mjkre

We will be at Mt. Hood for two -three days in July. When leaving, we will end up at the Oregon Coast. My question is, on the day we leave, is it an ok trip to drive through the Columbia River Gorge area (seeing waterfalls along the way and/or with short hikes from car), to Mt. St. Helens and then to the northern coast of Oregon? Or is that just too much in one day? It seems all within a couple of hours drive, but I could be way off.

Thanks!

tomfuller

Where are you coming from? If you are arriving at PDX, go east on I84 and take the old route 30 and stop at Multnomah Falls and maybe some of the other waterfalls. Hike the paved path with steps up to the top of Multnomah Falls.
At Hood River turn up the Mount Hood Highway (35) which goes up the east side of Mt. Hood.
When you leave the Mt. Hood area head west on US26 which goes through the south end of Portland. Continue on 26 all the way to US 101 between Seaside and Cannon Beach.

Connie

You mentioned Mt. St Helens.

In one day, we drove from Mt Rainier to Mt. St. Helens (a slow curvy drive), to the Columbia River Gorge (stopped at a few waterfalls and overlooks), through Portland and to Astoria. It took all of one day but we stopped at ate and did everything leisurely.

It would be a quicker and straighter drive to Mt. St. Helens if you did it from the west side. Also, if you went up the east side, the road doesn't go through to the west side anymore since the eruption for you to go on to the coast.

We enjoyed stopping there even though it took a lot of time. We also really enjoyed the river gorge. Drive the old road along the south side of the river.

Gardyloo

It's a long day but doable. If you don't mind arriving on the coast in the late afternoon/early evening, take WA Hwy 4 down the north bank of the Columbia from Longview to the Astoria bridge. Very scenic and easily done if coming from Mt. St. Helens.

mjkre

We are starting in Portland, then going to the Mt. Hood area for a few days. Leaving there, I planned the above route. Does it make sense to go that way? It is the first part of a very long road trip through Oregon and N. Ca.
Thanks for the help.

mjkre

Sorry Gardyloo, our posts overlapped. Is hwy. 4 significantly longer than any other route? It seems like it should take us about 2.5 hours to get to a place to stop on the coast from Mt. St. Helens. Is that a correct estimate? I am assuming it is about 2 hrs, without stops, from Mt. Hood to Mt. St. Helens. But we would like to see as much of the Gorge along the way as we can. I am ok if it adds time onto the trip, as long is it is not hours more of driving time.

Gardyloo

No, it's not particularly longer, since to get to MSH you need to go north on I-5 from Portland/Vancouver anyway. The Columbia has a big northern turn at Portland - the Longview-Astoria route "cuts the corner" as it were. Have a look at a map. The Washington side (SR 4) adds maybe 20 min. to the Oregon side (US 30) but IMO is well worth it. Figure 90 min. from Longview to Astoria. Overall time sorta depends on where on the coast you plan to stop.

mjkre

Thanks. At this point we are looking at spending one or two nights at Seaside on the coast with the kids and then heading south.

bbqboy

If you take 4, a cool little thing is to take the ferry at Cathlamet over to US 30, then on into Astoria.
http://www.co.wahkiakum.wa.us/depts/pw/index.htm

kimamom

Where are you staying in Seaside? We have done the ferry at Cathmalet, it's a fun way to travel. When you get to Astoria you could explore the town. The trolley will be running along the riverfront. Some time at The Maritime Museum would be nice, we just attended the opening night of the new exhibit there, TATOO Art of the Sailor. Go across the street to The Bowpicker for some yummy Albacore tuna fish n chips. ***kim***

Connie

Just my opinion but we enjoyed Cannon Beach MUCH better than Seaside. Seaside is a little run down. CB is much nicer.

mjkre

We are looking into the Rivertide Suites. Seaside seemed to have more off beach activites then Cannon Beach. I think if we could actually swim in the ocean (we are all big ocean swimmers), I would stay elsewhere. Is Seaside really that bad? It was also the right stop, distance wise, on that leg of our trip...especially since we are doing the Mt. Hood to Mt. St. Helens drive that day before going to the coast.