Pacific Northwest Trip itinerary ideas- help me decide

[SnuggleBuggles]

We are for sure flying into Seattle this summer and I have 1 night booked near Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park and 2 nights on the coast (Kalolach Lodge) to visit other parts of Olympic National Park. Those things are all set and I have pretty good ideas for those days (always open to any personal "must dos"). I haven't booked our flights yet because I have 3 itinerary options and dh is being no help deciding between them.

1. Just return to Seattle. Plenty to see as we won't be there too long before we head to ONP at the beginning.
2. Hit Mt. Rainier on the way back to Seattle.
3. Head to Columbia River Gorge (Multnomah Falls look amazing!) and then spend a day or 2 in Portland and fly out of Portland.

I worked out all the mileage and such. We're used to long road trips so these amounts are fine. I wish we had more time to continue down to San Francisco but teenagers are darned busy in the summer!

Any opinions? I really want to start nailing everything down!

[Philly Mom]

Mt. Rainier is great. If you wanted to go north, Mt. Baker has some great hiking. Bellingham is a cute town.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Mt. Rainier is great. If you wanted to go north, Mt. Baker has some great hiking. Bellingham is a cute town.

What did you enjoy at Mt. Rainier?

[Philly Mom]

I have been both during winter and summer. I went snow shoeing during the winter. Not sure if you can do that during the summer too. In the summer, I hiked it. It is just beautiful.

[HannaAddict]

Love Portland too and sort of a fun change so I would consider that option.


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[azzeps]

So if you do #2 to the gorge, there are a lot of short hikes to waterfalls other than Multnomah Falls, which is lovely but often crowded. If your teens are adventurous and it’s hot, or at least warmish, my favorite hike is up Oneonta gorge. Really fun. Mostly wading vs hiking a trail! There are lots of other nice hikes, too, where you stay dry - Wahkeena falls, horsetail falls, Bridal Veil....Also Bridge of the Gods and Char Burger could be fun before you drive back to Seattle.

[azzeps]

Posting again to add that I’m not sure which, if any, of the hikes in the gorge are still closed due to the Eagle Creek fire last fall. Probably should look online before you decide. A lot of the area was torched by a reckless teen setting off fireworks.

[StantonHyde]

Columbia River Gorge is amazing--you can easily spend a day there. I would spend more time in Seattle. We went to Portland 5 years ago maybe and the downtown was just filled with homeless people screaming, drinking, throwing up. It was a bit much. And I am used to big cities etc--we went to San Fran and walked around Fishermans Warf, Coit Tower, over to Chinatown and back etc. and saw plenty of homeless people but not like Portland.

[azzeps]

Oh, and don’t forget Mt. St. Helens - I’ve heard they have a nice visitors center. Could be a stop between Seattle and Portland.

[HannaAddict]

Columbia River Gorge is amazing--you can easily spend a day there. I would spend more time in Seattle. We went to Portland 5 years ago maybe and the downtown was just filled with homeless people screaming, drinking, throwing up. It was a bit much. And I am used to big cities etc--we went to San Fran and walked around Fishermans Warf, Coit Tower, over to Chinatown and back etc. and saw plenty of homeless people but not like Portland.

Portland cracked down a bit and the people you described moved to Seattle with an actual socialist on the city council and tent camping on sidewalks of previously normal parts of downtown. The insane amount of people moving here has made it much different than just three years ago.


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