nsmith90

I'm currently planning a three week road trip from California to Washington. I've never done something like this before so It would be great to get some helpful tips from people who have. Weighing in on how to save money along with if this trip is even doable in the amount of time I have would be great to hear!

My itinerary is below. I plan to stay in a lodge/hotel/cabin and hike around at each of these stops. I will be renting a car at the Fresno airport and driving to each of these locations.

July 10: Fly from Charlotte, NC to Fresno, California.
July 11-13: Sequoia national park
July 13-16: Yosemite
July 16-18: Tahoe National Forrest
July 18-21: Redwood National Forrest
July 21-23: Crater Lake
July 23-25: Smith Rock State Park
July 25-26: Columbia River Gorge
July 26-28: Olympic National Park
July 28-30: North Cascades National Park
July 30: Fly from Seattle to Charlotte

Appreciate any suggestions for making this trip happen! My main concern is that it doesn't look like I have that much time at each of these stops and I'm wondering if I should slim this trip down to just staying in California. I just feel like if I'm over on the west coast I should try and make the most of it.

emalloy

For starters:

Are you planning for this July or next year?

Go to one of the mapping sites and put in the places you want to go and see if you are willing to drive as much as you have planned. Be sure to add some drive time for traffic jams, bad weather, accidents etc.

Do you have reservations for the more popular places (like Yosemite)? If not you may find it hard to find a place to stay even in campgrounds if it is next month. Getting lodging would be my job 1.

Have you checked on what the drop off fee for the rental car will be? It generally is much less expensive doing a loop so you can return the car where you got it.

nsmith90

@emalloy thanks for the response, I'm planning on going this July. I haven't started reserving places to stay yet mainly because I want to figure out how many days in each place first. I'm planning on probably using Airbnb for a few places to stay and it looks like theres a good bit available at the moment.

It is way more expensive for me to drop it off in Seattle but if I went all the way back to Fresno from Washington that would make this trip like 30+ days which I don't really want to do and would just add on to the rental cost so it seems like it makes more sense to just drop it off in Seattle.

tomfuller

Thanks for following janisj's request to post on the US forum.
If you want to fly to a smaller California airport check out Sacramento (SMF). It is right off I-5 and they have better rental deals than some of the others.
If you wanted to cut back to northern California and Oregon, you could also fly into Portland (PDX).
Returning the car to where you rented it should take no more than 2 days or one long day.
FYI: The Amtrak Coast Starlight leaves Sacramento Valley station at midnight every night. You could take it to Portland or Seattle and rent another car for the northern part of your trip.
How close can you get lodging to Yosemite?

janisj

To start out reviewing/revising your itinerary understand you have less time than you may think.

You list the same dates in two different locations. That really isn't the case when figuring the travel times/etc. It is better to think in terms of nights, not days. So what you actually have is more like:

July 10: Fly from Charlotte, NC to Fresno, California.
July 11-12: Sequoia national park
July 13-15: Yosemite
July 16-17: Tahoe National Forrest
July 18-20: Redwood National Forrest
July 21-22: Crater Lake
July 23-24: Smith Rock State Park
July 25: Columbia River Gorge
July 26-27: Olympic National Park
July 28-29: North Cascades National Park
July 30: Fly from Seattle to Charlotte

Then a few issues.

1) have you booked at Yosemite? It is very VERY late for this summer. Try in the Valley, but assuming there are no openings, try at Yosemite View Lodge in El Portal. If they are also full, try Cedar Lodge in El Portal. Don't stay anywhere else because even the nearest will be more than an hour drive from the Valley.

2) By Tahoe National Forest -- do you really mean Lake Tahoe? The Forest is a massive mostly undeveloped/back country area. Nearly 1,000,000 cares. It isn't a 'place'. Lake Tahoe on the other hand is a destination.

3) you've allotted only one night for the Columbia River area. One night will give you almost no time to hike/explore.

4) I think it is awfully late to to book at Crater Lake - try ASAP.

5) Lake Tahoe to say Eureka is a nearly 8 hour drive. You could add in a night or two near Lassen which is only about 4 hours from Tahoe and then about 4 hours on to the Redwoods. But that would mean cutting somewhere else.

And then Crater Lake from Eureka by the fastest/shortest route is going to take 6 hours. So you have some pretty long drives

happytrailstoyou

You seem to be overlooking some rather spectacular places such as the Oregon Coast and Mt. Rainier.

Also, some of the time distribution is questionable. As somebody else noted, you have allotted only one night for the Columbia River Gorge. To that I would add that you have set aside two nights for Smith Rock State Park and two nights for the Tahoe National Forest (a destination I have not seen mentioned previously in the ten years I've been a member of this forum).

HTtY

aprillilacs

I like your plan for the most part. The national and state parks in the 3 states are quite different and all worthwhile. Two tips--if you can't stay right at Crater Lake there are some nice places nearby; for example, I stayed at rustic Rocky Point Lodge last month. It's on the north end of Klamath Lake and about 50 minutes by car to Crater Lake. Nothing fancy but a lovely place to canoe and kayak (boat rentals on site). I am sure there are other nice places.

From Crater Lake to Smith Rock is about 3 hours. Smith Rock is impressive and a good place to hike and rock climb, but it will be hot. You can get a decent place to stay in nearby Redmond but you might prefer Bend, a nice little city at the base of the Cascades. If you don't care to spend time there then just one day for Smith Rock will be plenty.

Gardyloo

I would do either an all-California loop itinerary, or an Oregon/Washington loop. As planned, you're going to have great difficulty getting accommodation in many places, and you'll be spending a huge amount of time driving between destinations vs. actually experiencing them.

For the California loop (loops will save big bucks in car rental) I'd probably go San Francisco - Redwoods - Tahoe - Yosemite - Sequoia - Monterey - San Francisco. If you want to extend for a couple of hours from Crescent City (redwoods) into the southern Oregon coast, that will allow you to see some of the best parts of that coast without having to divert too far from your course.

For the Oregon/Washington loop, I'd go Portland - Columbia Gorge - Crater Lake - central coast - Cape Disappointment - Olympic NP - Seattle - Mt. Rainier - Mt. St. Helens - Portland.

Even with these abbreviated options, you're still going to have to set priorities and make tough choices, and you'll need to make obtaining accommodation in the national parks an immediate priority.

WhereAreWe

Skip Sequoia. Skip Tahoe National Forest.

Fly into San Francisco or Seattle and make this a loop (or out and back). Take the 4 extra nights you have after dropping those two destinations, use 1 or 2 for the drive back to your starting city and add the other 2 or 3 nights to Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Rainier.

janisj

>>and two nights for the Tahoe National Forest (a destination I have not seen mentioned previously in the ten years I've been a member of this forum).> Skip Tahoe National Forest.

nsmith90

@wherearewe Any specific reason why I should skip Sequoia and Lake Tahoe?

Thanks!

nsmith90

Thanks so much for the tips and suggestions everyone!

I've decided to make this an Oregon/Washington loop trip. Although I do have a few more questions about that. This is roughly the route that I plan on taking - https://roadtrippers.com/trips/orego...m_medium=email

July 10: Fly from Charlotte, NC to Portland, Oregon.
July 11-13:Columbia River Gorge
July 14-16: Smith Rock State Park
July 17-19: Crater Lake
July 20-21: Drive to Mt. Rainier - Stop somewhere cool along the way?
July 22-24: Mt. Rainier
July 25-27: Olympic National Park
July 27-30: North Cascades National Park
July 31-Fly from Portland to Charlotte

The big question I have is, are all of these places pretty different? Are there any ones that you all from experience think it's probably not worth the time? Or, are there any places you think I should definitely spend more time in? Also, any suggestions for that drive from Crater Lake to Mt. Rainier would be awesome.

Thanks!

tomfuller

This makes more sense to me. Were you planning on a night in a hotel in Portland 7/10 or is your landing early enough to drive east on I-84 to Hood River?
After seeing the Columbia River Gorge and the waterfalls along the Old River Road (former US 30), go south on Rt. 35 on the east side of Mt. Hood to US 26. In Madras you join US 97 south.
Be sure to stop at the Peter Skene Ogden Rest area to see the deep Crooked River gorge. You can walk across the old bridge to get some good pictures.
Smith Rock is east of the small town of Terrebonne. Depending on how hot (or rainy) you might decide not to spend too much time there.
I would encourage you to to stay in or near Bend instead of Redmond. If you do want to stay in Redmond, the Sleep Inn is the best.
While in Bend, see at least the High Desert Museum and the Lava Lands Visitor Center.
You will enter and leave Crater Lake via the north entrance off Rt. 138. Leaving Crater Lake, your choices would be somewhere along the coast (Newport maybe?) or McMinnville to see the Evergreen Aviation Museum.
If you went to the coast, you might want to switch Olympic and Mt. Rainier. North Cascades is not that much different than Mt. Rainier IMO.
In either case, end the trip with a night in Portland instead of at the very beginning.

Gardyloo

Some general thoughts -

- Unless you're into technical climbing, Smith Rock could easily be a drive-by (albeit very scenic) stop between the Columbia Gorge/Mt. Hood and Crater Lake. It's very scenic but your itinerary is full of very scenic places, so I'd call this one of those compromises that could be made without hugely damaging your route.

- I know I may be in a minority, but to me Crater Lake is a great one-day national park. The "is it worth it?" questions are always impossible, but I'm tempted to suggest that postponing Crater Lake for another trip would allow you to re-use those days in other parts of the trip, maybe improving your experience overall.

- Olympic National Park merits more time than you're giving it, (a) because there's so much to see, and (b) because the key sights are so spread out and the distances between them great.

- North Cascades NP has very few visitor services and no accommodation within the park boundaries. Since you stated that you want to overnight in lodges/hotels etc. and not camp, then NCNP becomes - again, just my view - something of a time suck. It's time consuming to get to, the views from the roads, while good, are not that unique, and you'd be driving a lot in search of places to stay. If it was me, I'd drop NCNP altogether and focus on places with more visitor services.

So what would I replace those sights with?

- The Oregon coast. If you keep Crater Lake, then head to the coast via Roseburg and head north along US 101 all the way to the west coast of Olympic NP. Stop in the nice little town of Yachats, see the great beaches around Ecola State Park and Cannon Beach, marvel at the awesome mouth of the Columbia River at Astoria, then stop at Cape Disappointment on the Washington side of the mouth - beautiful and historic.

- Olympic National Park. Allocate at least two days for Lake Quinault, Ruby Beach and the Hoh rain forest on the west side, maybe more beaches (Rialto, First or Second Beaches) near La Push, Marymere Falls and Lake Crescent on the north side of the peninsula, and Hurricane Ridge near Port Angeles. The virtue of Olympic NP over all the others (my view) is the tremendous variety of landscapes and features - alpine meadows and mountains, rocky coasts, the amazing rain forest valleys - each with numerous hikes, wildlife, vistas... it's not just a twofer, it's a fourfer or fivefer...

- Victoria. If you have a passport, you could take a day in the middle of the trip and travel as a foot passenger on the ferry from Port Angeles across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Victoria, British Columbia's picturesque (if jammed with tourists) capital. Walk around the Inner Harbour, maybe visit the (wonderful) Royal BC Museum, even go on a whale chasing expedition.

- Puget Sound. Islands, ferry boats, lovely little waterfront towns.. a terrific counterpoint to the mountain and coastal wilderness of Olympic NP. Google Deception Pass, Langley or La Conner WA, and see what I mean.

- Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens. Getting accommodation within Mt. Rainier NP is tough, but it's also a pretty easy day trip from Seattle, Tacoma or Olympia. But Mt. St. Helens is also along the way, a pretty stunning side trip between Seattle and Portland.

Here's a map that includes Smith Rock and Crater Lake - https://goo.gl/maps/VE1R0 . If you were to decide against Crater Lake, then after the Gorge and Portland I'd head west to Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park, then resume the loop of the Olympic Peninsula from there, as per the map.

Anyway, just some thoughts for you to process.

janisj

>>@wherearewe Any specific reason why I should skip Sequoia and Lake Tahoe? National Forest. I tried (apparently unsuccessfully) to explain that maybe by 'Forest' you might have meant Lake Tahoe. No one said to skip Lake Tahoe -- it was just your original wording.

I personally would never spend two days at Crater Lake -- unless I had just tons of time on my hands, which you don't. One day is plenty. And compared to some of the other places you include, I'd be inclined to skip it all together.

If you decide on the OR/WA loop I'd seriously consider Gardyloo's plan.

aprillilacs

Based on your question about whether the parks on your latest list are different from one another (and assuming that variety is something you value on this trip), I would recommend keeping Smith Rock and Crater Lake on your itinerary--they are both very different from each other and from the other parks. Tom Fuller gave you good advice about the Smith Rock/Bend area.

nsmith90

Thanks so much for the advice everyone, really appreciate it! @Gardyloo thanks for being so detailed in your recommendations! I've taken everyones suggestions into consideration and this is currently what I'm thinking for an itinerary. Does any of this still look a little odd to you all or think more/less time should be given in certain areas?

JULY 15: Charlotte,NC to Portland, OR (Stay there for one night depending on when we arrive)
JULY 16-18: Columbia River Gorge
JULY 19-20: Smith Rock State Park/Peter Skene Ogden Rest
JULY 21: Drive to Yachats (Stay overnight)
July 22-23: Ecola State Park
Juy 24: Cape Disappointment and then travel to Olympic National Park
July 25-29: Olympic National Park
July 30: Drive to Mt. Rainier National Park
July 30-August 2: Mt. Rainier
August 3: Stay in Portland for one night
August 4: Portland, OR to Charlotte, NC

tomfuller

I see that you are delaying the trip by 5 days. Reasons?
If you can get a flight into PDX before noon, drive straight out to Hood River and skip an expensive night in Portland.
Crater Lake NP is worth a drive through even if you can't spend a night there. Check for a reservation at the Diamond Lake Resort nearby just off Rt. 138.
If you skip Crater Lake, you'll want to take Rt. 126 west out of Redmond to Sisters. At the west end of Sisters, take Rt. 242 up over the McKenzie Pass. Stop at the top of the pass at the Dee Wright Observatory for a great view of many Cascade Peaks. 242 brings you back down to Rt. 126 to go through Springfield and Eugene all the way to Florence. Head north on US 101 to Yachats (pronounced ya-HOTS).
On the way north on 101 stop at the Tillamook cheese factory for some free samples and great ice cream and cheese.
You can get out close to Haystack Rock if you get there at low tide.

happytrailstoyou

I prefer your revised itinerary.

The stretch of Highway 101 between Florence and Yachts is one of the most scenic on the Oregon Coast--the drive includes Cape Perpetua.

The most scenic drives in the Columbia River Gorge are the Historic Columbia River Highway and WA-14.

Hood River is a pleasing town in the Columbia River Gorge, and from Hood River it is a scenic 1-hour drive on Highway 35 to Mt. Hood and historic Timberline Lodge.

From Smith Rock it is a 1-hour drive to Bend and the Lava Lands Visitor Center.

If you visit Seattle, the Argosy cruise that goes through the locks and into Lake Washington is a good way to get an idea of how beautiful and diversified the city is.

HTtY

nsmith90

Any thoughts on where to stay in the OIympic National Park? I tried looking for some Airbnbs but they were either too expensive or just on one end of the park or the other. Trying to stay under like 150 a night. Thanks!