Two Weeks on US West Coast

January 5, 2005 1:28 AM

Advice on 2 week trip to west coast USA please.. [mi]

We are flying in from the UK and would like to see the following
Las Vegas
Grand Canyon
San Fran
Hoover Dam
a big park....

We also want to get a couple of days on a bike in as I ride.

Any help on a suitable round trip route would be great and/or any pitfalls we should be aware of.

Thanks

posted by Frasermoo to Travel & Transportation around United States (16 answers total)

Response by poster: Middle 2 weeks of April is the time of the trip.
posted by Frasermoo at 1:46 AM on January 5, 2005

That's a lot of miles for two weeks. You might be better off doing LV, Hoover Dam (personally I wasn't that impressed) GC as a loop taking in Flagstaff (the main town to the south of GC) and Sedona.

You'll get time in LV (3 days is good), time in the GC (try & stay for a few days & walk to the bottom which gives you a better experience than just looking over the edge) and some biking time around Flagstaff & Sedona.

Gotta run for a train but I'll try & follow up later.
posted by i_cola at 5:11 AM on January 5, 2005

Response by poster: cheers Rob.
posted by Frasermoo at 5:51 AM on January 5, 2005

For a big park in the Las Vegas area, I recommend the Valley of Fire. Beautiful rock formations, lots of interesting flora and fauna, outstanding visitor facilities.
posted by SPrintF at 7:22 AM on January 5, 2005

I'd also recommend avoiding SF as the driving will eat up your vacation time. Here's what we did in 2001 on a 10 day trip:

Day 1. Fly to Vegas, drive to Kingman, AZ
Day 2. Drive to Grand Canyon
Day 3. In and around GC
Day 4. Drive to Moab, UT via Four Corners
Day 5. In and around Arches NP
Day 6. Drive to Tropic, UT via Capitol Reef NP
Day 7. In and around Bryce Canyon NP
Day 8. Drive to St. George, UT via Zion NP
Day 9. Drive to Vegas
Day 10. Fly home

Southern Utah is really, really incredible, and April is a good time to go to get great weather and avoid crowds. We felt a little rushed on our trip and didn't get to take in as much hiking as we otherwise wanted. So I think 2 weeks would have been ideal (with an additional stop in either Sedona or Canyonlands.) We went in the last week of March (2001) and snagged all the offseason rates. YMMV as April might be the beginning of the season.

I think you'll feel at home in Moab, which is full of outdoorsy people and a lot of bikers.

Have fun! As a lifelong woods-and-pancakes New Englander, this trip was absolutely transformative for me.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 7:28 AM on January 5, 2005

Oh and Arches National Park is the best place on Earth. Even if you look at the map and think Moab is out of the way, it's so totally worth it.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 7:29 AM on January 5, 2005

Response by poster: brilliant, thanks. I'm really keen to see some good parkland.
posted by Frasermoo at 8:15 AM on January 5, 2005

You know, it would be tragic to go all that way and not see the Pacific Coast Highway. Even for a little bit. It really is beautiful.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:51 AM on January 5, 2005

Saucy Intruder has the right idea in my book - although I prefer the North Rim over the South Rim of the Grand Canyon (more isolated, way fewer people, and more interesting flora/fauna - for me, anyway).
Regarding i_cola's rather offhand suggestion to "walk to the bottom" - this is a far bigger undertaking than a mere walk. You must be prepared with loads of water (even in April, temperatures at the bottom can hit 90F), food, and overnight equipment. Hiking (not walking) down and out of the Grand Canyon takes at least three days and some very very good conditioning to do safely. It's also wise to have reservations at the Ghost Ranch on the bottom, so you're not just sleeping rough.
Have a great time - you're going to Holy Land (IMHO).
posted by dbmcd at 9:57 AM on January 5, 2005

As long as you're going to the Grand Canyon, it's only a few more hours to go to Zion National Park, which is IMHO way more interesting.
Speaking of parks, Yosemite is worth the trip.
If you get up to southern Oregon, Crater Lake is pretty rad.
Go to Muir Woods. Or one of the Redwood NPs.
posted by willpie at 10:05 AM on January 5, 2005

North rim is closed until May, but I have also heard that it is a better experience. Still, I can't say too many bad things about the South Rim when it's not 120 degrees and packed with screaming children.

I still think central California should be a separate trip. You can't run out of things to see in two weeks, with Yosemite, Death Valley, SF, Napa Valley, etc.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 10:21 AM on January 5, 2005

Ah, the Danish Tour.

What city are you starting/ending in? LAX, Vegas, or SFO?

What sort of terrain do you think you would like to bike? Desert, mountains, coast?

Mapquest says that Sedona is about an 8 hour drive from L. A. (I've never done the drive) Vegas is about 5 hours northwest of there.

Depending on your proclivities (and budget), you can likely get away with 2 nights max in Vegas. Hit the Hoover Dam, then head north to Yosemite, a good 6-7 hour drive. From there you can head west to SFO, another good 6 hour drive.

If you're going to visit Napa Valley, my favorite wine/winery is V. Sattui (tastings, no tour), and Chandon has a nice tour.

2 hours (driving time) south of SFO, on the coast, Monterey would be a great place to bike. Also excellent for canoeing, it's a great place to see wildlife in their natural habitat (otters, birds, sea lions... we once ran across a flock of wild turkeys that decided to cross the road in front of us).

Take a day to drive down the coast towards L. A. Spend a night in the Santa Ynez Valley, another great place to bike; if you missed Napa, visit Firestone winery. If you go to Santa Ynez, whatever you do, no matter who tells you it's a good idea, do not do not do not go to Solvang. It is a tourist trap for people who have never been to Europe, don't waste your time.

So far this year there has been an exceptional amount of rain, which means the wildflowers will put on a great display this spring. Sedgewick Reserve is a nice place to hike to see California native plantlife.

An alternative to staying in Santa Ynez would be to stay in Santa Barbara. Be sure to take a tour of the mission, an integral part of California's history.

If you find yourself hungry in Santa Barbara, have a pizza and a pint of microbrew at Woodstock's.

When you come into L. A., especially if it's on a Friday, try not to hit the city between 3pm -7pm, to avoid traffic.

Have a great time!
posted by vignettist at 11:12 AM on January 5, 2005

First of all, skip the dam unless you're a nut about engineering stuff. It's not all that great. A big park? The Grand Canyon will probably satiate you...

Itinerary Suggestion:

-fly into SFO
-party and sightsee
-rent a car and drive the coast, go to Napa, etc. Tons of good motorcycling, bike riding, hiking, driving is to be had here.
-fly to Vegas
-party and sightsee
-rent a car and drive to the grand Canyon
posted by bikergirl at 12:38 PM on January 5, 2005

Bike as in bicycle or motorcycle?

For motorcycling, the Bay Area has some great roads. California also allows you to use carpool lane and to lane split, which is nice, but don't forget that California drivers are self-absorbed and will neither see you nor look for you, so ride accordingly.

Great roads for motorcycling:

Hwy 1 north of the Golden Gate and you'll eventually end up in Napa if you hang a right. This would be fun in a car, too, unless it's on the weekend.

If you rented in SF and wanted to ride south to Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk; Mystery Spot; or furher south to the Monterey Bay Aquarium) you could take Hwy 1 to 92, 92 to Skyline, Skyline to 9, 9 to Santa Cruz.

While you're down there, I recommend Big Basin Redwoods State Park, California's oldest State Park. The roads getting there are fun, and there is plenty of great hiking - both short ( < 1 hr) and long (as many hrs as you want) trails - and if you haven't seen a redwood forest before it's a great opportunity.

South of the Bay Area, Hwy 25 and surrounding roads are fun, and you could eventually end up at Pinnacles National Monument where there are six recently released Condors flying around, and some cool caves, although I haven't been in the caves since the early 90s.

Or you can ride to Yosemite in three hours from the Bay Area, which means you could possibly make it a day trip. You could do a short hike to see the waterfall, or take all day climbing to the top of half dome and back.

I'm not so familiar with bicycling in the Bay Area as I moved away shortly after getting my moutain bike, but the area west of Redwood City and Los Altos was very popular - King's Mtn, Hwy 84.

While you're in SF, don't forget to go to Fisherman's wharf and get a sourdough bread bowl full of clam chowder, and at night, you could give Zeitgeist a spin.

Cheers!
posted by cactus at 2:33 PM on January 5, 2005

I would think that if you want to see things you won't in England, or from what I know in Western Europe, take the previous advice on going to the national parks here. I took a couple of tours around the west when I was a teenager and all the landscapes are just awesome. Plus a few days in Vegas as that's, at least for now, still a world of its own.
posted by billsaysthis at 5:27 PM on January 5, 2005

There's going to be a lot of driving if you're in CA or AZ. Western US states are just huge. I went to high school and college in arizona (phoenix and tucson) and then after college moved east to work, then to north bay (SF) California ... there's just a lot more empty space out here. Granted most of it is technically desert. :)

If you're in northern arizona, the standard destinations are generally the grand canyon and sedona, but having been to both they aren't my favorites. I actually prefer oak creek canyon to sedona (it's on the way to sedona from flagstaff, so you could do both). I strangely prefer meteor crater to the grand canyon, but I think that's because I went to them at a strange time in my life. Meteor crater is east of Flagstaff off the interstate.

Flagstaff is actually a very nice mid-size town with a lot of history, so it's a good place to base your operations. Too sleepy for me, but my sister went to college there and she loves it (still living there). Stop in at Macy's coffee shop if you go to Flagstaff (it's near downtown on S. Beaver St). They have some *really* good hot chocolate there (and everyone else said the coffee was good too...) It's across from a fairly decent brew pub if you're in to that -- they have decent food (which isn't really that common for brew pubs) and their beers aren't bad.

I second the comment about trying to do CA and AZ though. It's just too big. It would take you easily 8 hours to get from Las Vegas to San Francisco ... and you hit the traffic wrong even longer. Plus, the route is really quite boring. Coming from the UK, I'm sure the barreness of the arizona/nevada/eastern california area will be interesting at first, but it gets old pretty quick, especially while driving thru nevada (I've driven around on highways in southern nevada and I-80 across northern nevada .. it's just not that interesting after 20 miles and there are only a few really interesting parts once you get used to the scenery).

If you really want to do both though, you could do one week in northern AZ and Las Vegas, then fly from Las Vegas to San Francisco -- fares are generally pretty cheap, especially this far in advance, and would save you at least four hours (plus the pain of driving on I-5). If you go to the San Francisco area, may I suggest Marin county (north bay)? It's very pretty the time of year you are coming and there is a lot of good mountain biking. Plus there is Point Reyes which is basically this big peninsula, mostly national or state park with swimming and non-swimming beaches, an old lighthouse and historical ranches. And of course wine country is pretty close by.

Was that too long? You just are planning on going to two places I've seen a lot of and/or lived in. :)
posted by R343L at 9:18 PM on January 5, 2005