South western USA (CA, UT, AR) landscapes ?

Hi,

Three years ago I have visited south western USA. (Vegas, Bryce Canyon,
Canyonlands, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon). This year I will be in
Vegas too (begining of March) and I have about 6-7 days to fill.
This time I am considering Death Valley, Yosemite NP, and maybe
canyonlands one more time.

Do you have any suggestions where should I go this time ? Mostly I am
interested in landscapes.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

If someone is interested in gallery from last trip here is some
pictures:
http://hubi.net.pl/gallery/usa2004/usa2004.html

best regards,
Hubert

ps. start and end point is Las Vegas.

best regards,
Hubert

Should be a good time of year to see Death Valley -- the temperature is
down and there is some chance of wildflowers in the Southern California
deserts; it's a bit early but possible. (See for instance this older
article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/04/tr...er=rssuserland
and also http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/ca.html)
A drive past Mono Lake somewhere in these travels might be rewarding
too.

Yosemite has scenery and photography opportunities at all times of
year. Early March is still considered winter there, and a couple of
major roads will be seasonally closed, including a seemingly obvious
(and, when open, very scenic) shortcut over Tioga Pass, so you'll be
doing some backtracking from a base in Vegas in order to see both the
California and the Utah parklands.

If you make it to the Bryce Canyon area, definitely you should consider
Canyonlands and Capitol Reef national parks and the Moab area.

And of course if you want a look at the great works of man as well as
nature, at least one and maybe two of the large dams on the Colorado
River are convenient to your itinerary.

As for Arizona, a loop past the Grand Canyon, the separate Grand Canyon
Caverns area, and the Painted Desert/Meteor Crater area is possible,
though you are already at risk of an overly busy "stop the car, take a
picture, look at your watch, and get going again" experience in a part
of the country worthy of much time and many repeat visits.

Some more links:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/winter.htm
http://www.nps.gov/brca/planyourvisit/things2do.htm
http://www.nps.gov/grca
http://www.meteorcrater.com
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/eihd/navajo.htm
http://www.nps.gov/archive/glca/damindx.htm
http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/feb/s...gccaverns.html

Enjoy your trip,
--Joe
PS. Arizona is AZ. AR is Arkansas, a nice place in its own right but
a long way from where you're going.

wrote:
Hi,

Three years ago I have visited south western USA. (Vegas, Bryce Canyon,
Canyonlands, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon). This year I will be in
Vegas too (begining of March) and I have about 6-7 days to fill.
This time I am considering Death Valley, Yosemite NP, and maybe
canyonlands one more time.

Do you have any suggestions where should I go this time ? Mostly I am
interested in landscapes.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

If someone is interested in gallery from last trip here is some
pictures:
http://hubi.net.pl/gallery/usa2004/usa2004.html

best regards,
Hubert


You should consider Zion NP and Capitol Reef NP.
Both offer dramatically different landscapes from
Bryce and Grand Canyon.

Jjan, form the Netherlands, who has been there
several times.

In article . com,
() wrote:

*From:*
*Date:* 19 Jan 2007 07:18:41 -0800

Hi,

Three years ago I have visited south western USA. (Vegas, Bryce Canyon,
Canyonlands, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon). This year I will be in
Vegas too (begining of March) and I have about 6-7 days to fill.
This time I am considering Death Valley, Yosemite NP, and maybe
canyonlands one more time.

Do you have any suggestions where should I go this time ? Mostly I am
interested in landscapes.

Good ideas - Yosemite and Death Valley (especially Zabriskie Point) will
certainly appeal to you, I think.

wrote in message
...
In article . com,
() wrote:

*From:*
*Date:* 19 Jan 2007 07:18:41 -0800

Hi,

Three years ago I have visited south western USA. (Vegas, Bryce Canyon,
Canyonlands, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon). This year I will be in
Vegas too (begining of March) and I have about 6-7 days to fill.
This time I am considering Death Valley, Yosemite NP, and maybe
canyonlands one more time.

Do you have any suggestions where should I go this time ? Mostly I am
interested in landscapes.

Good ideas - Yosemite and Death Valley (especially Zabriskie Point) will
certainly appeal to you, I think.

Ive just returned from the US and did Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce
and a few others and out of them all i thought Zion was the best!
Dont forget the valley of fire just outside Vegas aswell!

Yosemite has scenery and photography opportunities at all times of
year. Early March is still considered winter there, and a couple of
major roads will be seasonally closed, including a seemingly obvious
(and, when open, very scenic) shortcut over Tioga Pass, so you'll be
doing some backtracking from a base in Vegas in order to see both the
California and the Utah parklands.

Thank's Joe for useful links.
I think I will be checking weather forecast for Yosemite just before
leaving.
Wchich enterance to Yosemite should I take to see best views ?
The best light is always early in the morning and in the afternoon.
There will be no time to change location and I would like to avoid
saying later " I should be here in the morning, not there where I have
been and now it's too late. Maybe next time ..." so shortly saying
wchich Yosemite NP enterance is most interesting ?


Best regards,
Hubert

jjan wrote:

You should consider Zion NP and Capitol Reef NP.
Both offer dramatically different landscapes from
Bryce and Grand Canyon.

Jjan, form the Netherlands, who has been there
several times.

Yes, these 2 locations are almost sure.
Last time Zion Park we were missed going for a sunrise in Bryce and
Capitol Reef we were just passing on the way to Moab, where we spent
few days.
Any suggestions about Zion and Capitol Reef ? Good views, places to
sleep etc ?

Best regards,
Hubert

wrote in message
ups.com...

jjan wrote:

You should consider Zion NP and Capitol Reef NP.
Both offer dramatically different landscapes from
Bryce and Grand Canyon.

Jjan, form the Netherlands, who has been there
several times.

Yes, these 2 locations are almost sure.
Last time Zion Park we were missed going for a sunrise in Bryce and
Capitol Reef we were just passing on the way to Moab, where we spent
few days.
Any suggestions about Zion and Capitol Reef ? Good views, places to
sleep etc ?

Best regards,
Hubert


Dont forget Lake Mono, at the end of the Tioga pass.

In article . com,
wrote:

Wchich enterance to Yosemite should I take to see best views ?

You mentioned that you'll be visiting in early March, so you'll
have to use one of the western entrances; Tioga Pass from the east
will not be open.

Also, the Glacier Point Road won't be open, so your only real photo
opportunities will be in Yosemite Valley. It doesn't matter which
road you take to get there. You might enjoy the view from the Wawona
Tunnel, but even if you don't come in via the Wawona Road, it's only
a 5- or 10-minute drive from the valley floor up to that viewpoint.
So choose an entrance that works well with your route. (It could
happen that Hwys 120 and 41 are closed temporarily because of snowfalls,
in which case you might need to take Hwy 140. Those other two don't
normally stay closed for long, though.)


Patty