Assistance Plz: X-Mas Road Trip From UTAH To SoCal

Hello fellow TW members. I am looking for a bit of assistance and advice. My family and I will be embarking on a journey From Northern Utah to Universal Studios California. Along the way we would like to adventure a bit.

Who are we? I am the dad and the trip will consist of me, my wife, our 3 sons (age 22, 20, 16) and our dog. This will be the last family trip now that our boys are grown up and starting their own lives. Now I know what you are thinking... That is a bit crowded for a Tacoma and I agree. However, It is what we have and we are making it work. Luckily our family is small in stature and the dog is only 30lbs. I told everyone to approach this like a backpacking trip. Minimal clothes and provisions. and buying food daily. My Tacoma is a 2015 TRD Off-Road 4x4. It has a shell and a very large Yakima Skybox 18 on the top. We are turning the bed of the truck into a traveling rest area. A place to watch movies play games ect. while on the drive. I know some states this is illegal what about Cali? Utah and Nevada are ok.
Our trip will be a mix of Staying at a house, a Hotel, and Camping. Here is what we have so far...

Friday the 21st: Leaving the Salt Lake City area in the am.
Our first stop will be in St.George UT and we will be staying at a friends house.

Saturday the 22nd: We will travel to Las Vegas and spend the late morning / early afternoon eating lunch and doing a bit of sight seeing (about 4 hours of fun). My wife and I go there once or twice a year so nothing new to us and not the place we want to hang out with our sons. They can party there with their own friends not mommy and daddy.
That afternoon we would like to make our way into Cali.

Do we go North or South???

If we go North...
I was thinking of heading into Death Valley NP (I have a National Parks Pass). Knowing that we have a dog NP are not the best place to camp. I was thinking of the Valley between DV and Sequoia NF or in Sequoia to camp that night. I will try to utilize www.freecampsites.net to find camping spots throughout the trip. Thoughts or recommendations?

Sunday the 23rd: This is kind of a free day just making our way to LA. Probably working our way via Bakersfield and Santa Clarita to Pasadena. Open for suggestions. We are not there to do any hard core off-road stuff but fire roads, river beds, mine roads, and things off the beaten path are welcome. We, especially the wife, would LOVE to come across some HOT SPRINGS anywhere along the route. The non commercialized the better. We tend to like to spend our time in primitive nature. For the night we may stay at a relatives apt. in Malibu (waiting to here if he can have a dog there for a night). If not we will find a dog Friendly Hotel around Universal Studios. We have looked online at a couple but want to just book one when we get there so we can check out the location and make sure the truck and we are in a good location.

Monday the 24th aka my 41st B-Day: Universal Studios Day 1. We have made arrangements for the pooch and will be here for 6 - 8 hours. That night I have made a reservation to camp at Thornhill Broome @ Point Magu State Park. Dog Friendly Yeah...

X-Mas: Universal Studios Day 2: Try and hit what we missed the day before. That night maybe stay at Thornhill Broome again or go back to the hotel.

Wednesday the 26th: Make our way back to St. George from LA. I am thinking through Angeles National Forest to Victorville, Barstow, Vegas... Ideas???

Thursday the 27th: St. George to Home...

If we go South from Las Vegas:
Make our way through Mojave National Preserve on some dirt and make our way towards Joshua Tree National Park. Maybe camping in the Cleghorn Lakes area or around there.

Sunday the 23rd: Visit Joshua Tree and then make our way to Big Bear, Lake Arrowhead, then either camp in that area (Ideas?) or drop into San Bernardino for a hotel.

Monday the 24th: Universal & camp at Thornhill Broome

Tuesday the 25th: Universal & camp at Thornhill Broome, hotel, or friends apartment in Malibu if we can.

Thursday the 26th: back to St George via Angeles Forest to Barstow, Vegas.

Please, give me feedback... Am I crazy? Is this too much? Is it doable? What am I missing?

Thanks for your time...
Shayne

 

joshua tree is chill, but super crowded. San bernadino is ghetto and big bear and arrowhead isn't too exciting.

Sequoia national park is EPIC i would go there over Jtree any day. Hanging out in Mammoth//Bishop//Alabama Hills isn't a bad idea either (tons of hot springs in the owens valley). Look up reward mine too in lone pine super epic!

Mt. Wilson in the Pasadena would be chill to check out there are some waterfalls and what not out there


Sounds like a fun trip! My company is the on call arborist for universal and this summer i just walked every nook and cranny of that property and mapped all of the natives

 

@steezymac Thanks for your input. I will be googleing all that info. Being familiar with that area do we need to worry about snow at all? We will be tenting it so is there and elevation limit we should consider?

 

also, note that sequoia NF and DV are very far away from each other. I think DV is probably easier to hit than sequoia since you are coming from Utah. Def. plan for snow. The Sierras have been getting hit pretty hard so far this year. I think you should be safe up to like 5,000ft for camping. Ive spent pretty much major of this year working in the central sierras so i can give you some recommendations if you head that way. I am also very familiar with the eastern sierras (mammoth/bishop etc.), but haven't been to DV yet.

 

I live on the southern entrance to Angeles National Forest and IMO it might be something you can skip as a camp location. It’s not much of a “forest” in the traditional sense and the camping areas are pretty basic with walking path “hikes” and not much else. It’s a windy road to drive (popular with motorcycles and tuners) so if you like that, it’s at least a pleasing drive.

One place that may or may not be worth checking out is Gorman/ Hungry valley. It’s an off-road park about 45 min north of here that offers varied terrain and camping. It gets crowded on weekends and during December there might be small patches of snow and it’ll be cold and or windy but a lot of the camps offer wind protection.

 

Thanks for the input so far. After talking to the family we have decided to go North to Death Valley. I have been doing a bunch of reading and posted this in the TW Death Valley off-road thread...

Hello DV experts. I have been doing a bunch or research but I wanted to get your input. I will be traveling to DV Saturday the 22nd spending the night and them moving on Sunday the 23rd to L.A. You can see the details of my road trip here...
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/assistance-plz-x-mas-road-trip-from-utah-to-socal.582540/

My question is, If I have to pick one canyon, which is the best to see and camp in?
Trail, Hanaupah, Johnson, Galena, or Queen Sheba?
We will be checking in at furnace Creek Visitors center and getting a backcountry camping permit, picking a canyon to explore and camp, then on Sunday leaving west via Warm Springs Canyon. I know we will be pressed for time but are there any "MUST SEE" things we should try to squeeze in?
Thanks for your input.

More help if you can. thx

 

Hit the beach. New public access app/website is available. Christmas, surf, sand, palm trees...it's how we do it here! Dogs are allowed (on leash) all day. During the summer, dogs are allowed in the mornings and evenings because of crowds. If it's fair weather, there's not much better way to watch the sunset in flip flops.

 

We srated our holiday raod trip to the Pacific Coast last night. If u want u can follow along in my thread here.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...build-adventure-thread-very-pic-heavy.572487/