Driving to Arizona (Phoenix) from Washington (Seattle) (car, best)

[kavm]

Originally Posted by 509

I drive it every year in the spring and sometimes in the fall but to Benson, Arizona. I tow a trailer. So I look for nice areas outside of campgrounds on public lands where the dogs can run and I don't have to deal with other humans.

Leaving Wenatchee I spend the nights outside of LaGrande Oregon, Jackpot Nevada, Between Ely and Alamo, Nevada, between Lake Mead NRA and just out of Wickenburg. and then the final push to Benson.

My wife when she did the trip in a car stayed in Ontario, Oregon then Ely, Nevada, then around Page, Arizona and then Phoenix. She doesn't like the drive as much as I do. Staying in motels will do that to you.

I would pass on Great Basin National Park, that was just a scam by the local chamber to get people to stop in the area. BUT there are lots of other neat spots in the area.

Which reminds me....you don't want to take 97 out of Ely. Take, I believe Highway 6 and then the 318 cut-off it is faster, lower elevation, but does have some truck traffic on it.

I run a phone amplifier on my cell phone. And even with that there are hours without any cell service.

But 93 is much, much more crowded these days. I first drove the road from Las Vegas to Twin Falls in 1978. Saw ten cars in one whole day of driving. I was much younger then.

There really isn't a good way to get to Arizona other than 93. In winter, I go through California and that is much worse.

Great basin NP is anything but a scam. It is a very special place and home to a grove of the rarely found Bristlecone Pine trees, which are the oldest non-clonal species on the planet. It has been a privilege to spend time enjoying the Bristlecone Pines. It also has the remains of the Prometheus tree, a Great Basin Bristlecone pine once recorded as the oldest tree in the world, estimated between 4700-5000 years-old.

It is perfectly okay for the great basin np to not be your favorite place or recommended route/stop, but it is possible to do that without adding the unfortunate and ignorant commentary on it.

I have not done this drive, so cannot comment on the best route. If I were going West to East around this area, route 50 through parts of NV and UT to connect to route 89 going South would be high on my list. But, I like scenic, off-interstate routes, and this is perhaps not a preference shared by the OP.

[509]

Originally Posted by kavm

Great basin NP is anything but a scam. It is a very special place and home to a grove of the rarely found Bristlecone Pine trees, which are the oldest non-clonal species on the planet. It has been a privilege to spend time enjoying the Bristlecone Pines. It also has the remains of the Prometheus tree, a Great Basin Bristlecone pine once recorded as the oldest tree in the world, estimated between 4700-5000 years-old.

It is perfectly okay for the great basin np to not be your favorite place or recommended route/stop, but it is possible to do that without adding the unfortunate and ignorant commentary on it.

Great Basin National Park was a chamber of commerce scam.

I worked for the National Park Service, Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management for over 30 years.

The NPS NEVER wanted Great Basin National Park. It is a regional park. AND it is NOT a GREAT BASIN park. It is an alpine area.

Not a bad area, but it was ALREADY protected and managed by the Forest Service. It is NOT unique, but typical of the "sky islands" common in the Great Basin.

Sorry for my "unfortunate and ignorant commentary"......but 50 years of professional land management experience.

Oh....it ends up being "unfortunate and ignorant commentary".

[kavm]

Originally Posted by 509

Great Basin National Park was a chamber of commerce scam.

I worked for the National Park Service, Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management for over 30 years.

The NPS NEVER wanted Great Basin National Park. It is a regional park. AND it is NOT a GREAT BASIN park. It is an alpine area.

Not a bad area, but it was ALREADY protected and managed by the Forest Service. It is NOT unique, but typical of the "sky islands" common in the Great Basin.

Sorry for my "unfortunate and ignorant commentary"......but 50 years of professional land management experience.

Oh....it ends up being "unfortunate and ignorant commentary".

Your comments remain an unfortunate and ignorant commentary. Just because you were in land management or know the park service politics does not make you the final voice on the Great Basin.

Why denigrate a perfectly good park? It is the visitors to the park that decide whether their trip is worthwhile and is on par with visits to other NPs or whatever they are looking for it and not the park service insiders. It is very worthy of a visit - regardless of your opinion of it. It is interesting to read your put down of it as a hub of commercial scam with so few visitors and hardly any commerce there. If there is a negative, it is that there is no commerce there and little in the way of amenities.

[Jiff]

We've done Camano<>Phoenix a few different ways. OP's route is the fastest assuming 6 out of Ely then 318 south, as someone advised. One time we took 93 through Caliente instead. The canyon out of Caliente is pretty scenic.

Probably a chance of snow. Returning one time in May there was light snow in Ely. I think it's 6000'. Last May we drove through a pretty good flurry in the Blue Mtns.

Don't know about internet service between Ely and Vegas or in the Blues. Certainly not much population or traffic.

Too bad there's not much lodging between Ely and Vegas. From Camano we usually stay in Boise and Vegas. If leaving from Seattle, Twin Falls and Vegas probably divides the segments more evenly. We did Boise and a cheap motel in Alamo once.

Last Friday (Oct 7) to Phoenix, by way of Portland and Susanville CA, we bypassed Vegas, stayed in Pahrump. Don't know about every weekend, but hotels were three times the last times we've stayed there, which were weekdays. Maybe partly because BYU played Notre Dame there on Oct 8.

[wolfdog]

Next week, we're driving to Sedona for a few days, via: Boise-Provo-Page. Return via Vegas-Mammoth Lakes-Reno-Weed-Wilsonville. Is Sedona-Mammoth Lakes doable in a day?

[pnwguy2]

Bottom line is there are usually two choices
in the west. One is the quickest freeway route, the other is the quickest highway route. If you have time the latter is more pleasurable.

[thatdesertdude]

Originally Posted by wolfdog

Next week, we're driving to Sedona for a few days, via: Boise-Provo-Page. Return via Vegas-Mammoth Lakes-Reno-Weed-Wilsonville. Is Sedona-Mammoth Lakes doable in a day?

I mean that's a 10 hour drive without traffic/bad weather/etc.

If I were you, I'd drive from Sedona and stay overnight half way in Vegas. Then you wouldn't have to rush.

[MaikeerinWA]

OP here - writing from Arizona

Thanks to all for the advice and input. We ended up going through Salt Lake City (I-90, I-82, I-15) and taking a detour on the route south to visit Capitol Reef National Park (Route 24). We then took Route 89 (quite scenic) and I-17 through Page and Flagstaff.

We fortunately were ahead of any bad weather at the mountain passes. We were a day or two too late to be able to consider visiting the north rim of Grand Canyon National Park, though.

Our three stopovers were in Boise, the Capitol Reef NP area, and Page (lots of daily driving!). We had no vehicle issues, fortunately, but it was comforting to have cell phone service for almost all of our route. My one regret is not having had more time to spend on our trip, especially in southern Utah and northern Arizona. The scenery was really nice in many sections of our chosen route.

[wolfdog]

Originally Posted by thatdesertdude

I mean that's a 10 hour drive without traffic/bad weather/etc.

If I were you, I'd drive from Sedona and stay overnight half way in Vegas. Then you wouldn't have to rush.

Yeah, we're gonna hold up in Lone Pine, instead. Probably driving through DV in the dark, but that's OK. Morning drive to Reno should be spectacular.

[wolfdog]

Originally Posted by wolfdog

Yeah, we're gonna hold up in Lone Pine, instead. Probably driving through DV in the dark, but that's OK. Morning drive to Reno should be spectacular.

To add, post-trip, the road over to Lone Pine, via Pahrump is still washed out. We had to go up US95, then west to Bishop, for the night.