I think this would be one awesome trip, but I do not think we can do it in the time we are talking about. We are looking at a minimum of 28 hours drive time for this trip. That would come out to almost 6 hours driving over a 5 day trip. That does not leave enough time to get out and explore. As much as I would like to do Moab and Arches, it saves a 12 hour roundtrip drive to skip it. I think we should make a choice and focus in on it.
1. Focus on the southwestern portion of Utah and Northern Arizona.
2. Skip the parks in southwestern Utah and keep the Grand Canyon portion very short. Make good time to Moab area and spend a few days exploring Moab, Arches and Canyonlands in centraleastern Utah.
I think option 2 would be more fun at the destination, but option 1 probably gives us better bang for the buck and time.
1. Focus on the southwestern portion of Utah and Northern Arizona.
2. Skip the parks in southwestern Utah and keep the Grand Canyon portion very short. Make good time to Moab area and spend a few days exploring Moab, Arches and Canyonlands in centraleastern Utah.
I think option 2 would be more fun at the destination, but option 1 probably gives us better bang for the buck and time.
hq said:I created a map of the possible destinations:
1-Las Vegas
2-Hoover Dam
3-Lake Mead
4-Valley of Fire
5-Mesquite, NV
6-St George, UT
7-Zion National Park
8-Bryce Canyon
9-Arches National Park / Moab
10- Grand Canyon National Park
11-Flagstaff, AZ
12-Lake Havasu City, AZ
The total route (all green lines) is about 1,500 miles. ?It could be substantially less if we bypass Moab/Arches and go to the Grand Canyon from Bryce (Saves 500 miles - a full day).
Flagstaff looks like a good stopover, it saves a trip futher south into Phoenix. ?Lake Havasu (London Bridge) or Laughlin, NV is a nice stop for people returning back to California and points further north.