Marble View, Bright Angel Point and possible the Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch...

Now this is were it gets a little less solid. We'd like to do a full day photo tour of the Antelope Canyons, see Horsehoe Bend, drive the Moki Dugway, explore Monument Valley and Arches National Park before heading back to Las Vegas (possible through Bryce and Zion) to fly home.

So this is how the above is penciled in.

23rd Sept Drive to Antelope Canyon. Stay nearby for 2 nights (Recommendations?)
24th Sept - Full Day Photo tour of the Antelope Canyon ( Will likely be with the Adventurous Antelope Canyon Photo Tour people (Carol Bigthumb))

25th Sept Drive to Monument Valley

27th Sept Drive to Arches

29th Sept Drive to Las Vegas to stay at the Stratosphere for 1 night

30th Sept Fly home to London

So it's a lot more solid than it has been and I'm happy with it at the moment, but it could change. I'm a keen photographer so hoping we've allowed enough time to take photos and not have to drive silly mileage to do it.

As before any thoughts ideas please post em and I'll take em on board.

thanks again.


This Google Maps link may show you the places i've marked on the map... I'm gonna try and add routes to it (inc. the ones suggested elsewhere in this forum)

[CalOldBlue]

I've done a "photographer's" tour at Antelope Canyon (Roger Ekis); spectacular and I highly recommend it. Make sure you have a tripod; you will be taking exposures in the 15-30 second or more range.

The best time (they say) to take photos is when the sun is high overhead and some light beams penetrate the canyon; this means you have maybe 60-90 minutes of prime shooting.... not sure what a full-day tour would get you, you may want to check around.

We were able to leave Monument Valley early early and make it to Page in plenty of time to make the photo tour; you may want to consider leaving Antelope Canyon after the tour and heading straight to MV. We stayed at Gouldings.

As for lodgings near Antelope Canyon; my guess is Page is the only game in town.

THEORETICALLY, you may be able to leave North Rim early, hit a photographer's tour in Page, and spend that night in Monument Valley. Our day was MV ->Page -> Zion Lodge. Total 250 miles for us (7-8 hours of driving time) and doable if you're doing a 2-3 hour photo tour at high noon (plus lunch).

As this is a tight schedule, if you choose this route, make sure you tour reservations and MV lodging reservations also.

[CalOldBlue]

I've never done North Rim, but I wonder if you could afford to trim back from 4 nights to 3 in order to squeeze more time for Zion and Bryce, two of my favorite (and photogenic) parks.

I would suggest you consider something like:

Leave LV (early), spend full day and two nights in/near Zion (I happen to love Zion Lodge, but there are motel options outside the park).

Leave Zion early, loop up to Bryce, take the Navajo/Queens Garden loop, drive to North Rim (alternate: spend a night at Bryce; either the lodge or Ruby's Inn)

North Rim 3 nights

Eliminate the two nights in Page as per my earlier suggestion.

The above itinerary puts you in to MV on the 6th or 7th night out of LV, yours puts you there on the 7th night.

Anybody else out there want to comment on this? Too aggressive?

[Southwest Dave]

I 100% agree that visiting Zion on route to North rim is a good idea. Although another alternative would be to spend one night there and head to North rim, leaving Zion mid afternoon.
23rd] Head for Antelope canyon [Page]
24th] Take your photography tour and then head to Bryce [Ruby's Inn?].
25th] Explore Bryce, leave and take scenic 12 and the 24 [Capitol reef] and stop on the way to Arches.
26th] Continue to Arches and explore.
27th] A bit more exploring and leave to Monument valley. [Moki dugway?]
28th] Explore MV some more and head for Williams or nearby.
29th Back to Vegas over the Hoover dam. [A bit of old route '66 through Seligman?].

Makes a really nice loop.

[davidwebb_uk]

Hey guys, thanks for the suggestions. Caloldblue, I think we've come to the decision to see less of more places and more of less places (if that makes sense). But knowing that the run out from Page/Antelope Canyon to Bryce could be done in ~3hrs I'm tempted to run up into Bryce.

SWDave, after reading your photo diary I like what you saw and like the sound of your route for our last few days. Thanks for the info.

Now I need to look into places to stay in Arches and somewhere on route 66.


Do you think it's worth (or even viable) to come through Canyon de Chelly from MV to williams(ish)?

[Southwest Dave]

Do you think it's worth (or even viable) to come through Canyon de Chelly from MV to williams(ish)?

Canyon De Chelley is on my "to do" list, and I hope to cross it off this Fall. It's certainly viable, and I would say most definitely worth it, even if you only have time for the views from the rim, but it's one of those things that you should be able to decide on the road depending on how long you spend at MV and how you are feeling etc.

[davidwebb_uk]

Cool. Well route wise it looks viable two ways, past Canyon de Chelly in 6hrs to Flagstaff or a more direct route in 3hrs to Flagstaff. So I guess we'll see how we feel. Emma's interested in the Petrified Forest so I'm thinking we'll be going via Canyon de Chelly.

We've just book the VIEW hotel in Monument Valley. So now Just Bryce, Arches and Vegas to go. With 2 nights possible left to random chance in between Bryce and Arches and MV and LV.

I've spent the afternoon drawing routes on our map of the southwest so am a bit excited. :lol:

[Southwest Dave]

A Wig Wam !

If you want to visit Petrified forest you could stop a bit earlier at Holbrook and stay at the Wig wam Motel. It's almost an hour and a half from Flagstaff, but you can still get to Vegas OK.
Moab is the nearest town for Arches and as I said earlier Ruby's Inn is well located for Bryce.
A tip for Bryce; Drive down to the far end of the Canyon and stop at all the view points on the way back. This will put all the pull outs on your side of the road and you won't have to keep pulling across the traffic.

I've spent the afternoon drawing routes on our map of the southwest so am a bit excited. :lol:

Yeah ! Bet you can't wait. I sure hope you pop in with a report on your return, we love photo's as well ;-)

[davidwebb_uk]

The Wigwams look cool, I also found hints of a teepee hotel near Cainville but only phone numbers so I'll have to call during the week and find out more.

Ruby's Inn looks like a goer and I'll read more about Moab.

Thanks for the tip on Bryce.