We are a family of 6, parent, a son 14, a daughter 12, a daughter 10 and a son 7. We are spending 6 weeks in the USA, and as part of this we will taking a road trip in the western USA. We will have spent time in Orlando, so the Disney parks and their like are of no interest ot us in the California area.
We are renting an RV for 14 of the days of our Road trip.
We fly into San Francisco and fly out of LA.
We like outdoor activities, and hiking, but as we have limited time, we will be limiting ourselves the shorter hikes.
Here are the sites we would like to see in this order.
Fly into San Fancisco on Tues April 2 and we plan to spend until Thrus in San Franciso then we head out to Yosemite, then Sequoia, Las Vegas, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon,Gran Canyon northern Rim or Southern Rim(weather dependant), Sedona ( ?), and drive to San Diego. We need to be in San Diego by April 16, then we have Thurs-Sun in San Diego and LA.
Advice on hikes,RV sites, other activites such as horseback riding,ATV, biking that are appropriate in April, Advice about the weather, and any other helpful tidbits.
Thanks
20 day family road trip in the western USA-April 2013
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Your title says a 20 day road trip but it looks like 13 days for the 'road trip bit'. Hopefully you aren't having an RV while in San Franciso. Totally inconvenient - almost impossible to park it anywhere in the city.
Also - April is early for visiting Yosemite/Sequoia/Bryce/north rim. Yosemite Valley will be accessible but other parts of the park won't be.
Are you absolutely set on using an RV? Some of that route will be much faster/easier by car and motels will likely be cheaper.
The way I read it the RV part is 14 days and the extra days in SF and SD/LA without the RV bring them up to a total of 20.
I would immediately post this on the RV.net forum under routes. After establishing your route post again under the RV park section and find your overnight sites. You will get tons of advise from RV people who will not try to talk you out of renting the RV and have actual experience of RVing in the areas you are going to. To research RV campgrounds that are recommended to you go to RVparkreviews.com. In addition, the RV company you are renting from should have some suggested routes on their website.
What a great trip you have planned! Have fun.
I'm not trying to talk them out of it - and yes I do have RV experience. I just suggested they consider the car option, mainly because of the time of year. .
> Advice on hikes
> Yosemite, Sequoia, Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon
Here's some good links:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/valleyhikes.htm
http://www.yosemite.national-park.com/hike.htm
http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/dayhikes.htm
http://www.sequoia.national-park.com/hike.htm
http://www.nps.gov/brca/planyourvisit/hiking.htm
http://www.bryce.canyon.national-park.com/hike.htm
http://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/upload/HikingGuide.pdf
http://www.yosemite.national-park.com/hike.htm
www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/day-hiking.htm#CP_JUMP_109531
http://www.grand.canyon.national-park.com/hike.htm#day
http://www.bobspixels.com/kaibab.org/bc/gc_trail.htm#south
Early April is going to limit you in Yosemite and Bryce. The North Rim of the Grand Canyon will not be open to vehicles until mid-May so you will have to go to the South Rim.
I would add at least one, preferably 2 nights in Death Valley to your itinerary.