End of Summer Road Trip

[Rlibersky]

I am taking some time off and road tripping out west late summer. I am located in Minnesota and am planning on 14-20 days on the route, this is a fluid route, shown in the attachment. My vehicle will be set up to allow me to sleep in it so being flexible is easy.

I will be bringing cameras from 35mm to 8x10.

Destinations on the map.
Saw Tooth Mountain Range, ID
Yosemite, CA
Kings Canyon, CA
Red Rock Canyon, NV
Zion, UT

What do you recommend seeing while on this route? The only limitation is when I leave and get back.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

If you're going to be that close to Denver, I recommend Rocky Mountain National Park. During the summer you can get there from the west side of the range, the east side of the range, or you can go straight up through the range off I-70.

Gunnison Gorge is also on my list of places to go, you should check that out.

 

[Pieter12]

Southern Utah is just one mind-boggling landscape after another. Bryce Canyon, Goblin Valley, Canyonlands, Arches...probably more that I am omitting. Try to take them in if you have the chance.

 

[pbromaghin]

Right on your way is the World's Largest Fiberglass Cow, Salem Sue - Salem Sue - The World’s Largest Holstein Cow Statue (gettingstamped.com)

A little closer to home, if you're willing to take 10 to/from Fargo, instead of 94, you'll be driving right past:
The World's Largest Turkey - Frazee, MN - World's Largest Turkey (roadsideamerica.com)

Off the path a bit, between 10 and 94:
The World's Largest Loon - World's Largest Loon, Vergas, Minnesota (roadsideamerica.com)
The World's Largest Pelican - World's Largest Pelican, Pelican Rapids, Minnesota (roadsideamerica.com)

 

[drkhalsa]

I second Arches National Park. Planning to go there when Covid slows.

 

[Sirius Glass]

What about Canyonlands and Goblin Valley. The OP should invest in an offroad vehicle to get to those places too far to hike to.

 

[Vaughn]

Unless you want to go through Bakersfield, I suggest going up the east side of the Sierras (Alabama Hills, Mono Lake, Bodie) instead and enter Yosemite from the east. Hit any west side destinations (Hwy 49, etc) on the way out.

Noticed you are skipping most of California. Good idea...nothing very pretty up here, and I have serious doubts about southern CA.

 

[Rlibersky]

Thanks for the suggestions. When I mapped out the route it wouldn't let me go to the east side of Sierras and that was my intention originally.

 

[Sirius Glass]

One could make a loop of the red rock areas of Utah and Arizona and stay busy for weeks.

 

[wiltw]

Thanks for the suggestions. When I mapped out the route it wouldn't let me go to the east side of Sierras and that was my intention originally.

It could be simply the recognition of the program that going up the east side entrance thru Tioga Pass to Yosemite would be too arduous for many vehicles!
I once went up the backside with 2 other business associates, to return thru Yosemite to the SF Bay area, and I had to put the rental car into 1st gear to struggle up!

Yosemite at present is open only to day visitors (no overnight stays) due to COVID. Maybe, with vaccine distribution wide enough, that policy might be different in Summer. Mono Lake is interesting on the east of Yosemite. Going up the central valley of CA is largely a waste, IMHO, although there is the Sequioa National Forest..

 

[Vaughn]

Thanks for the suggestions. When I mapped out the route it wouldn't let me go to the east side of Sierras and that was my intention originally.

Roads across the Sierras in the southern stretch are all closed in the winter. Google maps and the like have sent enough people onto winter-closed roads before.

One has to get closer to Reno to cross over (Hwy50 and 80) in the winters. But late summer will be no problem...and I will tell you that it will be difficult to find great things to joyfully photograph rounding the Sierras to the south and heading up the Central Valley in the heat and haze. As mentioned, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks do offer a chance to having less people in beautiful places. If you enter Yosemite from the east, try to spend some time around the high country around Tuolumne before descending into the Valley below. Pothole Dome is a fun little walk.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I think you need more time than 14-20 days. You won't have time to breathe much less see anything. You'll be driving most of the time.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I think you need more time than 14-20 days. You won't have time to breathe much less see anything. You'll be driving most of the time.

On the map it is only a two or two and a half foot loop. How long could that take, right?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

You;re looking at 4500 miles!!

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

If you drive 350 miles a day, that's 13 days. When do you eat, sleep and see things. Forget hiking. No time. By the time you set up, your 8x10, you'll have to get back in your car and start driving again. Maybe you can move to Utah first.

 

[removed account4]

Right on your way is the World's Largest Fiberglass Cow, Salem Sue - Salem Sue - The World’s Largest Holstein Cow Statue (gettingstamped.com)

A little closer to home, if you're willing to take 10 to/from Fargo, instead of 94, you'll be driving right past:
The World's Largest Turkey - Frazee, MN - World's Largest Turkey (roadsideamerica.com)

Off the path a bit, between 10 and 94:
The World's Largest Loon - World's Largest Loon, Vergas, Minnesota (roadsideamerica.com)
The World's Largest Pelican - World's Largest Pelican, Pelican Rapids, Minnesota (roadsideamerica.com)

excellent suggestions !
if you were coming up north east I'd have a few places too, vampire's graves, old mills .. but sadly you are going west

 

[Vaughn]

No prob...nuthing to see east of the Rockies, anyway. Sleep in rest stops and blast thru the plains and one has plenty of time in the West. Go in and out of Yosemite via the East Side will save you time and exposure to summer tourists (flatlanders) on Hwy 49. Idaho is ok...but I love Hwy 50 through Nevada -- wander on that, camp just off the road on one of the passes (not high, but a little cooler), make sure to take the older by-passed sections. I stay away from the interstates. Too many places. Never enough time!

 

[BradS]

Some thoughts....

• Reservations are required to enter Yosemite - even for day use. You cannot enter without a reservation.
  
• End of summer is fire season. Keep an eye on the the CalFire website... https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents
• summer is road destruction time. CalTrans has a handy website for checking road conditions: https://roads.dot.ca.gov/ the main website is also useful and informative for travelers: https://dot.ca.gov/
  
• The central valley (roughly, the 5 and 99 freeways between Grapevine and Redding) is not a pleasant place to be anytime of the year...It is especially miserable during fire season. I try to avoid it as much as possible. The 5 is a truck route...nothing but trucks, truck stops, giant warehouses and fast food chain restaurants...oh, and the aqueduct! The 99 is a little better. It often has three lanes in each direction and it has some very good Mexican food along the way.
• Yosemite may be closed, if threatened by fires.
• The local (rural) economy is very sensitive to tourism and last year the fires and the pandemic devastated much of the local economy like I've never seen before. Last time I went down into town, for example, it seemed like there were five gone out-of-business stores for every one that was still struggling to remain open. There is a lot more to California than what people see on TV, hear about on the radio and love to hate on. Please be kind to the locals. We won't show it and won't admit it but many are struggling mightily.
  
• PLEASE, please, please...pack out your trash. Bonus points for packing out some trash left by others.
  
• As Vaughn says, you may (or may not) prefer enter and exit Yosemite from the East side. Google maps won't let you plan a route through there now because the passes are all closed for winter (except Donner pass, of course) but after mid-May or so, they will be opened. Tioga pass very often opens before others. It may take some time for google to realize the pass is open.
  
• the 150 mile stretch of I-15 between Barstow and Las Vegas can be a parking lot...as in stop and go, creeping along at 5~10MPH for 150 miles.

 

[Rlibersky]

All good suggestion. I explored a lot of the areas east of Denver. I'm planning on driving straight through this time around. After your comments and some consideration I may just beeline it to southern Utah and work west from there. Visit the North East next year.

Would never leave trash laying around, so don't worry about that.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Some thoughts....

• Reservations are required to enter Yosemite - even for day use. You cannot enter without a reservation.
  
• End of summer is fire season. Keep an eye on the the CalFire website... https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents
• summer is road destruction time. CalTrans has a handy website for checking road conditions: https://roads.dot.ca.gov/ the main website is also useful and informative for travelers: https://dot.ca.gov/
  
• The central valley (roughly, the 5 and 99 freeways between Grapevine and Redding) is not a pleasant place to be anytime of the year...It is especially miserable during fire season. I try to avoid it as much as possible. The 5 is a truck route...nothing but trucks, truck stops, giant warehouses and fast food chain restaurants...oh, and the aqueduct! The 99 is a little better. It often has three lanes in each direction and it has some very good Mexican food along the way.
• Yosemite may be closed, if threatened by fires.
• The local (rural) economy is very sensitive to tourism and last year the fires and the pandemic devastated much of the local economy like I've never seen before. Last time I went down into town, for example, it seemed like there were five gone out-of-business stores for every one that was still struggling to remain open. There is a lot more to California than what people see on TV, hear about on the radio and love to hate on. Please be kind to the locals. We won't show it and won't admit it but many are struggling mightily.
  
• PLEASE, please, please...pack out your trash. Bonus points for packing out some trash left by others.
  
• As Vaughn says, you may (or may not) prefer enter and exit Yosemite from the East side. Google maps won't let you plan a route through there now because the passes are all closed for winter (except Donner pass, of course) but after mid-May or so, they will be opened. Tioga pass very often opens before others. It may take some time for google to realize the pass is open.
  
• the 150 mile stretch of I-15 between Barstow and Las Vegas can be a parking lot...as in stop and go, creeping along at 5~10MPH for 150 miles.

Listen to him. He speaks accurately and wisely.

 

[MFstooges]

Will you go by car or 4X4? The 2nd will definitely make you exceed 20 days

 

[Kodachromeguy]

I agree with Vaughn. Drive on the east side of the Sierras if you ultimately get that far west. But (big but), I think you are trying to cover far too many miles in 20 days. Consider how long it takes to set up your 8×10 camera. What about stopping in a park for a few days? Or an occasional easy day with few miles? Really, don't rush it.

 

[Rlibersky]

I agree. I have cut way back as I started planning. Found September is still pretty hot in the southwest. So ultimately will be spending my time in Montana and Idaho. Driving through to Yellowstone and making my way to Glacier. Seeing where I end up. I have no place I have to be and can change my plans on the fly if I find something interesting off the beaten path.