Northwest National Parks Tour

Old Feb 20th, 2017, 03:06 PM
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Northwest National Parks Tour

We are planning a one month road trip to the National Parks in the Northwestern US. We plan to fly into Seattle and then take the month to drive Jackson Hole with stops at Olympic, Rainier, Northern Cascades, Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Our interests are seeing and photographing the beauty of this area, day hiking, scenic routes, wildlife flora and fauna, , local culture including artists colonies etc..We also enjoy swimming. We prefer staying in the parks whenever possible (not camping)and spending as much time outdoors as we can. We are in our 70's and although we can still hike, we are limited to shorter easier hikes. Often, on trips like this, we hike very early in the day, rest for a few hours, then do another hike in the afternoon. We are thinking the best time to go would be August 25 to September 25 but would also consider going a bit later ( into October) if it is not too cold. we're wondering if it makes sense to fly into Seattle and come home flying out of Jackson Hole.( or is the reverse better for some reason) One thing we can't figure out is how long to spend in each location and how to figure driving times when using scenic routes. Any suggestions, insights or comments about our tentative plan would be most welcome. Thank you!!
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Old Feb 20th, 2017, 03:30 PM
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Depending on where you are coming from (home), you might want to fly to Salt Lake City and go to Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier and North Cascades first.
My thought is that the higher elevations will get cold before the lower elevations.
If you are US residents, there will most likely be a significant drop off fee whichever way you go.
If you decided to come back to SLC to drop off the car you could include Crater Lake as well.
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Old Feb 21st, 2017, 02:57 AM
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It looks like you're new to Fodor's, so welcome!

One-way car rentals are going to be very expensive (if feasible at all using smaller stations like Jackson) so I'd be looking at a loop of some sort. With a month it shouldn't be difficult to arrange one.

At that time of the year weather starts becoming a factor in higher elevation areas, so I'd probably suggest you get the Tetons, Yellowstone and Glacier NP "out of the way" at the beginning rather than the end of your trip.

Only you can decide "how long is long enough" in the various parks, but you also need to factor the size and diversity (or homogeneity) of the places you visit. Yellowstone is very big and with a number of different zones to explore. By comparison, while Grand Teton NP is gorgeous, the number of trails, hikes, scenic points etc. is quite small compared to Yellowstone.

North Cascades NP is predominantly a wilderness mountain area with virtually no accommodations within the park. Unless you're prepared to backpack into the park's interior it's basically a "drive by" experience. Olympic NP has a wilderness core; the park's main hiking/scenery attractions are located on the northern and western perimeters - Hurricane Ridge, Lake Crescent, and a couple of valley/river/waterfall experiences on the north side, the famous rain forest valleys and the coastal beaches on the west side. So again, while these are superb experiences, they're spread out and require a fair amount of time in the car to get from one destination to the next.

I'd also mention a couple of non-National Park areas that you might add to the list, especially given your stated priorities.

- The San Juan Islands in the US or the Gulf Islands in British Columbia. These are groups of (fairly similar) islands in the Salish Sea that offer superb scenery, picturesque little towns and vibrant arts cultures, and are quite accessible while feeling a million miles from everywhere.

- The Columbia River Gorge and the Mt. Hood/Mt. Adams corridor. The Gorge ought to be a national park (it IS a national scenic area but too heavily settled for park status I guess) and given your preferences it's really worth a long look in my view. Do some research about the Hood River Valley, Mt. Adams wilderness, towns like Hood River or White Salmon, etc.

As for the basic route, I'd do a loop starting with crossing the Cascades through North Cascades NP, then across to Glacier, south to Yellowstone and Grand Teton NP, then west to the Columbia Gorge, out to the coast for Olympic NP, across to Vancouver Island and a stop in the Gulf Islands, then back to Seattle via Vancouver. Here's a (very outline-ish) map - https://goo.gl/maps/LZmJHr5JXJy - which, do to the map's limitations, doesn't include Mt. Rainier (which can be visited as a day or two-day trip from Seattle) or any routes inside of or around the parks themselves.

I'd add a "fudge factor" of 10-20% to Google's time estimate, but even so you're looking at something like 50-60 hours "wheels turning" over the course of a month, i.e. 10 days at 5-6 hours per day. That leaves 20 or more days for the actual exploring. My own (quite personal) time commitment would run something like 4 days for Yellowstone, 2 for Glacier, 2 for Grand Teton, 3 for Olympic NP, 3 for the Columbia Gorge, and 6 spread out for everything else.

But others will have entirely different takes on this; research is the key, but my strong recommendation would be to look beyond national parks; there are many wonderful experience in this region that don't have that designation on some map, but which are worthy of a visit.

I'll also say that sometimes more is less. Glacier NP is spectacular, but so are the Tetons, pretty much in the same way. Olympic NP has alpine meadows, rocky ocean shore, rain forest valleys, serene lakes... all within short distances of each other. Maybe a tighter focus, or looking at a variety of landscapes within closer reach of each other, might be preferable to a road trip requiring a full week in the car.
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Old Feb 21st, 2017, 08:31 AM
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I agree with roughly a one week split between Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We spent a week in Glacier split between the west and east sides and didn't run out of shorter hikes. If you decide on a shorter stay, I would focus on the east side.

You may be late for in park lodging. Look for accommodations in gateway towns such as Gardiner or West Yellowstone for Yellowstone and Jackson for the Tetons if you can't find anything inside the park. You can keep checking back as people book far in advance and there are often cancellations. For the east side of Glacier look at the towns St Mary (right outside the east entrance) or Babb (on the way to Many Glacier) if you can't find accommodations inside the park though even the towns on this side have somewhat limited options. The west side of Glacier has much more accommodations but IMO the east side has better scenery and more visible wildlife.

We spent one night on either side of North Cascades (in the towns of Winthrop and Rockport) and spent one day driving through and taking short hikes along the way (we were traveling from Glacier to the San Juan Islands). The scenery is gorgeous. In park lodging at North Cascades is accessible by boat (or plane). We decided next time we'd carve out some more time to stay at one of these lodges but it was hard to coordinate the boat schedules with our limited time.

If doing Gardyloo's loop, I'd be very tempted to spend a couple of days in the Sawtooths. The scenery is stunning here as well. Look at accommodations anywhere from Ketchum to Stanley. We especially liked Redfish Lake Lodge.

The San Juan Islands are wonderful but you already have plenty on your list.
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Old Feb 22nd, 2017, 03:46 PM
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Thank you for these wonderful suggestions. Tomfuller, I am going to try the SLC loop to see if it works better. Gardyloo, thanks for the welcome and the wealth of information! Yes it is my first post. I am thinking of adding a week or so to the trip so we don 't get car fatigue. We can do that at this stage of the game. My other option would be to do Oregon and Washington in one trip, then plan the Montana, Wyoming trip separately. I have the San Juan Islands on my radar already but I did not know about the Sawtooth or the Columbia Gorge/ Mt Hood areas. Wondering though, if there is anything, other than the NCNP, on the northern route to Glacier. I have been trying to use google maps to plot this out as you did, but it keeps getting away from me. Are there any websites that assist with mapping something like this? Your point about the sameness of the mountains is well taken and I will adjust my stays accordingly. Once I am sure of my route I will research each segment of the trip. Patty, thanks for responding and for the tip about staying in the Parks and the info on the Sawtooth area- it sounds wonderful. As soon as I firm up my dates in each area I will make those reservations.
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Old Feb 22nd, 2017, 11:11 PM
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Route to glacier...basing this off gardyloo's map...

On hwy 2, there's Leavenworth, which is a Bavarian style tourist town. It tends to be popular for the kitsch factor- plus, good recreation nearby.

On I 90, there's Wallace ID and my favorite bike trail- the Hiawatha. However, it may be closed by the time you go through. Also in Idaho...Priest lake, St.Joe National Forest. Near Couerdalene is Silverwood Theme Park- generally closed by then, I think, but if it's late enough in October, it has it's haunted weekends.

Then there's stuff on the Canadian side of the border also, like ainsworth hot springs.

In Oregon, you might want to look at the coast. October is an awesome time for the coast and the gorge.


One issue you might be having with google maps (this kept happening to me this winter) is when passes are closed down, it won't let you "use" them. No idea if that's playing into your problem, but possibly. I don't know how to get around that, but if you look at Gardyloo's map, you'll see a lot of little points. I've found the more "points" you use, the more accurate drive times are- it's easier to figure out what parts will be the most time consuming.

In addition to the gorge- there are some fantastic state parks in Oregon. My current favorite is silver falls state park, and it's great during the fall.
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Old Feb 25th, 2017, 12:03 PM
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Thank you marvelousmouse for your suggestions. I think you may be right about google. Since those roads, especially the mountain passes, are currently closed, google won't let me plan for a future trip! I have the state parks on my radar and will look into Silver Falls.
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Old Feb 25th, 2017, 01:19 PM
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On August 21 Silver Falls State Park will be in the path of the total solar eclipse. It only last 2 minutes but many people are traveling long distances to see it.
There are many yurts on Oregon State Parks if that interests you.
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Old Feb 25th, 2017, 01:57 PM
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You can change the departure date on google maps and it will reroute you. I believe this only works for directions from A to B and not if you have multiple locations. If I know a specific road will be open at the time of my trip, I just drag the route over on the map.
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Old Mar 1st, 2017, 09:55 AM
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Thanks Patty for the heads up on google I did not realize one could add travel dates! Tomfuller, I think we will still be in NY on the 21st. i will add that state park to my list .We discovered state parks on our trip to the southwest. So many places to visit, so little time! I am adding an extra week to this trip b/c we are trying to cover so much ground. I hope it is enough time.
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