Vegas - Yosemite

[Neil]

Ok - I know there have been a few topics on this recently, and Ive read them all but none really answered my question which is...

We are doing Vegas - Yosemite - San Fran next year, driving between Vegas and San Fran via Yosemite, plan at the moment is to do 6nts Vegas, 1 Yosemite, 3 San Fran, thinking about the driving times etc is this the correct plan (would I be able to drive Vegas to Yosemite View Lodge in a day?? and then Yosemite to San Fran in a day??).

Or.... should we knock a night off Vegas and do 2 nights between Vegas and San Fran, somewhere inbetween Vegas and Yosemite or even 2 nights in Yosemite, as Ive read it is an amazing place.

Any info/suggestions would be appreciated
Neil:)

[Nottingham Nick]

I would certainly cut down your Vegas stay to 4 days. I think the general consensus is that 4 days is the optimum Vegas stay (though some disagree. )

IMHO Vegas - SFO is too much to do in 2 days, but would make a great 3 day drive.

Nick

I am with Nick on 4 days in Vegas - I would recommed a minimum of 2 nights in Yosemite, however it really depends on what you plan to do there. You could quite easily spend 3-4 days walking and checking out the fantastic scenery - One night won't do the place justice I don't think.....

[Neil]

Thanks Nick - just been looking some more, by 3 days do you mean 3 days/2 nights or 3 nights? Just looking at maybe a stop over in Death Valley for 1 night the Yosemite 1 night and the onto SFO, that sound plausable??

Neil:)

I definately wouldn't do Vegas to Yosemite in a day... The scenery is way too stunning along the way. And yes... more than one night in Yosemite is a must.

We did the reverse trip a few years back. SF to Yosemite was around 4 hours and a pretty comfortable drive. After 3 nights at the Yosemite View lodge, we drove up over Tioga and down to the Furnace Creek Inn at Death Valley, which took 8 hours in total. 1 night there and then it was only 90 minutes over to Vegas.

I'd agree with previous posters and recommend you cut Vegas from 4 to 6 nights and have 3 each in Yosemite and San Fran. Yosemite is worth at least that much and, if you are like us, you won't want to leave San Francisco either.

One thing to note is that there was a major rock slide on the 140 Highway which closed it beyond El Portal going towards SF. It is not due to reopen this year and the detour, as it stands, would add a significant amount of time to your journey westwards.

Hope this helps.

Personally, we found the roads beyond El Portal a bit scary - really windy and tiny. And Ard, I think, said that road's now closed because of a rockfall? Isn't the alternative route even more minor?

[Neil]

Originally posted by catsilversword
Personally, we found the roads beyond El Portal a bit scary - really windy and tiny. And Ard, I think, said that road's now closed because of a rockfall? Isn't the alternative route even more minor?

Oh I don't like the sound of that, although car will have sat nav so just follow that, so as long as I don't break down outside some weird deserted haunted looking motel, and then decide to investigate in the middle of the night, I should be alright.

Ardbroilach - is it really only 90mins from Vegas to Death Valley?, everything I have read gave it to be about 3/4 hours with another 3/4 onto Yosemite?? was looking for a stop over on the Vegas - Yosemite section but if Death Valley is close then that doesn't really work.

Thanks everyone for the tips[y][y]
Neil:)

Neil,

There is a more direct route that goes via Pahrump which is shorter and quicker. You come down into Furnace Creek past Zabriskie Point which is also worth a stop. Strange as it may seem given the desert terrain, that road was washed away by flooding last year too, but I believe it is now clear.
Directions from the Furnace Creek Inn say that it is 120 miles so it is 120 minutes rather than 90:

http://www.furnacecreekresort.com/Directions-533.html

Death Valley is not really far enough from Vegas to be a logical stopping off point on the way to Yosemite, but it is really worth a visit. If you are planning to go over to Lone Pine and then up Highway 395, then you could stop in or near Bishop, or even Mammoth if you didn't mind a detour up into the mountains.

As to the roads up near Yosemite, they are indeed narrow and winding. Bit of a nervy experience at night, but fine during the day provided no-one gets car sick. Average speed is low so allow more time to cover the distances than you might expect based on the mileage alone. We had Hertz's "Neverlost" in our car when we did the trip, and it was pretty handy even if it did struggle up in the hills.

Agree that Death Valley is worth a visit. Had a limited time there last year, and want to go back and see more on my trip this year.

[Neil]

Thanks once again Ardbroilach, top info[y][y] - have taken your advise and decided to stay in Bishop for the night, seems to be a fairly decent Best Western Hotel there and it will be a good base to get us to Yosemite fairly early the next day and allow us to spend some more time there!

Cat - is there actually much to do at Death Valley, will we be able to see everything driving through? If not how long do you suggest we would need to see a bit?

Neil:)

Originally posted by Attitude23
Thanks once again Ardbroilach, top info[y][y] - have taken your advise and decided to stay in Bishop for the night, seems to be a fairly decent Best Western Hotel there and it will be a good base to get us to Yosemite fairly early the next day and allow us to spend some more time there!

Cat - is there actually much to do at Death Valley, will we be able to see everything driving through? If not how long do you suggest we would need to see a bit?

Neil:)

Neil - we were only there for a couple of hours (too late in the day really, and limited by daylight) - and several of the places were closed. It's not a Disney-esque type place though, so not a lot to do in that sense of the word. More the landscape and stuff. We're planning on spending day driving round - I reckon that should do it.

Unless others here know differently? (Quite possible!)[y]

[Neil]

Thanks Cat, pretty much as I had thought/read, we will be spending about half a day there I guess sort of late morning (no doubt the hottest part of the day, d'oh), from what I understand there are a few "real ghost towns" and then its just amazing scenery!

Neil:)

We did the trip in reverse (Yosemite to Vegas) about 10 years ago having spent 2 or 3 nights (memory is going) in Yosemite ex-San Francisco. The scenery enroute is out of this world but nothing can prepare you for the explosion of light that is Las Vegas - WOW[:0]

Originally posted by catsilversword

Originally posted by Attitude23
Thanks once again Ardbroilach, top info[y][y] - have taken your advise and decided to stay in Bishop for the night, seems to be a fairly decent Best Western Hotel there and it will be a good base to get us to Yosemite fairly early the next day and allow us to spend some more time there!

Cat - is there actually much to do at Death Valley, will we be able to see everything driving through? If not how long do you suggest we would need to see a bit?

Neil:)

Neil - we were only there for a couple of hours (too late in the day really, and limited by daylight) - and several of the places were closed. It's not a Disney-esque type place though, so not a lot to do in that sense of the word. More the landscape and stuff. We're planning on spending day driving round - I reckon that should do it.

Unless others here know differently? (Quite possible!)[y]

There is plenty to "see" in Death Valley rather than plenty to "do". Some pretty bizarre landscapes and colours, especially at Zabriskie. This link will give you all the info you require:

http://www.nps.gov/deva/index.htm

Neil, glad to hear my suggestions were of use. Another thing to remember is that Tioga Pass closes for a good portion of the year. Did a quick check and the averages are as follows:

Average Tioga Pass Road Opening Date: May 29
Average Tioga Pass Road Closing Date: October 31

These figures are taken from 1933 to 2005. Hope it fits in with your dates.

We were in Yosemite back in June and yes the 140 at El Portal will be closed for some time to come. When we left to head south we went through Yosemite and the Tioga Pass and then drove down past Mammoth Lakes and Bishop. It was a long drive that day about 7 1/2 hours and we were then at Barstow our stop off before heading to the Grand Canyon.

Claire

[mcmbenjamin]

Curry Village rocks!

[Neil]

Ardbroilach, once again thanks for the excellent advise and info[y][y] (and everybody else too!!), we are going in Sept, so hopefully it should be open, have been researching Death Valley and with the size of the spiders reported to be there I think the quicker we pass through the better[:0], seriously though think we are pretty much sorted with what we will do, so thanks[^]

Neil:)

Originally posted by Attitude23
Ardbroilach, once again thanks for the excellent advise and info[y][y] (and everybody else too!!), we are going in Sept, so hopefully it should be open, have been researching Death Valley and with the size of the spiders reported to be there I think the quicker we pass through the better[:0], seriously though think we are pretty much sorted with what we will do, so thanks[^]

Neil:)

To minimise the chances of meeting any of those spiders close up and personal take heed when you see the signs that suggest you turn off the air conditioning in the car. There are some long gradients and we spotted many an example of modern vehicular technology stranded in the 120+ heat.

Paul

[Neil]

Originally posted by pjh

Originally posted by Attitude23
Ardbroilach, once again thanks for the excellent advise and info[y][y] (and everybody else too!!), we are going in Sept, so hopefully it should be open, have been researching Death Valley and with the size of the spiders reported to be there I think the quicker we pass through the better[:0], seriously though think we are pretty much sorted with what we will do, so thanks[^]

Neil:)

To minimise the chances of meeting any of those spiders close up and personal take heed when you see the signs that suggest you turn off the air conditioning in the car. There are some long gradients and we spotted many an example of modern vehicular technology stranded in the 120+ heat.

Paul

Cheers for the advice Paul[y]

We did this drive in July but looped around lake tahoe as well.

Death Valley was grate didn't see any spiders!

We stayed a night in Bishop which was part way between death valley and yosemite. It was a really nice little town with some good restaurants and reasonable hotels. Also has a very good bakery (erick schats or something like that) which we picked up some good stuff for the drive.

[Neil]

Originally posted by oxmatt
We did this drive in July but looped around lake tahoe as well.

Death Valley was grate didn't see any spiders!

We stayed a night in Bishop which was part way between death valley and yosemite. It was a really nice little town with some good restaurants and reasonable hotels. Also has a very good bakery (erick schats or something like that) which we picked up some good stuff for the drive.

Thanks for the info, especially about the spiders (still having nightmares about the size of the one I saw in the picture[:0]).

We have finalised our plans now and Bishop is def in for a nights stop over, so good to know as much as possible about the place.

Thanks.
Neil:)

Originally posted by oxmatt

Death Valley was grate didn't see any spiders!

Spiders, no (and those in our house would whup their asses anyhow) but coyote yes.

Paul