Route suggestions request

[pedaler]

I'm contemplating visiting Death Valley and Grand Canyon Village (south rim), over a 3 weeks period around March next year.  Camping is my preferred accommodation.  Open to suggestions, but I'm considering Las Vegas as a start/finish as I'll be travelling from the UK.

How can I join these locations with a reasonable cycle route.  Any other advice is welcome.

Thanks.

Pedaler

[aggie]

Are you planning to ride on paved or unpaved roads?  There isn't a good direct route but one can be put together but it may be somewhat round about.  3 weeks may not be enough time to cycle from Death Valley to Grand Canyon and back.  It may take a week each way.

[John Nelson]

I usually start with the Google driving directions with the "avoid highways" option. This usually gives me a better starting point than Google bicycling directions, which are okay for getting to the supermarket but not very good when going hundreds of miles.

[pedaler]

Try as I might I cannot find the avoid highways, or anything similar, on GE.  More help please as the tutorials I saw came nowhere near helping.

P.

[aggie]

If you go to Death Valley from Las Vegas the shortest route is to take hwy 160 to Pahrump.  Its about 60 miles.  Once you leave vegas there isn't much until you get to Pahrump.  Then turn onto hwy 372 which becomes 178 to Shoshone (about 90 miles from LV).  Follow 178 and it will take you into Death Valley National Park.  It's about another 80 miles to Furnace Creek in Death Valley with no services along the way.  So its about 170 miles from Las Vegas with few services along the way.   This will take you past Badwater which is the lowest point in North America.  A slightly shorter route is to continue up to Bell Vista Ave.  Follow the road (Ash Meadows/State line rd) unit you reach hwy 127.  Go north about a mile until you reach hwy 190 west.  This will take you to Furnace Creek.  If you want to go to Badwater you will then head south.  Even in March take plenty of water.

There isn't a good way to get to the Grand Canyon south rim.  You could take Boulder Hwy into Boulder, NV.  You then have the option of taking the hwy across Hoover Dam or the new bridge.  Either way you'll be on hwy 93 to Kingman, AZ.  You then have the option of taking the interstate (I-40) to hwy 64 which goes up to the south rim.  This will be about 300 miles one way.  You could take old hwy 66 out of Kingman but it will add quite a few miles to the journey but it might be a more enjoyable road.  But be prepared to take lots of water.

You could head north out of Vegas and go through St. George, UT.  This will connect you with the ACA Grand Canyon Connector route.  Not sure of the mileage.

I'm not sure there are un-paved roads you can take from Vegas that will get you to either destination.  I know of a couple to some campgrounds on the North Rim but I'm not familiar with the South Rim.

[rabbitoh]

Have you checked out CGOAB?

In particular the following two journals. The author took 13 days just to complete the Death Valley tour, so your plan of 3 weeks in total might be a tad ambitious.

 http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/Cali2Colo

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/DeathValley2011

The author invites queries vis his guestbooks.

[John Nelson]

Try as I might I cannot find the avoid highways, or anything similar, on GE.  More help please as the tutorials I saw came nowhere near helping.

Click on this link.

http://maps.google.com/

Click on "Get Directions". Enter your starting and ending locations. Click "Show options". Click "Avoid highways". Click the "Get Directions" button.

[pedaler]

Thanks, got it.  The page I was using, only gave units as the option.

http://maps.google.com/maps/myplaces?abauth=bdbf31fa:qTfkfM8604bAJmR5qooOE6uztI0&mpa=0&ctz=-60&mpf=0&vps=2&jsv=355d&ei=HyIhTsC6IY-GjAeH5_2LBA&num=10