Seatte to San Fran - 3 Teenagers
May 21st, 2017, 03:01 PM
#1
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Seatte to San Fran - 3 Teenagers
We have 10 days to explore Seattle to San Fran. I hear Crater Lake is a must yet it seems like a good drive inland, is it worth it?
I have identified a few items of interest from others but they have been mostly adults, I want to ensure good input to hold the attention for one of the last roads trips we take before the kids graduate.
1. Sea Caves
2. Lava Tubes
3. Sand Dunes
4. Crater Lake
5. Redwoods
Please weigh in and let me know how to pace down the coast and if we should keep Crater Lake on the itinerary. I am looking to book hotels this week as I know we are already a little behind in terms of planning. Do you advise one night stays in each of the towns to break up the driving or two nights and along the way and drive 5-6 hour intervals.
Thanks for your input.
I have identified a few items of interest from others but they have been mostly adults, I want to ensure good input to hold the attention for one of the last roads trips we take before the kids graduate.
1. Sea Caves
2. Lava Tubes
3. Sand Dunes
4. Crater Lake
5. Redwoods
Please weigh in and let me know how to pace down the coast and if we should keep Crater Lake on the itinerary. I am looking to book hotels this week as I know we are already a little behind in terms of planning. Do you advise one night stays in each of the towns to break up the driving or two nights and along the way and drive 5-6 hour intervals.
Thanks for your input.
May 21st, 2017, 06:29 PM
#4
Could you start in Portland instead of Seattle? Are you planning on an expensive one way rental to San Francisco?
You can visit the Lava River cave about 8 miles south of Bend.
It is 90 miles from the south end of Bend to the north entrance of Crater Lake. You only need 5-6 daytime hours to see Crater Lake.
Take US 199 from Grants Pass to Crescent City CA. You can take a side trip over to see the Oregon Caves.
You can visit the Lava River cave about 8 miles south of Bend.
It is 90 miles from the south end of Bend to the north entrance of Crater Lake. You only need 5-6 daytime hours to see Crater Lake.
Take US 199 from Grants Pass to Crescent City CA. You can take a side trip over to see the Oregon Caves.
May 22nd, 2017, 05:41 AM
#5
Does the 10 days include time in Seattle and San Francisco?
Here are my thoughts:
Crater Lake, as Tom says, is - to me - a one-day national park, but one that requires basically a day to get to and a day to get back from - if the rest of the itinerary is the coast. As with all things travel, it comes down to a question of what else could you do with the same days?
Seattle to SF via the coast can be driven in as little as 2 1/2 to 3 days, so the question comes down to where to spend extra time if you have a week or more.
There are a couple of options for you to consider. Some of these will prevent you from doing some others easily, because, like Crater Lake, they'd involve lengthy east-west zigzagging across mountain ranges.
Option 1 - Olympic National Park. You could do a loop of Olympic NP from Seattle before heading south on US 101 all the way to the Golden Gate. Here's a map - https://goo.gl/maps/35hvSPVkAHE2 . Olympic NP offers alpine scenery at Hurricane Ridge, the awesome rain forests of the Hoh and Quinault Valleys, wild beaches along the park's Pacific coastal strip...
You'd then visit the awesome mouth of the Columbia River at Cape Disappointment, then all the way down the Oregon coast and through the redwoods to SF on US 101. With this route I'd allocate three days on the Olympic peninsula, two on the northern and two on the southern Oregon coast, and two in northern California including the redwoods.
Option 2 - Volcanoes, Columbia Gorge, Crater Lake, less coast. Map - https://goo.gl/maps/AR1iUAiP7o52 . South from Seattle to Mt. St. Helens, then through the Columbia Gorge to Hood River, south to Mt. Hood and farther south to Crater Lake, then west to the southern Oregon coast and on to SF through the redwoods.
This will give you a more inland route, with the spectacular Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood, then down to Crater Lake, then back out to the coast for the southernmost 60 or 70 miles before the California state line, which IMO is the most scenic part of the Oregon coast. However it skips the entire northern and central parts of the Oregon coast as you're covering that distance inland instead. Here I'd spend 3 or 4 days in the Seattle - to Hood River part, 1 at or near Crater Lake, 2 on the southern Oregon coast and two in the redwoods.
Option 3 - Mt. Rainier, Columbia Gorge, more coast. Map - https://goo.gl/maps/Ujm2jA4mVSF2 . In this option you'd visit the Paradise visitor center at Mount Rainier, then continue east over the Cascades to the Yakima Valley, south on US 97 through great "old west" country to the Columbia River at Maryhill (fun museum and Stonehenge replica) then west through the Columbia Gorge to Portland, then out to the central coast and south as before.
This would give you Mt. Rainier (probably too early for wildflowers but ought to be fine for short hikes around Paradise) plus the terrific eastern Columbia Gorge, Hood River and Mt. Hood, then out to the coast a bit farther north, around scenic areas like Yachats ("ya-hots") and the central coast including the sand dunes south of Florence. Here, I'd do 1 or 2 days to/around Mt. Rainier, 3 in the Gorge, 1 on the central and 1 on the south coast, and two in northern California.
The reason for the Columbia Gorge appearing in these itineraries is that it's a terrific area for teenagers - windsurfing at Hood River or white water rafting out of White Salmon WA (across the Columbia from Hood River) plus hikes around the many waterfalls on the south wall of the gorge between Hood River and Portland, hikes or even summer skiing on Mount Hood, swimming on rivers or some lakes in the area... lost of variety in a very compact area.
As you can see, there are lots of options. I'll note that some places on the coast have moved to 2-night minimum stays, and lodging in and near national parks can be very limited and expensive. Also, Seattle itself is very expensive in the summer, so bear that in mind when budgeting. And finally, take the Google Maps time estimates with a heavy dose of skepticism; they tend to be quite optimistic.
Here are my thoughts:
Crater Lake, as Tom says, is - to me - a one-day national park, but one that requires basically a day to get to and a day to get back from - if the rest of the itinerary is the coast. As with all things travel, it comes down to a question of what else could you do with the same days?
Seattle to SF via the coast can be driven in as little as 2 1/2 to 3 days, so the question comes down to where to spend extra time if you have a week or more.
There are a couple of options for you to consider. Some of these will prevent you from doing some others easily, because, like Crater Lake, they'd involve lengthy east-west zigzagging across mountain ranges.
Option 1 - Olympic National Park. You could do a loop of Olympic NP from Seattle before heading south on US 101 all the way to the Golden Gate. Here's a map - https://goo.gl/maps/35hvSPVkAHE2 . Olympic NP offers alpine scenery at Hurricane Ridge, the awesome rain forests of the Hoh and Quinault Valleys, wild beaches along the park's Pacific coastal strip...
You'd then visit the awesome mouth of the Columbia River at Cape Disappointment, then all the way down the Oregon coast and through the redwoods to SF on US 101. With this route I'd allocate three days on the Olympic peninsula, two on the northern and two on the southern Oregon coast, and two in northern California including the redwoods.
Option 2 - Volcanoes, Columbia Gorge, Crater Lake, less coast. Map - https://goo.gl/maps/AR1iUAiP7o52 . South from Seattle to Mt. St. Helens, then through the Columbia Gorge to Hood River, south to Mt. Hood and farther south to Crater Lake, then west to the southern Oregon coast and on to SF through the redwoods.
This will give you a more inland route, with the spectacular Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood, then down to Crater Lake, then back out to the coast for the southernmost 60 or 70 miles before the California state line, which IMO is the most scenic part of the Oregon coast. However it skips the entire northern and central parts of the Oregon coast as you're covering that distance inland instead. Here I'd spend 3 or 4 days in the Seattle - to Hood River part, 1 at or near Crater Lake, 2 on the southern Oregon coast and two in the redwoods.
Option 3 - Mt. Rainier, Columbia Gorge, more coast. Map - https://goo.gl/maps/Ujm2jA4mVSF2 . In this option you'd visit the Paradise visitor center at Mount Rainier, then continue east over the Cascades to the Yakima Valley, south on US 97 through great "old west" country to the Columbia River at Maryhill (fun museum and Stonehenge replica) then west through the Columbia Gorge to Portland, then out to the central coast and south as before.
This would give you Mt. Rainier (probably too early for wildflowers but ought to be fine for short hikes around Paradise) plus the terrific eastern Columbia Gorge, Hood River and Mt. Hood, then out to the coast a bit farther north, around scenic areas like Yachats ("ya-hots") and the central coast including the sand dunes south of Florence. Here, I'd do 1 or 2 days to/around Mt. Rainier, 3 in the Gorge, 1 on the central and 1 on the south coast, and two in northern California.
The reason for the Columbia Gorge appearing in these itineraries is that it's a terrific area for teenagers - windsurfing at Hood River or white water rafting out of White Salmon WA (across the Columbia from Hood River) plus hikes around the many waterfalls on the south wall of the gorge between Hood River and Portland, hikes or even summer skiing on Mount Hood, swimming on rivers or some lakes in the area... lost of variety in a very compact area.
As you can see, there are lots of options. I'll note that some places on the coast have moved to 2-night minimum stays, and lodging in and near national parks can be very limited and expensive. Also, Seattle itself is very expensive in the summer, so bear that in mind when budgeting. And finally, take the Google Maps time estimates with a heavy dose of skepticism; they tend to be quite optimistic.
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