San Fransisco to ?? - Help!

[WhyHelloThere]

I am trying to plan a trip between 25th September and 7th October (approx), and am really stuck on a route. I know i'll start in San Fransisco, and want to see Yosemite. Other than that i'm flexible on routes :)

I was thinking of something like this:
- SF - 2 days
- Yosemite - 3 days
- Sequoia - 1 day
- Las Vegas - 1 day (i have no desire to go here, but i'm not sure where else to stay)
- Zion - 1 day
- Bryce - 1 day
- Monument Valley - 1 day
- Moab - 1 day
- Grand Junction - fly out


It seems really rushed though, and i don't know how doable it would really be. I am on my own, and in my mid 20's though, so will see things quite a lot faster than some :)


I want to see amazing scenery and will be taking a lot of landscape photos. I don't care for the cities around this part of the world, so am happy to ignore them. Any help on routes would be really appreciated, and i will be looking around the forum for other ideas.



Thanks

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA forum!

I'll start by saying that Grand Junction is a very small airport, and I suspect that rental car and airfare prices will both be much higher than if you finished your trip in Denver or Salt Lake City.

I'd say a couple of the obvious stops that you've left out on your journey are Death Valley and the Grand Canyon. If you went with your current plan, I'd go directly from Sequoia to the Grand Canyon, sicking to CA-99/CA-58/I-40. That would save you a few miles, rather than going north to Vegas.

The downside of this is that you'd be skipping Tioga Pass across the Sierras through Yosemite, and you'd also miss Death Valley. Since your trip is pretty hurried, I think I would make a choice between Monument Valley and Zion/Bryce, just because you'll be looking at a fair bit of backtracking to hit both.

There are lots of great choices, and this is a very popular route and topic on this forum, so if you spend a little time searching around, you'll find lots more tips and suggestions.