Route Advice - Las Vegas Round Trip

[MaxStar]

Hi everyone. My wife and I are new to the forum and need some help on deciding a route for our upcoming RV rental. We plan on doing a 7 day round trip out of Las Vegas in June and would love to hear suggestions for routes/ campgrounds. We'd like to visit the Grand Canyon, Zion NP, the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead etc. It'll just be the two of us; no children.

Thanks for any input!

Max & Carly

[2gypsies1]

For everyone's benefit, 89 between 89A and Page will not be open soon. It was a major highway collaspe about a year ago. The detour that you would be signed to take is very easy and runs roughly parallel to 89 into Page.

Now regarding the OP, are you renting a RV out of Las Vegas? Your signature says 'Bay City'.

If renting and you have 7 days, from Las Vegas you would take 93 to visit Hoover Dam/Lake Mead.One night in this area would be plenty. It's going to be very hot in June. Then I-40 to Williams, AZ and pick up Hwy 64 to Grand Canyon - South. I would recommend that you stay in the park itself at Trailer Village which has full hookups. You would have easy access to the free shuttle from the campground. You can ride and get on & off whenever you want. Unless you're a serious hiker I would recommend no more than 3 nights. If you're 62+ years get your Senior Pass which will last your lifetime for national park entrances, among other perks.

Then exit the south rim from Trailer Village via 64 east to Hwy 89 north and pick up the detour mentioned above which will take you into Page, AZ. Continue on 89 west into Kanab, Utah and north on 89 to Mt. Carmel and pick up Hwy 9 which will take you into Zion Nat'l Park. I know you didn't mention this for your trip but as long as you're in the area you might as well hit one more national park. Stay in Zion at Watchman campground which has electric and a dump station. You'd probably have 2 nights there. Then exit Zion west on Hwy 9 toward St. George, Utah and pick up I-15 south back to Las Vegas. If you need an extra day, take off a day at Grand Canyon. Have a great trip!

[dicknellen]

Maybe 89 S will be open or a detour route by their June trip. bigorange did you see a opening time? Dick

[bigorange]

dicknellen wrote:
I would take I-15 N to hwy 9 E turn off for Zion, from Zion then 9 E to 89 S to 67 S to North Rim GC, then back to 89 S to Flagstaff I-40 or 89 S to 64 W if you want to see more of GC South Rim, then 64 S to I-40, I-40 w to hwy 93 N back towards LV area. We have been these routes but never on a 7 day trip. Been a long time since there so can't recommend any campgrounds. Dick

Good route recommendation except note that 89 S is currently closed south of Page...unless maybe you mean 89A south of Kanab. That will get you to 67 and North Rim no problem.

This is basically the route we drove last week except for the I-40 stretch between Flagstaff and 93.

[dicknellen]

I would take I-15 N to hwy 9 E turn off for Zion, from Zion then 9 E to 89 S to 67 S to North Rim GC, then back to 89 S to Flagstaff I-40 or 89 S to 64 W if you want to see more of GC South Rim, then 64 S to I-40, I-40 w to hwy 93 N back towards LV area. We have been these routes but never on a 7 day trip. Been a long time since there so can't recommend any campgrounds. Dick

[bigorange]

Just made much of that drive over last weekend...up across north rim of Grand Canyon to Hurricane, UT. Couple days in and around St George and Hurricane for a half Ironman, day trip into Zion, and home via Vegas, Hoover Dam, etc.

Virgin River Gorge between Vegas and Zion is beautiful and yeah you'll hit some wind. Keep an eye out for a vent cover I lost off my TT. :B Basically only one way to Zion from there...through Hurricane on Hwy 9 into Zion. Several places to stay along there...we stayed in Sand Hollow State Park, but if Zion is your destination there's a nice looking RV park (River RV Resort or something like that) much closer, and a campground right at Zion depending on size of your RV.

For Grand Canyon, I'd recommend a drive down to the north rim of Grand Canyon. Attempting South Rim will add several more hours to the drive, or make for a really long loop. Hoover Dam is a relatively short side trip from Vegas or I suppose could be the end of a long loop including the South Rim of Grand Canyon.

Several climbs and a lot of windy spots in there, but overall the route is fine and beautiful country. If you want to drive all the way through Zion check the size restrictions on the tunnel.

Enjoy!

[dicknellen]

OP said round trip out of LV. Dick

[Jim_Shoe]

That's about 800 miles in 7 days. Grand Canyon is responsible for 400 of them, if you're starting and returning to Las Vegas.

[jmcgsd]

I presume from your sig that you're starting in the. SF Bay Area. If so, then visiting all those in a week sounds extremely challenging. Zion is a minimum of a four hour drive from Vegas. Depending on whether you visit the N or S rim of the Grand Canyon that's an eight hour drive.

In all likelihood you will have some heat and wind to contend with and some spots, such as the Virgin River Canyon between Vegas, Zion or the North Rim can get backed up something terrible. Last time I made that drive I got stuck in there for close to 3 hours on a very HOT Sunday afternoon when the AZ Dept of Highways had the southbound canyon shut down to one lane.

You have a hard drive from the Bay Area to Vegas and back, so that's a good portion of your trip. You might think bout doing Zion and Bryce and saving the Grand Canyon for another time.

[2oldman]

7 days? I'm reminded of Clark Griswald at Hoover Dam.