cslasor

I had previously posted a thread where DH and I were planning to fly into SFO and spend 2 weeks driving north to SEA. After reading comments, researching, and thinking, we've decided to modify things so I'm starting a new thread. I'm looking for advice and suggestions on our timetable and places to stay. My real problem is the further into the itinerary I get the more likely we are to want to spend extra time in certain places or skip some all together. But I know we should have advance reservations so I'll make the best choices I can, and will keep track of the cancellation policies just in case.

One note - we have family in Seattle and have been there and the Hurricane Ridge area several times so we'll skip some things that we might usually try to do. DH and I are in our 60's and 70's, reasonably healthy but not much into hiking. DH is a serious photographer so picture taking will be a big deal. We know it's a fair amount of driving but we're OK with that, and will probably stop pretty often whenever DH sees a "picture". We also expect a wide range of weather and DH actually gets some great pictures in cloudy/foggy/stormy weather.

Some of the places on this itinerary are places DH read about as good photography spots, so if you ask me why we want to stop there, that's probably the answer.

May 4: Fly into Seattle. Stay with relatives.
May 5: Continue visiting relatives.
May 6: Take ferry to Olympic Peninsula. Explore Lake Crescent, maybe Port Angeles (best clam chowder I ever had was at the ferry terminal). If open, go to Cape Flattery. Spend night in Forks - already have reservations at Pacific Inn.
May 7: If open, visit Shi Shi Beach, Rialto Beach, La Push, and Ruby Beach. Hoh or Quinault if some beaches are still closed. Spend 2nd night in Forks.
May 8: Drive to Cape Disappointment, maybe stopping a few places along the way. Explore Cape Disappointment area and maybe a bit of Astoria's historical places. Spend night in Astoria at Hampton Inn.
May 9: Explore Columbia River Gorge. Maybe spend night in Hood River or The Dalles?
May 10: Take 35 to Mt. Hood. Explore and then head to Cannon Beach. If time, visit Echola State Park and Haystack Rock. Spend night in Cannon Beach?
May 11: If we didn't do Echola SP and Haystack, do that in the morning. Drive south and visit Manzanita, Tillamook Creamery, and Capes Kiwanda, Lookout, and Meares. Spend night in Lincoln City or Newport, or Depoe Bay?
May 12: Continue south, visiting Cape Perpetua, Heceda Head Beach, Coos Bay (Drive the Cape Arago SP Beach Loop). Spend night in Bandon?
May 13: Continue south, visiting Gold Beach, Boardman Scenic Corridor, and the Redwoods in CA. Spend night in Brookings?
May 14: Head to Crater Lake and sightsee along the way. Any suggestions what to admire on the way? Where to stay?
May 15: Drive to Portland, maybe by way of Bend, hopefully seeing mountain scenery. Spend night in Portland.
May 16: Fly home from Portland.



May 8:

tomfuller

After you come across the big bridge into Astoria, continue south to either Seaside or Cannon Beach. Leaving Cannon Beach take US 26 east through the south end of Portland and up to Government Camp. Take OR Rt. 35 north (downhill) into the Town of Hood River. Hood River is much nicer than The Dalles. Depending on the weather, you may see some kite surfers on the Columbia River.
Try to get to Crater Lake NP on a sunny blue sky day for great pictures. In May there may be some snow left next to some of the roads and the north entrance may still be closed. If you can't get lodging at the Crater Lake lodge, try for lodging at Diamond Lake.
I would encourage you to return the rental car in Seattle where you rented it but after seeing either Mt. St. Helens or Mt. Rainier. Seattle is not all that far up I-5 from Portland and it will probably save a drop off fee.

Fodorite018

You are in luck as Cape Flattery and Shi Shi are reopening tomorrow. You do need to show proof of vaccination though and you need a Makkah permit.

Ecola State spark is closed with no date set for reopening. This is due to a landslide.

Crater Lake will only be accessible from the south so you will not be able to use the northern entrance to go through Bend.

Gardyloo

The thing about Crater Lake (and any high elevation sites in the Cascades) is that in early May you're not only going to have snow on the ground (probably a lot of it) but that the odds are very high that everything is going to be socked in, making the scenery (thus the long drives) something of a moot point. Lovely as it is, Crater Lake is (to me, at least) a summer destination unless you come with snowshoes and lots of extra time to wait for the clouds to lift. Twice I've tried visiting in May (actually later in the month than you) and have been skunked on the visibility front. Now of course you might get lucky. Do you feel lucky?

I also think the huge zigzag from the coast to the Gorge and back to the coast is a lot of unnecessary extra driving. If you skip Crater Lake, then you could just continue south from Astoria all the way to California, then put Mount Hood and the Gorge on the way back, possibly continuing from the Gorge back to Seattle via the east side of the Cascades, thereby avoiding a big one-way drop fee for the vehicle. Here's a map showing a possible route from Astoria - https://goo.gl/maps/ngQaG1D4TiMJNsGp6

I think you're underestimating how many sites on the Olympic peninsula you can see in a very limited amount of time. I'd probably pick two beaches and one of the rain forest valleys and call it good. (I'd choose Rialto and Ruby beaches, and the Hoh valley but YMMV.) It's not as though you're going to run out of scenic beaches with this route.

Just my view of course.

tomfuller

Thanks for the great map Gardy. Following your route, the decision on whether the weather is good enough to go to Crater Lake can be made in Medford. The south entrance is open all year off Rt. 62. Once I did take the ranger led snowshoe walk from the parking lot of the lodge. The weather that day was beautiful even though we were snowshoeing on about 18" of powder snow. Some years the north entrance does not open until July 1.