A friend and I are planning a trip from Ft. Worth, TX to Las Vegas in March - April.

We want to stop off and see the Grand Canyon on the way. We'll be staying 4 nights in Vegas + 2days there and 2 days home.

We're considering making a day trip from Vegas to the West coast, but aren't sure on that one yet. Anoyone have suggestions for day trips from Vegas or route plans fro Ft. Worth. We want to avoid busy highways as much as possible, but dont want to add too much time to the traveling (2600 miles in 4 days is enough).

Also... Will mid-March be warm enough for the trip, or should we wait til April? We're kinda worried about March weather in northern NM and AZ.

 

from Vegas, head out north on US 95 about 25 miles to NV 156 to the Mt Charleston Wilderness Area. 156 loops around to NV 157, back to US 95.

 

Scooby, I can give you plenty of day rides out of Vegas. March-April will still be good to hit Death Valley to the SW, and is also a good time to head North and catch Zion/Cedar City/Bryce Canyon.

Drop me a note.

 

Never heard of these places except Death Valley- and I dont know anything about it other than it gets really hot. What would you suggest as the best ride/scenery?

 

Let's just say that Death Valley is better in April than August. I can put together a really nice 400-500 mile ride that will take you north up I-15 and then off into areas like this:






Certainly scenic, and in a different way than Death Valley. Probably hit some snow pack in the upper elevations but that doesn't offend me personally.

 

I live in southern Utah and ride here as well as the northern Arizona, Nevada, and parts of California areas through a lot of the year. I also make a yearly trek from Cedar City, UT (southwestern corner of state) to Oklahoma City to visit my pop. Earliest I've done it on a bike is mid-April, and it was survivable, but a little cool at times.

If you're going to do it in March I'd say you may be better heading toward the I-10 corridor to come out west. Lots of good riding through the Hobbs, Roswell, Las Cruces route. You can stay south all the way across to Tucson then catch I-10 NW toward Phoenix and west.

Taking 2 days to get out is a good choice. It is a LONG ride across Texas, NM, and Arizona, but 2 days is very easily done.

The south Rim is open that time of year, but it's going to put you going a decent ways off the route toward Vegas. It's about 90 miles each way from Flagstaff to the south rim, so plan on at least a half-day (4 hours or more) for the round trip and time to see anything. Problem is getting from Ft Worth to Flagstaff in a day. It can be done, but you're gonna be hitting Iron Butt territory to do it. At least that will give you the morning to ride up to the Grand Canyon, but plan on pulling into Vegas at night then.

If you come back down to I-40 for the run from Flagstaff west then get off I-40 in Kingman to take 93 north. That will take right to the Hoover Dam, which is a must see on a bike. Again, the problem is going to be doing all this in 2 days, so be prepared to get to Hoover in the late part of the day, which is not the ideal time on a bike. Otherwise, just go straight on to Vegas (well, as straight as you can get from the I-40 loop).

That should give you some decent day ride times.

jmcollison has some good insight. The pics he posted are of Zion and areas around southern Utah. As I noted, I live in Cedar City, UT, which is about 165 miles from Vegas. That's probably as far north as you'd want to do in a day. Zion National Park is probably the same distance (though a little farther south and east), so it's an easy ride even if you take the back roads.

Weather in late March for that area is pleasant, usually in the high 50s to lower 70s depending on the location. Be careful, though, you'll run from 2000 feet in elevation in Vegas to over 6000 feet by the time you hit Cedar City. The biggest change is from St. George, UT (about 3500 to 4000 feet) to Cedar City (close to 6000). That's means a temperature difference at that time of year of as much as 20 degrees during the day. A pleasant 75 in St. George will mean 55 in Cedar. Zion is usually closer to St. George weather, though not always.

If you want to stay closer to Vegas then consider heading north-east on I-15 to the Moapa Indian Reservation and the Valley of Fire State Park. The ride from I-15 through the park is decent (it's also $6 for all vehicles -- including motorcycles) and you'll come out heading toward Boulder City. That will also take you back by Lake Las Vegas and into Henderson before coming back to Vegas.

I'll defer to jmcollison for other ride suggestions.

[quote]We're considering making a day trip from Vegas to the West coast, but aren't s

 

Here's a couple pics of the Valley of Fire, in case you're interested. This first one is the northern entrance as you come off I-15.



A shot of my bike in front of one of the very interesting rock formations. I'm not a geologist or rock hound so I can't tell you what they are, but my guess is probably sandstone of some type. They are kind of neat, and there's cool places to hike around that's not too far off the road.



My son hiking up the side of one set of hills just off the road. There's some little caves and areas where the rock has been eaten away by wind/water so that it makes some interesting formations. Not nearly as big as what you'll see in Zion National Park, but it's closer to Vegas.



Heading out of the park after some short hikes. The bikes are parked on the left side and we took this road from the park toward Boulder City.

 

Wow...

I am overwhelmed by the advice ya'll gave. The pics are awesome... thanks JM and Doc.
This was exactly what I was looking for.

JM.... I'll contact you before we head out there. If you interested in a good day ride you will welcomed as a tour guide... along with anyone else you usually ride with.

Zion area looks amazing!

 

You guys are killing me here! I am looking to take a trip next year with some friends from Minnesota. They will be coming out to Denver to meet up with me and then we are taking off on a nice SW loop. I found the information on Southern Utah, and the Vegas area coming into NV very useful. I had included part of these routes for our trip acutally, so this has been very useful in my pursuation for these other guys .

As of right now we will be coming into Utah off I-70 and making a loop south to Moab and then back up to I-70. We are going to hit Hwy 24 south towards Captiol Reef NP, Hwy 12 to Bryce Canyon, and then down to Zion NP and SW into NV. Once we get into NV I really didn't want to get into much traffic with the interstate so I plotted a route right through the Valley of Fire SP and down to the Hoover Dam. Just looks like tremendous scenery to ride through out there now that I have seen some photos of these areas.

Thanks guys!

 

Once you hit the North Shore Road coming out of Valley of Fire, there's about a 15 mile stretch of some shitty road. Can I say shitty here? It would be shitty if I couldn't.

In any case, when you see the signs that say rough road and the speed limit drops to 35, take it seriously! It's a nice trip!

Anyone that needs rooms in Vegas, I work for a hotel!!! Drop me a note.