Help my and the wife plan a trip out west!

NFRs2000NYC

NFRs2000NYC

Caught the Bug
Hey guys, so the wife are looking to do a little getaway trip out west over my birthday (Dec 25th...no Im not jesus) over new years. We would like to spend new years in vegas, so the trip will be from late december into early january.

We will be departing from NJ, and drive straight through Kansas, and at that point, Im all ears. Here are some preferences that we would like you to consider when suggesting destinations...

1) Obviously, it is the dead of winter, and time is limited, so going to a place that may or may not be snowed over would kill too much time, so only places with drivable snow....alone.

2) Jeeping is a priority, so some awesome trails to some amazing destinations.

So far, all I have on my radar are the white sand national monument dunes, maybe check out grand staircase escalante, and valley of the gods. It has also been a dream of mine to check out Moab in the winter, so I may give that a shot, depending on weather conditions.

Anything else you guys can suggest that's worth a stop? Keep in mind, we are alone, no other vehicles, so nothing too hardcore.

P.S. If any of you are along my route, would love to meet up a grab a bite, or hit a scenic trail. Would be great to have a local guide. :D
 
spicoli

spicoli

Member
Moab might have snow but it doesn't get deep enough to prevent you from 4wheeling. It can get muddy and slick on the rocks so have recovery plans if you're not in a group.

Colorado high country will probably have too much snow for 4wheeling, but the western slopes will have some fun. Grand Junction probably won't have too much snow. I moved from Colorado last year so I won't know what their snow levels are like to let you know if you would be able to wheel or not. There are some Front Range trails that you 4wheel all year on. www.traildamage.com is a good place to go to find trails, info on suggested trails and how to get to them. I really liked Middle St. Vrain to Coney Flats, thought it was a fun loop. A lot of my other favorites were up mountains and passes which will most likely have too deep of snow. If not Black Bear and Independence Pass are gorgeous and not that challenging but if you don't pay attention you can easy fall down a mountain side; very exposed.
 
Tigrcky

Tigrcky

New member
Avoid the high country in Colorado, if you take hwy 50 through co let me know there are some beautiful mountain towns I can send you to and like said before grand junction area is pretty doable then and it's 2 hours from Moab. Unless it's a heavy early snow year I would wager Moab would be snow free at that time, pack warm!

Sent from my whatchamacallit
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
No kidding? Well, if you're still around, we typically do some kind of kick off run the first weekend after New Years. It's just easy sight seeing stuff but, we'd love to have you join us if you can.
 
NFRs2000NYC

NFRs2000NYC

Caught the Bug
Thanks for the insight guys. Glad to hear the news about moab and will definitely keep my ass out of colorado high country.

Eddie, that would be amazing and if I'm still in your state id love to join, but you guys usually head out even further west no? You're gonna make drive from CA to NJ aren't you??? Lol
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
NFRs2000NYC said:
Thanks for the insight guys. Glad to hear the news about moab and will definitely keep my ass out of colorado high country.

Eddie, that would be amazing and if I'm still in your state id love to join, but you guys usually head out even further west no? You're gonna make drive from CA to NJ aren't you??? Lol
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The kick off run is typically done out in California - out in the Mojave Desert just west of Vegas.
 
U

Undertheradar

Caught the Bug
Around Vegas there are some nice red rock trails near Logandale, the annual hump n bump trail ride is held there http://www.logandaletrails.com

You aren't too far from Death Valley either, Titus Cyn, Badwater...and the Dec temps can be in the upper 70's & low 80's in Dec ( on the valley floor) but overnight it will go below freezing.

Many trails in and around Mt. Charleston but snow may be a factor, lots of trails around Lake Mead, the Bitter Springs area is pretty, BUT you are going in the winter when temps can get very cold, and conditions can get bad. Las Vegas does get snow, and the surrounding areas could be very muddy.

I would see if there are some southern NV guys who may be available to take you on a trail ride. The thought of you going out alone is a little troubling. I would do this for each place you want to stop and explore. Owning a SPOT device is a good idea too, especially in winter driving conditions.

Have fun!
 
NV375

NV375

Active Member
NFRs2000NYC said:
Hey guys, so the wife are looking to do a little getaway trip out west over my birthday (Dec 25th...no Im not jesus) over new years. We would like to spend new years in vegas, so the trip will be from late december into early january.

1) Obviously, it is the dead of winter, and time is limited, so going to a place that may or may not be snowed over would kill too much time, so only places with drivable snow....alone. ............
..............P.S. If any of you are along my route, would love to meet up a grab a bite, or hit a scenic trail. Would be great to have a local guide. :D
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I can't make any promises about snow around here but, if you want to explore north-east of Las Vegas drop me a PM. We have several different types of sites to see up this way. A trip through here could be done on your way to or from Las Vegas if coming from or going to Utah.


Sent using the WAYALIFE mobile app
 
SaddleTramp

SaddleTramp

Member
You all driving the JK out here?

Look us up when it gets closer for when you'll be in the Vegas area. There's always a run going on due to people on different shifts/days off and lot's of us here on the forum from Vegas area.

Look forward to meeting up, PM me when you know more.
 
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spicoli

spicoli

Member
Not for 4wheeling but Zion National Park in the south western part of Utah is amazing to hike thru and see. Gorgeous area.
 
NFRs2000NYC

NFRs2000NYC

Caught the Bug
spicoli said:
Not for 4wheeling but Zion National Park in the south western part of Utah is amazing to hike thru and see. Gorgeous area.
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We did a very similar trip when my wife and I first met in 2008, started off in vegas, then went east and south to Zion, Arches NP, Antelope Canyon, Bryce, Lake Powell, and then back to vegas.....however, this was all well before I was into jeeping, or owning a jeep for that matter. Zion is indeed one of the best places I have ever been to.

I think what I am going to do is pick out a few places, then bump this thread up when Im already out west, that way, I can see whats good and where, and who's around a few days in advance and plan accordingly. I guess it's a bit difficult to plan this far ahead, but Im sure it will be a great trip. :thumb:
 
spicoli

spicoli

Member
NFRs2000NYC said:
Zion is indeed one of the best places I have ever been to.
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For my wife's and i honeymoon we did a 5week road trip full of national parks, camping and backpacking. We saw many cool places but the 2 coolest places we saw were Death Valley and Zion.
Death Valley is surprisingly cool. The racetrack playa was just outstanding. The moving rocks had my wife and I talking about how and etc for days. Only recently they have proven one of the theories to be the cause. It was the one we thought made the most sense. If you have never heard of it, you should google it. Truly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen, plus there are some fun 4wheeling routes in Death Valley. If you go their is painters palette and at the top of one of the mountains you can see the highest and lowest place in the lower 48.
 
OverlanderJK

OverlanderJK

Resident Smartass
spicoli said:
For my wife's and i honeymoon we did a 5week road trip full of national parks, camping and backpacking. We saw many cool places but the 2 coolest places we saw were Death Valley and Zion.
Death Valley is surprisingly cool. The racetrack playa was just outstanding. The moving rocks had my wife and I talking about how and etc for days. Only recently they have proven one of the theories to be the cause. It was the one we thought made the most sense. If you have never heard of it, you should google it. Truly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen, plus there are some fun 4wheeling routes in Death Valley. If you go their is painters palette and at the top of one of the mountains you can see the highest and lowest place in the lower 48.
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I saw no moving rocks last week when I was there.

ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1415000017.597203.jpg
 
spicoli

spicoli

Member
OverlanderJK said:
I saw no moving rocks last week when I was there.

View attachment 107718
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I hope you're joking. That is the grand stands. If you keep going down the road to the end of the dried lake (right side in photo) and walk the lake bed to the hills on the other side of the lake there are rocks there moving around, having a party and leaving trails everywhere. That is an annoyingly rough road to drive and not see anything. At least you would have seen tea kettle junction.
 
NFRs2000NYC

NFRs2000NYC

Caught the Bug
We really want to go there, but I think it would be REALLY out of the way. How far would the above photo be from Vegas?
 
jesse3638

jesse3638

Hooked
If you want to see one of So-Cal's OHV Dune areas you can always swing by Dumont. Its a couple hours West of Vegas. I'll be working New Years weekend out there and it can get pretty wild. I'd assume this year it'll be more mellow judging by the way the holiday falls. You could head west out of Vegas and go through Red Rock and down through Tecopa and check out the hot springs there. From Dumont you could head North and go into Shoshone for lunch (The Crow Bar serves up some good burgers) and up into Death Valley if you so choose. Actually the Death Valley Park boundary is right across the highway from Dumont so you could always go check out Saratoga Springs and they you can say you went to Death Valley..;) There are some really cool desert formations out there not to mention all the old west mining history. The Shoshone museum has alot of old photos documenting this and its really cool to see.
 
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