RVing message boards > Visitors to the USA

Advice re the South West National Parks please

(1/4) > >>

Sian Harrison:
Hi all,
We are flying from UK to Las Vegas on Christmas Day and plan to hire an RV for 8 nights (finishing back in LV) to travel round the National Parks.  We have never hired an RV before and have never been to this part of the States, so we are complete beginners.

Which are the best RV hire companies/which to avoid;  with only 8 nights, which are the 'Not To be Missed' National Parks;  where will it be warm and where cold;  are many campsites open that time of year; can our 21 year old daughter drive the RV  etc etc????

Any advice welcome. Thanks!

captsteve:
Welcome!

Try Cruise America for rentals, there is another but it won't come to me this minute.

As far as your daughter driving, No. They restrict you to drivers over 25 years old.

The temps. should be mild but colder at altitude.

As far as parks, I'll leave that to some of our resident pros!!!

Hope you have a great time!

Steve

Tom:
Hi Sian, and welcome to The RV Forum. Click the Resources button above and scroll down to RV Rental. Also check out the articles in our forum Library, specifically Places to see and things to do. Here's one article on Touring the Western states that might be of  interest. Weather will be a limiting factor that time of year, as noted in the article.

I have to ask .... with a name like Sian, do you  have roots on the west side of the Severn Bridge?

Pierat:
Welcome! Sounds like an ambitious plan. You might want to camp for your first night near to the rental place, just to try everything out and be able to go back for help if needed.

That time of year, there can be storms. Many of the parks are at elevations of 7,000' to 9,000' or so above sea level (e.g., Grand Canyon), so wind, snow and ice can be factors. Hope you get good weather. If not, that kind of weather is less likely in places like southern Arizona. You can study the maps and get an idea of which parks you would like to visit, and develop some alternate plans. Remember, the distances "out west" are quite large compared to the east or Europe, so you may have a long day's drive just to get from one spot to the next.

Not all of the parks are national ones, although there are quite a few of course. You will find national, state and even county or city parks, monuments, forests, etc. Some are nongovernmental, such as the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum west of Tucson, Arizona, that is quite a good place to see, right next to the Saguaro National Park (West Unit).

Good luck and please let us know what you decide.

Wendy:
Death Valley National Park and Mojave National Preserve are delightful in December and you could easily spend the entire 8 days exploring the desert in eastern California and around Las Vegas. Start out spending a day or two in Las Vegas exploring the Strip, take a tour of Hoover Dam, get used to the RV. Then drive north to the north entrance of Death Valley and visit Scotty's Castle, stay at Mesquite Springs, the NPS campground near Scotty's. Then drive south thru the valley to Furnace Creek and spend several days there. Exit the park at the southern entrance and continue south to Mojave National Preserve. Head back to Las Vegas.
 
You could also go the other direction from Las Vegas and visit Grand Canyon but it will likely be cold and you may even get snowed on. If you go that direction, there are also Walnut Canyon National Monument, Sunset Volcano National Monument, and Wupatki National Monument near Flagstaff. But again, snow is not unusual in that area in late December.
 
Have a great trip and have fun planning.
Wendy

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page