Advice on PNW itinerary- need critique
 

My husband and I are going to the PNW mid-late June. Looking for some advice on the itinerary below! I included Victoria, but now I'm second guessing it. I'm wondering if we would be better off spending more time in the Lake Quinault area or if it is possible to include more Oregon hiking, i.e. Bend area. We like a mix of nature/outdoors and cities when on vacation. Any opinions on what to include/not include? I'm also interested in Mt. Rainier and Crater Lake but I've read that the weather in June is not the best for Mt. Rainier and Crater Lake is considerably out of the way.

Day 1 Saturday 6/17
AM flight into Seattle
Drop bags off
Original Starbucks
Turkish Delight
Seattle Free Walking Tours http://seattlefreewalkingtours.com/index.php
Market Experience
Seattle 101
Seattle Beer Co.

Day 2 Sunday 6/18
Run at Gas Works Park or Myrtle Edwards Park
Top Pot Doughnuts
Ferry to Bainbridge Island
Molly Moon’s Ice Cream

Day 3 Monday 6/19
Explore Fremont neighborhood/Ballard Locks
Coffee at Caffe Ladro
Fremont Troll
Afternoon train to Vancouver
Check into air b&b
Explore Yaletown & Robson Street

Day 4 Tuesday 6/20
Stanley Park
See Totem Poles
Seawall to English Bay
1pm Free Walking Tour Granville Island http://www.tourguys.ca/granville-island
Granville Island Brewery
Explore Chinatown & Gas Town

Day 5 Wednesday 6/21
Bus to Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge/Trails
Theater Under the Stars http://www.tuts.ca/

Day 6 Thursday 6/22
Ferry or seaplane Vancouver to Victoria
Explore Inner Harbour
Thunderbird Park

Day 7 Friday 6/23
Beacon Hill Park
Craigdarroch Castle
Kayak tour http://kelpreef.com/#_=_

Day 8 Saturday 6/24
AM Ferry Victoria to Seattle
Pick up rental car
Drive to Portland
Explore Pearl District

Day 9 Sunday 6/25
Hike Multnomah Falls to Devils Rest (~8.4miles)
Day 10 Monday 6/26
Forest Park
Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Free walking tour https://secretsofportlandia.com/
International Rose Test Garden & Washington Park

Day 11 Tuesday 6/27
Hike Angel’s Rest (~5miles)
Fat Head's Brewery

Day 12 Wednesday 6/28
Breakfast in Portland
Drive to Astoria for lunch on coast
Drive to Lake Quinault

Day 13 Thursday 6/29
Lake Quinault

Day 14 Friday 6/30
Drive to Seattle Airport
Flight to Chicago

Just a tip... on day six... Get a day ticket for Vancouver Trolley hop on/hop off.... eliminates driving and parking, plus adds a city tour and your stops....

Oops... Day 4, not six...

I'll offer some comments which of course reflect my personal views; others may disagree.

First, there is no afternoon train to Vancouver from Seattle; the trains depart in the early morning (around 7:45 AM) and early evening (around 6 PM) and take four hours. Amtrak lists several other departures during the day, but these are buses and not recommended.

In my view Lake Quinault, while beautiful, is not the top target in Olympic National Park; instead I'd try to focus on the northern part of the park, including Hurricane Ridge near Port Angeles, the Hoh Valley rain forest and the La Push beaches, both in the northwestern part of the Peninsula.

I'd think about changing the "schematic" of your trip like this:

Visit Seattle then get a car and drive to Port Angeles via the Bainbridge ferry. Visit Hurricane Ridge (which will be less snowy than Mt. Rainier in June and you may even get some alpine wildflowers.) Do a couple of hikes in the Hoh Valley (these are immensely rewarding) and visit one or more of the beaches near La Push, probably First Beach and Rialto Beach.

Visit Victoria as a day trip from Port Angeles. You can leave the car and travel as foot passengers; spend the day and return on the last boat. You can see plenty of sights in one day. https://www.cohoferry.com/

Take the ferry from Port Townsend (east of Port Angeles) to Coupeville on Whidbey Island, a picturesque little waterfront town, then visit Deception Pass at the north end of Whidbey before continuing on to the border and Vancouver. Consider taking the "scenic route" to the border, via WA Hwy 11, aka "Chuckanut Drive," and Bellingham's pretty historic district, Fairhaven.

Do your Vancouver-area visits, then drive back to Seattle and drop the car. Take the train to Portland and rent another car there. Do your Oregon itinerary and then fly home from there rather than returning to Seattle. If you can't fly from Portland, then just keep the car and drive down to Portland. (One-way car rental rates are killers, hence the separate Oregon rental if you can fly home from PDX.)

Here's a map - https://goo.gl/maps/7aBtqHT6mXS2

Crater Lake and Mt. Rainier are likely to be snowy or at least socked in, making them targets for a future trip later in the summer.

Possible timetable -

Sat 17-Jun Arrive Seattle
Sun 18-Jun Seattle
Mon 19-Jun Seattle
Tue 20-Jun To Port Angeles, Hurricane Ridge
Wed 21-Jun To Hoh Valley, overnight Forks
Thu 22-Jun To La Push beaches, overnight PA
Fri 23-Jun Day trip Victoria
Sat 24-Jun PA - Vancouver
Sun 25-Jun Vancouver
Mon 26-Jun Vancouver
Tue 27-Jun To Seattle, drop car, train to Portland
Wed 28-Jun Portland/Columbia Gorge
Thu 29-Jun Portland/Columbia Gorge
Fri 30-Jun Fly home

One other note, look at Bard on the Beach in Vancouver, a fab experience. http://bardonthebeach.org/

I agree that Mt Rainier and Crayer Lake should be held for a later trip.

I would still stick to Lake Quinault though. The problem with Hirricane Ridge is it is way too early for any wildflowers. We have been there in June when there is still considerable snow up there and if you want to do Hurricane Hill you would need to park further away and need hiking boots. Now that isn't to say you will, but there is a decent chance of that. No worries with snow at Quinault and it is a beautiful area and close enough to visit some of the beaches.

BTW I would pass on Starbucks. For one thing it really isn't the original location and also it is just like any other one but with absolutely crazy lines.

Thanks! This is just what I was looking for. Question- when getting from Port Angeles to Vancouver, would we take the ferry to Whidbey and then drive into Vancouver?

I really like Gardyloo's itinerary. But if snow is going to be an issue with Hurricane Ridge, I'm not sure its worth it. If I were to include Lake Quinault, how could I adjust Gardyloo's itinerary?

By the third week in June the road up to Hurricane Ridge will be clear; there may still be some snow around the visitor center or on the trails, but the view is dynamite regardless. One possibility might be for the OP to reverse the route - Oregon then BC then Olympic NP and ending in Seattle; this would give the weather an extra few days to catch up.

<i>Question- when getting from Port Angeles to Vancouver, would we take the ferry to Whidbey and then drive into Vancouver?</i>

Yes, the Port Townsend (itself a very pretty Victorian town) to Coupeville ferry is a short ride, and the ferry systems accepts reservations since it's a small vessel. http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/

Oops, pulled the trigger too soon.

<i>If I were to include Lake Quinault, how could I adjust Gardyloo's itinerary?</i>

You could drive from Seattle to Lake Quinault via Olympia, up the Olympic NP coast to the Hoh Valley and Forks (in this case substitute Ruby Beach near Kalaloch for the La Push beaches) then around the top of the peninsula to Port Angeles. This would require sacrificing the last evening in Seattle (leave late afternoon) to keep with the same schedule.

Revised map - https://goo.gl/maps/EBzuR5TQpgG2

Yes, as I mentioned snow up at Hurricane Ridge not on the drive up. Way too early for any wildflowers. Snow on the trail as I mentioned is a real possibility since we have experienced it personally.

I've never been to Lake Quinault. It looks like a place I should visit after looking at the website. http://www.olympicnationalparks.com/...uinault-lodge/
I've been to Vancouver several times but never spent the time or money to go to Victoria. I have ridden the Amtrak bus a few times between Seattle and Vancouver. It is not quite as comfortable as the train and takes the same amount of time.
One thing you might want to do is to drop off the Seattle rental car and ride an Amtrak Cascades train to Portland and rent another car in Portland for the Oregon part of your trip. Instead of driving US 30 to Astoria, drive US 26 to 101 and go south to Cannon Beach to see Haystack Rock and Ecola State Park. I like Cannon Beach and Seaside better than Astoria.
Save Bend and Crater Lake for a future trip when you're not going to Canada.
If you rent a car in Oregon, you could fly home from Portland instead of returning back to Seattle.

I just came back from an 11-day trip to Vancouver, Seattle and Portland.

A few observations:

There's a line out the door at the original Starbucks at Pike Place Market, especially on the weekends. Walk by, but expect to keep walking!

I took the ferry to Bainbridge Island and it was one of the high points of my trip! The "downtown" is about a 10-minute walk from the ferry landing. Lots of nice restaurants, shops, ice cream parlors, a good bookstore with new/used books. I spent all day there and loved it. There's a free art museum that was nice, too. On the way back, we had incredible views of Mount Rainier in the distance.

I took an Emerald City Trolley tour of the Ballard Locks that also went through the Fremont neighborhood. The tour was about 2 hours and 45 minutes. We stopped at the locks for a half-hour. The trolly also stops at the Fremont troll so you can take pictures and at a scenic overlook for a nice view of the skyline. Might be an option if you're short on time and want to cover a lot of ground.

I took a 6:30 a.m. train from Vancouver to Seattle. As others have said, they run buses in the middle of the day. The scenery was wonderful and I really enjoyed the trip, even if I did have to get up really early. (Amtrak says you have to arrive at the station an hour ahead of time to clear Canadian customs but it didn't take that long.)

Stanley Park is fun and definitely worth walking around. Granville Island is crowded but also fun to walk around the shops and market. I had great strips of smoked salmon.

I took the train from Vancouver to Seattle and Seattle to Portland and flew out of the Portland airport. (I actually had to change planes in Chicago.) I wouldn't drive back to Seattle.

Hmmm. Is it possible to do Portland first, return car, take the train to Seattle and rent a new car. Then do a circle-ish route from Seattle to lake quinault, hoh valley, up to port angeles, ferry to Victoria then to Vancouver then drive back to Seattle and fly out from there?

Im not sure, that seems like a lot of driving. We are more interested in scenic hiking then scenic drives, so what are the best areas for hiking? Should I leave out ONP all together in favor of more Oregon hikes?

If you are more interested in hiking I would leave Victoria out and even Vancouver. ONP has amazing hiking!!! Do not short change that if hiking is your priority. We are on the trails almost every weekend so I speak from experience.

We want a mix of city/hiking. We definitely want Vancouver but I'm not attached to Victoria. Will the snow get in the way of hiking in ONP in mid/late June?

Then I would skip Victotia and keep Vancouver. There will still be snow on some trails in ONP but mostly at higher elevation. Hurricane Hill will probably have some but it's doable. We have had to walk from the visitors center to the trailhead as the short road still had snow on it and they had it blocked off. We always wear boots for hiking and definitely needed then for parts that still had snow.

You certainly won't have any difficulty hiking at lower elevations in Olympic NP in late June, and conditions at Hurricane Ridge can be quite variable depending on what sort of winter we have. If it's a low-snow winter then it might well be possible to hike around Hurricane Ridge; if there's a lot of snow then not so much. You'll just have to play it by ear, but that will go for any mountain outings in the Olympics or Cascades.

But Google the Hall of Mosses and Hoh River trails and see what you think.

Also look at hiking trails in and around the Columbia Gorge and Mount Hood/Hood River areas too. Google Lost Lake for example. You might also be able to take the chair lift up from Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood to the permanent ice fields and hike back down.

If in Vancouver there is *lots* of hiking on the Norrth Shore mountains within 30 minutes of downtown to combine urban/mountain experience.

oops, forgot to include Vancouver hiking link
https://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/

Hall mosses and hoh river look fantastic! Would you recommend staying near Forks? And then driving back to Seattle to go to Vancouver?