National park visit
 

I was quiet interested to read that someone else was planning a trip for the summer this soon. My family and I have visited many national parks, and we love them. We visited Yelowstone NP and stayed in the park for 5 nites, as we would rather see most of something and enjoy it than see lots of different areas. My dillema (sp) is whether to fly into Seattle and visit the national parks there, which we have never seen, and then drive into Oregon, or to go to Utah to the National parks which we have not seen, either. I hear Zion is beautiful. we really like mountains and wildlife. Any suggestions, anyone? Thanks for the info

Kathy, how long do you have for your trip? I'd say you'd need a good week (minimum) to cover North Cascades NP, Olympic NP and Mt Rainier NP (10 days would be better), then an additional 2-3 days to get to and see Crater Lake NP (Oregon's only national park). Oh, and of course you have to visit the Klondike Gold Rush NP in downtown Seattle ;-).

Hi Kathy. You do have something of a choice to make, but I don't think you can go wrong. A lot of your decision will depend on two factors: <BR>1. when are you going? <BR>2. what do you like to see? <BR>I have visited all of those areas in years past, so here are some ideas. <BR> <BR>Crater Lake is located in an old volcano that exploded a few thousand years ago like Mt. St. Helens did a few years ago. <BR>A drive around the perimeter of the lake should give you a chance to see it quite well in one day. We took the boat ride on the bottom of the lake, but I would not do that again because you are looking up from the bottom of a hole. <BR>The views from the rim are much more dramatic. Mount Ranier is a spectacle that you probably would enjoy. We stayed at an old hotel on the south flank; as I recall it was named Paradise Lodge. It was easily the worst place I ever stayed relative to the price. <BR>Mt. St. Helens is also in that area as is the Oregon Coast. I think the coastal area would be good for perhaps two days of visiting. Around the village of Yachats old lava flows enter the ocean and you can watch the surf pound the rocks. Near there is a spectacular rocky promontory known as Cape Perpetua that juts 1,000 feet straight up out of the Pacific. It is accessible by a steep but safe road. The views from up there are incredible. If you continued farther south, there are several beautiful groves of the coastal redwoods, the Sequioa Sempervirons. You could easily make an eight or nine day trip out of those areas alone. <BR> <BR>The parks of southern Utah are very beautiful, but that area get hot in the summer. We were in Zion this past spring, in late May, and the temperatures were already over 96 degrees. There are quite a few National Parks and Monuments in that area which are most interesting to visit. My favorites are: Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reefs, Arches, Natural Bridges National Monument, Goosenecks of the San Juan river (state park), Cedar Breaks National Monument, and the drive from Bryce to Torrey, Utah. I am not a big fan of Zion, although I am sure quite a few people will tell you that I should be. Zion is interesting, but Capitol Reefs NP is carved from many of the same geological formations -- like the Navajo Sandstone and the Wingate Sandstone. Capitol Reefs is most interesting and lightly visited compared to Zion. We wandered through the deep canyons and had a most amazing time of it. <BR>The two areas, the Pacific Northwest and the deserts of southern Utah are quite different. One trip will take you to green mountains with snow caps and a beautiful coast line; the other will take you to desert conditions except at the higher elevations. So I think you will have to select which one you want to see. I don't think you could do both unless you had 21 - 24 days of of time. <BR>Why not visit each of the parks on the Web and look at some of the pictures that have been posted? I think you might get a good idea of what you will be visiting. Then your own tastes and preferences will have to guide you. <BR>

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. I think that we will probably have 3 weeks, so that should be sufficient time to see most of the things we want to see. A lot will depend on if we can get our flights, as we will be traveling on our ff miles. We will probably go mid May or end of May. Any more ideas, let me know. Thanks again.

Unless you are determined to check the Utah parks off your list on this trips, there is plenty to occupy you in Washington and Oregon for a three week trip. You could add the San Juan islands (for orca whale watching), Mt. St. Helens, the Oregon coast, and the Columbia River Gorge to the national parks and three weeks would fill up *easily*. <BR> <BR>One caveat, however: since you're traveling so early in the season, all the mountain areas in the NW national parks will still be under lots of snow. So all you could really do at Mt. Rainier and Crater Lake, for instance, would be look, not hike (although you could probably snowshoe ;-)). The later in May you can go, the better, but there will still be lots of snow in the high country (Paradise, at Mt. Rainier, for instance, usually isn't snow-free until early July). If you have flexibility in your schedule, fall is actually a better shoulder season time to visit these parks.