beph03

Hello Fodors!! My husband and I are planning a last minute trip to the Pacific Northwest. We are flying into PDX and out of SEA. I have a rough idea of what we want to do but am worried that we are trying to do to much (or the wrong things). Any help/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

A little background on us we are 29/31 yrs old and have been married for 5 yrs. We are into photography, hiking, beer, and learning about wine! We also love to explore new cities. I am an Earth Science teacher so seeing things like Mt. St. Helens are a huge plus for me (but not 100% necessary).

A tentative plan for us was…
Sunday, Day 1 - Land PDX @ 2:30 rent car drive to Cannon Beach area (sleep at coast)
Monday, Day 2 - Head back to Portland via Wine Country (sleep Portland)
Tuesday, Day 3 - Portland (sleep Portland)
Wednesday, Day 4 - Drive to Mt.St Helens and up to Olympic Pen. (Sleep Lake Quinault - i checked there is avaliability)
Thursday, Day 5 - Hoh Rainforest (hike) - La Push - Sleep in Port Angeles
Friday, Day 6 - Hurricane Ridge - Drive to Seattle via Bainbridge Ferry (get rid of car back in Seattle)
Saturday, Day 7 - Seattle
Sunday, Day 8 - Seattle (red eye home, flights leaves back to NYC @ 11:59 PM)

Things I am concerned about:
*missing Mt. Hood (is this a big no?)
*Cannon Beach and La Push - is it a waste of our time to do both?
*would it be better to base ourselves in Portland and take a day trip to wine country, Cannon Beach, Mt. Hood

Sorry if this is too much info…we tend to cram a lot into our trips!!

Thanks for any and all advice!!

~BAH

beph03

I should have mentioned that we are arriving at PDX on July 24!

Gardyloo

In my opinion, too much zigzagging. Since you have accommodations booked for Lake Quinault, I definitely think you could easily skip Cannon Beach, which IMO is too touristy anyway, especially at this time of year. Instead substitute some beach scenery on the Olympic Peninsula - Rialto Beach, Ruby Beach, La Push, etc. - glorious stuff, and much more convenient to your route than Cannon Beach and carved seagulls.

Here's what I'd suggest instead.

Fly into PDX, get the car, but stay for three nights at McMenamin's Edgefield - www.mcmenamins.com/edgefield. The Edgefield ought to work for you on several fronts - as beer lovers there's an on-site brewery (also winery and distillery) and numerous very cute and funky pubs and bars; the Edgefield is right on the edge of the Columbia Gorge, so day trips with hiking, waterfalls, canyons, even rafting if you so desire (on the White Salmon River, near Hood River) is available.

Instead of heading out to the Yamhill County winery areas for a day trip, you might consider heading east through the Gorge to Maryhill, WA (about 90 min. or so east of the Edgefield) where there's an excellent winery. You might also stop at the Maryhill Museum (www.maryhillmuseum.org) for some surprising art in the sagebrush, overlooking the river.

The Gorge + Maryhill could be an excellent day with scenery and wines, and probably better weather than the Willamette Valley.

A second day could be a drive up the Hood River Valley to Mount Hood, OR a day trip to Mt. St. Helens.

That way you could get back on your timetable and head to Lake Quinault, but without the (long) detour into Mt. St. Helens (if you did it as a day trip earlier.) You could follow the Columbia downstream from Portland on the Washington side (very picturesque and interesting/historic area) then head north up to Quinault on 101.

The aim of this revision would give you more time in the Columbia River area, see something of the "old west" country that lies just east of the Gorge, and still give you enough time to see some seriously beautiful, rugged coastline in Olympic National Park.

Orcas

I'd suggest you go straight to Mt. St. Helens on your first full day. It takes a day to really see and visit the visitor's centers.
From there, Mt Rainier for 2 days.
Then to the Olympic Peninsula and Hurricane Ridge, Hoh Rain forest.
Back to Seattle
Mt. Rainier is more impressive than Mt. Hood, though Mt. Hood is nothing to sneeze at.
An alternative would be to do the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood at the beginning, and skip Rainier.

Gardyloo

Following on Orcas' post, one thing that's important when visiting the big mountains (Hood, Rainier, St. Helens et al) is that if you can see them you should go right then. It's a long schlep only to find yourselves in fog/clouds etc. when you get up to altitude, an all-too-common occurrence this year. Note too that there are still several feet of snow on the ground at Paradise Inn on Rainier, probably similar depths at Timberline on Mt. Hood. It's a VERY late summer in the hills.

happytrailstoyou

I think you would have a more satisfying trip if it included the Oregon coast from Cannon Beach to Cape Perpetua (just north of Florence) and the Columbia River Gorge, with a night in Hood River that includes driving to Timberline Lodge on Highway 35.

I would spend at least one night in Portland, and I would visit Mt. Rainier on my way to Seattle.

PS Cannon Beach is a much more interesting destination than La Push, and Port Angeles is not a very exciting place to spend a night.

tomfuller

If you have not already bought the tickets ome from Seattle, fly home from PDX to save the drop off fee. The two airports are 4 hours apart by car.
To see Mt. Hood drive east on US 26 to Government Camp and Rt. 35 down the east side to the town of Mt. Hood.
Stop at the viewpoint for Multnomah Falls which is in the median of I-84. If the weather is good and you have the time, head up the trail to the top of the falls.
Cannon Beach is quite touristy but if you get there at low tide, walk out to Haystack Rock. Make a stop at the Tillamook Cheese factory for some grwat ice cream or cheese to go with your wine.

beph03

Hi Everyone - thanks for all the advice! We already booked our flights so we are definitely going into PDX and out of SEA.

Looking into all the suggestions and I am sure I will have more questions!

tomfuller

One way I see to avoid the drop off fee is to have 1 driver take an Amtrak train from Portland (PDX) to Tukwilla, WA (near Sea-Tac)and rent the car there. There are 5 trains per day between Portland and Seattle for less than $40. The rest of you spend the day checking out downtown Portland. Powells books is a great place to hang out if it is raining. You can get from the Portland airport to downtown on the TriMet light rail red line.

Christina

I just spent time in this area, including Cannon Beach and wouldn't even bother going there if I were you. Not sure why you want to go there for only a few hours at the end of a day. It's not a beach where you can swim, which I'm sure you know. The scenery is okay (I used to live in California and so I wasn't wowed by it compared to N California coast, but maybe if you've never seen anything like it, you'd enjoy it). But I just wouldn't think it worth it for just a few hourse at the end of a day. Besides, hotels there are real real expensive for what you get.

But if you kind of want to start over there to drive through through the valley or something, it may make sense, but I just don't think it's that great. I don't know what La Push is. If it is overcast or something, then it really is a waste of time IMO, as even the views aren't that great.

Gardyloo

La Push is a rather depressing (mainly Native American) town adjacent to some spectacular scenery along the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula. There are numerous wild and rocky beaches along that coast, most of them included in a coastal strip portion of Olympic National Park. La Push has been "discovered" along with Forks via the "Twilight" novels. I would not especially recommend the OP bother with La Push, provided they see some beach scenery along the ONP coastal stretch - it's generally fabulous.

I mentioned that as an alternative to Cannon Beach since they were already booked into a hotel at Lake Quinault and stated they wanted to see the Hoh rain forest. The Hoh Valley is quite close to some of the better ONP beaches, so it wouldn't represent much of a detour at all.

paulhelmick

try this
day 1 relax enjoy portland-sleep portland
day 2 colombia river gorge and mt. hood-sleep portland
day 3 drive to oregon coast and wineries on return-sleep portland
day 4 portland
day 5 mt. st. helens-lake quinalt
day 6 hoh rain forest-hurricane ridge-sleep pt. angeles
day 7&8 seattle
an alternative would be to spend the night in port townsend which is a better tourist destination than port angeles and take the ferry from thier via widbey island.

beph03

Hi everyone….we actually do not have any hotels booked yet. I only mentioned that Lake Quinault has availability (i know that lodging is limited on the OP). Do you guys think it is worth making the detour out to ONP or that we should skip it and spend more time along the Oregon Coast like Happytrails mentioned? (we were interested in the rainforest, but we have been to them in Costa Rica, although I know they are different up in Washington State).

My DH just mentioned that he would REALLY like to go to some wineries so that def has to stay in the itinerary.

@Paul - I am liking your idea of having a 'homebase' in Portland and venturing out for some day trips. If we stayed in Port Townsend do you think it would be worth the 2 ferries to cut through Whidbey Island or should we just go down through the Bainbridge Ferry? Also would we be crazy to do ferries on a Friday or Saturday in July?!?

azzure

Re: ferry questions...the Port Townsend ferry will take you to Coupeville, on Whidbey Island. You can then drive over Deception Pass to Highway 20, head east and then south on 5 to Seattle. Or you can drive from Port Townsend via the Hood Canal Bridge to Bainbridge Island, and take that ferry to Seattle. The Port Townsend/Coupeville ferry requires that you make reservations at the WSDOT site. The Bainbridge ferry shouldn't be too problematic on a Friday or Saturday heading toward Seattle. Either way, I agree with Paul that Port Townsend is a more interesting place to stay than Port Angeles.

beph03

Thanks Azzure - we are now currently looking into hotels in Port Angeles.

Do you guys think it is way to much to sleep in Lake Quinalt - wake up - hike in Hoh Rainforest - Hurricane Ridge - Port Townsend?

We (meaning I) tend to get a bit excited about traveling and pack a lot of stuff into a short time frame! Fortunately my DH is very easy going and allows me to be a bit crazy

beph03

PS - would you recommend one drive back to Seattle over another?

Bainbridge to Seattle
-or-
Port Townsend - Coupeville to highway 20
(when i google mapped it showed be going port townsend-coupeville --> Clinton - Mukilteo) It looks like Highway 20 would be an extra hour, but a pretty drive?)

Gardyloo

If we stayed in Port Townsend do you think it would be worth the 2 ferries to cut through Whidbey Island or should we just go down through the Bainbridge Ferry? Also would we be crazy to do ferries on a Friday or Saturday in July?!?

There are now two vessels working on the Port Townsend < > Whidbey route, so I'd be less concerned than in the past about the two-ferry option. There are a couple of very cute waterfront towns on Whidbey - Coupeville, near where the PT ferry lands, and Langley, at the southern end of the island not far from the Mukilteo ferry.

Do you guys think it is way to much to sleep in Lake Quinalt - wake up - hike in Hoh Rainforest - Hurricane Ridge - Port Townsend?

Definitely. You're looking at something like six hours of drive time, not counting time for stops, hikes, food, nature etc. The drive into the Hoh visitor center from 101 takes 30 min. or so; the road to Hurricane Ridge takes the same or longer, so double both (in and out) and I'd think ending that day in Port Angeles is wise. If you choose to go to Port Townsend the next day en route back to Seattle, I'd still defer Hurricane Ridge to the morning after you've slept in Port Angeles; that way you'll have a much less hectic itinerary the day before.

PS - would you recommend one drive back to Seattle over another?

Bainbridge to Seattle
-or-
Port Townsend - Coupeville to highway 20
(when i google mapped it showed be going port townsend-coupeville --> Clinton - Mukilteo) It looks like Highway 20 would be an extra hour, but a pretty drive?)

A clarification - Hwy 20 goes north after the Port Townsend ferry, over scenic Deception Pass, but after that it's not at all a pretty drive IMO. Highway 525, the Whidbey Island highway down to Clinton is reasonably attractive (but allows access to Langley, mentioned above) and after you get off the boat in Mukileto, the main connecting road to I-5, SR 526, AKA the "Boeing Freeway," passes by the Boeing widebody assembly plant, the largest building in the world.

The Bainbridge ferry, on the other hand, has the biggest vessels in the fleet, and very frequent service, and the view of Seattle from the ferry is unsurpassed. Here's a picture of that ferry approaching Seattle at sunset: http://gardyloo.us/20091226_71c2.jpg - a bit like the Staten Island ferry, except if you turn around you've got the Olympic mountains in silhouette.

As for swapping the Oregon coast for the Olympic Peninsula, well, I know how I'd vote.

Oh, should have mentioned way earlier - there are now quite a few wineries in the Maryhill area at the east end of the Columbia Gorge, so if you used Portland (or the Edgefield) as a base, you could do day trips to Mt. Hood, the Hood River Valley, Mt. St. Helens and the Gorge wineries, all comfortably.

beph03

@Gardyloo (love your pictures and the meaning of your name!) Thanks for the info above. Port Townsend does appear to be a more desirable place to stay but I was definitely concerned about the long day. It seems that doing Lake Quinalt and Hoh Rainforest would be good for the day. Crashing at the Olympic Lodge and doing Hurricane Ridge in the morning. I imagine that we will be so tired from hiking/driving that we won't want to go out and explore much our night in town.

So…."as for swapping the Oregon coast for the Olympic Peninsula, well, I know how I'd vote." how would you vote? I am assuming ONP based on your comments above about Rialto Beach, Ruby Beach and La Push.

What beaches would be a 'must' for you on the OP? Trying not to add too much driving to our already insane trip!

Gardyloo

I mean no disrespect for the Oregon coast (it's a national treasure) but given the overall scope of your trip, I think the near-wilderness experience you'll get on the Washington coast and the Olympic NP forests would be preferable.

As for which beach, boy... Given your schedule I'd have to say Ruby Beach, since access to it is right off US 101 (about 3 or 4 miles north of Kalaloch and 5-7 miles south of the turnoff to the Hoh Rainforest) so you could handle it en route between Quinault and Hoh. Rialto, also First and Second Beaches, are near La Push, which entails a 20-min. (or more) detour off 101 near Forks.

beph03

We just booked a cabin at Kalaloch Lodge of Wednesday night. I think that it was a bit of a better location in terms of starting off Sunday a bit further into the drive on 101 to hike in Hoh. Now to decide on Thursday and where to stay….we are willing to play it by ear and see what we can/can't get done. Flying by the seat of our pants is totally ok with us, we are VERY easy going. If you had to chose between hiking in Hoh and Hurricane Ridge does anyone have a preference if we can't do both on Thursday or Thursday/Friday.

THANK YOU to everyone who has offered help!! Fodorites give the best (and honest) advice a girl could ask for!!

@Gordyloo - are the beaches at Ruby Beach and the beaches near La Push similar in coastline? I am so excited to see the Sea Stacks…so different from our coast back at home!!