Nevada & Utah in 2011 ? Advice & tips please

[AndrewClark]

Inspired by this and this I'm now contemplating a trip over there sometime next year.

I'm thinking a 4 week camping tour , probably flying to Las Vegas from Heathrow with BA (if they are still taking bikes free) hoping to include Zion, Grand Canyon, Canyonlands and as much else as I can squeeze in. Return either via looping back to Vegas or possibly from Phoenix.

It's very early days yet, so I'm just asking here to see if anyone has experience of this part of the world, tips for what to see, where to go etc. I'll be posing similar questions on CrazyGuy & Adventure Cycling as well.

When to go ? I'm thinking spring (Apr/May) or autumn (Sept onwards ?)

All advice welcome, I've only toured over there once when I did Seattle to San Francisco.<br><br>Edit - I'm not a technical mountain biker but am quite happy on dirt roads &amp; jeep tracks.<br>

 

[Alembicbassman]

I did Las Vegas, Zion, Bryce, Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Moab, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon by road in a minibus and it took 10 days with 1 day hikes or bike rides at each stop.

The roads are good tarmac, scenery spectacular, but the distances are long and it's mostly desert with few gas stations and general stores for supplies.

I went in mid May and we had snow at the GC campsite, but summer gets really hot.

It can get very windy and dusty at some of the campsites, the one run by the Navaho Indians at Monument Valley wasn't great, cold showers that cost 23c per couple of minutes.

Other campsites were of a good standard, some even had swimming pools.

Book a really nice hotel in Vegas to end with as you'll need a damn good soak to remove all the dust and grime from your skin.

 

[AndrewClark]

Current plan seems to favour Las Vegas as the most convenient destination from the UK, followed by a $25 shuttle bus to St George as an actual start point. Virgin fly direct from Manchester twice a week and don't appear to charge for bikes.

I've just received the DeLorme atlas for Utah and the Utah and Colorado edition of Bicycling Americas National Parks to keep me happy during the winter

 

[hondated]

Andrew

this might be another site you can get info from: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/

Their meet in Ripley although for motorcyclists is great to speak to people that have travelled far and wide and you can also learn a lot from the presentations.

A motorcycle is really just a bike with an engine after all.