hi there...
myself and a few friends done a road trip last year...from vegas...thru st george..page...kayenta..williams..seligman...lake havasu...back to vegas.

we had a great time..and received lots of tips from guy,s on this forum.
well we are now planning another road trip...again from vegas...phoenix..
yuma ..san diego...santa barbara...san francisco...reno...back to vegas.
this trip is for aug 09....

this is our planned route...but we dont have any stops planned as yet.
we are taking 10 days to do this trip...with a possible 2 night stay over
in san francisco..

any tips from you guy,s will be gratly appreciated....where to stay..routes.....must see,s....places to avoid etc.....

cheers

sniper uk

 

Highway 1 from Moro Bay to San Francisco. Stop and take the tour through Hearst Castle. Be very patient on this ride because there will be lots of caged tourists also. Early morning weekday is the best time to travel. The scenery along here is incredible. I also highly recommend the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey. A nice hotel in Monterey is the Butterfly Inn. It is/was family owned and the weekday rates are very reasonable. It has a private controlled access parking garage as well.

 

Granted San Fran is a beautiful city and there is more there to see than you could possibly fit in during a two-day stopover...however I would encourage you to extend your trip up the Cali Coast as much as you can before you head back East and South to Vegas. Make sure you ride through the Redwoods...maybe even into Southern Oregon...across to Crater Lake and then South through Susanville, CA into Reno.

If time isn't an issue for you do it ALL!

 

this trip has been re-vamped....were still starting from vegas...then onto mammoth lakes...el portal...san francisco...monterey...pismo beach...redondo beach...
palm springs...laughlin then back to vegas...

really looking forward to this one

 

From Auburn Ca, go across the gorge to Georgetown, Ca over to Wentworth springs road, turns into IceHouse rd, Down to Riverton, then rt 50 over the Sierras to Tahoo... Don't forget to spend a few hrs in Virginia City....from there enjoy the desert for a while

 

Glad to see you revised trip to exclude AZ..... too hot! I think I replied to your post last year so here we go again. Sit down with a map and review my tips.. enjoy.

• Good start with Mammoth... cool place I love in summer and have camped there allot. Lot's of reasonable lodging. Leave Vegas early to beat some of the heat. I'd suggest going through Death Valley on the way but likely to be 115/120 degrees and you will die which would end your trip abruptly. Options to Mammoth: north on 95 - west on 266/168 to the 395 then north to Mammoth. A hot drive through desert. Or, take 15 south to 395. It is more scenic driving up 395. You ride along the Sierra mountain range and pass by Mt. Whitney.... a cool site.
• Leaving Mammoth, head north on 395 to reach Yosimite. Consider taking a little side route on the June Loop about 15 miles north of Mammoth. It goes through June Lakes and runs back into the 395 where you continue north.
• Access Yosimite on the 120........ awesome ride into the Park from here. Best food around is at the 395/120 in city of Lee Vining. When you turn left off the 395 onto the 120 there is a mobile station on left and an little market/restaurant that has awesome food.... google it if you like.
• When in Yosimite, make sure you drive through "the valley" it's spectacular/must see. I see you are going to El Portal. If you don't have to go there consider heading west out of Yosimite and staying somewhere to the west like Jamestown or Senora. Staying in el portal requires back tracking north and will save some time.

Many options leaving Yosimite for you as you make your way to San Francisco and the coast.

• Lake Tahoe is beautiful and several routes to get there from Yosimite 1. Go back the way you came into Yosimite to the 395 and head north and access via South Lake Tahoe. I'd pass on going through Reno to access Tahoe.... . You can access off 395 via 89/50 or the 207. You can gamble in South Lake Tahoe and reasonable lodiging at Harrah's casino. 2. From the west side of Yosimite there are several routes including 108,88,4,50. I've done the 4 long but beautiful. 50 is fastest.
• Leaving Tahoe - go up 89 on west side of lake to the 80 and head towards San Francisco. You go through Sacramento, saste capitol. Not much going on - country area. Continue towards SF and about 60 miles NE of SF you will see Napa, it's reached by the 12 which is just pasy city of Fairfield. This is CA's Wine Country with prtty cool riding throug vineyards/countru area. Very popular destination in CA.... especialy of your a wine drinker. If in that area, strongly consider riding north up to Calistoga (still in the wine country) and west to city of Fulton and get on the 116 which runs over to the coast - through city of Gurneville. This is a really beautiful drive! Get to coast and head south through Bodega Bay (site of Hitchcock;s The Birds) and down coat to SF.
• Leaving SF and heading south, Monterey is a god stop. Touristy but really nice. It's a long drive down the coast and will deal with traffic but an awesome ride though Big Sur and down the coast. Cambria is very nice place to stay...... go to Moonstone Beach... lot of small hotels along the beach... have stayed there and liked allot. Before Cambria on the 1, 14 miles north of Cambria, is an Elephant Seal Reserve, right off the Highway. Stop there for a sight... might see some 3,00 lb. seals.... quite a sight.
• As you continue south towards Redondo, when you hit Ventura (below Santa BArbara), get on Hwy 1 and go down coast through Malibu. This way you will avoid driving through LA traffic and see some sites..... maybe even Pamela Sue Anderson!
• From Redondo to Palm Springs, consider going through mountain city of Idyllwild. It's west of Palm Springs off the 10. Go up the mountain to Idyllwild and then continue south to the 74 and turn left and you enter Palm Sorings "the back way" a very scenic drive if you have time. Not much to do in PS. Hit the restaurant/bars on the 111 in downtown. Consider taking the tram up to San Jacinto, very cool if not afraid of heights and will take you out of heat in PS.

That's it for now. I've ridden all these roads and suggest you try to get into the coastal area above SF, as one other person replied. The road through Guerneville is great. Have a blast!

 

thats one helluva post....there bkenner..

thanks very much for the info...

 

bkenner is spot on with those suggestions. Only thing to consider is if you have additional time ride the Sierras some more. You can do this by entering Yosemite via 120 off the 395. Take 120 west out of the park when you leave (hopefully after visiting the valley at the village), and make your way to Jamestown via the 49 (which splits from the 120). Follow the 49 to where it splits into the 4 at Angel's Camp, and take the 4 East past Lake Alpine over Ebbet's Pass (twisties!) towards Markleeville. Now here's a (good) problem- the stretch of 89 that splits off the 4 to head to the 395 is awesome. Amazing views and a little twisty road. So a decision: 1) to head to the South Shore of Tahoe up through Markleeville, skipping this part; 2) head to the 395 North via 89 East and come in to Tahoe via Kingsbury Grade (207); or 3) take the 89 to the turnout above Topaz and then backtrack to the 4 and drop in to the South Shore by way of Markleeville and the 89 (personally, what I would do). When leaving Tahoe, even Interstate 80 is a good ride over the passes towards Sacramento (Donner Summit, etc.)- one of the better freeway rides you can have.

Don't know if you've seen it before, but the California Motorcycle Roads web site is awesome. Membership ($) is required to see a lot of the routes but it might be worth it in your case. Free to post on the forums.

www.pashnit.com

Good luck and have a great trip.

 

Goombah is right on. The 4/89 through Markleeville is great... do it.

 

From Vegas definitely take the 95 up to the 266/168. Taking the 15 south to the 395 is nothing but desert, and lots of it, until you get to Lone Pine.(where Mt. Whitney is though you can't see it from the highway) And Lone Pine is only about 30 minutes south of where the 168 drops you onto the 395 in Big Pine. The 95 route is also probably 100-150 miles shorter than going the 15-395 and is an all around better ride. Going across Death Valley in August? You might as well ride across the face of the sun. Too bad too because it's a pretty cool place in the early spring. The 395 gets really good from Bishop north and cooler too as you head up the hill towards Mammoth. The June lake loop is a very nice side trip with three or four beautiful lakes along the way back to 395. Honorable mention to a short side trip to Convict Lake, it's about 5 miles off the 395 just south of Mammoth. Once there one can easily tell why it got that name. Killer hideout!

If you have time while in SF head north across the Golden Gate and up the 1 to the John Muir Wilderness and then on up to Point Reyes. The entire ride is eye candy and the Redwoods will bow your mind. Truly beautiful.

On your way south from San Francisco to Monterey you might try the 101 south to Hwy 35 (Skyline Drive) near San Mateo, then jump on Hwy 9 on into Santa Cruz. It's a great ride through the redwoods and down to the coast. You can stop at Alice's restaurant, it's a very popular biker hang out up there and a nice place to have a cold one and chill a bit. Once you hit the coast, the ride along the 1 from Monterey to Morro Bay may be the prettiest stretch of Hwy in the US.

I'm envious, it sounds like an awsome trip!