Denver to Vegas in 9 days scenic drive please!

[doogo]

Hi there folks,
I'm a newbie from Ireland - researching a road trip from Denver to Las Vegas with my missus this July

We have 8 or 9 days to get from Denver to Vegas, by car.
We would like to take in a couple of hikes (short to full day) or maybe a rafting session
Happy to do long early morning drives so we can get to a scenic point for the afternoon

Moab is a must - Grand Canyon is not - would like to know about 14ers that might be doable on route

Any experiences you can share would be most appreciated. Am more than happy to trade Ireland hideaways in exchange!! :)

[doogo]

Does anyone know if there are any rental companies that offer "no one-way" fees / special offers for Denver to Las Vegas / Denver to anywhere in California?

thks

[AZBuck]

Céad Míle Fáilte! Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Probably the best general information on Colorado's '14ers' is here, and as a general routing plan, I'd suggest that you first head north to Rocky Mountain National Park, then south to drive/hike to the top of Pikes Peak. That would set you up for a scenic drive westward through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to Grand Junction and Moab. From there I-70 will take you to I-15 south to Las Vegas.

Unfortunately, there are no car hire firms that waive one-way drop off fees as a matter of policy. You can occasionally find one that has a lot of cars in one location that need to be somewhere else and would be willing to negotiate, but those are usually seasonal and between specific city pairs such as cars needing to get back to New York City in the Fall after they have been driven one-way to Miami. I just don't think you'll find such a deal on cars going from Denver to Las Vegas or California in the Summer. Still it wouldn't hurt to ask!

AZBuck

[Southwest Dave]

From Rocky NP you could include the drive to the top of Mount Evans and depending on how you decide to spend your time you could include some of Utah's other fantastic parks such as Capitol reef, and scenic byway 12 to Bryce canyon and Zion NP to I-15.