Redwood Forest (Orick, Ca) to Death Valley via Reno route

Hello All, we are new to this forum and plan to make a cross country trip in Sept to the West coast from NC. On the return portion we wanted to plan a route from the Redwood forest (Orick, Ca) to Death Valley via Reno.  We prefer off-interstate routes when possible. We have a 34' Flagstaff travel trailer and a 2019 F-250. Does anyone have any suggestions on the route?  Thanks in advance.

many ways to get to Reno and stay off interstates.  101 s to 299 e to Redding 44 e to 44/36 se to Susanville 36s & 395 s to Reno.  Reno continue on 395/580 s to Le Vining, 120 e to 6 e to 95 s to Beatty.  I would set up camp in Beatty and do day trips into DV, you may want to stay in the park.  The reason I suggest you cut over to 95 its is a easier route for RVs.

You could also stay on 101 s to 20 e all the way to 80 e then i80 on into Reno and 395 or continue on i80 to Fernley then take alt 95 to 95. 

I have additional ways to travel depending on what you want to see.

Just avoid CA 36 between Fortuna and Red Bluff.  It's narrow and winding and is posted "RVs Not Advised".

https://www.google.com/maps

Do you ever use Google Maps? 

It shows a good route to Death Valley from Orick going through Reno. About 712 miles.

How long do you have planned to be on the entire trip?

Hi and welcome to the forum..

The route suggested by nvrver  is perfect, it let's you see a  couple of the cascades and indeed Lassen National Monument is worthy of a stop and is not far off the route.

I'd second the 395, it's a beautiful drive with lots more interesting stops should you want to take any.

Bishop is a nice town as is Lone Pine with its Alabama hills.

Let us know if you need suggestions of things to do.

If you decide to travel on US395, be sure to cut East north of Death Valley. Avoid 190 as it?s a twisty road with several climbs and descents including a STEEP drop into Death Valley. Also, I second staying in Beatty as it?s still going to be HOT in Death Valley in September. We lived in DV for 4 years and while we enjoyed the cooler temperatures in September, highs in the low 100s, that was after summer temps in the 120s.


Wendy

We live 30 miles south of Orick in McKinleyville.  I too recommend the route suggested by nvrver.  Lots of beautiful country when traveling this route.  We just did this basic route in route to Texas in November. 

Hello All, THANK YOU for all the great suggestions. We do use Google Maps quite frequently but was unsure of the "appropriate" route for travel trailers. We want to avoid being "that guy" who decided to take his rig through something like Lombard street in San Fran. The 299 stretch was the main concern. We are allowing about 6-7 weeks for the trip and hope to travel at a nice non-breakneck speed. So far we have 3 days in the Rushmore area, 4-5 for Yellowstone, 3 for Redwood Forest and 3-4 days for Moab, UT area (Decided to ahead towards Eastern Utah instead of Death Valley). Thoughts?  Thank you again!

I suggest I-80 from Reno to Fernley then alt 50 E to Fallon and 50 E on into Utah, we have taken that route going to Arches & Moab.  Lots of history on 50, a stop at Great Basin NP and a tour thru caves.  I did the caves, wife didn't.
At Fernley we like to gas up at Loves Truck stop, easy, there is also Pilot but very difficult when towing to gas up.  Also if going thru Fallon top off at Fox Peak on the east end of Fallon also very easy in and out. 

Webbclan4 said:

Hello All, THANK YOU for all the great suggestions. We do use Google Maps quite frequently but was unsure of the "appropriate" route for travel trailers. We want to avoid being "that guy" who decided to take his rig through something like Lombard street in San Fran. The 299 stretch was the main concern. We are allowing about 6-7 weeks for the trip and hope to travel at a nice non-breakneck speed. So far we have 3 days in the Rushmore area, 4-5 for Yellowstone, 3 for Redwood Forest and 3-4 days for Moab, UT area (Decided to ahead towards Eastern Utah instead of Death Valley). Thoughts?  Thank you again!

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Re the Rushmore trip, you have several options, if you want to settle into one campsite and drive then choose a central one and do that (we stayed in Spearfish and did that), alternatively if you are happy to move a few times then do that and it depends on what route you are taking.

If you are coming from the East you could stay near or in the Badlands, depending on what time you plan to arrive.  We drove from Spearfish and stopped in at Wall Drug (a huge shopping centre, we went in and got a sandwich and coffee to take away and left, for me the signs on the way were the best thing, although to be fair we did not spend any time in the shops).  This took us about 2 hours.  We spent the day in the park, and drove through the whole thing.  We did one short hike (a boardwalk with scenic views) and got out of the truck a several times for photos and to get an ice cream.  There is much more to see in the North but the views in the South were pretty good too.  If you have time do both.  We stopped to watch burrowing owls who live in the empty holes of the prairie dogs, so if you are interested in that stop at Prairie Town with your binoculars.

The Minuteman Missile Museum is close by and we did not realise that so we did not visit.  Not sure if this is your thing, but if so, then it is apparently worth seeing.  It is in the North side so you will probably do that then the North Unit, then the South Unit.

Cedar Pass Campground has some electric hook ups if you book early enough you would get one but you will need to check if you would fit. You could stay there the first night, get settled in then head out and do museum and maybe North end, then do the South end the next day with the RV and Toad no problem as you would probably just drive through and admire the views, maybe stopping once or twice.  It was not very busy when we went.  Not sure parking the RV would be so good in the North area but neither of us can remember.  Might be worth calling or maybe someone else can advise.  Alternatively do the North and South same day and either move on or stay in the campground overnight.

https://www.cedarpasslodge.com/index.php/campground/

From there you could drive to and stay in Custer State Park, it is a beautiful place and well worth a visit, but as it is quite near Wind Cave NP, Mount Rushmore and the Crazyhorse Memorial it might be a central location.

Please don?t be offended but we were a bit underwhelmed by Mount Rushmore although I guess it depends on how patriotic you are and how interested you are in its history.  We went to the night show which was about an hour to an hour and a half.  There was a speech by a Ranger and then a video then they welcomed all the military personnel who had served to come on stage (which was quite emotional) and then they did the national anthem.  The cliff was lit up by white lights and then the show ended. There is an exhibition in Keystone about the guy who was in charge of the project but we arrived too late to see it.

We did go to Crazyhorse Memorial and really liked that, it was quite interesting. It had some exhibitions and a bus which for a few dollars took you closer to the momument, we did and it was worth it.  The state park itself is lovely, the eye of the needle drive is worth doing, in your car as very narrow section, the scenery is spectacular.  Sylvan Lake in the state park is also beautiful.  There are some bison and other wildlife too.

You could then drive to the Black Hills and then stay somewhere there, Deadwood has a couple of RV parks, Spearfish has the State Park or we stayed at Chris? Campground RV Park, ($45.63 2017 with Good Sam and I think that was a weekly rate), or visit there from the State Park if you found a suitable site there.

https://travel.campsd.com/campgrounds-and-rv-parks/all/custer-state-park/Reservations

Lead has an interesting mining museum worth checking out for an hour, it's free,.  We drove through Sturgis and saw them setting up T Shirt stalls etc for the motorcycle rally, it is not a very exciting town unless we missed something.  Deadwood is really nice and there are a few places to look at and they do the Western Shows during the day so you can see the Trial of Jack McCall and a few other things.  There is a cemetery you can visit with some famous graves (you have to pay a few dollars) it was just closing so we missed it.  There are a few bars which were historical and OK to look around.  Note the Buffalo Bill bar has a downstairs section which is supposedly good, we did not know about it and missed it!  I think you could easily see these in a day.

We have not been to Wind Cave but that is close by and may be worth a visit.

The Devil?s Tower is great to see and walk around and there is campground there that is supposedly good, probably just because it is right next to it.  It is a KOA though so probably pricey.

Not sure what route you are going from there but supposing you head to Yellowstone via Cody...

We think the Northern Route through the Big Horns is more scenic, although it is probably a longer climb.  Going that way you drive through the beautiful Shell Canyon then on to Greybull.

The Southern route is also nice though.  The drive through Tensleep Canyon is nice going via Worland (there is a nice little brewery in Tensleep on a farm, it is very small).  Highway 20 and Highway 26 are both beautiful drives on the Southern Route.  There are lots of 8% grades in the West so there is not much you can do to avoid them I?m afraid.  Either way has a steep climb which you should manage.  We did OK with the Gas truck and trailer.  Just take your time and stop in the pull outs if you need to.

Lots to do and see in Yellowstone the Chief Joseph Highway if it is open and the Beartooth Highway are fabulous drives, which you could do as a day trip if the roads are open.  Best not with the trailer.

If you want info on Yellowstone I can dig out a link to a couple of good posts. I would take at least 5 days.

Moab I would also take 4-5 days as lots to see and do there.  Can give you suggestions if you like.

Moab will be great in September. Take as many days as you can. Arches, Canyonlands, Dead Horse, the drive along the Colorado River in either direction, mountain biking, hiking, river raft trip. It?ll still be toasty but easing into fall and the kids will mostly be back in school.


Enjoy
Wendy