40th Birthday Road Trip - October

[janzbro]

Hi all, looking at doing something a little special for my up and coming 40th birthday, so I have decided to celebrate it in Las Vegas followed by a road trip.

A few years ago we did a road trip from San Fran to Yosemite to Death valley to Las Vegas and loved every minute of it, so deciding to spend 4 or 5 days in LV and then pushing on to see some sights.

The rough plan is Las vegas - Valley of fire - Grand Canyon (north) - Zion - Bryce - Grand Canyon (south) - Lake mead - hoover dam - LV

Im choosing this way round due to the time of year (late october) and the bad weather that appently occurs on the north rim and the shutdown of ammenties.

I have 7/8 days to do this trip - do you think this is enough time? could we fit in monument valley ?

Any accom, routes , additions to our itinery - please fell free to give your suggestions as its just at the planning stage at the moment

Many Thanks

[glc]

I would recommend you forego the north rim and do the trip in this order:

Las Vegas
Valley of Fire
Zion
Bryce
Capitol Reef
Monument Valley
Grand Canyon South Rim
Hoover Dam
Las Vegas

It may be a bit tight, but you should be able to do this in 8 days.

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

With regards to your outlined trip I would head to Zion, Bryce and then Grand canyon North to save doubling back on yourself. I understand the weather could play a part but if the 3 day [4] forecast is that much on a knife edge it might be wise to consider glc's suggestion above or just spend a little more quality time at the other places.

For Zion the lovely little town of Springdale is right on the doorstep of the park and offers a variety of lodging. Tropic has lodgings for Bryce, at the head of the canyon near the park entrance is "Rubys Inn" but part will depend on your budget. kanab or Page and Kayenta would be good locations for North rim and Monument valley respectfully but you might want to check out "Gouldings lodge" at MV. As you make your way to Grand canyon South rim the closest lodging outside the park is found at the "Cameron trading post" and you will find options inside the park on the nps site. Out the South kiosk to I 40 where you will have the opportunity to detour onto an original part of route 66 through Seligman and to Lake Mead, Hoover dam and Vegas.

I would recommend a day to Valley of fire and towards Zion a day and a half at Zion and move on to Bryce for the night [day3]. Day 4] Bryce and to Kanab area. Day 5] North rim Day 6 Monument valley to Cameron/South rim. Day 7 & 8 Grand canyon then head towards Vegas [Lake Mead].

This is an outline of your route that you can tweak.

[glc]

The reason I suggested you forego the north rim is when you leave Bryce you can drive Utah Scenic 12 to Capitol Reef, then take UT-95 to Monument Valley. There is lodging in Torrey, just outside Capitol Reef.

[janzbro]

The reason I suggested you forego the north rim is when you leave Bryce you can drive Utah Scenic 12 to Capitol Reef, then take UT-95 to Monument Valley. There is lodging in Torrey, just outside Capitol Reef.

Never heard of Capitol Reef - I will have to do some research on that

I have now booked our flights so I can be a bit more precise with the dates - We arrive in Los Angeles on 10th October and we have 5 Nights in LV from 12th to 17th.

Our road trip will be from Las Vegas on 17th October and we need to be back into Los Angeles on 27th October

So we now have got 10 days which hopefully makes things a little easier - also thinking of maybe fitting in Natural Arches park as well - time permitting

[glc]

If you want to go to Arches, you will be going right through Capitol Reef - instead of taking 95 at Hanksville, just stay on 24 to I-70 to US-191. You can then head down 191 to Monument Valley.