Las Vegas to Los Angeles; Late July

[awer807]

Hi,

My husband and I are driving from Las Vegas to Los Angeles in late July. We will be renting a new car in Las Vegas. We really want to check out a few places on the trip. Most importantly, we want to see Sequoia National Park; we would also like to see Death Valley if possible.

Here is the timeline we must stick to:
Sun ~3pm: Leave Las Vegas
Tues ~5pm: Arrive in Los Angeles

Right now, I'm thinking drive through Death Valley on Sun evening, and stop at a hotel once we get out of Death Valley. Early Mon AM, drive to Sequoia. I figure we can check out the highlights Monday afternoon / evening. Realistically, what do we have time for? Is there anything else we should stop and see that would be on the way? Or any restaurants worth stopping for?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated - thank you for your help!

[glc]

Welcome to RTA!

This looks doable, but not with any kind of time to actually stop and explore anything in detail. However, this is no big deal in Death Valley, it's going to be HOT HOT HOT and spending any kind of time out of the air conditioned car is not advised.

Fastest way to DV from LV is NV-160 to Pahrump, then Bell Vista Avenue to Death Valley Junction, then in the park on CA-190. This is about a 2 hour drive.

Leave the park on CA-190 west to Panamint Valley Road, take that to Trona Road into Ridgecrest, find a hotel. From the park exit, this is a 1.5 hour drive. Keep these numbers in mind, along with sunset time, so you don't have to take that road in the dark.

From Ridgecrest, take CA-178 west to Lake Isabella, then CA-155 to Wofford Heights and on to CA-65. 155 is a winding mountain road and has great scenery. Take 65 north to CA-198 to get in to Sequoia. This could take 4 to 5 hours. 198 through the park is the Generals Highway, you can stop and see the General Sherman tree. You will probably not have time to head on down to the end of Kings Canyon.

From the park exit, it's about 1.5 hours into Fresno on CA-180, find a hotel. It's about 4 hours in to LA via CA-99/I-5.

You can research both parks in detail at NPS.GOV.