Las Vegas (December)

[dinesh.godavarty]

<p>Hey guys, I am flying into LV on Dec 22, and flying out on Jan 3. That gives me roughly two weeks to see the sights around that area.<br>

This is my initial plan.<br>

- After landing on Sunday, the 22nd, spend a few nights camping in the Valley of Fire State park. I am hoping I will be able to find sites, given that I will be going there Sunday evening.<br>

- Head over the Mojave National preserve. Camp for a few nights. How is this area compared to Joshua tree? Is the landscape etc pretty similar?<br>

- Was thinking of heading over to the Havasupai village for a couple of nights, but very worried after reading about the crime in that village. I will be traveling solo and that might make me more vulnerable.<br>

- alternately, head over to Zion and camp for a few nights. It should be a fairly mild winter there and I should be able to handle it.<br>

- Maybe spend a few nights in Bryce Canyon, but the bone chilling temps are giving me a pause :). I am still a tropical beast!<br>

- My gf will fly in and join me for the second half of the week. So with her I plan to see Monument valley, Page (slot canyons etc) and maybe something else (not sure yet)<br>

how does this plan look? I have also put in the vermilion wilderness in the list. Please let me know if there are other scenic areas where I can camp and do landscape photography. Thanks so much!</p>

 

[charles_stobbs3]

Navajo, Hopi Reservation, Canyon de Chelly . Have a good trip.

[kris_francis]

<p>Consider Death Valley (a huge area), and Owens Valley (Lone Pine to Mammoth Lakes).</p>

[BrianS1664879711]

<p>Your plans look good (albeit very agressive), but my first impression was that you are not really visiting Las Vegas. I suggest you add the pool at Caesars and dinner at MESA Grill to your agenda .</p>

[craig_gillette]

<p>I'd suggest considering just the lower elevation areas, like Zion, Joshua Tree, parts of Death Valley, etc., and not trying to cover the whole area. The higher elevations can be subject to winter seasonal closures. Should it rain, the higher elevations will have snow as well.</p>

<p>The different Parks and agencies have different regulations about camping outside of established campgrounds so each area's websites will probably give info on that. Las Vegas can be very crowded and expensive over the holiday period. Also, popular camping areas in places like Death Valley can be crowded because of the better weather - as compared to the summer heat.</p>

<p>As in other times of the year, it's probably a good idea to look at the distances involved and to avoid trying to cover too much ground.</p>

[tudor_apmadoc]

<p>Zion National Park isn't far and it's pretty spectacular</p>

<ul>

<li>http://www.flickr.com/photos/tudorapmadoc/sets/72157630668469124/</li>

</ul>

<p><br />Bryce is excellent as well</p>

<ul>

<li>http://www.flickr.com/photos/tudorapmadoc/sets/72157630668488814/</li>

</ul>

<p> </p>

[danny_low]

<p>The Havasupai village is remote. It will be a full day's hike down. You can hire a mule ride down or take a helicopter ride directly to the village. Other than the helicopter ride, you can count on 3 days of travel time to and from the village. That assumes you are within a day's drive to the trail head.</p>

<p>Your travel schedule is too aggressive. You will only be able to get to a quarter of the places you plan unless all you plan to do is stop the car, take some photos and drive on.</p>

<p>Death Valley has some interesting places such as Scotty's Castle and can be a long day trip from Vegas. The Mojave Desert is boring miles and miles of desert all looking the same. Joshua Tree Park is more interesting and you have to drive through the Mojave to get there so you can visit both sites together. However it is most of a day just to get to the park, so this is also a minimum of 3 days round trip with one day to sightsee. Longer if you stop to see some of sights along the way.</p>

<p>Zion is also another day's drive from Vegas and well worth the trip.</p>

<p>Between Red Rock, Death Valley and Joshua Park, you have used up most of your 2 weeks and about 3 days of it will be travel time from Vegas to those places.</p>

<p>Danny Low</p>

 

[dan_south]

The list of destinations in the original post is not realistic. You'll spend more time driving than taking photos. Monument Valley, for

instance, is a very long drive from Las Vegas. Choose fewer destinations and you'll enjoy the trip more AND get better photos.

 

I recommend Valley of Fire and Death Valley as a starting point. Have you been to Grand Canyon? Consider spending a couple of days

there. Be careful. Temperature in many areas will be bitterly cold, especially at sunrise. Pack accordingly.

[david_henderson]

<p>I can recall being on an organised tour in and out of LV in the 1990's that covered in sufficient depth to be interesting and in two weeks, GC South Rim, Monument Valley, Arches/Canyonlands.Dead Horse Point. Bryce and Zion. Travel wasn't quick since there was snow around and we were in a minibus towing a trailer which made some of the icier descents quite an experience. So I guess my view is that you can get quite a lot done if you're sinfgle minded and systematic. <br>

My debate is that the OP is tryng to get to some out of the way places that aren't so interesting- much of the Movahe isn't very interesting IMO unless you plan to hunt out old mines or car wrecking yards or so on. And Joshua Tree has not, so far anyway, excited me much either, and whilst the Valley of Fire is OK I wouldn't put it, photographically, at the same level as the major Utah Parks. Further you seem to be organising your trip to maximise mileage rather than maximise photography time, at a time of the year when days are shortest band you should be trying to make the most of every daylight moment.<br>

I'm still not sure how much time you've really got- looks more like 11/12 days than 2 weeks to me, depending on flight timings, and I'm not sure just when you need to be back in LV to collect the girlfriend- all your timings seem a bit casual and approximate. Nevertheless if this were me and I hadn't seen any of these parks before, I'd head off into Utah for maybe 8 of your days at Zion (3) Bryce (2/3) and Page/Canyons(2/3) before driving back to LV collecting GF and heading into Death Valley for the remainder of the trip. None of these places you'll get done comprehensively though you could find that at Bryce, snow could restrict you to the rim and main overlooks anyway. Just on the off-chance, are there any day passes for Coyote Buttes left? </p>

<p>Be careful on th dirt roads this time of year, especially if its been raining</p>

[dinesh.godavarty]

<p>Thanks guys. This is the kind of feedback I was hoping to get. No, I wasn't planning to go each and everyone of the places I had listed. They were all maybe, I like to keep my plans very flexible.</p>

<p>Now, David. Are you saying that I can completely skip Mojave? I don't mind heading over to the UT parks. Note that I will be camping, so if it's just bone chilling, then I would probably skip that park.</p>

<p>also, it kind of looks like my gf won't be able to make it, so it might be two weeks of solo camping and photography :). </p>