Thank you! That’s precisely the kind of objection I was looking for. So, no driving after Glacier Point, got it!
We’ll camp at Bright Angel campground, right next to Phantom Ranch (we did this 8 years ago). They start taking reservations for the required backcountry permit today, and the success rate for getting it at this time for August seems to be close to 100% (and I suppose now I know why…)
Yes, I’m 32, and well aware of the pitfalls concerning drivers under 25. Of course we’ll bring a major credit card - again, we’re crazy, not stupid. We will have everything booked and confirmed weeks before we leave.
Thank you, I know. I already did it, though, so I’m very confident I’m physically capable of that particular part.
Thank you for that. While I was aware that day was hard, I did not quite realize just how much so, and that we can’t just go there, and get all the awesome without a long, hard hike. Again, we’ll probably cut that part of the Utah desert.
Nothing David Hasselhoff about it. The two of us just really enjoy rollercoasters, and I went to that park in 2009 and have never seen such a density of awesome, diverse, world-class rollercoasters anywhere. I’m aware that Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Six Flags don’t necessarily go together, but we chose this park not for its ambiance, but for the amazing coasters. It’s pretty much the only thing in the LA area we’re really excited about (sorry, LA dopers!).
I’ll pile on with the general consensus that this is way too rushed. I did a road trip of this region many years ago and made sure to spend at least one full day (i.e. driving to was done the previous day and driving from the day after) at each park. Even that was too rushed and I didn’t get to soak in the surroundings as much as I wanted to.
But it’s your Day 10 and Day 11 plan that makes me genuinely concerned for your safety. I think you might actually die if you try that. It will be so hot at that time.
Thank you, but again: did it and survived (in August of 2009).
I’m going to go against the grain here and say it’s doable, not easy, but doable. Google maps give me 35 or so hours of driving time, and around 1800 miles, 2900km. The longest day is between Yosemite and Vegas.
My only advice is to make sure you’re making Magic Mountain during the week and not on the weekend. I’ve never been there, I’m going in a couple of weeks, and I understand it can get packed. I’ve been told to get a Fast Pass to be able to ride all the rides and that it’s almost a two day type of park. During the week you’ll have a lot less people.
Should you find you’re doing too much then maybe flying in and out of Vegas would be a lot easier, though you’d be skipping San Fran.
Intrigued by your OP. And having been to most of the places you intend to visit, I will agree with the others: “crazy.” And for the reasons others have pointed out: it is ambitious but just how much will you “enjoy” where you are visiting ?
So in reviewing your schedule, I’ve been trying to think about how to scale it back to be more reasonable. And what comes to mind is: save SF and Yosemite for another trip. Which then raises the question of a good international airport to arrive at:
- Plan to fly into Las Vegas
- Do all the southwest activities (North rim, Zion, Bryce, etc.). Still lots of driving, but now you have more freedom as to just how much time to spend at a given place, and what you might want to cut out.
- Circle back to the south rim - hike down and up (if you want - be prepared to BAKE). There are some nice dayhikes that will get you “in” to the canyon, but not all the way to the river, that you might consider. I can recommend a couple.
- Head to LA/Magic Mountain (be sure to “skirt” LA and come to the I-5 via 18 to 14)
- Fly out of LAX
San Francisco is definitely worth spending at least a few days, and there’s very cool stuff to see very close by. Yosemite will be PACKED with tourists at that time of year, so anything you might want to do (starting with even getting into the park) will take much longer than you plan.
So if you save those two stops for another trip (they’re both definitely worth seeing), the logistics and driving time for the remainder is much more reasonable.
Pitchmeister, I’m glad you are taking some of this advice to heart. You will still have an awesome vacation! If your flights are not set yet, here is an alternate itinerary to consider:
Day 1 - Fly into Las Vegas. Rent car, drive about 2 hours to St. George, Utah (or somewhere nearby). Shop for provisions, have dinner, and rest up!
Day 2 - Drive about 1 hour to Zion National Park. Spend the whole day there. When you are done there, drive about an hour and 15 minutes to Bryce, Utah. Stay the night there.
Day 3 - Spend the day at Bryce Canyon National Park. Stay the night again in Bryce.
Day 4 - Spend some more time at Bryce Canyon National Park. After lunch, drive about 5 hours to Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim. You can stop along the way for your Horseshoe Bend photo-op. Have dinner and stay the night.
Day 5 - Hike Down!
Day 6 - Hike Up! Stay the night on the South Rim, or drive about an hour south to Williams, AZ, and stay the night at one of the many hotels there.
Day 7 - Drive back to Las Vegas and stay the night. Maybe check out the kitsch on Route 66 along the way. There’s no rush. Should take 4 to 5 hours (from Williams), depending on what stops you make. You should be able to get to your hotel in Vegas before mid-afternoon. Plan to take in a show that night! Before and/or after the show, walk The Strip and take in the spectacle. Shop and/or gamble if you have time.
Day 8 - Drive to Lee Vining, CA, outside the eastern boundary of Yosemite. This is a five and a half to six hour drive if you go straight through. You could plan on a few stops in Death Valley National Park to make the drive more interesting, and still get to your hotel in Lee Vining around dinner time.
Day 9 - Drive into Yosemite. This is supposed to be a very scenic drive. Spend the day visiting the park (maybe some of the lesser visited spots). Maybe at the end of the day, you will have time to take a look at the Valley with rest of the crowd. Have an early dinner, and drive about 4 hours to San Francisco.
Day 10 - San Francisco
Day 11 - San Francisco
Day 12 - Drive about 4 hours to Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park. Spend the afternoon exploring. Stay the night in one of the Grant’s Grove cabins.
Day 13 - Spend all morning and afternoon exploring the park. Exit the park, have some dinner, and drive about 3.5 hours to Santa Clarita, CA. Stay the night someplace close to Six Flags Magic Mountain.
Day 14 - Six Flags Magic Mountain! Stay the night in the same hotel.
Day 15 - Drive about 4.5 hours back to the airport in Las Vegas, catch your flight home.
I struggled with Day 4, since I think the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is very beautiful. if you left Bryce early that day, you could spend some time exploring the North Rim, but it would add a lot of driving time. Plus, you’re going to have great views on your hike down and up, so you could maybe save the North Rim for your next trip.
Flying into and out of Vegas means no drop off fee for your car rental. I think rentals are pretty cheap in Vegas too.
Here’s a tip: When you get here (on my itinerary, this would be in St. George), go to the nearest Walmart and buy yourself a cheap styrofoam cooler and whatever food you need. I assume you will be packing lunches for your days exploring the parks, and this will let you keep your lunch materials cool as you travel around. You can just throw it out at the airport or at your last hotel before you leave for home.
Whatever you wind up doing, I hope you have a fun, safe trip!
My wife and I did a two-week driving vacation to the West Coast and back (we live in Chicago) for our 10th anniversary, in 2002. We went from Vegas to Yosemite (through Tioga Pass) in a fairly long day’s drive (Google Maps suggests it’s about 400 miles / 7 hours), but what I mostly recall is that there was a whole lot of nothing on the way, and that we had to make sure to stop for gas when we could.
One suggestion if you are trying to visit as many national parks as possible is that the National Park Service has a passport book they sell and stamps you can get at each park. It makes a great souvenir and reminder of your trip, plus the next time you visit you can fill it up more.
Don’t plan on spending a lot of time at Bryce, it’s basically overlooks. Bryce to Arches is about four hours driving. Arches can be seen in about 90 minutes if you don’t get out of the car; there’s LOTS of hiking though. After that, I would suggest the Island in the Sky at Canyonlands N.P… There’s hotels in Moab, Kayenta and Page, but that’s about it.
One thing that I’ve learned to think about - a drive that is only 4 hours on the first day of driving becomes closer to 5.5 hours on 6th or 7th day of driving. By the end of two weeks, it’s closer to 6 or 7. I like driving. I like road trips, but I admit that it does take its toll on me and I have to take more frequent breaks and rest more.
In July/August? 
If you are really committed to going through Yosemite, I recommend staying overnight in Carson City. There are quite a few casino hotels there, though clearly not as many as in Reno or Vegas.
I’m making things worse, but wanted to mention that Las Vegas has some fine roller coasters and other thrill rides.
If you’re serious about rollercoasters, check out Marine World in Vallejo (very close to San Fran, and don’t let the name fool you. Kick-ass coasters!) or** Knott’s Berry Farm ** (again, don’t be fooled by the name!) in the LA area. Hands-down the best concentration of thrill rides I’ve ever experienced.
They got this one that absolutely terrified me ever single time I rode it. We went on a off-season weekday, and there were probably 100 people in the whole park.
They didn’t even make us get off the rides! Just kept strapped in and rode it again and again, as much as we wanted.
Also, I’d skip Vegas, unless its just a place to stop for the night. Over-rated.
Have fun!
Hah! Well, THEY are the ones who want to see all of these very hot places that time of year. I was just trying to get as many of the places they wanted to see on an itinerary that wouldn’t be so rushed and crazy. 
Waaaaay out of the way. Bishop has no shortage of hotel rooms. But hey, thanks for the shout-out. 
One rule of thumb I like, is to have one day set aside for rest for every 100 miles of driving (one way), if that makes sense. For example a 1000 mile trip, spend five days doing anything but driving. Camping, sightseeing, etc.
Those numbers don’t make sense. A day of rest for less than two hours (100 miles) of driving?
There’s so much stuff in and near Vegas that anybody should be able to find something to do for a day or two. I liked the Museum of Atomic Testing and the Hoover Dam tour (but get there early before the deluxe tour sells out).
Thank you, every one, for all your suggestions. We did not take them lightly, and really tried to take them to heart. I’m sure some of you think this is still overly ambitious, but this really seems much more doable due to cutting Arches and Monument Valley, which I imagine are among the worst offenders, heat-wise, and also took us at least 500 miles out of our way.
By the way, many of you suggested skipping Vegas altogether. We still believe our two stops are worthwhile for two reasons: I just enjoy the complete over-the-top decadence of the place, to me it’s the best and the worst about the USA in one tidy package. It’s not about the casinos, but the whole tacky ambiance of it. Also, it’s a stop that allows us an affordable, but awesome bed in the middle of the desert while we go from A to B. I wouldn’t want to drive Grand Canyon Village to LA non-stop, definitely not after our two monster hiking days.
That is a complete game-changer! Thanks, Gatopescado! Assuming you meant Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (which is what apparently Marine World is called now), that solves our problem of visiting the park on a weekend, which we definitely would have in any case with Magic Kingdom. We have incorporated this into a revised itinerary, which is as follows:
Day 1 - Arrive at SFO, explore city
Day 2 - sight seeing in San Francisco
Day 3 - Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (“Marine World”), about 1hr away from SF. This will be a Wednesday, so yay!
Day 4 - drive into Yosemite, hike a bit, relax (driving time 4 hrs)
Day 5 - Glacier Point hike (we’ve been told if you’re not doing this hike, you might just not bother going at all), no driving today.
Day 6 - drive to Lee Vining via Tioga Road, maybe spend the evening at Mono Lake (driving time 2 hrs, assuming my Google-fu has not failed me - it’s a bit difficult calculating this trip since Google keeps assuming Tioga Road is closed)
Day 7 - continue to Las Vegas, enjoy a show, wander the strip (driving time 5 1/2 hrs - this one’s gonna suck, but I can’t see any worthwhile stops along the way)
Day 8 - drive to Zion (driving time 3hrs)
Day 9 - drive to Bryce Canyon (driving time 2hrs) Depending on how much time we want to spend there, we could leave on the same day and shave off an hour or two of driving from tomorrow. Do we want to be in Bryce at some particular time?
Day 10 - drive to Grand Canyon Village (Antelope Canyon is probably out, though along the way, since the tours are already sold out). Depending on the previous day, max. driving time 5hrs
Day 11 - hike down South Kaibab trail (yes, we will bring plenty of water!)
Day 12 - hike up Bright Angel trail
Day 13 - drive to Las Vegas, enjoy a bed (driving time around 4 1/2 hrs - gotta do it some time…)
Day 14 - continue to Los Angeles, see all the City of Angels has to offer (driving time 4hrs)
Day 15 - see the rest 
and leave LAX at 6pm
So, major driving summed up:
Day 1 - x
Day 2 - x
Day 3 - 1hr
Day 4 - 4hrs
Day 5 - x
Day 6 - 2hrs
Day 7 - 5 1/2hrs
Day 8 - 3hrs
Day 9 - 2hrs (+?)
Day 10 - 5hrs (-?)
Day 11 - x
Day 12 - x
Day 13 - 4 1/2hrs
Day 14 - 4hrs
Day 15 - x (except for LA traffic, so maybe around 5 hrs)
One more question: What’s the accomodation situation like in most National Parks? We’re prepared to camp (will bring a tent and sleeping bags), but a bed every once in a while would sure be welcomed. Are the prices extortionate? Can we even get something 4 months in advance? Like I said, Grand Canyon is basically taken care of, it’s the other parks (Yosemite, Zion, Bryce) I’m most concerned about.
Please be gentle! And if any of you ever need some pointers for Berlin, I’d be more than happy to help out!