Making the most of a chance - LV/AZ/UT Roadtrip advice

[cheeze]

I'll be roadtripping to LV in May from the Bay Area. Due to work being lame and taking my previous PTO away from me, I'm taking a week following Las Vegas to camp and reset. Seeking mud advice.

We have Monday through Sat and hope to make it back to the Bay by Sat evening or Sun morning. Depending on Tioga Pass opening, I may want to run up the 395 on the way back.

Roughly, I'm thinking head to ZNP, then to either Grand Canyon-Parashant or North Rim and if I can squeeze it Monument Valley. Would like some feedback about...anything really. Trail recommendations would be great too. Truck has no sliders, no winch, so looking to overland.

I'm piecing together a trip and would like to make the most of it as my copilots will likely be having kids soon and this is the last time all my friends from college will be able to do something like this.

 

[cheeze]

truck tax.

 

[doug720]

All those areas are great, but there is lots to see in each. A week is not much time, and you have a fair amount of miles to cover. Pick whats important to you, and try not to back track too much.

I would not plan on Tioga opening in May, there is 20+ feet of snow on the road currently! 395 is always good, maybe get to Hwy 6 and cross over to 395 near Bishop on the way home.

Are you camping or?

 

[ScottT]

The pass from north of LV to Pahrump is kind of cool, there are some old beehive charcoal ovens and a spring up there. If you continue from Pahrump to Shoshone and go right on 127 for a few miles you can drive to the top of Grolers wash. Lots of interesting things up there. Early in the road a 20 mule team wagon train was lost in a sand storm. I found the general area but didn’t have a metal detector with me to better locate the site. There is an old arrastra up the road and further up the road an old Pfizer talc mine with several buildings and a swimming pool fed by a spring. Still further is the engineers cabin and 1 or 2 other structures. Those structures may be inhabited by squatters of the Helier skelter variety, be advised. Back toward Vegas, the Valley of Fire is a few miles east of the old Camino de Real. If you take your time going through there and look around there is lots to see. I reported petroglyphs to the rangers that they were not aware of. An ancient atlatl was found preserved there in the 1980s. I’d avoid the mines by the Colorado south of Lake Mead. If you crest a hill there you may find a sheer 100 ft drop off, be advised. The dirt tracks from the rangers station near cold creek north west of Las Vegas on the bighorn sheep preserve is a nice high desert drive. It comes out on the paved road from Apex. There is a lot of stuff around Las Vegas , little is maintained. Most is on us government land. Lots is BLM. Restrictions are few.

 

[cheeze]

All those areas are great, but there is lots to see in each. A week is not much time, and you have a fair amount of miles to cover. Pick whats important to you, and try not to back track too much.

I would not plan on Tioga opening in May, there is 20+ feet of snow on the road currently! 395 is always good, maybe get to Hwy 6 and cross over to 395 near Bishop on the way home.

Are you camping or?

We plan on camping mostly, maybe with a day in between at a hotel or lodge.

The pass from north of LV to Pahrump is kind of cool, there are some old beehive charcoal ovens and a spring up there. If you continue from Pahrump to Shoshone and go right on 127 for a few miles you can drive to the top of Grolers wash. Lots of interesting things up there. Early in the road a 20 mule team wagon train was lost in a sand storm. I found the general area but didn’t have a metal detector with me to better locate the site. There is an old arrastra up the road and further up the road an old Pfizer talc mine with several buildings and a swimming pool fed by a spring. Still further is the engineers cabin and 1 or 2 other structures. Those structures may be inhabited by squatters of the Helier skelter variety, be advised. Back toward Vegas, the Valley of Fire is a few miles east of the old Camino de Real. If you take your time going through there and look around there is lots to see. I reported petroglyphs to the rangers that they were not aware of. An ancient atlatl was found preserved there in the 1980s. I’d avoid the mines by the Colorado south of Lake Mead. If you crest a hill there you may find a sheer 100 ft drop off, be advised. The dirt tracks from the rangers station near cold creek north west of Las Vegas on the bighorn sheep preserve is a nice high desert drive. It comes out on the paved road from Apex. There is a lot of stuff around Las Vegas , little is maintained. Most is on us government land. Lots is BLM. Restrictions are few.

Thanks! I'm worried about the heat in that area though. Should be near the high 90s by Mid May.

 

[ScottT]

Yep, Death Valley and Las Vegas are way hot in May. Southern Utah isn’t much better even at altitude. I was in Furnace Creek a few years ago on April 1st and it was over 100 degrees. If you go up 395 on the east of the Sierras there is a nice rv camp in Lone Pine. A lot of the passes over the Sierras don’t open until after Memorial Day and there is a lot of snow this year so don’t plan on using a lot of them in May. Of course the major passes that are kept open in winter will be open unless there is a big late snow. I probably wouldn’t go up the 5 because it is boring. Unless you are in a big hurry or need to hit Guy Fieri’s Garlic Cafe in Gilroy I’d take 395.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

I would definitely recommend checking out the Grand Canyon and the parashant. Read about the Toroweap overlook, I would recommend it over ZNP.
It is a remote backcountry access the the GC and it takes you through the Parashant.

 

[Kofoed]

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[olive]

If your in SW Utah let me know, there are tons of easy trails around here and that would be a better time than following the throngs of tourists around ZNP. FYI, you can't drive on the more scenic road in ZNP during that time only the hwy that cuts through.

 

[cheeze]

I'd love some recommendations.

I think we're also going to cut Monument and putt around Parashant for a couple of days too

 

[leonard_nemoy]

I'd love some recommendations.

I think we're also going to cut Monument and putt around Parashant for a couple of days too

When are you coming through? Im in St George, I am also planning on spending this weekend (19 -21) camping at toroweap on the Grand Canyon and checking out a few different remote Backcountry Grand Canyon overlooks on the parashant. You would be more than welcome to come along. The parashant and GC country can be overwhelming if you have never wheeled it before. Definitely super remote and lots of confusing roads. It is a giant Backcountry area. Everything north of the Grand Canyon all the way to Utah is basically unpaved with no services.

 

[cheeze]

I'll be coming through approximately a month from now. Will you be camping at the Toroweap grounds?

 

[leonard_nemoy]

I'll be coming through approximately a month from now. Will you be camping at the Toroweap grounds?

I am going to try and camp at the Toroweap campground in the park. It is supposed to be by reservation only, I didn't plan well enough to reserve a spot but. If you show up to the overlook and campground the ranger will usually let you stay if there are spots unreserved or if the other groups no show by dark. If the campground is full than all I have to do is head back out of the park boundary onto the blm/parashant and then I can camp anywhere I want for free lol.

 

[Kofoed]

The Toroweap Camground is called Tuweep and you need to make reservations via the NPS office in Flag. You can not do it at teh backcountry ranger station. That said, there is USFS land not too far away where you can camp. The area farther north is Rez and they don't want you to even stop along the road (not that many people are out there....though I have been passed by a tribal patrol pick up)

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Yeah, it used to be first come first serve but they changed it 7 or 8 years back to a reservation. Now they want to make it a lottery like the wave in Arizona. I have camped there everytime I went with no reservations. ( 3 times ). The ranger was always super nice and said if there were empty spots when it got dark I could use one. Assuming I would pack up and leave if they did happen to show up. But like you said, lots of free camping on the blm and nfs land just outside the park boundary. Camping on mount Trumball is always fun because you got lots of firewood. No firewood at tuweep unless you bring your own.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

On the way to Toroweap ( tuweep ) there is an awesome hike that visits the oldest pictographs in North America. It's called shamans gallery via the tuckup trail. This is one of the coolest hikes I have ever done.

 

[Somebodyelse5]

Yeah, it used to be first come first serve but they changed it 7 or 8 years back to a reservation. Now they want to make it a lottery like the wave in Arizona. I have camped there everytime I went with no reservations. ( 3 times ). The ranger was always super nice and said if there were empty spots when it got dark I could use one. Assuming I would pack up and leave if they did happen to show up. But like you said, lots of free camping on the blm and nfs land just outside the park boundary. Camping on mount Trumball is always fun because you got lots of firewood. No firewood at tuweep unless you bring your own.

if you are going north rim of GC, go to White Pocket instead of the wave....

 

[leonard_nemoy]

if you are going north rim of GC, go to White Pocket instead of the wave....

Yeah, I got to do the wave when I worked for the BLM, it was pretty cool. We visited white pockets the next day which was also awesome.

 

[cheeze]

back from the trip.

Parashant was absolutely stunning. We caught it during that rain/snow storm. Getting back over Trumbull with that frozen clay stuck on the tires was an experience.

 

[cheeze]

Zion was beautiful too. I'm glad we braved the rain. It gave all the cliffs even more color and the way the clouds hung over them made it feel like Jurassic Park.