Oregan, pacific north west, wyoming Yellowstone etc

[negunslean]

I am planning a full months road trip next July. As a family we adore Canada and I hope this may be similar. Have just ordered some guide books to start planning but we love to hear from anyone with hints and tips for these areas. We love scenery and water sports.

How lucky are you! I would definitely recommend heading out to Olympic National park and around there from Seattle. The beaches are incredible (the sea is colder than the coldest thing you have ever felt though). We went white water rafting which was brilliant. Fabulous campsites beside the sea.

We also really liked North Cascade National Park, it is so far from everything (but maybe too far from your route). I think there may be quite limited accommodation there though, we were camping, which was amazing with deer wandering through the campsite.

I love Yellowstone and the weather is great in July. There is a lot of driving in the park and speeds are very low due to traffic so give yourselves plenty of time there. It will be crowded, but walking for 10 minutes will get you away from the crowds at the attractions near the road. Old Faithful is not the most spectacular geyser, just the most convenient! Book your accommodation there as soon as you can, you can stay outside the park but it cuts down on travel time to stay inside. Again we camped last time which was great (if you're happy with the bear situation) but we have stayed in cabins and a lodge at other times and they were fine. Best thing last time was a horse back trip from one of the lodges which was our one and only bear sighting.

Don't underestimate the driving time on a trip like this, the biggest mistake we make on US road trips is too much driving and not enough time when we stop.

I would echo keeping the driving down. I’m not sure I would combine these two areas. I would look at all the delights of Yellowstone and possibly include Colorado too. However that doesn’t help with sea activities!

Lonely Planet do a brilliant guide to the Pacific North West and road trips. I would just stick to their recommendations for the area. You won’t go wrong. As I’m currently abroad, I don’t have access to my books but that would be the first thing I would look at!

We drove from Seattle to San Francisco down the Pacific Coast Highway and it was incredible! We did it in about ten days but I reckon we should have taken longer, as there were some long drives on some days.
Stunning though, the Oregan coast is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Easy spotting of whales, eagles, pelicans, sea lions...

We had a lovely stay in Canon Beach on our way down - would definitely recommend a stop there. We stayed at Surfsand resort - it's a bit pricey but very much worth it if you can manage a night or two. Kids loved it!

All the above. Adore Seattle and Mount Rainier. Loved Canon Beach, Cascades, Olympic National Park and the Pujet Sound islands. Best bit for us was a log cabin on the beach on Orcas Island with fire pit and whitecwater rafting down the Wenatchee river. We took the train from Seattle to San Francisco one time too.

Ooh thanks for all your responses, it’s making me very excited. @bubblesbuddy I had already ordered that lonely planet book so have spent a lovely afternoon immersed in it!
@homedfireburn1ng can you remember the name of the log cabins you booked? Seems right up our street .
As I’m going for a whole month I assumed this would be time to do Yellowstone and oregan etc. Does it really seem too much? We are used to vast distances in Canada.

It was Beach Haven on Orcas( rustic)and River Riders white water rafting. Had family living there and was many years ago so both may have changed. Both were excellent at the time. Want to take my dc there one day but we’re doing East Coast this year.

I’m sitting reading all the suggestions too! I’m currently on a road trip in Virginia. Next trip to the USA will definitely be Seattle to SF! My neighbour took 5 weeks to do it!

I guess many people do a two week road trip around Yellowstone/Grand Tetons and many do two weeks in Pacific Northwest so it’s not impossible. Few thoughts -

Depending on routes you are looking at 12-15 hours driving between say the top of Yellowstone to North Cascades/Seattle or from Jackson to the Oregon Coast. So that’s effectively two days of your holiday and if you want to break up the journey more and/or spend a couple of days en route then that becomes 3-4 days.

Where are you thinking of flying in/out of? Jackson Hole or Bozeman require a connection or somewhere like Denver or Salt Lake City are a long drive to Grand Tetons/Yellowstone and again if you wanted to catch a few sights on the way that’s another couple of days. It doesn’t rule it out but it’s just worth thinking about.

It might be worth considering a loop from either Denver or SLC that adds in sights in Colorado or Utah or adding in Glacier National Park.

One way car hire isn’t impossible but worth double checking that hire outlets at smaller airports like Jackson Hole are willing to do as that might affect your decisions on where to fly to.

We did 17 days - including travel days - in Washington and Oregon and didn’t fit in everything we wanted. You could easily spend three-four weeks there. So we did -
Seattle, Mt Rainier NP, Mt Hood, Portland, Oregon coast (Staying in Yachats but visiting Cape Perpetua and the dunes near Florence), Cannon Beach (didn’t stay there but spend the day on the beach) Astoria and Olympic National Park.

We wanted to do the San Juan islands but couldn’t manage it without it all being a rush.

If you added in the islands, North Cascades, Columbia River Gorge, some Oregon wine tasting and even headed further south to do Crater Lake and even the Redwoods in Northern California that’s easily a month.

I guess everyone is different but my ideal month would be three weeks road trip and 5 days - a week chilling somewhere, beach or nice hotel with a pool or on a Dude Ranch if you end up doing Wyoming.

Enjoy the planning and let us know what you decide!

It’s where I live! Scenery in Washington state is similar to Canada but I think the coast of Washington (we live on the beach) is much more picturesque. You could also look at the San Juans. I really like Orcas Island. Weather should be great at that time. The coast is always cooler than inland, of course. We used to live in the Cascade foothills and July there is day after day of 90+ degrees with no rain. Now that we live on the coast it’s much more bearable.

I was going to say 'don't miss the Tetons'. They are best viewed from the east looking west.

If you go to Glacier National Park in Montana (highly recommended) pack very warm clothes and footwear. It can snow heavily there in September.

Actually any higher altitude trips will require some warmer clothing as temps can be considerably cooler the higher you go.

If you end up driving from Denver to Jackson Hole, the terrain is incredible - the north of Colorado is like a moonscape and parts of south eastern Wyoming are possibly the wildest and most godforsaken regions on the face of the earth.

I drove to Denver from Jackson Hole one day in late August many years ago. I can't remember my exact route (there are not many, but it may have been US287) but for a good few hours there was nothing but endless trains loaded with coal, the highway was lined with telegraph poles upon which the odd eagle perched, the scrubby vegetation was bleak and very unwelcoming. Unforgettably unmanicured and elemental.