First ever RV trip – Vegas, Grand Canyon, Antelope, Zion, Yosemite and San Francisco

[Mark Sedenquist]

Certainly one of the better videos, I've seen of this hike. Aren't you glad that the park installed the handrails?

Still plenty of places where it would have been easy to slip.

The trail is closed right now so the trail crew can work on some of the washouts. So, your timing was very good.

Mark

[Redw28]

Thanks Mark, I did get the impression that the rangers were as worn down by the constant stream of people as we were.

[NowthatIamretired]

I’m enjoying all of this and all the pictures. We are headed out there and will be going through Yosemite on the Thursday after Labor Day. While I know it will be busy I am hoping being mid week after the holiday weekend will mean it’s manageable.

[Redw28]

Certainly one of the better videos, I've seen of this hike. Aren't you glad that the park installed the handrails?

Still plenty of places where it would have been easy to slip.

The trail is closed right now so the trail crew can work on some of the washouts. So, your timing was very good.

Mark

Wow! That was lucky, it would have been really disappointing to miss it. You’re right, I can’t imagine how he would have done it without the handrails.

[Redw28]

I won’t write much about this next 2 parts of our trip but as it’s still a road trip of sorts, I’ll comment on some highlights.

The drive down from Upper Pines into Dublin, San Francisco is one of the hardest drives we had done since picking up the RV, it is very twisty as it comes down the mountain but still interesting.

The drop off process at El Monte was really easy and as I'd hired a car from Hertz right behind El Monte, everything was good.

We had booked a beautiful 3 bed townhouse in Daly City and it was really nice to have a good shower and a big comfy bed!

In SF we did all the standard tourist things; Cable Cars, Lombard street, Fisherman’s Wharf, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge. I would say that whilst Alcatraz was a very crowded tour, the audio commentary made it absolutely brilliant.














We also found time to stroll around a little and take in some of the architecture and Macondray Lane, used in Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series of books.




Probably the best thing to recommend would be Basically Free Bike Rentals for the cycle to the Golden Gate Bridge - https://basicallyfree.com/ The bikes are pretty good and about the same price as anywhere else but the deal is that you get a credit at one of their sports stores to the value of your rental. There’s one in ythe park near the bridge so we went in on the way back and spent our $90 credit which bought us a new football (sorry, Soccer ball!), a skills ball, a sports shirt and some running socks. Not bad!

We had a good time in San Francisco but we were starting to miss the freedom of the RV and the beauty of the National Parks!

[Southwest Dave]

The drive down from Upper Pines into Dublin, San Francisco is one of the hardest drives we had done since picking up the RV, it is very twisty as it comes down the mountain but still interesting.

That sounds like the New Priests grade you refer to on CA120 after Groveland ! Yeah thats quite a drive in an RV, although it's a lot tamer than the Old Priests grade.

We had a good time in San Francisco but we were starting to miss the freedom of the RV and the beauty of the National Parks!

I know exactly what you mean !

Alcatraz looked pretty busy, we visited one October and you could (with a little patience) get a clear (of people) picture along the corridors.

[Redw28]

Alcatraz looked pretty busy, we visited one October and you could (with a little patience) get a clear (of people) picture along the corridors.

I booked the 2nd ferry of the day (couldn't book the first) so thought it wouldn't be too bad! Imagine what it would have been like later in the day! Good tour though.

[Redw28]

Having had a busy 2 weeks we thought a relaxing few day on the cost was called for so we booked an apartment in a small complex on the beach at Pajaro Dunes. Pajaro Dunes is on the beach west of Watsonville, midway between Monterey and Santa Cruz. We knew that this was not a beach holiday as such as the water is cold and there is a lot of mist this time of year. But there was time for reading, relaxing, walking on the beach as well as playing tennis and football.

This was the view from our balcony!



The beach was beautiful, Pajaro is Spanish for bird and there were plenty of those around with protected habitats along some of the dunes.

We really enjoyed Pajaro Dunes and did indeed relax which was a good job we enjoyed the relaxing because the trips we had planned were a bit of a let down to say the least!

Santa Cruz – The less said the better really. We had thought about a trip in the week but actually went on the way to Pajaro because we had time to kill before we could check in. Its main feature is the boardwalk, a fairground on the promenade. Might be ok if you like that sort of thing but not really for us. Such a shame because the beach looked great.



Monterey – I had high hopes for Monterey, but we were disappointed. It is a very busy and over touristy place. We had heard of Cannery Row and their Fishermans wharf but there is so little of interest we were happy to leave. The rocky coast looked nice and I am sure there were nice parts, but we didn’t see them.

Big Sur – This was the trip I was most looking forward to. I had done some research and noted a few places that might be worth stopping at. Our plan was to drive down to McWay Falls stop there for a picnic then return stopping at some of the places I’d found having checked them out on the way down. The problem was that there was a large section of roadqworksat the top of the hill just past Bixby Bridge that took an hour to get through. McWay falls is good (but it’s not Vernal Falls is it?) but 2 of the walks were closed. So we headed back and didn’t really stop anywhere else. I think the best way to see Big Sur is not by car alone and probably not tryingb to squeeze it into half a day. It felt like we would have been better to still have the RV, stay a few nights and do some of the hikes.

The closest point we could get to McWay Falls.




Carmel – This was better and probably what we had expected Monterey to be like. We stopped on the way back from Big Sur and we loved the fact that there was no crowded Promenade, the beach was amazing and the architecture was fascinating. We didn’t stop for long as time was moving on but it definitely had the right feel to it. Probably too expensive to spend too long there but I would have loved more time to investigate

Pebble Beach – Ok an admission, I am a very keen golfer and didn’t want to leave this part of the world without at least seeing Pebble Beach. But I thought that I might miss out as I couldn’t see us heading south towards Monterey again but as we left Carmel we found ourselves at the entrance to the 19 Mile Drive. Well it would have been a shame not to wouldn’t it?

I did get to get out at the Golf Club, check out the famous 18th and have a (very) quick look in a shop and was so glad I did. Before we came, I had considered playing but then I saw the price. Including clubs, buggy and green fee it would have been in the region of £750!



We really enjoyed the rest of the 19 mile drive and ended up wishing that we had gone there earlier rather than Big Sur to be honest.

The Lone Cypress.

[Redw28]

So that was that and what a trip it had been.

The highlights? Definitely Zion, the campground was the best and our second day doing both Angels Landing and The Narrows was amazing. Closely followed by Antelope and the contrasting views we had of it.

Lowlights? Well, probably California generally. We really didn't do it justice, but having enjoyed the freedom of the RV up to Yosemite, it just felt busy. Would probably have been better the other way round. It would be interesting to hear how others have found it, was it just the wrong time of year maybe?

But the most important thing was that we fell in love with doing a road trip in an RV, this certainly won't be the last.

Thanks again to everyone on here for your help, I'll keep reading about the trips of others as inspiration for our next.

Cheers

Pete

[Southwest Dave]

Hey Pete.

Great report and a wonderful family adventure !

Lowlights? Well, probably California generally. We really didn't do it justice, but having enjoyed the freedom of the RV up to Yosemite, it just felt busy. Would probably have been better the other way round. It would be interesting to hear how others have found it, was it just the wrong time of year maybe?

As a Brit I understand what you mean about the feeling of a certain freedom with the RV and being able to get away from the crowds. The California coast is pretty spectacular but we have some beautiful coastline in the UK, quite a lot actually ! That's the reason we usually just have a sleepover before picking up the RV (as required) and often we return it the same morning as our flight. If we have an evening flight we book a car for the day and do a little sightseeing so we squeeze every last drop out of our adventure. I know a lot of people like to chill out a bit at the end but personally I feel I can do that at home from time to time. In the US I just want to see all that beauty and open space. We love travelling in September/October when the crowds have gone but the weather can still be lovely, but our kids are grown up and flown the nest so we have no restrictions!

I'll keep reading about the trips of others as inspiration for our next.

Sounds like you have caught a dose of the road trippin' bug ! Good good. Looking forward to your next report already ! Haha (and don't forget we are here to answer any questions and offer suggestions.)

Dave.