[kraft.wagen]

I just stumbled upon this thread. Amazing pics and you covered a lot of places. How many days was the trip?
Infact I was planning trip to Utah from LA covering all the canyons. Would be great to get more info on how many days you spent there, did you take the wrangler for offroading on rent from somewhere there?

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by kraft.wagen

I just stumbled upon this thread. Amazing pics and you covered a lot of places. How many days was the trip?
Infact I was planning trip to Utah from LA covering all the canyons. Would be great to get more info on how many days you spent there, did you take the wrangler for offroading on rent from somewhere there?

I had taken two weeks, here is roughly the schedule I followed. since I was flying half a continent, wanted to spend as much time as possible in one visit.

4-Jun Saturday vegas
5-Jun Sunday vegas
6-Jun Monday vegas
7-Jun Tuesday hoover dam
8-Jun Wednesday "horseshoe bend,
sandstones"
9-Jun Thursday "Grand canyon,
anteleop canyon"
10-Jun Friday "Monument valley/
Moab"
11-Jun Saturday Moab, canyonlands
12-Jun Sunday salt lake city
13-Jun Monday bonneville salt flats, salt lake city
14-Jun Tuesday lake tahoe
15-Jun Wednesday lake tahoe
16-Jun Thursday lake tahoe
17-Jun Friday SFO
18-Jun Saturday SFO
19-Jun Sunday SFO

Jeeps are available in plenty in Moab, they give you a map of trails with expected time and difficulty level. You can spend days roaming around in canyonlands.

Coming from LA I would suggest staying in page, from where you can do grand canyon, arches, zion national park, monument valley etc as 2-4 hrs drive one way.

[vivekiny2k]

less publicized water fountains in bellagio in vegas.

DSCF0399 - YouTube

[chevelle]

Awesome photos, very good trip and great company. Must have been memorable journey.

I see you passed through Sacramento, you should have given me a shout, would have met you on the way.

How many miles was the entire trip? It seems you went to North Rim and South Rim of Grand Canyon as can be seen from map. Is it?

I wanted to go to North Rim but it is like 300 miles from South rim which was not possible since we did a day's journey there from Vegas.

Honestly, if you visit only South Rim, it will leave many underwhelmed since its not the prettiest. Every good scenes and rock are on North Rim. I specially wanted to go to Horseshoe bend. Have seen it in plenty of movies and looks awesome. May be next summer.

Many of my colleagues and friends feel the same way. I though liked it immensely. Especially when you pass through forest for some 60-70 miles and then you see the canyon. its a sight to behold.

Also can you mention where Antelope Canyon is located? I have to include it in my next visit.

I just felt, you should have cut one/two day stay in Lake Tahoe, instead you could have spend it in SF and go to nearby places like Muir beach/lookout, mystery spot and Yosemite. Just my opinion. May be you can be back later.

Nevertheless, great pics and keep them coming.

[vivekiny2k]

It was a total of around 32 hrs of drive, not counting local detours and trips. I thought of SFO TBHPians, but my timings and trips were so erratic (courtesy kids), that I didn't think I could setup a meet while on the run. Hopefully next time .

The map is an approximation, I only went to the south rim. I didn't want to stay away from civilization for long because of the kids. Even in south rim we had a tough time getting vegeterian food. next time again! It's fun on north rim only if you are ready to hike1-3 miles inwards. Not easy with my family. My elder son loved the .5 mile hike to horseshoe bend though. As I said in the first post, the most spectacular view I got was on the plane when the pilot banked sharp right just on top of the canyon.

antelop canyon is 4 miles from downtown page,AZ. I's a part of indian reservation and majority of trips are done via their tours. I think it's technically possible to take your own vehicle but you need a heavy duty truck with lifts. It's a sand trap of around two miles.

our ride.



Frankly speaking, lake tahoe, salt lake city and SFO caught us off guard. We never imagined we would need warm clothes in June. Ended up buying light jackets for kids in SFO but we did one trip to muir woods and didn't stay there for long. Have been to mystery stop in michigan and once you have seen one, that's enough. I think the stay was just right. We were already tired and ready to go home.

EDIT: I see, I had skipped photos from muir beach overlook.



hike back from horseshoe bend. you go back all the way to the top of the hill and then down to hit the main road.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by vivekiny2k

antelop canyon is 4 miles from downtown page,AZ. I's a part of indian reservation and majority of trips are done via their tours.

Frankly speaking, lake tahoe, salt lake city and SFO caught us off guard. We never imagined we would need warm clothes in June. Ended up buying light jackets for kids in SFO but we did one trip to muir woods and didn't stay there for long. Have been to mystery stop in michigan and once you have seen one, that's enough. I think the stay was just right. We were already tired and ready to go home.

hike back from horseshoe bend. you go back all the way to the top of the hill and then down to hit the main road.

Thanks for the info. We recently went to Vegas and Canyon. We wanted to do off-roading in Flagstaff, but it was a little time consuming, basically need a day to do it. So couldn't find an extra day to do it. But it is sure on my next to-do list.

SF and Tahoe are always windy and little cold. I didn't knew you already went to Mystery spot, so completely agree, its not worth second visit. Santa Cruz has very good beach too and it has very popular beach walk and rides for children which they would love. if you go further up muir woods, you get to Point Reyes Lighthouse, its a worthy visit. Also if you go towards santa cruz, you can go on US 1 and also visit Monterey Bay Aquarium. Its superb road and aquarium are a must visit with family. Also there is half moon bay which is also worth a visit. And then, there is breathtaking Yosemite National Park. But you can always come back for all these later on.

[kraft.wagen]

Originally Posted by vivekiny2k

I had taken two weeks, here is roughly the schedule I followed. since I was flying half a continent, wanted to spend as much time as possible in one visit.


Coming from LA I would suggest staying in page, from where you can do grand canyon, arches, zion national park, monument valley etc as 2-4 hrs drive one way.

Thanks for the details vivekiny2k
I'm contemplating the below route for a week
LA->Page, AZ -> Zion -> Monument Valley -> Moab ->Bryce Canyon-> Capital Reef National Park-> The Arches NP

[BlackPearl]

Great pictures and a lovely trip. The jeep looks terrific in that terrain. Felt nostalgic seeing the pics as I did a similar trip last year, but not so extensive. And the vehicle that we hired was horribly underpowered :-(. It was a Dodge Journey.

[motomaverick]

Awesome pics, if you could have hiked and taken a pic of the famed arc which is the wallpaper in Windows Vista

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by kraft.wagen

Thanks for the details vivekiny2k
I'm contemplating the below route for a week
LA->Page, AZ -> Zion -> Monument Valley -> Moab ->Bryce Canyon-> Capital Reef National Park-> The Arches NP

Sounds good. you can pass thru zion with a 15 mile detour while going to page IIRC. Unless you plan o hike/take their tours (which would be an awsome idea considering you will pay 25$ fee for entrance), in which case you should plan for more time. Bryce canyon is pretty close but I guess you have to go around to reach there.

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

Great pictures and a lovely trip. The jeep looks terrific in that terrain. Felt nostalgic seeing the pics as I did a similar trip last year, but not so extensive. And the vehicle that we hired was horribly underpowered :-(. It was a Dodge Journey.

Thanks. I knew I would regret later if I didn't, that's why I didn't blink before booking the jeep for $150. with the lift kit it felt like a toy when taking tight turns, because of the extra height.

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Awesome pics, if you could have hiked and taken a pic of the famed arc which is the wallpaper in Windows Vista

We were there, but the parking lot was full so I couldn't hike.

All I could manage was it's back view from around half a mile distance.

Without zoom.

[blue_pulsar]

Originally Posted by vivekiny2k

It was only a matter of time before we head to the west coast, since we had been to the most popular destinations in mid west and east. So we decided to fly to Las Vegas and take a road trip thru Arizona, Utah, Nevada again and California to San Francisco, from where we would take our flight back home.....

Awesome trip! Nice pics! Must be fun.

Originally Posted by chevelle

....I specially wanted to go to Horseshoe bend. Have seen it in plenty of movies and looks awesome. May be next summer.
........
Also can you mention where Antelope Canyon is located? I have to include it in my next visit....

Don't miss the Horseshoe bend and Antelope canyon. Awesome places! Just around 10 miles apart near Page, AZ. Here's one pic from my collection to inspire you more :-)
Horseshoe bend is one of my fave places in AZ. Best part - no parking fees, no entrance fees. Totally free!

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by blue_pulsar

Don't miss the Horseshoe bend and Antelope canyon. Awesome places! Just around 10 miles apart near Page, AZ. Here's one pic from my collection to inspire you more :-)
Horseshoe bend is one of my fave places in AZ. Best part - no parking fees, no entrance fees. Totally free!
Attachment 832399

Yes, this is for sure in my list to do next summer. Since i did it recently, don't really see myself going there until july-aug next year.

And it is my fav place too. Looks simply stunning in the photo. I was looking at its beauty for full 2 minutes.

[vivekiny2k]

while you all are at it, consider hiking to the wave which I missed. I think it's around 12 miles hike one way, and a permit has to be won thru a lottery 4 months in advance conducted by bureau of land mgmt.

Also there is an lower antelope canyon in the same area.

And as I mentioned earlier, Glen canyon/lake powell itself is very beautiful, but only accessible thru boats. Consider renting a boat or at least doing one of their cruises.

And be very careful about the flash floods while out in open, hiking, or off-roading. Enquire about weather before you head out. A few years back 11 tourists died in a flash flood from a shower seven miles away while the antelope canyon itself was totally dry. Off road vehicles can easily get stuck or swept away in such areas since they are not managed for regular traffic. Canyonlands are a high risk zone.

[_raVan_]

Excellent travellogue Vivek! Loved the photographs and the locations too. You have covered most of US!

Where to next?

[vivekiny2k]

just discovered this in my folder, crooked street from driver's point of view.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNC95rvEWEU

took half an hour in queue to get on this street.