Seattle to Denver trip
 

Hi all
You were all very helpful when I was planning our first trip to the US last year - and now I'd be grateful for your help/advice/words of wisdom again!

I'm in the very early planning stage of a trip, next year, duration 3 weeks, flying into Seattle, out of Denver - wanting to take in a lot of the Pacific SW (including an overnight to Vancouver to see a friend), Mt St Helens and YELLOWSTONE. It'll be me, husband, and 30-year-old son + hire car. My interests include geology - hubs includes all things cowboy - son does as he's told (it's a free ride for him!) Money is an object - we don't want tacky - but then again, we can't afford the Ritz. So, my very early plans are as follows (interspersed with questions, which I hope you might be able to offer assistance on?):

Fly into Seattle - 2 nights in a self-catering cottage, close to airport, overlooking the water. Thinking to go into Seattle on Day 2 for a boat trip of harbour or something restful.

Drive up to Vancouver - o/n with friend. (Is it feasible to take a side-trip to the North Cascades?)

Drive to Olympic NP - stay in B&B.

Back to Seattle - more central hotel for 2 nights (Silver Cloud Inn, Lake Union in mind) This gives us a full day to 'do' Seattle.

Next, down to Mt St Helens - overnight at the Blue Heron Inn maybe.

Hmm. Was next going to go up to the Columbia River area (Banks Lake), but I reckon it would be a bit of a bitty route - so have now plumped for driving down towards Portland and to Walla Walla for an overnight. Any suggestions? It doesn't have to be Walla Walla - but in that region somewhere?

Next, off to Missoula. I would LOVE to take in the Palouse - but would that make the (already long) trip a bit too long?

Well, Washington State done (with quickies to BC and Oregon) - but it all does seem a little bit bitty somehow.

OK, Montana. Overnight in Missoula region. Any suggestions? Then down to Yellowstone. I thought first to stay inside the park - but now I've changed my mind and thinking of staying in Gardiner. 3 nights. Would this be enough to take in a lot of Yellowstone - and perhaps take in the Grand Tetons?

Planning, next to go to Cody, Wyoming area for a couple nights on a ranch. But could we somehow amalgamate this in with the Yellowstone stay somehow? I have 5 nights - want to see Yellowstone, Teton and stay 2 nights on a ranch. Not sure how best to do that.

Next up to Devil's Tower and then into S Dakota for Mt Rushmore and Badlands. Thinking to spend 2 nights here - perhaps in Keystone?

Down to Cheyenne for a night.

To Rocky NP for a night and then Denver for a night before our flight home.

It might seem a long way, but our previous trip was longer and the daily mileage less than our usual trips around Europe.

But I would be grateful for any tips on this itinerary. THANKS!!

Make that Pacific NORTH West! :)

Wildblueyonder, just a thought or two. On your Yellowstone portion, I would definitely consider staying in the park. I made a quick stop in Gardiner this summer and it was not a place where I would want to stay for the night, let alone three. Plus driving back and forth to Gardiner isn't an efficient use of your time. If I only had three nights for Yellowstone and Grand Teton, I would do the following:

Day One/First Night: Old Faithful area. If you leave Missoula early you should be able to arrive in the Old Faithful area by the late afternoon. I would spend the afternoon and early evening visiting this area.

Day Two/Second Night: Tour the lower loop. From West Yellowstone head east. Visit West Thumb, drive through the Hayden Valley (beautiful!), stop at Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, continue your loop with stops at Norris and the Upper and Lower Geyser Basins. This will be a full day. Return to the Old Faithful area for the night.

Day 3/Third Night: Head to Grand Teton National Park. It is about a two hour drive from Old Faithful to GTNP. I would spend my time in the Jenny Lake area. You can either hike around Jenny Lake or take a shuttle boat to the other side. I love this area. You can spend the night in Jackson, where you can find a variety of lodging and great restaurants or stay the night in the park. Head for Cody the next morning.

Also, If you have time I would skip the night in Cheyenne and head straight for Estes Park, so you can spend two nights in the RMNP area.

I'm sure you will have a wonderful trip!

We stayed at a guest ranch near Cody, Wyoming, many years ago that I recommend you look into. It has nice little log cabins with fireplaces that should sleep three with no problem, and is in a beautiful setting for fishing, horseback riding, etc. It's called the K Bar Z, and its URL is http://www.agonline.com/KbarZ/default.htm

Another thought is to consolidate your Seattle stay into two nights total, and add a night to Vancouver or Victoria. It's beautiful there, and Vancouver is an outstanding city. From Seattle, I think you can take a scenic boat cruise on Puget Sound, which is beautiful. And from Vancouver, you can take the ferry to Victoria. So many options!

My personal preference would be to simplify the route a bit, maybe drop out Oregon, Mt. St. Helens, and South Dakota. You will see such gorgeous scenery in Washington, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado that you probably won't add much with those two states. Just my opinion.

Enjoy planning your trip. It sounds like fun. Where do you live?

Hi wtm

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot available inside the park - certainly nothing at Old Faithful, for when we plan to arrive - and I don't want to be stuck over by the lake (and the rooms are an extortionate price!) I'll give it some more thought (as it's important to me as I'm doing a geology degree and next year's project is on, yes, Yellowstone!!) - but one hotel, in particular, had very good reviews on TripAdviser. Hmm.

Hi Maureen

Leave out Mt St Helens - arrrrggggghhhhh - blasphemy!! LOL! It's 2nd only to Yellowstone on my must sees, I'm afraid - and it's for that reason only that we're stuck with a few miles of Oregon on the way over to Walla Walla!

I'd really like to spend more than 2 nights in Seattle (over Vancouver) as we have a lot to see there (fan of their soccer team - it will be like a pilgrimage - http://www.geocities.com/francesfo/sounders.html!).

S Dakota has to stay - hub would shoot me else! And it does make for a nice change of scenery (not that there's anything wrong with mountains!) But looking at it again this afternoon and doing mapquest routes, there's a heck of a long drive from Cody to Keystone - so I think I'm going to have to change something there!!

I'm in Plymouth, UK.

Wildblue it might take a phone call (I know expensive from the UK) to get reservations inside the park. Orginally I was unable to get a reservation inside the park, but I kept trying and about a week before we left I was able to get 4 nights in the Old Faithful area. I was told there are a lot of cancellations in the early summer as people firm up their vacation plans. If this still doesn't work or interest you, West Yellowstone would probably be a better choice than Gardiner. That was my plan if the park lodging did not work out. With your interest in geology, you are not going to want to leave!

There is a wonderful trip report about South Dakota by MONPETIT. It was posted in the past day or two. You might want to do a search.

Have fun with your trip planning!

I'm a little confused at the very beginning of the trip...

You're going from Seattle, drive to Vancouver, possibly over to North Cascades, then drive to the Olympic peninsula, and drive back up to Seattle again? That's an awful lot of driving and backtracking in those first few days IMO.

I agree with Suze about the backtracking. And why would you want to stay down near the airport your first couple days? There's nothing down there-if you want a peaceful waterside retreat in an attractive town you could better find that on Vashon or Bainbridge Island, quick ferry rides from Seattle.
I don't think there's time to do a side trip into the NC on the way to Vancouver.
Could you maybe spend your first few days in Seattle, head down to St. Helens, then over to Olympic, ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria and then drive and ferry to Vancouver, then back south, over the North Cascades Highway and onto Montana (catching I-90 whereever you like in Washington or Idaho? At least that way you aren't backtracking.

Maybe you know all this already, but just for fun I MapQuest-ed your itinerary for approx driving times:

Seattle/Vancouver 3 hrs north

Vancouver/Seattle/Olympic Nat Pk 8 hrs retrace south then over west


Olympic Nat Park/Seattle 5 hrs
retrace coming east then retrace north

Seattle/Mt St Helens 13 hrs
retracing a portino of above heading back south

Maybe you know this already, but for fun I MapQuest-ed your itinerary for approx driving times:

Seattle/Vancouver 3 hrs north

Vancouver/Seattle/Olympic Nat Pk 8 hrs retrace south then over west

Olympic Nat Park/Seattle 5 hrs
retrace coming east then retrace north

Seattle/Mt St Helens 13 hrs
retracing a portion of above heading back south

If would make much more sense IMO to start in Vancouver and come south, stopping in Seattle with all your days at once, then continue to ONP, and on south to Mt St Helens

Oh geez, I just now saw the Walla Walla and Portland mentioned.

I don't mean to be rude truly but I've gotta ask, are you planning using a map of the region?

I apologize for the duplicate post. I've clearly said more than my share around here :-)

Hmm, Suze - think you're maybe more confused than I am!! No, actually, I don't see it as backtracking as we could use Seattle as a base to do all the trips from, but that would be double the journey - and I really want to pop up to Vancouver for just one night. I've scrapped Olympic NP as I needed another free night further along the route (where the mileage really IS big!) - so will do the sidetrip to N Cascades (just a little one!) on the way back to Seattle.

I'd already done Mapquest printouts of the whole itinerary. (And, yes, I do have a map of the US - we did 3000+ miles last year around Arizona, Utah and California!)

Re the airport accommodation - I've found a really nice place overlooking the Sound. Self-catering with hot-tub on deck. Will suit us fine - better than a hotel.

S Dakota has been the hardest one to sort out - but I think I'm getting there!

Thanks all!

Sorry for the double posting, but that is my only confusion.

I'm sitting here in Seattle and have driven myself to each of the places you mention, they are all in different directions and not short trips. But I'll leave you to it, and wish you well! Have a beautiful trip.

To see the most scenic part of the NC Hwy, you really need to drive at least to the Washington Pass overlook (to Mazama would be best). You don't actually start climing up into the mountains until you are past Newhalem. The little side trip will be at least 5 hours of non-stop driving, in addition to the 2.5 hours or so from Vancouver to Seattle (depending on lines at the border, of course). It's a great drive, but time consuming, just so you know.

Hi Suze

You said it was a 13 hour trip to Mt St Helens? My mapquest route thingie says 1 hour 57 to Castle Rock. Granted you then still have to drive 'up the road a bit' to see the mountain - but 13 hours? And we won't be driving back to Seattle from there.

We will only be driving the 2.5 hrs to Vancouver from Seattle and back again. By European driving standards, that's a short hop!! Yep, I know people in Seattle and this was recommended to me a long time ago - my only worry is the border line (as I know my Canadian friend has problems there at times) - but if I were in Seattle and I didn't go up to see her, she wouldn't be very happy!

Christie, thanks for this advice. It is difficult to tell from the map, what's what - and I didn't know how far you would have to travel to get 'really scenic' - might well give that a miss then and spend some more time in Vancouver! Thanks!

P.S. would it be worth driving to Abbotsford from Vancouver - and taking the road, past Glacier, to the Mt Baker Vista?

Wrong, wrong, I am wrong. Curses to MapQuest and sneak typing on Fodors when I'm supposed to be working at the office yesterday.

Mt St Helen I'd allow 2 hours drive down to that part of the state, I'm not sure how much longer to cut in and over and up to the mountain itself.

I'll also as recommended above, if you drive the north cascades highway go at least over to Mazama/Winthrop. It is spectacular. I much prefer this dramatic landscape over the Olympic peninsula (which I know you already cut from your drive).

So I think Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, all make perfect sense. What is out of your way (but all great if you have no time limit, don't get me wrong) is North Cascades, Olympic Peninsula, and definitely Walla Walla (unless that's on your path as you depart Washington and head toward Denver).

I was responsing to your plan to use Seattle as a hub. As I said I've been each of the places you mentioned at different times driving from Seattle. I consider Vancouver a 6 hour round trip, ONP 10 hour RT, Mazama 8 hour RT, etc. It sounded like an awful lot of driving in just 5 days or so.