Map of our Route

The 7 wonders of the West:

1. Grand Canyon
2. Lake Tahoe
3. Pacific Coast Highway
4. Redwood Forest
5. Oregon Coast
6. Yellowstone National Park
7. Moab
 

OUR (tentative) ROUTE...

Arizona
From Snowflake we will head out via Highway 277 to Heber, then Payson where we will connect with Hwy 87/260 to Pine and over to Strawberry, outside of Strawberry we will jump on the 260 west and be continuing on to Camp Verde, then Cottonwood. From Cottonwood we will take Hwy 89A north to Sedona and Flagstaff. Outside of Flagstaff we will head north on Hwy 180 through Arizona’s San Francisco Mountains until we connect with Hwy 64 also heading north. We will follow Hwy 64 up to the Grand Canyon and follow it east as we leave since it will reconnect us with Hwy 89, we will get on 89 going north through the Painted Desert, Cameron, Cedar Ridge and by Echo Cliffs. Once we pass Echo Cliffs we will continue north on Hwy 89 to Page and into Utah’s Smokey Mountains.

Utah
In Utah we will stay on Hwy 89 heading west, at Kanab we will continue north on hwy 89 to Orderville, Hatch, Panguitch, as well as Circleville, we will follow 89 to Aurora and shortly after Aurora we will go west on Hwy 50 to Scipio, from Scipio we have to head south (possibly on I-15 for 10 miles, it appears that part of the highway may be interstate) to Holden and Delta. From Delta we will head west on Hwy 6/50 to Hinckley (which will be the last town for miles) then we cross through Utah’s “Confusion Range” before going into Ely, Nevada. 

Note: From Delta across the remainder of Utah as well as Nevada we will have to make sure to take plenty of extra fuel. We could face up to 165 miles without a place to fuel up.

Nevada
Highway 50 takes us due west all the way across the state. It should be a scenic portion of the trip passing through the Schell Creek Range, by the White Pine Range, Toiyabe Range and across the Clan Alpine Range as we go through the towns of Lane, Eureka, Austin, Cold Springs and over to Fallon, and Silver Springs, Dayton and into Carson City. From Carson City we head to Lake Tahoe and into California.

California
Highway 50 should take us to the waters edge of Lake Tahoe and can follow it around the south side of the lake, just after south lake we will continue on Hwy 50 to Placerville. Shortly after Placerville we will look for Hwy 49 or 193, one or the other will be just outside for Placerville and we will access the 193 that way in order to get to Georgetown, HQ of Jeep Jamboree USA where we will be stopping and spending some time with Mark A. Smith, founder of JJUSA and recognized as the founding father of modern day wheeling and expedition. When we leave Georgetown we will head on to Greenwood and Cool ( I hope Cool is as cool as it’s name) from there we will head to Newcastle where we will get on Hwy 65 going north to Sheridan, Wheatland and then up to Yuba City where we will connect with Hwy 70 going north to Oroville where we will stop and see the guys at Surplus City Jeep Parts, another one of our sponsors. From Oroville we will jump onto Hwy 99 going through Chico, Los Molinos, and Dairyville and up to Red Bluff. When we get through Red Bluff we will go west on Hwy 36 (traveling just below the town of Hooker, if any of you followed last years trip we went through another Hooker and were looking for a screw, couldn’t find the screw so we had to fabricate, maybe we can find that screw next year in this Hooker) over to Platina, Wildwood and then Peanut. At Peanut we will go north on Hwy 3 to Hayfork and Douglas City, in Douglas City we will jump on Hwy 299 west through Weaverville, Helena, Willow Creek and continue on all the way to McKinley Ville and the Pacific Ocean. Once we hit the coast and spend some time oohing and awwing we will get on the famous Hwy 101 and try to contend with traffic as we travel along the coast via the Pacific Coast Highway on our way to the Redwood National Forest and then north to Oregon.

Oregon
We certainly will not need a GPS to get us through Oregon since we plan to travel the Hwy 101 north all the way up the Oregon Coast, we will plan on and try to cross the Columbia River at Astoria into Washington. Any of you who have ever been to the Oregon coast and have been to Astoria know that it is a beautiful place and was also where the movie Kindergarten Cop was set…. It’s not a tumor!!!

Washington
We will try to cross the Columbia River in Astoria and continue up the coast for a short distance to Chinook, just past Chinook we will connect with Hwy 4. We will go north on Hwy 4 to Southbend and continue on to Raymont where we will connect with Hwy 6 heading east to Chehalis on the way passing through the towns of Willipa, Menio, Lebam, Francis, Doty and Adna. In Chehalis it looks like we can catch a frontage road to avoid having to travel I-5. Once on the frontage road we want to head south and connect with Hwy 12 going east. We will continue east on hwy 12 all the way into Yakima, once in Yakima we need to get on Hwy 24 continuing east until we hit the point where Hwy 24 ends as it intersects with Hwy 26. Hwy 26 will take us east all the way across the rest of the state and into Idaho. Close to the Idaho border Hwy 26 also become Hwy 272. 

If we travel this route across Washington we will be traveling by Mount St. Helens when we are on Hwy 12 and heading through the Cascade Mountain Range. 

As an alternate route we can also travel next to the Columbia River via Hwy 14 until Plymouth where we will have to cross back into Oregon for a short time on Hwy 730 up to Hwy 12 and across the rest of Washington

Idaho
As we approach the Idaho state line on Washington Hwy 26 we will intersect with and get onto Washington Hwy 195 heading south to Lewiston, Idaho. Looks like Idaho Hwy 12 should take us east to Hwy 93 just south of Missoula, Montana.

Montana
In Montana we are going to have to do some jumping around (no, you won’t see us on the side of the road doing the “Hokey Pokey”) in order to not have to do so much backtracking for long distances to get where we need to head to. Traveling on Hwy 12 towards Missoula we will hit Lolo where we intersect with and get on Hwy 93 heading south through Florence, Stevensville, Victor, Pinedale, Hamilton, Darby, Sula and a host of other small towns along the way. Just south of Sula is the “Lost Trail Pass” & Ski Area, there we will look for and connect with Hwy 43 heading east to Wisdom. In Wisdom we will jump on Hwy 278 to Dillon, at Dillon the Hwy appears to change to Hwy 41 to Sheridan and then back to Hwy 287 Laurin, Alder, Virginia City, over to Ennis and down into the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park. 

Along the way from Ennis to Yellowstone we will pass the site and memorial of the 1959 earthquake. Quite an interesting and tragic story of the earthquake that shook the mountain down and buried a campground.

Wyoming
Once in Yellowstone we will most likely take the northern loop on Hwy 89 by Mammoth Hot Springs, over to Tower Junction, south to Canyon Junction, Yellowstone Lake and continuing south through West Thumb Grant Village all via Hwy 89/287 to the small town of Moran. In Moran we will get on Hwy 26/89 going south to Jackson. Leaving Jackson we can continue south on Hwy 189/191 through Bondurant, just before the next town of Daniel we will make a left hand turn (still heading south) and continue on Hwy 191 to Pinedale, Boulder, Farson, Eden (wonder if they have a garden there?) and into Rock Springs. As we leave Rock Springs we will stay on Hwy 191 due south towards Flaming Gorge Dam and into Utah. 

Flaming Gorge is a very scenic drive through the Ashley National Forrest and across the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and Dam.

Utah
Still heading south on Hwy 191 we will hit the town of Vernal where we will want to catch Hwy 40 heading west to Fort Duchesne. Along the way we will travel through the towns of Ballard, Roosevelt, Myton and then into the town of Duchesne itself. There we are going to get back onto Hwy 191 going south (maps aren’t showing if the road is Hwy 40/191 or just 40 across) until it intersects with Hwy 6/191 which we will travel until we hit I-70 where we’re going to have to brave roughly 25 miles of interstate heading east so we can get back on Hwy 191 again which we will take into Moab. :-)

As we head out of Moab (if we don’t take up permanent residency and have our other Jeeps shipped in), we will be back on Hwy 191 for 22 miles or so before we get onto Hwy 46 heading east to Colorado while passing through the La Sal Mountains. Anyone who has ever wheeled in Moab knows the La Sal’s with their snow capped peaks.  

Colorado
By the time we leave Moab depending on the amount of time we are ahead of, or behind schedule we can go a couple of different ways. This will be the more direct route assuming that by this time we will be ready to get some miles put on and get close to home. Just south of Moab at Monticello we will head east to Cortez Colorado on Hwy 491. In Cortez we will head south on Hwy 160 through the Ute Indian Reservation past “Ship rock”.

Arizona
As soon as we get into Arizona we will be traveling through the Navajo Reservation going past the “Red Mesa” until we connect with Hwy 191 going south. Hwy 191 will take us south to Chambers and there we’ll have to jump onto I-40 for just a couple miles to Chetco and we can get back on Hwy 191 south to St. Johns. At St. Johns we’ll be on the route that we took into Snowflake last year once we get on Hwy 61 going west towards Concho where we take Hwy 180A for a short distance and get onto the Concho Hey into Snowflake.

NOTE: These are tentative routes and are just a rough draft. Many factors will come into play on the trip and determine which route we take, and timing will be the largest. This is one of the possible routes and the highlighted map will show a slightly different version with some of the mileage shaved off.