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Morphsie, what route did you come up with?
Morphsie, what route did you come up with?
Well it looks something like this (1400 miles)
2 days Las Vegas
From Vegas (to Red Rock Canyon not really sure about this) then to Hoover Dam. Down to Kingman so on to to Williams.
Next day Williams - Grand Canyon to Flagstaff.
Next Flagstaff (Meteor Crater) Holbrook - Petrified Forest to Gallup.
Gallup up to Farmington then on to Monument Valley spend the night in Mexican Hat.
Mexican Hat to Page (Antelope Canyon and the surroundings)
Page to Bryce Canyon to Kanab
Kanab - Zion - St George
St George - Fire Valley - Las Vegas
Something like this...
I dropped Death Valley (huge detour all in all...)
Any suggestions where I can make some alterations?
Or stuff that's really cool to see?
That looks like a much better route in terms of allowing enough time to explore the various settings. You should try to stop at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon as well. You're going close by it so it's not a big stretch. The North Rim is quite different than the South Rim.
If you really want to see Death Valley, you might consider still doing that and eliminating, instead, the more eastern parts of your trip (the Meteor Crater to Mexican Hat portion of your itinerary). This way you could circle into Death Valley, head east to Flagstaff and then do the Grand Canyon-Bryce-Zion portion of the trip. This would also be a great itinerary.
But, of course, the best route is the one that includes the things YOU most want to see the most.
Yeah I considered that. But you know I live a long long way off Monument Valley so chances are quite slim I'll ever get there back :D
And I consider another trip within the next 2 years from San Francisco to San Diego... So I could include Death Valley, Sequoia and so on in that trip...
Another question: how difficult are the roads? Like Grand Canyon? A lot of climbing? We're renting a 4WD for 289 dollars a week. Is that a good price?
Any tips are welcome!
Good roads
The roads are good-quality American ones! You'll enjoy driving them -- there's a lot of ups and downs and twisties. You'll find uneven pavement here and there, a pothole or two, but all-in-all, American roads are in pretty good shape.
I agree with your choice -- if you have to drop anything from this trip, for me, it would be the western-most legs, especially if you can get back to do them later. You could also skip Red Rock Canyon -- it is a beautiful place, but very similar to some of the other terrain you'll be seeing. Like Judy, I also recommend the North Rim -- and the drive down to it from Jacob Lake is one of the prettiest stretches of road anywhere -- you'll really like it.
The weekly fee for the SUV is about normal -- not low, not high. Bob
Well, if you see yourself getting back here, then it makes sense to save Death Valley for another time.
I have driven all of the roads you're going to be driving in a VW New Beetle. It is fairly low to the ground with little clearance. You don't need 4WD or high-clearance for these roads. If you want that, there's nothing wrong with what you're renting....however, fuel consumption will be higher...but you don't need it.
I think you're going to have a fantastic trip!
Thans for all the tips maybe I'll drop Monument Valley and replace it with some extra time to the North Rim and Lake Jacob. All in all I'll drop some 350 miles not doing Monument Valley...
It should give more time to take things easy...
I'd do as follows after the Petrified forest drive back to Flagstaff and then 40 miles North to http://www.anasaziinn.com/graymountain/index.html this motel.
Next day to Page and try to visit Antelope Canyon and the surroundings.
I'd dont like the detour to Monument Valley because it's a long drive from Holbrook-Gallup-Farmington-Mexican Hat. It will be mostly driving without any real highlights I guess.
And I guess a lot of the scenery in Monument Valley will be seen in the other parts of the road trip. Or am I wrong? :-)
There is nothing like Monument Valley
The entire area is remarkable and full of "highlights", but the mesas that abound in the Monument Valley area are unique and amazing. But like I have mentioned a couple of times -- you don't have time to see it all. When I visit Monument Valley, I also go to the park run by the Navajo Nation (it is not a public park although all who pay a fee are welcome) and such a visit requires 8-10 hours -- your schedule will not allow you that kind of luxury.Originally Posted by morphsie
Mark
Yep true... It's quite a big outback and I'd rather visit some places in a nice and convenient way than to rush through the South West.
I noticed that there's only one way to the North Rim so you'd have to drive quite a lot in and out the canyon.
So how would you go from Page? And where would you end the day Page-North Rim - ??? ?
I'm too lazy right now to look up mileage into the North Rim, nor do I remember the exact times. I can tell you this....last summer I spent the night in Page, got up and going by about 7am, went into the North Rim, toured the Lodge, checked out the view and sat for awhile drinking coffee, walked a portion of the trail along the rim for maybe 30 minutes or so, did some shopping in the gift shop, drove up to one of the other look out points, walked around for another 30 minutes or so up there, drove to Kanab, ate lunch, drove to Zion and explored it for a bit (not as long as I would have liked to but I had experienced some problems with the heat a couple days before and the heat in Zion was getting to me), and then drove to Ruby's Inn at the entrance to Bryce Canyon. I think I got to Ruby's at about 8pm.
Sorry I don't remember the details but I don't recall it being all that long of a drive into the North Rim. Maybe 30 minutes? Hopefully someone will pop in with more exact info.
I would only go to Page for the night if I was on my way to the South Rim. If you're on your way to Zion or Bryce, there's plenty of lodging opportunities by those parks.
Hope that helped and didn't just confuse you more.
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