2 Ozzy tourists on the loose
We are 2 60ish Ozzy tourists who are doing a Panama canal cruise in March next year 2014, we have another 3 weeks of unplanned touring round the central & western areas of USA. We are looking at depar...
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I suspect your Area 51 trip will be a let down unless you enjoy looking at a fence in the desert.
As for the rest of your trip I'd say it's a bit too much for three weeks. It's a two day drive from Vegas to Denver and another 2 days up to Rushmore. Then 2 more days out to the west coast for example. And that's if the weather cooperates.
You'd spend most of the time driving. At Las Vegas you are at the entrance of some of the most spectacular desert redrock landscape in the world. The Four Corners area has a lot of major national parks: Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Canyonlands and Capital Reef are the major parks. And there are probably 20 to 30 smaller national and state parks in the same general area. And you are very near Death Valley NP at Vegas. And March is a great time to visit DV, with luck they will have had some winter rain and the wild flowers would be blooming.
March is a little early for more northern parks like Rushmore (not that there is anything much to do there), Rocky Mountains National Park, outside Denver, will probably be at least party snowed in that early in the year. And you have a good chance of getting snow storms going across Colorado, and on mountain roads at that, and up in South Dakota. Early July is usually considered the safest early date at those parks.
If you prefer mountain and tree type parks, I'd go across to Death Valley then north from there to King's Canyon/Sequoia NP and North to the west entrance of Yosemite NP. I personally think Yosemite is the crown jewel of the park system. There most likely will still be snow on the ground there and the east side of the park will probably be closed. You could continue north to Lassen Volcanic park and then across to Highway 101 on the coast at Redwood City where most of the giant Redwood parks are found. Depending on time you could explore up the Oregon coast on 101 or head south on 101 down to San Francisco and south back to LA.
Just to give you an idea of the size of the American West. It would take you all day to drive south to north in Death Valley if you stop and walk out to some of the viewpoints. Like Badwater. It is a very big place: 13500 sq km almost the size of holland, and the other major parks aren't that much smaller.
BK
As for the rest of your trip I'd say it's a bit too much for three weeks. It's a two day drive from Vegas to Denver and another 2 days up to Rushmore. Then 2 more days out to the west coast for example. And that's if the weather cooperates.
You'd spend most of the time driving. At Las Vegas you are at the entrance of some of the most spectacular desert redrock landscape in the world. The Four Corners area has a lot of major national parks: Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Canyonlands and Capital Reef are the major parks. And there are probably 20 to 30 smaller national and state parks in the same general area. And you are very near Death Valley NP at Vegas. And March is a great time to visit DV, with luck they will have had some winter rain and the wild flowers would be blooming.
March is a little early for more northern parks like Rushmore (not that there is anything much to do there), Rocky Mountains National Park, outside Denver, will probably be at least party snowed in that early in the year. And you have a good chance of getting snow storms going across Colorado, and on mountain roads at that, and up in South Dakota. Early July is usually considered the safest early date at those parks.
If you prefer mountain and tree type parks, I'd go across to Death Valley then north from there to King's Canyon/Sequoia NP and North to the west entrance of Yosemite NP. I personally think Yosemite is the crown jewel of the park system. There most likely will still be snow on the ground there and the east side of the park will probably be closed. You could continue north to Lassen Volcanic park and then across to Highway 101 on the coast at Redwood City where most of the giant Redwood parks are found. Depending on time you could explore up the Oregon coast on 101 or head south on 101 down to San Francisco and south back to LA.
Just to give you an idea of the size of the American West. It would take you all day to drive south to north in Death Valley if you stop and walk out to some of the viewpoints. Like Badwater. It is a very big place: 13500 sq km almost the size of holland, and the other major parks aren't that much smaller.
BK
