With countless National Parks scatterred around Western USA, an extensive road trip exploring the Wild West was always a must during our time on the continent. So with a funky campervan booked a month in advance for five weeks, we were able to secure a great rate of $80 AUD per day, thanks to the amazing team at Escape Campervans. If road-tripping the USA is on your bucket list, definitely check these guys out! They offered the most reasonable rates from all the other options we researched (and researched extensively we did!) and the exterior of their campervans are super cool! We were so in love with our bright yellow, surf-themed home on wheels!
Here’s a short video below of our USA road-trip highlights! ✌🏼Watch in HD.
Note, if you have trouble viewing the below video, try the following link instead: https://youtu.be/rJs4arZpchk
We LOVED our time road-tripping Western USA – it completely exceeded our expectations and has us determined to return to explore more of the U.S. in a campervan. Each National Park we visited (nine in total!) was so unique and nothing like all the others we had already seen. Our time on the road never felt repetitive, and each new day brought amazing experiences of breathtaking landscapes, friendly locals and absolute freedom!
Our 5-week road trip, which covered about 5,000 kms in total, included the following destinations (see also the maps below):
- Flying into Los Angeles on the 8th October and picking up our campervan,
- Driving up the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco (unfortunately missing Big Sur due to road closures),
- Yosemite National Park,
- Sequoia National Park,
- Death Valley National Park,
- Las Vegas,
- Zion National Park,
- Bryce Canyon National Park,
- Horseshoe Bend, Upper Antelope Canyon and Oljato-Monument Valley,
- Arches National Park,
- Canyonlands National Park,
- Grand Canyon National Park (South Rim),
- Joshua Tree National Park,
- Back to Los Angeles
Here are some of our fave pics from our five weeks in the USA…
Los Angeles (8th to 9th October)
Not quite our favourite destination visited, but necessary for the transit in and out. We found a great public carpark near Santa Monica where we parked and slept overnight for $5 US! While here, we ticked off a few must-sees like Santa Monica Beach and Pier, Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the Hollywood sign….and then we were out of there!
Along the Pacific Coast Highway (10th to 11th October)
Unfortunately, the road to Big Sur was closed while we were planning to drive through, so we were forced to take a detour (inland) instead. The drive of the PCH (or what we could managed to do of it) was a bit long, but there were definitely a few highlights along the way. Thanks to the (free) dispersed camping allowed in the designated National Forest regions, we got a free night’s camping along the way!
San Francisco (12th to 13th October)
Our favourite major city visited – awesome free overnight parking right next to the Golden Gate bridge at Visa Point, thank you very much! Exploring this city by bike is a must, even if it’s just to ride over the Golden Gate bridge.
Yosemite National Park (14th to 18th October)
One of our favourite National Parks visited – the scenery was breathtaking!
Although we visited outside of the usual “busy” period, we soon discovered that if we hadn’t prebooked our camp spot well ahead of time, we had to wait each morning at 8am at the Curry Village Campground office to be assigned a camping spot for the night. Of course, we arrived on the first day without a booking, so ended up free camping in the National Forest just outside of Yosemite on the first night, where we met and shared a tea with a friendly Aussie Mum and her young son, Johnathon. The following three consecutive nights, we scored campgrounds at Lower/North Pines for $26 US/night – a little on the pricey side, but great campgrounds to stay in located right in the valley! Note, the free camping outside of Yosemite (in the National Forest) is located about 40 mins drive from Yosemite Valley.
The buses run at Yosemite Valley each day were well-organised, and meant that we could leave our campervan at the campsite each day while we jumped on the buses to explore the park. We stayed a total of four full days here, leaving after we’d felt we had covered all the main highlights to see. A four day minimum here is necessary – this National Park is huge and worth taking the time to appreciate.
Sequoia National Park (21st to 22nd October)
Home to the largest trees in the world, many around 2,000 to 3,000 years old! All the good stuff is around the Giant Forest area, so if you’re planning to camp here overnight, you’ll want to stay close to this spot as the road going through Sequoia is verrrry long and windy. Again, we hadn’t booked ahead for a campsite, so ended up at the Potwisha campgrounds for $22 US/night, which worked on a first-come-first-served basis. If you arrive around 8am to 9am, you’ll most likely be guaranteed a spot, or just wait until you see someone packing up and leaving, then ask for their spot, if not already booked. We think one full day spent here is enough to explore the highlights.
Death Valley National Park (23rd to 25th October)
The hottest, driest and lowest place in the USA – this is a land of extremes and one of our most memorable destinations. We were in total awe of this place! Driving down the long straight roads that disappear into the heat wave on the horizon, surrounded by complete desolation, a backdrop of varying coloured rocky mountains and a sprinkling of dry desert plants – it was empty and vast, yet intriguing and beautiful at the same time.
Our first campsite was Stovepipe Wells, which was basically a dusty outback carpark – don’t bother looking for a shady camp spot under a tree, there aren’t any! Despite that, it was situated next to a General Store that served soft-serve icecream (perfect in the sweltering heat!), and across the road from a pool and showers for use with a $4 daily fee. Although quite basic, it was so awe-inspiring to camp in the middle of a desolate, vast desert surround by total quietness. For those game enough, the Mesquite Sand Dunes are just a short drive from the Stovepipe Wells campground and are worth a visit at night for a moonlight walk (but watch out for the rattle snakes!).
Our second night at Death Valley was spent at Furnace Creek campgrounds, which were $18 US/night, including showers and a warm spring-fed swimming pool. After a hot, sweaty day of hiking, having a campground with showers and a pool was worth every cent! The Visitor Centre here is fantastic and worth spending at least an hour at to learn more about Death Valley through interactive displays and informative presentations (and the WiFi, of course!)
Las Vegas (26th to 27th October)
I guess we’re not ones for cities – we weren’t huge fans of Las Vegas and only stayed a couple of days. When in Vegas, we knew that a show or concert was a must, so bought ourselves tickets to see Britney Spears. With her shows being on a regular weekly schedule here for a few months at a time, this meant that the venue size was a lot smaller than we’d expected and we were pretty close to the action! If the budget allowed, we would have loved to have watched more shows, including Cirque Du Soleil, Criss Angel, David Copperfield and soooo many more. We recommend checking out a few different websites for tickets to find the best prices (eg. Vegas.com, Ticketmaster).
We stayed for two nights at the Circus Circus RV Park, which charged reasonable rates and provided us with everything we needed for a comfortable stay. Our neighbours at the RV park were a well-known YouTube vlogging couple who have lived long-term in their self-restored campervan – we were totally inspired from their story and van set up! Check out their YouTube channel, “Into the Mystery“.
Zion National Park (27th to 30th October)
To come…