Pacific Northwest Trip Report
Sep 22nd, 2006, 12:07 PM
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Pacific Northwest Trip Report
Alright, so here's a little trip report from August that I finally have time to post.
Family of 6, kids ages 21,17,13,and 9 for 9 days driving around Oregon and Washington.
Day 1: after arriving in Portland late the night before, the first stop on the trip was the Colombia River Gorge. Took the historic highway and stopped at a few viewpoints, and waterfalls. Then spent a lot of time at Multnomah Falls. Fairly crowded and the parking lot had lines backed up onto the interstate becuase it was a nice day and it was sunday. The falls were pretty cool, and the short hike up to the bridge was nice, but the hike to the top of the falls was a waste of time in my opinion, the views weren't anything different than we had on the drive in. After that, we continued down the gorge, crossed over the Bridge of the Gods into Washington and drove back down the river. Our next stop was Mt. St. Helens. Took about 2 hours from the gorge to get there, but we made it just before the visitor center closed at 6. In my opinoin the only visitor center of the three they have that was worth stopping at was the last one at Jonston Ridge, thats as close to the mountain and destruction as you'll get from this side. Spent the night back along the interstate in Chehelis.
Day 2: Drove to Mt. Rainier and the weather was beautiful. The 21 and 17 year old took advantage of the nice weather and spent the afternoon hiking up to Camp Muir at 10180 feet. They really enjoyed the hike even though it took them 7 hours and they were beat at the end. The way up was only about 4.5 miles, but the last 2 were 3000 feet all in snow, so it was very long and tiring. The way down, was fun, sliding in the snow. Had we known, long pants would have been worn so we could have just sledded down. That would have been exciting. The rest of the group spent the afternoon hiking the Skiline Loop trail at Paradise. Views of glaciers, waterfalls, and even some parts on snow in august made for a memorable time for the kids. Took about 6 hours to complete the loop, but that was with a lot of resting and photos. After a tiring day, the night was spent in an A-frame cabin in Packwood.
Day 3: Since the previous day was spent entirely at Paradise at Mt. Rainier NP, this day was spent checking out the rest of the park. Narada Falls was a nice short walk off the road and a very pretty waterfall. We also checked out the Grove of the Patriarchs which is a trail through big and tall trees, but if you've seen the redwoods, these are nothing special. Finally we drove up to Sunrise, the highest driveable portion of the park where we hiked around a bit, looked at the mountain, rested our tired legs from the day before. Spent the night again back in packwood.
Day 4: With rain and fog in the air, Rainier was up in the clouds. We drove to Seattle and spent most of the day on a historical tour of the city offered by the Klondike Gold Rush NHP. Was interesting, and we got a view from the top floor of the Smith Tower, which is a lot cheaper than getting the view of Seattle from the Space Needle. Spent the evening walking around Pike Place Market. Spent the night up north in Mt. Vernon.
Day 5: Rainy again, but still decided to go to North Cascades NP. The views at Ross Lake were ok, but because of the clouds, no mountains were visible. We tried to hike into the actual national park along the Stetattle Creek Trail. This trail was in poor condition with no signs of when we actually entered the park, though we did later verify by maps that we did. Kinda disappointed with this park, though the weather had a lot to do with it. Back to Mt. Vernon for the night.
Day 6: Took the Keystone Ferry to Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula. Had to wait about 2 hours to get on the ferry which was not expected, but it worked once we finally got on. Drove to Olympic NP where it was foggy the whole way there, and we were worried it was going to be another bad day. However, we drove up to Hurricane Ridge where by the time we got to 5000 feet, the fog was below us and the views were great! Did some short hikes and saw deer and goats. Spent the night in Port Angeles.
Day 7: Drove around the park over to the Hoh Rain Forest. I was a little dissappointed because only portions of the area looked like rain forest, so it wasn't like the normal rain forest I expected. After that we drove down to Ruby Beach. It was a nice day, until we got to the coast, where it was foggy, cloudy, and it dropped down to the 50's from the 70's. The beach was a typical washington coast, but it lacked tide pools when we were there, partly because it was still not yet low tide. Spent the night down in Aberdeen.
Day 8: Drove south, crossed the Colombia River at Astoria over a long bridge. Spent the rest of the afternoon at the Lewis and Clark NHP. It seems like a new park, but it didn't really catch any of our attentions as being cool. Some parts of it were just a bathroom house on a location that the explorers were once at. Anyways, the youngsters picked up a Junior Ranger badge here, as they had done at all the previous parks, so that made it worth their time. Finally drove back to Portland through Seaside, OR, which was really backed up with traffic on that sunday afternoon. Took the redeye flight out of portland and got home the next morning!
Hope you enjoy!
Family of 6, kids ages 21,17,13,and 9 for 9 days driving around Oregon and Washington.
Day 1: after arriving in Portland late the night before, the first stop on the trip was the Colombia River Gorge. Took the historic highway and stopped at a few viewpoints, and waterfalls. Then spent a lot of time at Multnomah Falls. Fairly crowded and the parking lot had lines backed up onto the interstate becuase it was a nice day and it was sunday. The falls were pretty cool, and the short hike up to the bridge was nice, but the hike to the top of the falls was a waste of time in my opinion, the views weren't anything different than we had on the drive in. After that, we continued down the gorge, crossed over the Bridge of the Gods into Washington and drove back down the river. Our next stop was Mt. St. Helens. Took about 2 hours from the gorge to get there, but we made it just before the visitor center closed at 6. In my opinoin the only visitor center of the three they have that was worth stopping at was the last one at Jonston Ridge, thats as close to the mountain and destruction as you'll get from this side. Spent the night back along the interstate in Chehelis.
Day 2: Drove to Mt. Rainier and the weather was beautiful. The 21 and 17 year old took advantage of the nice weather and spent the afternoon hiking up to Camp Muir at 10180 feet. They really enjoyed the hike even though it took them 7 hours and they were beat at the end. The way up was only about 4.5 miles, but the last 2 were 3000 feet all in snow, so it was very long and tiring. The way down, was fun, sliding in the snow. Had we known, long pants would have been worn so we could have just sledded down. That would have been exciting. The rest of the group spent the afternoon hiking the Skiline Loop trail at Paradise. Views of glaciers, waterfalls, and even some parts on snow in august made for a memorable time for the kids. Took about 6 hours to complete the loop, but that was with a lot of resting and photos. After a tiring day, the night was spent in an A-frame cabin in Packwood.
Day 3: Since the previous day was spent entirely at Paradise at Mt. Rainier NP, this day was spent checking out the rest of the park. Narada Falls was a nice short walk off the road and a very pretty waterfall. We also checked out the Grove of the Patriarchs which is a trail through big and tall trees, but if you've seen the redwoods, these are nothing special. Finally we drove up to Sunrise, the highest driveable portion of the park where we hiked around a bit, looked at the mountain, rested our tired legs from the day before. Spent the night again back in packwood.
Day 4: With rain and fog in the air, Rainier was up in the clouds. We drove to Seattle and spent most of the day on a historical tour of the city offered by the Klondike Gold Rush NHP. Was interesting, and we got a view from the top floor of the Smith Tower, which is a lot cheaper than getting the view of Seattle from the Space Needle. Spent the evening walking around Pike Place Market. Spent the night up north in Mt. Vernon.
Day 5: Rainy again, but still decided to go to North Cascades NP. The views at Ross Lake were ok, but because of the clouds, no mountains were visible. We tried to hike into the actual national park along the Stetattle Creek Trail. This trail was in poor condition with no signs of when we actually entered the park, though we did later verify by maps that we did. Kinda disappointed with this park, though the weather had a lot to do with it. Back to Mt. Vernon for the night.
Day 6: Took the Keystone Ferry to Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula. Had to wait about 2 hours to get on the ferry which was not expected, but it worked once we finally got on. Drove to Olympic NP where it was foggy the whole way there, and we were worried it was going to be another bad day. However, we drove up to Hurricane Ridge where by the time we got to 5000 feet, the fog was below us and the views were great! Did some short hikes and saw deer and goats. Spent the night in Port Angeles.
Day 7: Drove around the park over to the Hoh Rain Forest. I was a little dissappointed because only portions of the area looked like rain forest, so it wasn't like the normal rain forest I expected. After that we drove down to Ruby Beach. It was a nice day, until we got to the coast, where it was foggy, cloudy, and it dropped down to the 50's from the 70's. The beach was a typical washington coast, but it lacked tide pools when we were there, partly because it was still not yet low tide. Spent the night down in Aberdeen.
Day 8: Drove south, crossed the Colombia River at Astoria over a long bridge. Spent the rest of the afternoon at the Lewis and Clark NHP. It seems like a new park, but it didn't really catch any of our attentions as being cool. Some parts of it were just a bathroom house on a location that the explorers were once at. Anyways, the youngsters picked up a Junior Ranger badge here, as they had done at all the previous parks, so that made it worth their time. Finally drove back to Portland through Seaside, OR, which was really backed up with traffic on that sunday afternoon. Took the redeye flight out of portland and got home the next morning!
Hope you enjoy!
Sep 26th, 2006, 10:03 PM
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Sounds like you covered a lot of territory! Bummer about the weather. It was mostly sunny this summer. Fall is fast upon us, though, and it looks like we're in for a dark winter this year.
Reading your report, I don't think you had adequate time for the visitor's centers at Mt. St. Helens. It really takes a full day from the Castle Rock entrance to do justice to the displays. The video shows in the first center are excellent but they start at particular times, so visitors may have to wait to see them. There are plenty of displays to view while waiting. The videos are really hair raising, focusing on the lead up to the explosion and then listen to the experiences of some of the survivors. I agree that the Johnston Ridge Observatory is the highlight.
Sounds like the older kids did quite a hike on Mt. Rainier. Good for them!
Reading your report, I don't think you had adequate time for the visitor's centers at Mt. St. Helens. It really takes a full day from the Castle Rock entrance to do justice to the displays. The video shows in the first center are excellent but they start at particular times, so visitors may have to wait to see them. There are plenty of displays to view while waiting. The videos are really hair raising, focusing on the lead up to the explosion and then listen to the experiences of some of the survivors. I agree that the Johnston Ridge Observatory is the highlight.
Sounds like the older kids did quite a hike on Mt. Rainier. Good for them!
