So, I’m planning to drive from Las Vegas to Cheyenne, Wyoming sometime around the end of November. It occurs to me that I should find out if there’s anything I need to know in regards to interesting things to see on the way or possible travel hazards (what’s the weather like in Utah in November, anyways?, do I need snow chains or anything crazy like that?). As it stands, the wife and I were planning to take the whole drive in one day, with us switching off every couple of hours.
In any case, prepare for weather. The Rutgers University Global Snow Lab reports September snow cover was the highest on record in North America. Snow chains take up little space. You don’t want to get caught out on the lone prairie.
Since the OP is looking for advice, let’s move this to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
If you are going to do it in one day you should be able to get good information on the weather forecast and road conditions shortly before your departure. You should change the time of your travel so that both are good.
They don’t do that “chains required” nonsense in that part of the world like they do in California and such, so whether to bring chains or not just depends on your own comfort level driving in snow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone chain up a normal passenger car in the Rockies before. They’re usually pretty good about snow removal on the Interstates and there aren’t any super gnarly passes on the I-15/I-80 route, so barring a major storm you shouldn’t have any trouble. Do check the weather, though, since if there are major storms in Utah and Wyoming, you might be able to avoid them doing the I-40/I-25 route.
Doesn’t sound like you’ll have a whole lot of time for sightseeing if you’re doing it in a single day, but there’s some cool stuff around there. I assume you’re aware of all the southern Utah National Parks, but they’re a little close to home. I-80 follows the old Oregon Trail route through Wyoming and there’s some cool historic sights (and dueling LDS-run Mormon Trail ones) along there that are quick stops. Dinosaur National Monument could also be a cool little scenic side-route that’s a relatively quick stop.
Oops, duplicate.
Stock up on emergency stuff, like extra food, blankets, flares, etc., and charge up your cell phones. And you may want to give yourselves 2 days.
Chains aren’t necessary. But it’s not uncommon for them to close stretches of I-80 through Wyoming in the winter, especially if there are really high winds or whiteout conditions. This is not meant to scare you because the weather might be just fine, but you should be prepared for the fact that it might take more than one day.
Semi’s are required to carry chains on 1-70. I think it’s from October till May. And very often they do chain up.
But, they way they word it for passenger cars is ‘Chains or adequate snow tires’. It’s rare to see a car with chains on. But most of us drive 4x4’s with snow tires. Most.
I don’t know I-80 very well, 90% of my driving is over mountain passes in Colorado. I go over the continental divide every day to get to work.
It’s kinda the luck of the draw. I doubt you will have any problems. And if you can watch the weather and make adjustments to your plans, you should not have any problems at all. On the other hand…
The 40/25 route adds 300 miles to the drive. You could do that in a day if you’re both fresh and switch off the driving, but I’d allow 2 days.
I don’t know anything about road conditions that time of year aside from hearsay - my one experience on I25 was from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins, and it was in June :). Ditto the drive along 40 to Vegas (OK, July); you’re on US highway the rest of the way there but it’s good road, and since they’ve opened the new bridge, I’d hope the insane delays crossing the Hoover Dam would be less.
I seem to recall that Kingman, AZ (where you exit I-40 for US 93) is the last “civilization” for a long way (and there’s not a lot along 40 either).
As long as you allow flexibility if the weather is bad, and plan to stop if you don’t have the right tires, I’d think you should be fine. I second the notion of making sure you have emergency supplies and don’t let your gas tank get below half full.
I-80 in Wyoming seems to close a couple times a year due to blowing snow, but it’s usually in the spring, not November. Most recently it was closed for over 24 hours in May 2014 due to a blizzard.
There are some parts of both I-40 and I-25 than can get snow at that time of year. The stretch of I-40 from Williams AZ to Flagstaff is at 7,000 ft. elevation as is the area around Gallup & Grants NM. Snow is a real possibility and they sometimes close the interstate if it gets bad.
On I-25 the area from Santa Fe to Las Vegas NM can get snow, also the Raton Pass on the Colorado border gets its fair share of winter weather. I’m less familiar with the Colorado stretch but once you’re near Colorado Springs, and north from there, I believe snow is not uncommon.
There was very recently a chunk of I-15 north of Las Vegas that got washed out by a flash flood or something. I know that section was closed for a while, and I’m not sure if it has re-opened. Not sure you have much option to get around that, but you may want to factor that in as far as your time schedule.
After that, there is a lot of 80 MPH on I-15 up until you approach Provo and SLC, so you can make up some time.
If you’re planning on doing the whole trip in a day, then you won’t have time for any side trips to see much. There’s plenty to see (in Utah alone), but it will take time and excursions off the interstate.
As far as things to see: yeah, in a day trip you won’t see much except gas stations and rest stops - but if you allowed 2-3 days (or more!!) there are several places to visit just looking at Google Maps. All well off the interstate but in general, not too far out of the way. Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Glen Canyon / Lake Powell (though you’ll be fairly near Hoover Dam so I don’t think I’d bother with Glen Canyon unless you wanted to do a half-day smoothwater rafting trip), etc.
The roads won’t be as good - I mean, US highways for the most part but in that part of the country travel can often wind up being on curvy, hilly, 2-lane roads that you couldn’t pay me to go on if it were snowing. Just the drive from Zion NP to Kanab, UT (the long way around, we goofed) was harrowing for us and that was during the summer (but at nighttime).
The wife and I talked about it and we decided that making the trip in two days sounded a lot better than one day. Salt Lake City seems to be right around the midway point, making for two six hour drives instead of one 12 hour drive (well, depending on how fast you drive…)
My deadline to get to where I need to be is about a week and a half after I’m departing, so I’m not seeing any problems with unexpected delays if we decide we need to slow it down and take an extra day around Salt Lake City or something.
Now THAT sounds like a plan. That way there can be more focused planning for weather changes. And SLC and the general region within daytrip range is pleasant enough.
I-15 north of Vegas has reopened though it will have reconstruction continuing for quite a while, it should be a matter of paying attention to daily reports as the date approaches and on the morning of departure.
Agreed. I have no idea why you would spend at least eight hours going through Arizona and New Mexico just to get to I-25 to get to Wyoming. Sure, you need to head east and north, but I-40/I-25 isn’t the way I’d do it. Las Vegas to Kingman on US-93 isn’t terrible, but you spend an awful lot of time going back and forth north and south on I-40 and I-25. In my experience, it’s a full day of driving just to get from Las Vegas to Albuquerque. Then it’s another full day to get from Albuquerque to Cheyenne and is heavily dependent on traffic in Denver (unless you pay to bypass Denver.) I have been approaching Raton Pass when it was so bad the interstate was shut down and I had to turn around and go back home to Albuquerque. And I’ve raced snowstorms heading east from Arizona into New Mexico trying to get past Flagstaff and Gallup.
Anyway, I like the OP’s new idea to make it two days and stop in Salt Lake City.
The route through Colorado is really beautiful. If the weather permits, and you have time, I’d even recommend going off the interstate through Rocky Mountain National Park. Probably the best way to go would be to take 40 North from 70, then take 34 east. Stop at Estes park, a really great little town, and then continue through to Fort Collins, get back on 25, and it’s a short run to Cheyenne.
It really depends on the weather though - I think they may close 34 if the weather gets bad enough. I’ve gone through there in October before major snows, so everything was easy and pleasant, but I don’t know how bad it can get in November. I took pictures like these on that route.
I love Colorado, I try to take a different route through it every time I go, but even the plain old I-70 route is quite pretty.
Utah has cool stuff to see, but I’ve never travelled past 70 on 15, so I don’t know how much of that stuff is near the highway.
Now we’re talking about just doing a day long stopover in Salt Lake City to check out a couple of sights. I was thinking “Hey, she’s a huge Doctor Who fan, maybe we could drive out to the Valley of the Gods real quick-like…”
OK, so did you know that the Valley of the Gods is like 6 hours away from Salt Lake City? I keep forgetting that Texas isn’t the only big state out there. We could go there, but I’d have to make the trip even longer to allow for it. Trying to figure out how hard it would be to get out there and make that the midway stop instead, but
Yeah, buddy, all the western states are big…
As we say here in California, always carry chains when travelling in the mountains during late fall / winter / early spring. As Greasy Jack also said upthread, I, too, have never seen people chain up in the Rockies. But it’s cheap insurance and may mean the difference between getting stuck in a storm, or still making headway. Back in April 1983 there was a late storm in the Rockies and lots of people ended up buried or off the road, while me in my tiny Fiat X1/9 sports car plugged away happily (although there really were times I should have pulled over and waited it out instead of pushing on. Young and dumb, at times, I was… yeeesssssss…).
That was a bad storm, and a late one that surprised all of us.
Consider seeing the Golden Spike National Historic Site.