Northwest road trip help

[GusGus77]

Here is a question- my husband and I obviously know of Mt St Helens due to the eruption. My kids not so much. It is on the list because it is a name we are familiar with more than anything else. Is it something ok to skip or something really worth going to?

 

[barkley]

coeur d'alene is lovely (i live nearby) but i would continue up the road to wallace. cool, funky old mining town. great places to eat, 'the center of the universe' (research the story on that). great mine tour that takes you on an open air bus ride to the mine that includes the historical part of the city (fascinating history of the birth of the 'shriner's hospitals' from one single wallace resident's charitable acts). whole tour takes a couple of hours max-well worth it (and if you want to extend your stay-the hiawatha trail bike trail is awesome).


remember when you are traveling these routes to pay attention to the time zones b/c montana and idaho may span multiple during your trip.


ENJOY-we get the bulk of transplants here by virtue of visiting our region on vacation.

 

[bcla]

Here is a question- my husband and I obviously know of Mt St Helens due to the eruption. My kids not so much. It is on the list because it is a name we are familiar with more than anything else. Is it something ok to skip or something really worth going to?

It's a really nice drive from I-5 to the Johnston Ridge Observatory. That's operated by the USDA Forest Service and it will reopen by May. They have what's essentially a visitor center and a movie. The end of the movie is rather interesting, but I won't give any spoilers about what happens. When I visited the admission was $8 and included with my federal recreation pass. It looks like it's free now.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/giffordpinchot/recarea/?recid=31562

The view from the observatory is incredible. Depending on how much snow there is, it can look different. You might be able to find different pictures where there's more snow.

Of course for your trip I'd recommend the $80 annual federal recreation pass which you can get at your first destination with a federal fee. That would be good for everyone in your car and maybe a certain number if coming in on foot. The entrance fee for the places on your list are:

Crater Lake NP: $30 in summer.
Olympic NP: $30.
Mt Rainier NP: $30.
Glacier NP: $35 in summer.

There might also be a few Forest Service fee areas. Not sure if one of these passes would cover parking fee areas with a "hang tag". The pass is placed in one where the expiration date is visible and hung from the rear view mirror.

There might be other fees depending on where else you visit.

Also - remember that you can't pump your own gas in Oregon. There will be an attendant to do it. You're not expected to leave a tip for the attendant but some do.

 

[BethID]

I personally thought Mount St Helens was one of the best stops on that trip. But that was due to my husband's and my interest. He is a physical science teacher so it was right up his alley. Our kids were around 10 and 12 and they thought it was ok. We looked at the exhibits, watched the film, went to a ranger talk and did a hike. However, if you just have passing interest, I would skip it. You could always spend time at Olympic Narional Park instead.

Glacier is my all time national park. I even honeymooned there many years ago. I happen to like the west side more. It is much prettier and there are more trees. The east side is more plains-like with few trees. We always hike to Avalanche Lake and have lunch. We also like to go to the summit of Going to the Sun Road and hike to the Hidden Lake outlook. We are not very fit, but I still like easy to moderate hikes. If you go to the east side, spend time in the Many Glacier area. Again, it all depends on what you like to do. We have also rafted and ridden horses there. I also think you will enjoy the Whitefish/Kalispell area.

Is the east side of Glacier even open this year? It was closed last year by the Blackfeet tribe so you could only spend time on the west side.

 

[Disneytrippin']

But won’t we have to drive through Idaho to get to Montana from Washington? We really don’t need to spend time there. Stopping for an hour in the state is good enough.

If you are traveling on I-90 East, you can make a quick stop in Coeurdalene. Its on the way to Montana from Washington. Go check out the park area down by the Coeurdalene resort by the river, You can jump back on I-90 East from Sherman Ave which is right at the front of the resort. Many celebrities vacation here. Its beautiful. I happen to live here. P.S. They filmed an episode of American Idol at that resort.

 

[GusGus77]

It's a really nice drive from I-5 to the Johnston Ridge Observatory. That's operated by the USDA Forest Service and it will reopen by May. They have what's essentially a visitor center and a movie. The end of the movie is rather interesting, but I won't give any spoilers about what happens. When I visited the admission was $8 and included with my federal recreation pass. It looks like it's free now.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/giffordpinchot/recarea/?recid=31562

The view from the observatory is incredible. Depending on how much snow there is, it can look different. You might be able to find different pictures where there's more snow.

Of course for your trip I'd recommend the $80 annual federal recreation pass which you can get at your first destination with a federal fee. That would be good for everyone in your car and maybe a certain number if coming in on foot. The entrance fee for the places on your list are:

Crater Lake NP: $30 in summer.
Olympic NP: $30.
Mt Rainier NP: $30.
Glacier NP: $35 in summer.

There might also be a few Forest Service fee areas. Not sure if one of these passes would cover parking fee areas with a "hang tag". The pass is placed in one where the expiration date is visible and hung from the rear view mirror.

There might be other fees depending on where else you visit.

Also - remember that you can't pump your own gas in Oregon. There will be an attendant to do it. You're not expected to leave a tip for the attendant but some do.

Thanks! We have a free national parks pass as my son is in 4th grade this year.
I didn’t know about pumping gas in Oregon. Thanks for letting me know as I would have had no clue! That might have been awkward!

 

[Disneytrippin']

I wanted to tell you that there is a place in Washington called Leavenworth. Now, that is a place you want to experience! Its a little Bavarian town.

https://Leavenworth.org

 

[barkley]

I wanted to tell you that there is a place in Washington called Leavenworth. Now, that is a place you want to experience! Its a little Bavarian town.

https://Leavenworth.org

go with an empty belly. it is delicious from one end of town to another.

 

[bcla]

Thanks! We have a free national parks pass as my son is in 4th grade this year.
I didn’t know about pumping gas in Oregon. Thanks for letting me know as I would have had no clue! That might have been awkward!

Yeah. It's just Oregon and New Jersey where customers can't pump their own gas. They have some weird rules that allow self-serve fuel pumping in certain areas, but I think that's going to be in certain rural areas. The rules are here, and it looks like any place you intend on going doesn't allow it.

https://www.oregon.gov/osp/programs/sfm/Pages/Self-Service-Rules-Change-FAQs.aspx

It's been a while since I've been to Oregon. Last time I was there was in 2016 for a business trip and I never added gas because my corporate rental car policy was of a negotiated fuel rate where they said that I should just return it with whatever fuel was available. Anything I needed above that was theoretically covered by a corporate prepaid debit card, although I got it after the trip. I might be have made the mistake of trying to pump gas like the first time I stopped at a gas station in Oregon. But that was our car with California plates, so the attendant wasn't surprised.

The Oregon coast is supposed to be spectacular, but I'm not sure if you can fit that in with Crater Lake. I know you have a lot you hope to do, but sometimes long driving days can be a bad idea. But I think your kids will like Multnomah Falls. They have multiple waterfalls, but Multnomah Falls is the prime feature.

 

[GusGus77]

Yeah. It's just Oregon and New Jersey where customers can't pump their own gas. They have some weird rules that allow self-serve fuel pumping in certain areas, but I think that's going to be in certain rural areas. The rules are here, and it looks like any place you intend on going doesn't allow it.

It's been a while since I've been to Oregon. Last time I was there was in 2016 for a business trip and I never added gas because my corporate rental car policy was of a negotiated fuel rate where they said that I should just return it with whatever fuel was available. Anything I needed above that was theoretically covered by a corporate prepaid debit card, although I got it after the trip. I might be have made the mistake of trying to pump gas like the first time I stopped at a gas station in Oregon. But that was our car with California plates, so the attendant wasn't surprised.

The Oregon coast is supposed to be spectacular, but I'm not sure if you can fit that in with Crater Lake. I know you have a lot you hope to do, but sometimes long driving days can be a bad idea. But I think your kids will like Multnomah Falls. They have multiple waterfalls, but Multnomah Falls is the prime feature.

We aren't tied to Crater Lake. If there is a better place to stop in Oregon we are open to the possibilities. There will be a ton of driving on this trip (we live in Illinois and are visiting family in Nevada before this.)

 

[MillauFr]

6 days is not going to be enough to do all that stuff you're looking to do.

This.... The driving distances in the Northwest are enormous and at 6 days you would be spending most of your waking hours driving in a car which is never fun. You have 10 to 12 days worth of sites on your itinerary.

 

[SteveMouse]

First - I'm pretty sure you meant getting to Glacier National Park?

You're not going to be able to manage everything unless you just want to say that you drove through them stressed for time without doing anything. My wife and I went on a trip where we did 1 through 5, but not necessarily in that order. Ours was:

1) 2 nights at Crater Lake camping.
2) 1 night in Olympia.
3) 1 night at Kalaloch Campground at Olympic NP (the ocean portion)
4) 2 nights at Sequim, although along the route we visited the Hoh Rainforest, Sol Duc Hot Springs, and Hurricane Ridge at Olympic NP. Took the ferry to Seattle from Bainbridge Island.
5) 3 nights in the Seattle area staying with my brother in law. Did a bunch of things there including visiting Pike Place Market.
6) 2 nights at Mt Rainier National Park camping. Spent time hiking around Paradise and the next day at Sunrise. Did a quick trip to Mt St Helens (Johnston Ridge Observatory) before heading to Portland.
7) 2 nights in Portland. Did a bunch of things there including Multnomah Falls and dinner at McMenamins Edgefield.
8) 1 night in Medford. No real reason other than it was a convenient.
9) Going home to San Francisco Bay Area.

6 days is not going to be enough to do all that stuff you're looking to do. You're going to need to compromise a little bit. Crater Lake is a little bit out of the way. Olympic National Park is separated from Seattle by either a long detour or a ferry. I'd say maybe instead of Crater Lake, Multnomah Falls along the Columbia River Gorge. Olympic National Park is extremely varied. It depend if you're looking for rainforests or something else like mountains, lakes, or hot springs. There might be some spots closer to Olympia where you can say that you were there.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/crgnsa/recarea/?recid=30026​

Multnomah Falls is the most visited natural recreation site in the Pacific Northwest with more than 2 million stopping by each year to take in the views! Fed by underground springs from Larch Mountain, the flow over the falls varies, but is usually highest during winter and spring. This is also one of the best places in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area to study geology exposed by floods.​

How about this? It's just a sample, but I'm thinking what's realistic in regards to pace, time to eat, lodging, etc.

1) Wed morning - drive from Redwood NP area through Crater Lake NP and onto Portland (about 8 hours). I like Troutdale. I recommend the McMenamins Edgefield for lodging, which was the former Multnomah County Poor Farm. It's really kind of a unique experience with a lot of on-site breweries, wineries, restaurants, and other entertainment.
2) Thursday morning - go to Multnomah Falls for an hour (or previous day if you get there early enough) and then drive to Mt St Helens - Johnston Ridge Observatory (about 3 hours). From there drive to Olympia - the state capital of Washington (about 2 hours).
3) Friday and Saturday - Loop around Olympic National Park. Maybe Hoh Rainforest and/or Quinault Rainforest. Options include going to Sol Duc or stopping at Lake Crescent on the way to Port Angeles.
5) Sunday morning - Hurricane Ridge at Olympic NP. About 1 hour one way. Then you can drive back and take the ferry to Seattle. There are different options, but the Bainbridge Island to Seattle Ferry is closest to Pike Place Market. Maybe stay near Seattle or closer to Mt Rainier NP.
6) Monday morning - spend the day at Mt Rainier. Maybe a night in Yakima?
7) Tuesday morning - leave for Whitefish. This will be a long drive from Yakima to Whitefish.

Another important thing is to make sure you have enough fuel since that might be difficult to come by until you're in a town with a gas station. I don't know how much driving time you can take in a day. My preference is to take it easy, but you've got six days. I'd generally recommend a day in Portland and a day in Seattle.

And look before you leap. The forest fires a couple of years ago did some damage to the rainforests on the west side of Olympic. I am confident that nature has more than started its recovery process, but there may be some residual impact on visitor services. There is NOT an alternative road around the park. There’s only one.

 

[bcla]

We aren't tied to Crater Lake. If there is a better place to stop in Oregon we are open to the possibilities. There will be a ton of driving on this trip (we live in Illinois and are visiting family in Nevada before this.)

Crater Lake is fine, but some people react to it differently than others. Before I made the trip, a friend who had been there described it as "You see the lake. You drive around the lake. It looks nice but that's it. It's not necessarily a place like Yosemite or Mt Rainier where there's a lot of hiking, although the Pacific Crest Trail goes through it and there are a few trails. If you want to drive through it and maybe stop at a few overlooks it's great for that. But it's going to eat up a lot of time as a scenic detour. The really cool thing there would be to take the boat tour to Wizard Island where you can be dropped off. It's a pretty steep downhill walk to the boat dock and that would really take a lot of time.

However, Multnomah Falls is pretty good as well as the rest of the Columbia River Gorge. It's also pretty close to Portland so there are a lot more options for lodging and dining.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/crgnsa/home

And seriously - I can almost guarantee your kids would love McMenamins Edgefield.

https://www.mcmenamins.com/edgefield

How are your kids with long drives? As others noted, trying to fit all that into 6 days will mean a lot more driving time than tourist time. Also - how familiar are you with two lane highways? That's basically US-101 around the Olympic Peninsula. Also all the roads through western national parks. I remember going through single lane stretches of numbered highways where it was a 65 MPH speed limit on undivided roads.

 

[GusGus77]

Crater Lake is fine, but some people react to it differently than others. Before I made the trip, a friend who had been there described it as "You see the lake. You drive around the lake. It looks nice but that's it. It's not necessarily a place like Yosemite or Mt Rainier where there's a lot of hiking, although the Pacific Crest Trail goes through it and there are a few trails. If you want to drive through it and maybe stop at a few overlooks it's great for that. But it's going to eat up a lot of time as a scenic detour. The really cool thing there would be to take the boat tour to Wizard Island where you can be dropped off. It's a pretty steep downhill walk to the boat dock and that would really take a lot of time.

However, Multnomah Falls is pretty good as well as the rest of the Columbia River Gorge. It's also pretty close to Portland so there are a lot more options for lodging and dining.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/crgnsa/home

And seriously - I can almost guarantee your kids would love McMenamins Edgefield.

https://www.mcmenamins.com/edgefield

How are your kids with long drives? As others noted, trying to fit all that into 6 days will mean a lot more driving time than tourist time. Also - how familiar are you with two lane highways? That's basically US-101 around the Olympic Peninsula. Also all the roads through western national parks. I remember going through single lane stretches of numbered highways where it was a 65 MPH speed limit on undivided roads.

My kids do fine driving. We drive 17 hrs non-stop at least once or twice a year and did a similar road trip through the southwest with just as much driving three years ago (with two days that had 19-hr drives and several days with 10+ hour drives- and they weren’t allowed on screens in the car. They are now 13 and 10 1/2 so we may allow a little bit this time.)

I am open to suggestions of what to definitely see and what to cut. We do not want to spend time in any cities, though. We do not do shopping, will not do indoor dining, and want to avoid indoor locations as much as possible.

 

[GusGus77]

So it sounds like this could be really tricky. Obviously having more time and the ability to see everything would be great, but unfortunately not possible. So what is a MUST SEE/DO and what can we cut out with not too big of a regret?

 

[SteveMouse]

Rainier is likely to be in the rain. There’s no way to predict, but it is rare that one actually can see the mountain clearly from downtown. We’ve been pretty fortunate that we’ve gotten clear views at least for a short time most of our trips, although the last trip, where we were planning to go up the mountain, was the worst weather of all our trips.

 

[bcla]

My kids do fine driving. We drive 17 hrs non-stop at least once or twice a year and did a similar road trip through the southwest with just as much driving three years ago (with two days that had 19-hr drives and several days with 10+ hour drives- and they weren’t allowed on screens in the car. They are now 13 and 10 1/2 so we may allow a little bit this time.)

I am open to suggestions of what to definitely see and what to cut. We do not want to spend time in any cities, though. We do not do shopping, will not do indoor dining, and want to avoid indoor locations as much as possible.

I was having problems yesterday with Google Maps and getting driving times for connected locations, but it's working now. I have a plan for about 1200 miles from Redwood National Park to the Henry Jackson Visitor Center at Mt Rainier National Park. It's looping through a bunch of locations I think are worth visiting. If you're really OK with just seeing something and moving on, you'll be fine although there would be a question as to when you arrive and if it's daytime.

I still think Edgefield would be great. You can dine outdoors at the Loading Dock Grill.

This is part of the map, where I maxed out the number of waypoints from Redwood to Mt Rainier.

https://goo.gl/maps/HPvZt1EhvfXZJqnM7

Right now it's a little odd because the roads are closed and the default directions are using currently open roads. The road to Sunrise in Mt Rainier might be closed. It's showing a really long go round taking 4 hours, but normally it would take about 2 hours. Still - there's a chance the road might be closed in June. You can play around with the departure time. I would recommend visiting Sunrise.

https://goo.gl/maps/xCwJWAk7R7Tr9RUL6

Overall it's estimating about 1700 miles and less than 24 hours of driving. Not sure how that translates to stops. But yeah you could get that done in 6 days, but the question is how much sightseeing, rest, potty breaks, eating, etc.

Are you planning on camping or just sleeping in the car? No hotels or motels, or is the indoor location part about avoiding city activities other than Pike Place Market? That's going to be tricky depending on where you are. You might be able to sleep in your car legally if you can find your way to a dispersed camping area on a Forest Service or BLM land.

 

[klmall]

We have visited all the places you are considering except Crater Lake (which I very much want to see still).

Our trip about 10 years ago was 2 weeks entirely in Washington state. We spent 5 days each in Seattle, Olympic NP and Mt. Rainier including Mount St. Helens on our way to Rainier. We loved the state so much that we are going back for 7 days this summer as well. The driving wasn't too bad in Seattle since we used the free tourist bus all over town (not sure if that is running though this year).

But the driving is very lengthy to get to and around Olympic NP even if you use the ferry which we did. And because of the lack of roads you will be travelling the same ones over and over to get to different parts of ONP. Olympic NP is gigantic as NPs go and while worth a visit I don't think you will be able to see really much if any of it on your trip. I would schedule a separate trip just for that park; it is absolutely amazing with ocean beaches, snowy mountains and rainforests.

We rented houses/condo for our Washington trip and plan to do the same when we visit Seattle and Leavenworth/North Cascades NP this summer. With 3 adults we prefer more space and place to spread out and get comfortable.

On another trip I rafted in Idaho, camped near Glacier NP and camped inside Yellowstone. That was another 2 week trip and we drove quite a bit on that one as well. Glacier NP is a more compact park and travel less demanding. It is also fairly easy to find short one and two hour hikes for a family.

Also keep in mind that Glacier NP is among the NPs requiring reservations to enter this summer.

My advice is pick two places you really want to see and make them your destinations. If you can fit in one stop along the way to see another one like Mount St. Helens then fine.

For a look at the places I've mentioned feel free to browse my photos from these trips:

Washington state: https://klmall.smugmug.com/Travel/Washington-State-2009
Idaho/Wyoming/Montana: https://klmall.smugmug.com/Travel/Idaho-Montana-2005

Let us know what you decide and how the trip turns out!

 

[GusGus77]

I was having problems yesterday with Google Maps and getting driving times for connected locations, but it's working now. I have a plan for about 1200 miles from Redwood National Park to the Henry Jackson Visitor Center at Mt Rainier National Park. It's looping through a bunch of locations I think are worth visiting. If you're really OK with just seeing something and moving on, you'll be fine although there would be a question as to when you arrive and if it's daytime.

I still think Edgefield would be great. You can dine outdoors at the Loading Dock Grill.

This is part of the map, where I maxed out the number of waypoints from Redwood to Mt Rainier.

https://goo.gl/maps/HPvZt1EhvfXZJqnM7

Right now it's a little odd because the roads are closed and the default directions are using currently open roads. The road to Sunrise in Mt Rainier might be closed. It's showing a really long go round taking 4 hours, but normally it would take about 2 hours. Still - there's a chance the road might be closed in June. You can play around with the departure time. I would recommend visiting Sunrise.

https://goo.gl/maps/xCwJWAk7R7Tr9RUL6

Overall it's estimating about 1700 miles and less than 24 hours of driving. Not sure how that translates to stops. But yeah you could get that done in 6 days, but the question is how much sightseeing, rest, potty breaks, eating, etc.

Are you planning on camping or just sleeping in the car? No hotels or motels, or is the indoor location part about avoiding city activities other than Pike Place Market? That's going to be tricky depending on where you are. You might be able to sleep in your car legally if you can find your way to a dispersed camping area on a Forest Service or BLM land.

We will stay in hotels. We just sanitize the daylights out of them when we arrive and use our own pilllows. We are camping during the central part of the trip, but we figured it would be too cold further north and we will only have minimal camping stuff. No indoor stuff is just us being cautious with Covid. We will obviously go indoors, but we won’t dine indoors and don’t want to spend hours at an indoor location. (We had a Covid scare recently and my anxiety is through the roof now with indoor stuff.)

 

[barkley]

make sure to see what restrictions are in place for the individual regions/counties when you travel in washington. at first our restrictions were based on individual counties then they changed it to regions but now we are back to counties-what can be wide open in the way of campgrounds, outdoor areas and such is kind of luck of the draw at this point (it's all based on multi week cycles of our covid numbers so what's open today could be shut down again next week-and some businesses are just staying shut down for the foreseeable future).