Winter Travel on Nevada & Utah on US-50

[hjiang]

My wife and I are planning a trip for the Christmas and New Year holidays. We will be leaving the US soon, so this might be the last long road trip here for us. I'm tempted to travel "the loneliest road in the US" (US-50) across Nevada. We will start from Santa Cruz, CA and want to reach the national parks in Utah (Zion and others). On our way back we plan to go through Las Vegas and possibly Death Valley. My main concern is whether my Prius (2007) will do fine in the trip. I know the roads near Lake Tahoe is sometime snowy and may require chains, but what about the rest of US-50 in Nevada? Should I expect any tough road condition after Tahoe? Should I consider renting a 4WD SUV? I have snow chains but have never used them.

Since I have plenty of vacation days to take off of work, I'm considering the possibility of getting to Yellowstone. But does it make sense at all to go there in the winter? Will most of it be closed?

Many thanks for your suggestions.

[Mark Sedenquist]

You need to be prepared for winter driving conditions (Ice and snow) anywhere in the western United States. There's less moisture along US-50 in Nevada and therefore less snow, but it could happen anywhere along your drive.

You might enjoy this tale of a roadtrip along US-50!

Mark

[hjiang]

Sorry, this is about a different trip (a year has passed :-). Yes I read the article you pointed me to. It's very interesting.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Sorry about that combining of the two threads -- now, its back the way it should have been.

In the summertime Route 50 is pretty busy, but in the winter it would be much more open.

I think you'll have a great time -- Make sure you stay at the Hotel Nevada in Ely -- and ask for one of the "special" rooms. Here's some more tips for this area.

Mark

[hjiang]

Thanks for the link Mark. Looks great!