hellopsz

Hello Friends,

My husband and I are going on work to Seattle from Aug 14 (this sat) to Aug 20th 2010, we have a conference to attend from Aug 17 (evening) onwards. Therefore are flying in 4 days in advance so we can explore areas around Seattle, especially since post-Aug 17th we will see a lot of Seattle city.

We especially would like to see Mount Rainier, St. Helens, Portland, etc. We are landing in Seattle at noon on Sat (14th) and can directly hire a rental car from the airport and head on our road trip. We can either return to our Seattle city hotel on 16th night or 17th afternoon, the conference begins 17th evening. Please advise us on the best road trip we can take!

Thanks a lot

suze

If you take all 3 days (half of the 14th, all of the 15 & 16th, half of the 17th) that'd be enough time for a nice road leisurely trip including heading all the way down to Mt. St. Helens, and then come back north, stopping in Portland and Mt. Rainier.

hellopsz

Thanks Suze, Can you please give us the route? Also, where would we spent the nights?

I'm also interested in Olympic National Park and North Cascades National Park. Can these be seen as well?

NWWanderer

elaborating on the above, i'd overnight at rainier on the 14th, do a hike that afternoon and perhaps another one the next morning, then head down to portland and stay there on the 15th and 16th, driving back to seattle on the 17th with a stop at mt st helens. while in portland you may want to do a day trip to the columbia river gorge.

NWWanderer

our posts crossed in the mail so to speak, but an emphatic NO WAY on the 2 additional places in that short amount of time!

hellopsz

NWWanderer, heading from the airport directly to Rainer and doing a hike may be a bit much since we are flying in from NYC and will def be tired. Can you propose an alternative? Also, if you don't mind would you be able to give me the route along with the scenic stops on the way, like Crater Lake etc?

suze

No way!
North Cascades is nowhere near where you'll be! It would be an entire 3 day trip in its own right from Seattle.

I guess MAYBE you could possibly fit in a quick stop or 'drive by' at ONP but it would really make your few days much more pakced & with much more time in the car.

Sorry I'm no expert about the route. I think of all those places as simply south-ish on the I-5 freeway. Please listen to the other PNW itinerary experts for actually planning the drive and places to stay, and order of things.

NWWanderer

crater lake is not on the way, it's another 5 hours south of portland so not doable on this trip. it sounds like consulting a good map would be helpful to you at this point so you can see how far things are from each other and what direction they are in, etc.

mt rainier is the closest place on your list at 2 hours from the airport so whether you hike that day or not, it makes the most sense logistically after your flight. portland would be a 3 hour drive, and there aren't really any good places to stay in/around mt st helens.

hellopsz

Gotcha NWWanderer, you are amazing! Thanks so much.

so here is what you are suggesting and we will do!

Aug 14th - Arrive in SEA and drive to Mt. Raineer (2 hours)
Aug 15th - Drive from Mt. Rainier to Portland (3 hours) early afternoon (after lunch maybe?)
Aug 16th - Portland
Aug 17th - Drive from Portland early AM to Seattle and see St. Helens on the way.

We need to be back at our hotel by lunch time on the 17th, will that be possible.

What are the most scenic routes to take during this proposed route? Do you have any fav hotels in mind at these locations?

suze

Yes that itinerary sounds OK (definitely NOT Crater Lake, North Cascades or Olympic National Parks). Do you have a map yet?

hellopsz

Thanks Suze, totally agree with you and NWWanderer.

BTW - we are unable to get any availability inside mt. rainier park (thr are only 2 lodges inside), what is the next best place to stay?

Do you have any recommendation for places to stay and things to do in Portland?

suze

Sorry no I'm really no help. I live here in Seattle with family down in Oregon, so know the general lay-of-the-land but when I travel I go to SeaTac and get on a plane (haha). I've never done a road trip myself in this area. At Rainier I only know of the lodge within the park.

NWWanderer

the town of ashford has a number of lodging options and the visitors bureau there is helpful about keeping track of which places have availability on short notice.

in your 1st post you had said you didn't need to be back in seattle until the evening of the 17th so the itinerary was outlined accordingly. it takes an hour each way off i-5 to the mt st helens visitors center closest to the crater, plus you want to spend at least an hour up there, so it makes for a 6 hour day. so not really doable before lunch. better to stop on the way down in that case.

azzure

Don't know if this helps, but I just returned from a road trip wherein we saw Mt. Rainier one day, and Mt. St. Helens the next, ending that day in Portland. In between the two mountains, we stayed at a motel in Morton, WA: the only one in that town, but it worked out rather well logistically and the motel (called the Seasons, I believe) was fine.

hellopsz

Azure, That's sounds like a good plan. Some friends of ours said that we can see everything and more in Seattle so there's no real need to go to Portland...I think we may skip portland and add Olympic National Park to our itinerary...

Does this itinerary sound good?

Aug 14th - Arrive in SEA and drive to Mt. Raineer (1 night)
Aug 15th - Drive from Mt. Rainier to St. Helens (1 night)
Aug 16th - See St. Helens all day, head to Olympic National Park (1night)
Aug 17th - See OPN in the morning and drive to Seattle.

Gardyloo

<i>Aug 14th - Arrive in SEA and drive to Mt. Raineer (1 night)
Aug 15th - Drive from Mt. Rainier to St. Helens (1 night)
Aug 16th - See St. Helens all day, head to Olympic National Park (1night)
Aug 17th - See OPN in the morning and drive to Seattle.</i>

IMO this is not a workable plan. One can not see Olympic NP in one day (or two) and this plan will entail a huge amount of driving for a very limited payoff.

Instead, I would recommend the following itinerary:

Aug. 14 - Head to Mt. Rainier (Paradise) as currently planned. Rather than backtracking to Ashford try to stay at Paradise Inn if there's availability, otherwise find someplace on White Pass (US Hwy 12) east of the mountain, or if you want, head for Naches or the Yakima area. This has you crossing the Cascades rather than doubling back to I-5.

Aug. 15 - Follow US 12 to US 97, then head south along the east side of the mountains through some great "old west" scenery to the Columbia River near Goldendale and Maryhill. Stop at the Maryhill Museum, then continue west on the Washington side of the Columbia River to Hood River (OR). Depending on the time, take the old "Historic" Columbia Gorge Highway from Hood River to Troutdale, then return to Hood River for the night via I-84 alongside the river.

Aug. 16 - Assuming you've done the Gorge loop the previous day, take Oregon Hwy 35 from Hood River south through the Hood River Valley and head up to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. As Aug. 18 is a Monday, crowds will be way smaller than they were on Saturday at Mt. Rainier, so you can do one or more of the fine walks available from Timberline. Then follow US 26 down into Portland for the night. If you didn't tour the Gorge the previous day, do it now and skip Mt. Hood; instead spend the day in the Gorge - hike up past one or more of the waterfalls for example, but again, end up in Portland.

Aug. 17 - Early start then I-5 to the Mt. St. Helens turnoff, visit the visitor center(s), then return to the freeway and into Seattle.

The idea here is to avoid doubling back from Mt. Rainier to I-5, and also to make sure you see the Columbia Gorge. The east slope of the Cascades, the Yakama Indian Reservation, Maryhill and Mt. Hood would be bonuses to this route.

Some links that might be of interest:

http://www.whitepassbyway.com - listings of accommodations along US 12
http://www.bestgorge.com/ - Columbia Gorge visitor info
http://www.crgva.org - the same
http://www.mcmenamins.com/ - very fun and funky accommodations in the Gorge/Portland area, especially Edgefield and Kennedy School

hellopsz

Gardyloo,

You are a lifesaver, thanks so much for helping us here.

Where are you suggesting we stay on Aug 16th and Aug 15th - White Pass? When are we seeing Mt. Rainier and doing some trekking there?

Where do you suggest we stay on White Pass? No availability at places inside Mr. Rainier, unfortunately.

Do we have to go to Portland, can you take that out of the itinerary and include Olympic national park somehow?

hellopsz

Gardyloo,

I did notice you are recommending that we stay in White Pass on Aug 14th and Hood River on Aug 15th. Where do you suggest we spend the night on Aug 16th? I wasn't too clear on that.

I also now understand that you want us to see Mt. Rainier on Aug 16th, the Monday. However, is it really necessary to head to Portland after? Can't we go somewhere around St. Helens and spend the night, next morning see it and head to Seattle. We need to be back in Seattle by 1pm on Aug 17th.

Also, in terms of places to stay - would you recommend we live in B&B's to get the real experience? What type of accommodation do you suggest, we can afford $100ish/night.

I also agree that Olympic National Park is definitely not doable.

Gardyloo

Just my opinion but you shouldn't miss the Columbia Gorge if you're in the area. Mt. St. Helens is close enough to Portland that it can be added easily in the context of staying around PDX or the Columbia Gorge.

I think it's possible that you're underestimating the time it takes to get from Interstate 5 to Mt. Rainier and back. It's a pretty long schlep on two-lane roads, and you're proposing to do it on a summer weekend, when there will be a lot of people with the same idea. I try to suggest that wherever possible people use "loops" in visiting the area, thus my suggestion that you cross White Pass to the east side after seeing Mt. Rainier, rather than looping back to the freeway. From Paradise Inn to Yakima is the same or less time than from Paradise to, say, Longview or Castle Rock on I-5 (where there are a few ordinary freeway motels on offer.)

As for accommodations, I'd look at a couple of places around Naches, or just suck it up and head into Yakima, where there are lots of choices.

In terms of time for that first day, it would be ~ 2 hours from the airport to Mt. Rainier, say 2 hours there, then 2 hours to Yakima, i.e. if you're out of the airport by 1 PM, then you're in Yakima by 7 PM.

If that's too long, do the trip in reverse: Saturday PM to Castle Rock or Longview, early Sunday morning (you'll still be on east coast time) up to MSH, then down to Portland and through the Gorge in the afternoon, staying at Hood River.

Monday continue east to Maryhill, then north up US 97 to Yakima, and over US 12 to Mt. Rainier. From Hood River to Mt. Rainier via Yakima will be around 4 hours, so with a morning departure you're in the park by noon or early afternoon. Do your MRNP thing, then overnight either at the mountain (Monday would be easier than Saturday) or at Ashford etc. down below. Or, if you're done early at Mt. Rainier, head back over to the Seattle area and make Tuesday a real easy day.

suze

Well Portland and Seattle are entirely different cities, so I'm not sure why someone would say that!! BUT with your limited time and wanting to do a million other things all over the place, yes skipping Portland is a good idea imo.

You don't have enough time to be "adding ONP", it's not a place you just drive by, it takes time to see anything there. I think you are vastly underestimating distances and driving times. Please listen to Gardyloo.