USA Road Trip - Little Advice

lee1101

lee1101

lee1101

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Morning,

Me and the missus are planning a little road trip in the USA. We intend to go LA, then Vegas then through Death Valley and Yosemite on to San Francisco then back down the coast to LA again.

When would be the best time of year to do this? We were planning on October but it looks like this could possible be a bit chilly! That and its autumn there so the scenery might not be as great if all the leaves have fallen already!

I know a few people on here have done a similar trip so just wondered when you travelled.

Thanks! :D
 
I road tripped from Vancouver down to San Diego and back via Las Vegas/Grand Canyon in May of 2010. I reckon this was a pretty good time to do it. We had a mix of weather but it was sunny and comfortably warm for the majority of the time (although Las Vegas was still incredibly hot).

How long do you think you'll be going for?
 
I did almost exactly this trip in early October and the weather was great. Mostly warm and sunny, not really "hot" however.

3 days LA, loved it. Over to Vegas for 3 nights. Back up to SF for a few days via Death valley, Yosemite/kings canyon, Sacremento. Down to San diego for a few days and then back up to LA for flight home.

Driving is so easy, people are usually really nice, great scenery, was a brilliant holiday. :)
 
I did pretty must the reverse of this route 4 years ago - makes sense to finish up in Vegas!!

October might be a bit chilly for San Fran. We were there in August and it was getting nippy, although we'd traveled across the rest of the states which was HOT, so our bodies probably weren't used to the cold. Take a few jumper and you should be fine.

Weather wise for everywhere else you should be totally fine, in fact it will still be roasting in death valley in October.

As for LA - I really didn't enjoy it that much, but each to their own. We opted to stay in Santa Barbra instead as we didn't find LA much fun - SB was AMAZING! Beautiful hiking through waterfalls and deep gorges, not seeing other people for hours. Plus a great beach and surfing. And only a short drive from LA if you wanted to head in!

But it's all your choice!
 
LA does look a little grotty! The main reason for setting off from there is the flights seem to be bit cheaper. Cant decide whether to wait for August/Sep next year or just go October this year. I am impatient!
 
Add me to the LA Haters Club. Terrible airport and the attractions worth seeing are really spread out. It's easy to see most of what San Francisco has on foot. It's impossible to do that in LA.

California is full of awesome places so I'd spend as little time in LA as possible.
 
October is a bad time to do this as the eastern route into Yosemite from the Death Valley side, Tioga Pass, is a seasonal road that will be closed in October. The alternative is a massive time wasting detour of at least a day.
 
went in september last year and thanks to the fire in yosemite the tioga pass was closed. had to take a nice 7+hr detour.
to be honest, the detour was good fun. passed through some tiny towns (signs with population:104 on them) and the scenery was fantastic.
in september i found san diego & san fran quite cold (maybe i'd got used to the heat of vegas) so be prepared if you go in october.
 
[TW]Fox;26437949 said:
October is a bad time to do this as the eastern route into Yosemite from the Death Valley side, Tioga Pass, is a seasonal road that will be closed in October. The alternative is a massive time wasting detour of at least a day.
Click to expand...

Just had a read through your thread. Would you recommend September? Only negative I can see is that Yosemite's waterfalls are a bit tame at that time of year.
 
Arsonist said:
I did pretty must the reverse of this route 4 years ago - makes sense to finish up in Vegas!!

October might be a bit chilly for San Fran. We were there in August and it was getting nippy, although we'd traveled across the rest of the states which was HOT, so our bodies probably weren't used to the cold. Take a few jumper and you should be fine.

Weather wise for everywhere else you should be totally fine, in fact it will still be roasting in death valley in October.

As for LA - I really didn't enjoy it that much, but each to their own. We opted to stay in Santa Barbra instead as we didn't find LA much fun - SB was AMAZING! Beautiful hiking through waterfalls and deep gorges, not seeing other people for hours. Plus a great beach and surfing. And only a short drive from LA if you wanted to head in!

But it's all your choice!
Click to expand...

October is the hottest time of year in San Francisco.



The biggest issue In October is there might already be the first substantial snowfall of the season and the Tioga pass could be closed so you have no easy access to yosemites from highway 390 at lee vining. The valley will be open from the west, e.g el portal entrance.
 
lee1101 said:
Just had a read through your thread. Would you recommend September? Only negative I can see is that Yosemite's waterfalls are a bit tame at that time of year.
Click to expand...

Avoid labour day in September., otherwise it's fine. Year. Waterfalls suck or are nonexistent (many dry up completely then, same with mirrorlake).
 
lee1101 said:
Just had a read through your thread. Would you recommend September? Only negative I can see is that Yosemite's waterfalls are a bit tame at that time of year.
Click to expand...

With the lack of rain/snow for a while the waterfalls arnt going to be great at all this year, we was there in May, stayed two nights in yosimite and they where nice but nowhere near is much water as you seem in pictures.
 
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