Yosemite is a must see=nowhere like it in USA than drive to SAn FRan major tourist area plus the bay area is the best place to live in USA (except for Alaska) .,.,drive back to socal on coast highway or if you have time go north to Shelter Cove and humboldt area where the redwoods meet the ocean=fn incredible dont forget about santa cruz and Big Basin area
lemme know if ur around santa cruz I will load you up
Yeah, but that's
hardly a scenic driven from San Fran to 108/120. Yosemite itself is beautiful, the Sierra is beautiful, hell, as far as I'm concerned the foothills are amazingly beautiful. But the in-between stuff is, well, you know, don't you? That's close to 4 hours of driving through the delta. I mean, I like those smaller delta highways, but I don't think this is the kind of scenery Fred's looking for.
Fred, how many days do you plan on driving? You'll be driving close to 4 hours or so just to get from the airport to Yosemite.
Thanks buddy Rock. I don't think we will have time for all we want to do up north so we're gonna do the this trip first and then plan another trip to do the stuff up north.
Looks like we will be flying into San Fran and going to Yosemite first. Then head south until we get to L.A.
I'll be passing right through Santa Cruz on the HWY1...:sun...down to Big Sur area. Maybe stop in Santa Maria for a night before continuing on.
You might want to look at a map before you plan it this way or your whole trip could be dedicated to driving only. I suggest picking
either a coastal route or a mountain route, and if you go mountain you should know that many passes are not open until June. That said, check out the following route I'm going to give you:
Fly into San Fran, head east towards Tahoe. You may as well hit Lake Tahoe if you're going to drive through Yosemite, it's free (Yosemite is $20/car/motorcycle)(bastards) and it's connected to the only two passes through the mountains that are open this time of year, especially with the weather we've been having.
From there you can either take Hwy 50 to South Lake Tahoe or the more scenic (breathtaking) route of Hwy 88--both passes will take you over the Sierra to 395, which is one of the other most beautiful drives in California (some of it's through Nevada).
Now, from 88, IF you're out here after Monitor Pass is open you should take that from 88. The first time I drove east over Monitor I got vertigo. You have to see it to believe it. Then again, you could drive through Yosemite, if the National Parks are going to do what they did last year and have the parks open for FREE one weekend each month of summer, then go through Tioga Pass.
Otherwise, just head south outta San Fran, down Hwy 1. Know that once you hit Santa Barbara it's not worth the time and trouble to try to stay on the Pacific Highway, it practically disappears once it hits L.A. County.
Seriously, start with a map or you'll spend the rest of your life driving across California. Four hours from the coast to the eastern border, minimum, so that's roughly the trip from San Fran to Yosemite.
I feel I must also say that 395 is one of the most underrated scenic drives in the state. And if you ride, the road is amazingly well-maintained, so you can just open up that throttle and GO.
Actually, now that I think about it, if you're out here almost anytime during the summer you can take all the Sierra passes, Ebbets for instance, and enjoy some amazing scenery through the mountains instead of the coast. You will, however, end up in the Inland Empire (Victorville), very very very east of L.A. and Hollywood.
It would allow a side trip to Mojave, though, if you're so inclined and winter is the best time to visit our deserts.
