TestPilot
Well-known member
Hi all, looking for some route planning advice, please. My wife and I, and another couple, will be touring SW USA in late Sept/early Oct, and I will appreciate any advice or comment on our planned route.
This is the planning at present:
Day 0 – prep FJR at Salt Lake City (will be ‘stored’ there for me pending arrival). The first 2 days are ‘transport stages’ to link up with friends arriving in LA.
Day 1 – SLC to Las Vegas (425 miles)
Day 2 – Las Vegas to Santa Barbara, where we link up with friends (360 miles)
Day 3 – Santa B to Monterey (along the coast 260 m)
Day 4 – Monterey to Moccasin – chose Moccasin as a 2-night base, but anywhere close/better is good. (175 m)
Day 5 – Loop ride, heading over Sonora Pass, then back via one of the other roads – advice on this much appreciated. (est 300 m)
Day 6 – Moccasin to Bishop through Yosemite (210 m)
Day 7 – Bishop to Las Vegas via Death Valley (300 m). 2 nights in LV. (Unfortunately I’ve had to cut a ride up to Goldfields from the route – not enough time).
Day 8 – Loop ride from LV – probably taking in Hoover Dam.
Day 9 – LV to Williams. (230 miles). This day is shorter than I would like, but I don’t know if we can get to stay any closer to the canyon, or if there is enough time to see the canyon and stay overnight towards Cameron.
Day 10 – Williams to Page via Grand Canyon. (200 m – leaves enough time for sightseeing). And major BUGG*H here – we will be through this area the week after the SWFOG! This is about half way through the trip, total so far 2,500 miles
Day 11 – Page to Kanab via North Rim (230 m)
Day 12 – Kanab to Hatch, via Zion (there and back ride) and Cedar City (there and back ride) (210 m)
Day 13 – Hatch to Blanding, incorporating Bryce, Escalante etc (310 m)
Day 14 – Blanding to Durango (260 m)
Day 15 – Durango to Gunnison (230 m)
Day 16 – Gunnison to Moab (280 m)
Day 17 – Moab to SLC (240 m). Total at this point 4,200 miles, with 2 more days to spend. Will get to have a look at Bonneville, and ride this area for a day or two, before heading home to Australia.
The overnight stops have just been chosen from names on a map (using MapSource to do the basic routing) so any advice on towns/places to stay will be welcomed. We may stay an extra day in the Durango/Gunnison/Moab area. The distances per day have been chosen to cater for the fact that we are tourists = more than usual stops for ‘oooh aaaah’ moments and piccies. We are not afraid of 500 to 600 mile days if we need to get these stretches in to ‘get past the boring bits’.
Basically the route was chosen for the following reasons:
1 – riding partners want to ride Highway 1 (so do we, although we would prefer north to south)
2 – Sonora & Yosemite are ‘must do’s’
3 – Death Valley sounds interesting, and gets us across the range
4 – Las Vegas – at $29.95 a night we have to stay there – was definitely OFF the list until the girls figured 2 nights in a real hotel at that price sounds too good.
5 – As tourist we must see Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce etc.
6 – SW Colorado was a must ride area - there seem to be interesting roads there.
Anyway, there it is – any advice and comments will be gratefully accepted and read.
And the following is the rough Garmin/Mapsource route as planned.
This is the planning at present:
Day 0 – prep FJR at Salt Lake City (will be ‘stored’ there for me pending arrival). The first 2 days are ‘transport stages’ to link up with friends arriving in LA.
Day 1 – SLC to Las Vegas (425 miles)
Day 2 – Las Vegas to Santa Barbara, where we link up with friends (360 miles)
Day 3 – Santa B to Monterey (along the coast 260 m)
Day 4 – Monterey to Moccasin – chose Moccasin as a 2-night base, but anywhere close/better is good. (175 m)
Day 5 – Loop ride, heading over Sonora Pass, then back via one of the other roads – advice on this much appreciated. (est 300 m)
Day 6 – Moccasin to Bishop through Yosemite (210 m)
Day 7 – Bishop to Las Vegas via Death Valley (300 m). 2 nights in LV. (Unfortunately I’ve had to cut a ride up to Goldfields from the route – not enough time).
Day 8 – Loop ride from LV – probably taking in Hoover Dam.
Day 9 – LV to Williams. (230 miles). This day is shorter than I would like, but I don’t know if we can get to stay any closer to the canyon, or if there is enough time to see the canyon and stay overnight towards Cameron.
Day 10 – Williams to Page via Grand Canyon. (200 m – leaves enough time for sightseeing). And major BUGG*H here – we will be through this area the week after the SWFOG! This is about half way through the trip, total so far 2,500 miles
Day 11 – Page to Kanab via North Rim (230 m)
Day 12 – Kanab to Hatch, via Zion (there and back ride) and Cedar City (there and back ride) (210 m)
Day 13 – Hatch to Blanding, incorporating Bryce, Escalante etc (310 m)
Day 14 – Blanding to Durango (260 m)
Day 15 – Durango to Gunnison (230 m)
Day 16 – Gunnison to Moab (280 m)
Day 17 – Moab to SLC (240 m). Total at this point 4,200 miles, with 2 more days to spend. Will get to have a look at Bonneville, and ride this area for a day or two, before heading home to Australia.
The overnight stops have just been chosen from names on a map (using MapSource to do the basic routing) so any advice on towns/places to stay will be welcomed. We may stay an extra day in the Durango/Gunnison/Moab area. The distances per day have been chosen to cater for the fact that we are tourists = more than usual stops for ‘oooh aaaah’ moments and piccies. We are not afraid of 500 to 600 mile days if we need to get these stretches in to ‘get past the boring bits’.
Basically the route was chosen for the following reasons:
1 – riding partners want to ride Highway 1 (so do we, although we would prefer north to south)
2 – Sonora & Yosemite are ‘must do’s’
3 – Death Valley sounds interesting, and gets us across the range
4 – Las Vegas – at $29.95 a night we have to stay there – was definitely OFF the list until the girls figured 2 nights in a real hotel at that price sounds too good.
5 – As tourist we must see Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce etc.
6 – SW Colorado was a must ride area - there seem to be interesting roads there.
Anyway, there it is – any advice and comments will be gratefully accepted and read.
And the following is the rough Garmin/Mapsource route as planned.
