Suggestions...Road Trip CA to UT

[jvcolaizzi]

Hi, Planning on a road trip on April 1st from Palm Springs, CA up the coast. Eventually ending up in Park City, Utah. Any suggestions on areas to visit and places to camp would be appreciated.

[Jim Foster]

How much time do you intend to spend on the road, and how far north do you care to go?

[Ray Eklund]

Take the longest route, take your sweet time and travel the less traveled route.

Make it your trip. Not mine.

[McDave]

I've always enjoyed Morro Bay and camping at Morro Bay State Park. The whole coast from Santa Barbara to Monterey is very beautiful, of course, if a bit congested at times. Then you have to get from the coast to the mountains: no fun way of doing that that I know of. From Sacramento or Stockton east, you have many choices, depending on time. One fun way if you like to meander would be to take Hwy 88 from Stockton to Hwy 89, and then over Monitor Pass to Hwy 395. Markleeville is a fun stop and has a couple of nice RV parks nearby, and at least one fancy restaurant. The Carson River near Markleeville is stocked with big rainbow trout at times, and if you hit it lucky, you might pull in a couple. I much prefer crossing Nevada from Carson City via Hwy 50 rather than from Reno via Hwy 80, again depending on how much time you have. Ely is a nice place to stop. I don't find the drive from Delta, UT to Park City to be very interesting, but I haven't explored that area much.


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[jvcolaizzi]

Hi, plan on spending around two weeks on the road. Not sure how far north to go as we haven't seen anything in N. CA.

[Doc Foster]

As you head over toward Park City, UT, I would recommended dropping down to Route 50 and spend a day or two or 3 in Great Basin NP. It is truly beautiful.
Great Basin National Park (U.S. National Park Service)
Attractions
Great hiking and also Lehman Caves

[Hal-Gin]

We have traveled the US coast from San Diego to Seattle both ways many times. One of the challenges is being able to get a spot in one of the State Parks. They fill up months in advance. If you want to go as far as the Napa Valley, we love to stay at the Napa Fairgrounds in Calistoga (a quaint town at the north end of the valley). It has a lovely 9-hole golf course adjacent to it. From that part of California we always go East on US 50 the up to US 40 through Utah and into Colorado. On the east side of Lake Tahoe is Zephyr Cove which has a campground on the mountain, a lodge, beach, and river boat cruises of the lake. Always refreshing before the big slog across Nevada and Utah to SLC.

[Hal-Gin]

I'm very curious where you stay in the Palm Springs area. We have friends in the Coachella Valley in Indio and travel out to see them a couple times each winter on our way to Southern California. We have to stay in the Indian Wells Carefree RV Resort which is basically an RV parking lot like every other California RV park we've ever encountered. If there is another option, I would love to know about it.

[ByHyway]

Palm Springs? First you will have to get to the coast. The 10 to Santa Monica and north to Santa Barbara/San Luis is great. Good camping along the way and easy access to Pismo Beach. You are missing the best of Utah if you travel through Sacramento. I-15 out of Riverside or from Bakersfield to Barstow gives you Las Vegas, Lake Mohave, Lake Mead, Valley of Fire, the last Nevada Liquor store in Mesquite and through the Virgin River Gorge to St George. Its then about 45 minutes to Zion, two hours to Bryce and Canyon Lands and on to Arches NP (Moab). You can turn west above Moab to get back to I-15 and the traffic, smog and congestion of the Salt Lake City Valley. Oh, if you drive farther north on I-15 stop at Mollie's Diner in Snowville.

Quality Inn (Springdale) has a clean and easy to access RV park, a 10 minute walk from the West Gate at Zion. Springdale (West Gate) is great little town with good restaurants and retail. Plenty of opportunities after Zion including Panguitch Lake.

We have a very good Camping World in St George and they have a great service shop

[baldwin6601]

We went through Ely twice in the past two weeks and while we didn't camp there, the KOA just south of town looked fairly nice as we drove by...With KOAs though it can be hard to tell...

[baldwin6601]

There's a nice RV Park at Lake Mead that's right on the lake and about 5 minutes from Boulder City which is a very cool town. Also, the RV Park behind the Casa Blanca Hotel is very nice but the restuarants in the hotel/casino are pretty grim.There's also a very nice RV Park in Moab. I think it was the first one you come to as you enter town on 191 from the northwest...

[FlashSilver]

Originally Posted by ByHyway

Palm Springs? First you will have to get to the coast. The 10 to Santa Monica and north to Santa Barbara/San Luis is great. Good camping along the way and easy access to Pismo Beach. You are missing the best of Utah if you travel through Sacramento. I-15 out of Riverside or from Bakersfield to Barstow gives you Las Vegas, Lake Mohave, Lake Mead, Valley of Fire, the last Nevada Liquor store in Mesquite and through the Virgin River Gorge to St George. Its then about 45 minutes to Zion, two hours to Bryce and Canyon Lands and on to Arches NP (Moab). You can turn west above Moab to get back to I-15 and the traffic, smog and congestion of the Salt Lake City Valley. Oh, if you drive farther north on I-15 stop at Mollie's Diner in Snowville.



Quality Inn (Springdale) has a clean and easy to access RV park, a 10 minute walk from the West Gate at Zion. Springdale (West Gate) is great little town with good restaurants and retail. Plenty of opportunities after Zion including Panguitch Lake.



We have a very good Camping World in St George and they have a great service shop

What he said. There is nothing like Southern Utah anywhere, and I've been everywhere. Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands, Kodachrome are not to be missed. The Blue Spruce Campground on the Devils Backbone above Boulder is one of my favorites and its Forest Service land. Very cheap to camp. Grover, UT has another good campground. Outside of Moab is the Dead Horse Campground which is worth the trip all by itself because of the views of the Colorado River. Then you are a 6 hour drive from Park City. I wish I was going with you, but I'll be down there plenty this spring and summer.



BTW, compared to Southern CA, the smog traffic and congestion of Salt Lake City is NOTHING, which is why I don't live in CA anymore. And I'm a fifth generation Californian.

[CaddyGrn]

Hi,

Going from Palm Springs to the California coast is sometimes tricky... lots of traffic can be had... depends on where you actually want to go! A up the east side of the Sierra's on Hwy 395 can be great, but then you would miss the coast. As was mentioned earlier, getting from the East side of California to the West would essentially be a day of just getting it done... There are only a few major roads that will get you to the coast road from the east... several in Southern California (below Bakersfield) a couple from Central California (anything below Redding) and 2 from Northern CA (above Redding). If you head from central CA across to Sacramento and to Reno you could travel Hwy 50. It is a great road, long and few services, but it is our favorite way to traverse Nevada... you can hit the Great Basin Nat'l Park, the Great Barrier Reef Nat'l Park and then on to the iconic parks in Utah.

A bit more info of the time you will spend (how much time behind the wheel do you want to spend?) traveling, what kinds of things you hope to see in Calif, and what kind of activities do you like? I would say no matter what if you go from Southern CA to the coast, by all means avoid the San Diego Freeway. It is so bumpy we lots rivets and broke parts of our trailer along that route!

Sounds like fun, best wishes for a great journey.