oregon washington in august
Replies: 45 - Last Post: Jun 26, 2012 12:12 AM Last Post By: victalis
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30
trying to follow your advice to take it more slowly, our new itinerary looks more or less like this...26 san francisco-Humboldt redwoods
27 Redwoods (prairie creek and Jedediah), sleeping Brookings
28 Brookings - Gold beach or Port orford ?
29 Bandon
30 between coast and Bend
31, 1 aug. Bend
2Hood River (this one is set in stone, our only splurge in oregon)
3columbia river gorge, sleeping Portland
4, 5 Portland
6 hiking (eagle creek) CRG, sleeping Portland (maybe a lot of Portland for some, but sunday trying to include PICKATHON MUSIC FESTIVAL)
7...?
8,9 , 10 Mount Rainier and Mount Helens ( painful, but I guess the north cascades will have to wait), 10 sleeping Seattle
11,12 seattle
less rushed I think?
thanks
31
Indeed less rushed, but I am not clear about 7?, and 8, 9, 10 Mt St Helens and Mt Rainier - seems rather a lot of days for two mountains. Personally I would just drive from Portland OR to Mt Rainier NP on 7 August (not hugely far, and skipping Mt St Helens - unless it holds a cosmic attraction for you), and see Mt Rainier for a few hours (even overnight), and maybe still include some Cascades, or other Seattle attractions.32
Yes, three days for both Rainier and St Helens is a lot if you are just day-visiting, but both areas have great hiking and camping. Or, add a third volcano to your list and visit Mt. Adams while you're in the neigborhood. You can climb it (not a technical climb, just a long, long walk). In fact, lots of folk pack skis or snowboards and slide back down after climbing it.33
Sorry, for being not very clear. Thinking about camping for one or two nights at M. rainier.....witch campground would you advice (near sunrise?, not too many people...)....So let's say 7, 8 camping M. Rainier...still two days left (not enough for olympic, San Juan islands or Cascades, perhaps silver falls or Mount Adams or 2 nights Mount Rainier or ..?.)thanks again
34
We were rather underwhelmed by Seattle - the Downtown and waterfront areas were a bit ordinary we thought (not unpleasant, but nothing to dwell there for) - perhaps limit the city stay and still seek out Olympic NP or the Cascades.Can't assist on Mt Rainier campgrounds - the place was crazy busy when we visited in September - so just spent a nice day there and cruised out again at the end of it. A bit of research should help - putting "Mt Rainier NP Forum" in a search engine should find you good advice.
35
Camping a couple nights around Mt. Rainier is a good plan, but campgrounds within the park itself will be super crowded unless you backpack into the back country. If you do that, I'd recommend hiking into Indian Bar. Two years ago I had the best wildlife sighting day ever there - saw a total of seven different bears one of them a mother with three cubs, a coyote shredding and eating a marmot, another coyote chasing a herd of mountain goats across a snowfield, a golden eagle soaring over a glacier, and all of that in one day. Or, there is an easy one mile pack into Snow Lake near Reflction Lake which has a single camping spot - you may get lucky and be able to reserve that one.If not backpacking, then try car-camping in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest that surrounds Rainier Park on the east and south. You can camp anywhere in theforest that isn't posted no camping, or there are some developed campgrounds in the forest.
Or, you could even book a room in a hotel in Packwood, the small ex-logging town just outside of the park's eastern entrance.
37
If you decide to backpack overnight on National Park trails, you have to reserve a campsite in established camping areas along the established trails, or, apply for a backcountry permit that allows you to camp anywhere. The backcountry trail that circumnavigates Mt. Rainier is called the Wonderland Trail. Some of the established campsites aren't too nice, but Indian Bar is an exception overlooking a large meadow with a stream running through the middle of it.Ouside of Packwood and near the eastern park entrance (Ohanapecosh Entrance) there is some good free camping along the Cowlitz River off of forest service roads and there are a couple of established National Forest campgrounds in that area where you could camp for a fee, but these too may be crowded (although not as bad as the National Park campgrounds). Also deep in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest is the High Rock fire lookout, now out of use but situated on a rock promontory with spectacular views of Rainier. I don't know if the Forest Service rents it out for overnight stays, they used to, but that would make a spectacular place to spend a night.
38
ok thank you for all this great information.... One last question, would it be a good idea to go from Portland to lake Quinault (from the south)? Google maps tells me 3 hours and a half, stay for 3 night on the west side and travel to seattle from there? Would this part be less then crazy busy, really don't like that idea...North Cascades just seems to far from Portland and Mount Rainier too busy...Thanks Bob and IAN39
Yes, Lake Quinault isn't bad to reach from Portland. Up I-5, then west on highway 12 and north on highway 101 - 3 1/2 to 4 hours sounds about right.Spending three nights slowly cruising around the Olympic Peninsula would be a more relaxed pace for sure. You could stay one night at Lake Quinault, another at the Quilayute Lodge/Cabins or better yet this place http://www.hobuckbeachresort.com/ maybe a night at Soleduc Hot Springs or in Port Angeles. Be sure to drive out to land's end at Cape Flattery, go to Shi Shi Beach and Lake Ozette, drive up Hurricane Ridge outside of Port Angeles, check out the Dungeness Spit wildlife area (followed by seafood dinner at The Three Crabs near the spit outside of Sequim - pronounce Skwim). return to Seattle via the Kingston/Edmonds ferry.
42
and some are bitter....it looks like this:
26 SF- Humboldt Redwoods
27sleeping Jedediah
28 sleeping Port Orford or Gold beach
29Bandon
30Bandon-?
31, 1 Bend
2 Hood River
3,4,5,6 Portland and CRG
7 portland-lake Quinault
8, 9 coast olympic, Hoh
10 olympic and back to Seattle
11,12 Seattle
(going back to Seattle a day later still a possibility, )
