Heading to the west of the USA for a month in June with the Family: The Mrs.+ 4, 8 & 10 y/old (girls).

We’ll have a few days in hotels either end (in LA, out San Fran), with 3 weeks in an RV in the middle. We’re planning on heading inland to the desert parks (Zion, Arches etc.) and hopefully up to Yellowstone and back through Yosemite.

Should I bring the bike? Will I have the time and access to trails? Or will it just sit in the RV?

Has anyone here done this?

Paul

There was a recent thread on RVing with kids in Western USA. Have a search. If your planning to drive to Yellowstone from LA via Zion you won’t have much time for anything even with a month…. so I’d say don’t bring the bike.

But… if you reduce the distance and you’re going past Moab etc it’d be rude not to. However those places are cooking mid-summer (I’ve been in Zion early July and it was 41C) so riding very early morning might be a good plan.

Cheers sweaman2 … can’t find that thread via search 🙁

Ah it’s not monstrous milage: around 3000 I recon. Easily doable in 3 weeks.
LA > Death Valley > Zion / Grand Canyon / Bryce > Moab > Yellowstone > Yosemite > San Fran

I hear you on the temperature thing tho… hmmmmm.

Arches – you mean Moab 🙂
Zion – you mean the rampage desert 🙂

[url=https://flic.kr/p/zQvzM7]IMG_2636[/url] by Mike Smith, on Flickr
Corona Arch – the free one
[video]http://vimeo.com/150755816[/video]

[video]http://vimeo.com/150641227[/video]

[video]http://vimeo.com/150631581[/video]

^^^ I can see myself just disappearing off for hours! … which is probably a reason NOT to bring it.

Don’t bother bring it, just rent one. I did it years ago when we did a wee tour of SF to LA then inland via Las Vegas and back up to SF.

1 day in Moab and I rented a full suspension Pro-flex back when I didn’t even have any suspension on my mountain bike back home. Brilliant fun at Slickrock and I would recommend just renting. There will be a great choice of decent quality bikes near most of the best trails.

lol

I did Utah in October – it was damm hot

If you get to Arches/Moab then you will be able to hire a bike, In June Slickrock will be unbearable, I was out there about 8-9am and it was stinking hot. You can do the Enchilada as a day shuttle and is one of/if not the best days on I bike I have ever done. So if you are going to have a day pick that one 😉

For a few days riding not sure it’s worth taking one though, unless your in a breaking bad size RV you will be getting the bike in and out every time you want to have dinner etc.

Not sure of your routes but Park City area has some great lift assisted riding, is way more chilled than most of Utah and has all the old winter Olympic stuff, think you can ride the bob sleigh track and stuff like that.

This one

3000 miles. Lets say you average 60mph (and I’m being generous there as you do have to refuel and eat). Thats 50 hours of travel. Personally I find more than 5 hours of car time in a day a long day. So back of the envelope is ~10 days of travelling in a 21 day trip.

I’ve done a few Amerucan long hauls (Calgary to Phoenix in 2 days being especially memorable) and just encourage people to really think it through as it’s a lot of driving.

I would say Moab to Zion was one of the dullest longest days I’ve done, and I’ve driven Adelaide to Canberra…

Few things to stop and see but the first 200ish miles was desolate. Also the radio was very intermittent, the only consistently good signal was country/god/Trump lovers.

I’m just back from three months in California.
I took my bike with me.
We were mostly based in LA though, so not really comparable to what you’re planning.

However, if you do decide to bring the bike, I can highly recommend Virgin Atlantic. They carried the bike for free (as they will with any sports equipment) and looked after it very well.

Rent a bike. I had mine in our RV and it took up too much space. Thinking of American RVs I thought it would get lost in there, but it was a burden. Unless you hire a rack of course.

Also,fly from LV to Portland and do Oregon instead. Infinitely better riding and tetrain (IMO).

When my wife and I did a 3 week loop of California we rented bikes in San Francisco (road) and then Tahoe (MTB). Loads less hassle than taking your own.

Tahoe was stunning, only did the flume trail as my wife was pregnant with twins so we didn’t want anything to technical. We got uplifted to the north of the lake and followed the trail back.

Knowing the driving involved Yellowstone is a long way up, as mentioned above you could be doing a lot of driving.

Touring California is an amazing holiday, one of my best ever. Would like to take my kids when they’re a bit older.

Lots to think about. Renting a bike is probably the way to go.

I know it’s a LOT of driving, but Yellowstone has to happen… once in a lifetime type thing.
My plan is to cover serious distance about three times, so in-between is relatively easy.

I may live to regret this plan however!

I would take a bike, at least when you’re parked up you can explore a large area quickly, and get a feel for the space you’re in, to then take the family out to walk around.
Some friends and I drove from Denver down to Albuquerque and across to LA.
It’s an incredible country.

3 kids, a wife and an RV for some of it? If you’ve got enough arms to take a bike you’re more octopus than I.

Rent if you feel the need / have the time. You’re looking at a LOT of driving, especially with 3 kids across a wide spread of age.
If you go to Moab, Magpie Adventures do some great guiding and have local knowledge beyond compare.

I’ve driven around that part of the world and you are talking a lot of driving time, especially with kids to entertain as well. I’d try to plan the route to drive less and spend longer at nice places.

I would take a bike, at least when you’re parked up you can explore a large area quickly,

Assuming June is warmer than October nobody will be doing anything quickly during the middle of the day 😉

+1 to hire when you are there. With 5 in an RV there will not be room for it unless you hire a rack. For MTB you would be looking at specific places with trails like Moab which have excellent hire facilities.

Also +1 to that being a lot of driving, even over 3 weeks.

If you are adamant you want to see Yellowstone this time around, consider flying from LAX to somewhere closer for the RV hire (Salt Lake City or Idaho Falls) and then on to San Francisco. Whether you want to go for the geology or the wildlife, the Yellowstone / Grand Teton / NF ecosystem is huge and it is worth staying in 2 different parts of Yellowstone and within Grand Teton for easier access to all the different areas. I know it’s not in the spirit of RV’ing in the USA but you need to book your campsites for Yellowstone. Similarly, Zion can book up but there are alternatives just outside the park boundary there.