Road trip USA 2016 - Final Iternary
17 days / 4748 km / 60 hours 56 minutes
16-day road trip through the southwest of the USA, visiting the main national parks.
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Day 1
Arrival at Las Vegas
Day 2
Visit Las Vegas Strip Hotels & Casino's
Day 3
Visit Death Valley
Day 4
Visit Yosemite National Park - Tiago Pass
Ideal stopping place between Death Valley and Yosemite National Park. Just basic motel, but quite pricey for what you get.
8:00 - 105.2 km / an hour 5 minutes - 9:06
10:06 - 33.0 km / 32 minutes - 10:39
11:39 - 3.3 km / 8 minutes - 11:48
Hike - Lembert Dome & Dog Lake
Avoid the crowds at Tioga road with this beautiful and peaceful hike to two wonderful places. Reach the top of Lembert Dome and enjoy the idyllic dog lake. Takes up to 4h. Further on nice drive over Tioga road past the Tuolumne Meadows and Tenaya Lake, but it can be quite crowded,with cars parked all the way alongside the road.
15:48 - 197.3 km / 2 hours 51 minutes - 18:40
Day 5
Visit Yosemite National Park - Yosemite Valley
Standard, simple, but affordable motel. The motels closer to Yosemite (e.g.: Mariposa) are far more expensive. Just a good place to sleep, because there's nothing to see in Merced. Lies next to a busy highway.
7:00 - 13.1 km / 11 minutes - 7:12
7:22 - 115.3 km / an hour 42 minutes - 9:05
Yosemite Valley Visitor Center
Visit at Yosemite Valley. Get there in time to find a parking spot and move on with the shuttle service. Before 10:30am would be a good time to arrive. We found it not as impressive as our passage of Tioga Road. Very crowded place.
15:05 - 127.2 km / an hour 50 minutes - 16:56
Day 6
Visit Santa Cruz Beach
Standard, simple, but affordable motel. The motels closer to Yosemite (e.g.: Mariposa) are far more expensive. Just a good place to sleep, because there's nothing to see in Merced. Lies next to a busy highway.
7:00 - 195.1 km / 2 hours 20 minutes - 9:21
Good place to take a break after a few busy days. Just lying at the beach and enjoy the good weather in California.
13:21 - 1.4 km / 4 minutes - 13:26
Day 7
Visit San Francisco via Highway 1
Americas Best Value Inn & Suites-boardwalk
Basic motel, don't expect anything special. We had the bad luck of having a noisy neighbour who invited some friends over in his room, while the walls where paperthin.
7:00 - 111.6 km / an hour 31 minutes - 8:32
BART - South San Francisco Station: Park your car in the covered parking lot, pay the $3.00 ticket inside and take the BART to Powell Street. A better options might be parking and taking BART at Daly City Station, but when we where there, te parking lot was full. (More trains are going to Daly City).
9:32 - 21.5 km / 28 minutes - 10:01
10:31 - 3.9 km / 17 minutes - 10:49
12:49 - 7.0 km / 16 minutes - 13:06
15:06 - 9.6 km / 25 minutes - 15:32
16:32 - 20.7 km / 22 minutes - 16:55
17:55 - 107.0 km / an hour 12 minutes - 19:08
Day 8
Visit Monterey, 17 mile drive and drive Highway 1 to the south.
Americas Best Value Inn & Suites-boardwalk
Basic motel, don't expect anything special. We had the bad luck of having a noisy neighbour who invited some friends over in his room, while the walls where paperthin.
7:00 - 73.1 km / an hour 3 minutes - 8:04
9:04 - 6.4 km / 14 minutes - 9:19
10:19 - 7.1 km / 11 minutes - 10:31
11:31 - 3.6 km / 12 minutes - 11:44
12:44 - 79.3 km / an hour 30 minutes - 14:15
14:30 - 120.0 km / an hour 52 minutes - 16:22
Day 9
All day drive east in direction of grand canyon.
Day 10
Drive Route 66 and visit Grand Canyon
Cheap hotel, but that's evertything that can be said about it. Good enough just to sleep overnight while passing trough. Crappy food in the casino.
7:00 - 39.2 km / 27 minutes - 7:28
7:38 - 95.6 km / an hour - 8:39
Historic Route 66: nice drive, but don't expect touristic views. Is much calmer ride than Freeway 40.
10:09 - 224.5 km / 2 hours 15 minutes - 12:25
16:25 - 127.5 km / an hour 29 minutes - 17:55
18:55 - 1.6 km / 5 minutes - 19:01
Day 11
Visit Sedona
Very nice and clean place to stay, but comes at a higher rate. Flagstaff is a lovely town. Go and find the SoSaBa noodle shopin the city centre: best food we had during our road trip!
7:00 - 21.0 km / 18 minutes - 7:19
8:19 - 25.3 km / 31 minutes - 8:51
9:21 - 10.5 km / 14 minutes - 9:36
10:06 - 3.3 km / 48 minutes - 10:55
Hike to the Devil's Bridge, a stone arc. Take the Mescal Trail to avoid the crowds and have a peaceful walk until you cross Vultee Arch (Dry Creek Road).
13:55 - 3.3 km / 42 minutes - 14:38
15:08 - 56.6 km / an hour - 16:09
Day 12
All day drive to Saint George, visiting Page and Lake Powell.
Very nice and clean place to stay, but comes at a higher rate. Flagstaff is a lovely town. Go and find the SoSaBa noodle shopin the city centre: best food we had during our road trip!
7:00 - 215.4 km / 2 hours 10 minutes - 9:11
9:26 - 0.8 km / 10 minutes - 10:37
12:07 - 16.7 km / 18 minutes - 12:26
Refresh a little bit with a wonderful view over Lake Powell.
14:26 - 60.0 km / 37 minutes - 15:04
15:19 - 183.2 km / an hour 53 minutes - 17:13
Day 13
Visit Zion National Park
Howard Johnson Inn And Suites Saint George Hwy I-15 Exit 6
Good value for its price.
7:00 - 69.3 km / 58 minutes - 7:59
Hiking in Zion Canyon. If you're an experienced hiker, make sure you take one of the following trails:
- Angels Landing
- Observation point
- The Narrows (take an extra pair of socks and shoes for this one, because you'll be wading trough the river)14:59 - 69.2 km / 56 minutes - 15:56
Day 14
Visit Bryce Canyon - Day 1 (Hiking)
Day 15
Visit Bryce Canyon - Day 2 (Horseback riding + hiking)
Day 16
All day drive to Las Vegas via Valley of Fire.
Day 17
Departure from Las Vegas