Road Trip out West, Help! (long)

In My Humble Opinion
21

I would recommend cutting down the number of places you intend to visit by roughly half, and planning to spend more time in the places you do visit. A trip of that length is going to mean bad weather, unscheduled errands, places you love and places you hate. More flexibility will allow you to modify your plans as needed. I really love the freedom of having scheduled time on a long road trip so you can explore, change plans, and follow a whim.

You can see a lot of places in a day, but you’ll always feel like a tourist, IMO. I have spent a week each in Yosemite and Yellowstone and felt like I’d barely scratched the surface.

22

Excellent. The Ahwahnee is an awesome historic hotel. I’m jealous.

It sounds like you’ll be able to make the Yosemite falls hike with no problem. The cool thing about hikes out of the valley is that they go up. If you give up, it’s downhill coming back. If you are a flatlander, the steepness of the trails will amaze you. The Yosemite Falls trail is about a zillion endless switchbacks. The Nevada Falls hike is easier.

23

A couple of disclaimers: I prefer secondary roads to freeways. I like to set the cruise control at 50 mph and look around. I also dislike crowds, so I do most of my travel in the late fall or winter. I also prefer the more remote locations. I get a $10 road atlas and look for roads with the dotted lines indicating a scenic route.

That said, I would recommend starting exploring the West Coast at Highway 1 north of San Francisco. (I spent almost a year at Fort Ord and was not impressed by ice plants and zillion dollar homes)

If you are not bothered by heights, I would recommend a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. I would suggest the east side, so you can see into San Francisco. After that, I would watch for the exit to highway one about Mill Valley, I believe. At Inverness, there is a junction to Point Reyes. That might be worth a day. You can explore a lighthouse and/or walk a heck of a long way north along a sandy beach (very dangerous rip tide so avoid the water). At Bodega Bay, you may see large wading bidrs feeding in the bay.

Take 1 all the way where it joins 101 at Leggett. (I love the rolling grassy hills)
At South Fork I suggest you check out the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The road west winds through humongous redwoods that make the Douglas Firs of the NW look like pulpwood.

That road eventually leads to Petrolia and Cape Mendocino back to Ferndale. It is rarely traveled and the beach is deserted at the coast. But you probably won’t want to take that side trip.

Unlike the northern California coast, The Oregon Coast is much more rugged, heavily forested and colder and wetter.

If you want to bypass Portland, you can take 30 East to Kelso-Longview or cross the Columbia at Astoria and take 401 to 4, either way, not much to see. Downtown Portland along the river has been spiffed up considerably and may be worth a stop.

Regarding Washington, Heading North on I5, you might want to stop at our sawed off Mt. St Helens just so you can say you saw the local volcano. You do want to get to Ft Lewis by about 3 PM. By 4PM the freeway plugs up from South Tacoma through Seattle. It clears out between 6 and 7, so you might want to get something to eat instead of waiting in the mess.

In Seattle, I would recommend a ferry boat ride (as a passenger, no car) timed to catch the setting sun highlighting the building of downtown Seattle. Afterward, you can check out the music in Pioneer Square. You may want to take a day trip to Mt Rainier, but then again you can see it on any clear day. As far as the Olympic National Park, us natives are not impressed by rain forests. We have 50 words for rain, all preceded by an obscenity.

As far as wild life, the best time to see something is at dawn or dusk. Also, gas is highest in Washington, due to state taxes, and in Oregon, you must let the attendant pump the gas.

Have fun

24

Wow, this sounds like quite the trip!

Given that Mammoth is in the north part of Yellowstone, and Teton is to the south, I would focus on Yellowstone. It takes longer to drive around those roads than you might think, and Yellowstone is a pretty big place. I was there for four days last summer, and in that time, we made it around all the loop roads, which gives you a pretty good overview of the park. In May, you can see the buffalo calves…very cute. I lived in Montana as a child, and we would often go to YNP for Memorial Day weekend. Bring warm clothes, especially for the evening.

25

I think I’ve failed to provide adequate information for fear of including minutia that might belong in a blog.

We intend to spend about $3500 (which is a lot less than originally planned but. . .yada, yada. . .the economy, and there you have it). We are mostly staying in budget hotels (Motel 6, Best Western, Super 8), but have splurged (ha! by our standards) on occasion. We plugged $4/gallon as our guestimate for gas prices.

We are taking a break from the working world after the trip, so it’s OK if we feel like we need a vacation from the vacation as long as the trip itself is satisfying.

We are planning on spending about $3500 to see the eastern US as well a little later, we could change allocated amounts abit since we have relatives in Philadelphia and DC —but think the east coast has the potential to be more expensive anyway because our trip that way will be less nature oriented.

We are less than a month from embarkation, so I am hesitant to make drastic changes to the itinerary. Yet, I don’t want to be so set that all I’m doing is looking for someone to OK the plans. Some plans are easier to change than others.

Basic road map takes us to the Grand Canyon then to Utah (Bryce, Zion), to Yosemite, to California Coast, up to Seattle area, across to Hell’s Canyon, ID, then to Yellowstone, to SD area, to home.

Old Goat has suggested nixing the trip from Monterey south down the coast in favor of the coast north of San Francisco. Darryl Lict has also stated that the PCH and the Oregon coast are both stunning but similar. The California coast portion of the trip is something that we can actually change about the trip. Should we?

Plusses for the current plan are

  1. two nights in Monterey so that’s one less night of packing/unpacking.
  2. the PCH south of Monterey seems to have milder weather?? and is more posh, i.e. ritzy houses scattered about?? (There’s nothing posh about south Alabama --we thought it might be neat to ogle)
  3. we’d have the option of seeing the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Hearst Castle.

Plusses for the modifications are

  1. Old Goat’s recommendations
  2. Working our way up the coast would probably seem like less traveling than staying at Monterey and making a 10 hr drive up I5 to Oregon.
  3. Seeing more California coast.

Mappoint thinks going up PCH north of San Fran would add only 2 hrs of actual driving time vs. going I5, that seems suspect to me. However, you guys would know.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all of your help! Ya’ll are the best! Many of the suggestions and tips here have been incorporated into our plans.

26

Being from SoCal, I can honestly say, the view in the Monterey area is better than south. The 17 mile drive is definitely worth taking - if you’ve not been on the Pacific Coast, it might be considered breathtaking.

There’s lots to explore in Monterey - Cannery Row being one place to see.

I’m now living in the Seattle area; if you’re heading to the Olympic Peninsula, Port Townsend is a nice little place to visit. Women enjoy shopping there, there are some unique shops and the architecture is cool - old buildings that have been kept intact.

I’m not sure if the Sound Garden is open in May, but it’s definitely worth it and is what the rock band is named for. It’s on the property owned by NOAA, so you have to have ID and check in with the guard. Those I’ve taken to see it were glad they experienced it. One entrance is off Magnusson Park in Seattle.

Glad to hear you’ve planned some “down time” before returning to work. Seems you’re having a whirl-wind vacation, but a lot of fun and seeing some sights that are definitely worth it!

Enjoy!

27

Oh crap, I just noticed your post about driving up PCH north of San Francisco. I’ve done it. It is very long, very windy, lots of empty lands and if you aren’t taking an RV, you’ll be making “pit stops” on the side of the road. There really is nothing worth seeing, there aren’t any cities, just a few spots in the road that are few and far between. I wouldn’t drive that route again.

wishes there were an edit button

28

Let me add another day trip option in the far NW corner of Olympic NP, a very beautiful scenic day hike from Lake Ozette to Sand Point (Pacific Coast) to Cape Alava and back to Ozette.

29

Here’s the map for the trails.

30

I’m ridiculously biased being a native West Coaster, but I’d seriously consider dropping the Wyoming/ND portion of your trip. After the sights of California, Oregon and Washington it will be seriously anticlimactic unless you’re a major fan of Westerns, featureless landscape and desolation. Driving in Wyoming has been known to give people panic attacks - I’m not kidding, it is that isolated; it is like driving across the ocean for all you’ll see. North Dakota I am less familiar with but seriously, there is so much to see and do on the West Coast you might want to consider narrowing your scope.

Utah is magnificent and in my most humblest opinion should be the focal point of your trip along with California.

May I also suggest, if you’re into this sort of thing, and it happens to reopen, Dinosaur National Monument is pretty impressive. Right now the exhibit is closed but I have no idea for how long.

31

As a person who has driven every single mile of the closest road to the Pacific (including some logging roads in WA) from the Canadian border to Ensenada, I can state conclusively that there’s almost nothing similar between the CA and OR coastline. Big Sur/Monterey/Carmel area is the closest thing CA has to the kind of “forested mountain hits water with small strip of beach between” that’s typical of the Oregon coast but once you’ve seen Oregon it looks pretty dry and scrubby aside from the redwood forests. Most of the Cali coast is spectacular views and beaches, but the interior is generally quite barren and dry with few trees. The Oregon coast has much better beaches, overall, in my view because they’re cleaner and less populated. The Oregon beaches all belong to the state so there is no privately owned beach, unlike Cali where huge sections are privately owned and off limits. Oregon lighthouses are amazing. Whales, just sayin’–Otter Rock is a good spot to watch them, and the Inn at Otter Crest serves a mean biscuits and gravy along with a panoramic view of the ocean. Heceta Head is the most photographed lighthouse in the world. The views from the Astoria Columnare mind blowing, and that whole area where the Columbia meets the sea is pretty amazing. In May there will probably be rhododendrons blooming all over the place. Cannon Beach is beautiful, and Haystack Rock is always worth a look. Excellent kite flying in Cannon Beach. If you do swing inland to Portland, you will find great food, and some beautiful places to see, like the Columbia Gorge–especially Multnomah Falls. The lodge at the Falls serves an amazing breakfast and afterward you can hike a mile to the top of the falls and watch the water tumble over the edge. Then hike as long as you want up the stream that feeds it, nice spots to dunk your feet in lovely ice water! Vista House at Crown Point is just a few miles away on Historic Highway 30.

Up in Washington, I can’t recommend the Olympic Peninsula and especially the Hoh Rainforest highly enough. The area gets upwards of 200 inches of rain per year and that makes for a lot of beautiful water and amazingly complicated mosses and lichens. Lots of salamanders and newts, too, if you’re into that kind of thing. Lots of elk, too.

If you’re going to do a large section of coast, I’d recommend the northern coast over Cali, aside from Big Sur, etc., which is a class unto itself. Less traffic, if nothing else!

32

I can’t seem to parse this—maybe I’m too tired or too thick one. Current plans include Big Sur and then (a long drive up I5) and over to the Oregon Coast for a leisure exploration from Bandon, OR to Seaside, OR. Then the quickest route to the Seatle area. Are you saying nix Big Sur and head directly to OR coast?

33

Wyoming isn’t that bad at all. And there’s nothing like Yelllowstone or the Wind River range in California. I love California, but let’s not slight WY. I find the driving in WY to be fun and interesting myself, if somewhat long distances.

34

I don’t think Big Sur is the only thing there, though - the Redwoods are pretty fucking spectacular. If you miss the groves in Yosemite (Tuolumne is probably the easiest to get to), you can hit Redwood National Park on the Cali coast, or a couple of state parks around Monterey. They’re not to be missed.

And I’m with Telemark - I like Wyoming!

35

Not at all–Big Sur, Monterey, Carmel and San Francisco are amazing places and arguably the most gorgeous section of the Cali coast (you HAVE to see the redwoods, simple as that.) The rest of it tends toward barren, dry, grassy, windy and the road can be tortuous–basically if you have a choice between taking the coast road (Hwy 1) north of SF or taking 101 up through the northern part of Cali, take 101 because it’s faster and you aren’t losing much in the experience. The Cali coast gets interesting up around Eureka, which is where 101 rejoins the coast. The other advantage of 101 is that it goes through some very nice wine country so a few stops for tasting are a fine idea.

I wouldn’t advise going north on I-5 to then cut over to the coast because A) it’s as ugly as the southern end of a diarrhetic northbound mule; B) it’s really boring and C) the roads that cut over aren’t much of an improvement, as well as adding miles to your trip. 101 is fast and fairly pleasant and will drop you right into the beginning of the fabulous part of the coast again. This also gives you the option, if your time is going well, to divert off to Calistoga and check out the mineral springs and see more of the heart of the Napa Valley wine country. The Oakville grocery used to be great–it was an old general store that had been converted into probably the most amazing foodie/gourmet store I’ve ever seen, with a million kinds of cheese, interesting sausages and stuff like candied violets and fifty jillion varieties of oil and vinegar and olives. Haven’t been there in donkey’s years but it was a favorite stop when we’d travel that way and I still carry an Oakville Grocery corkscrew in my purse to this day!

36

As a veteran of many long-distance summer trips, both with and without kids, my biggest advice for you is to take along some basic supplies, since with the distances involved, you can’t always count on finding a McDonalds when you need one.

Take basic food. This will prevent you from settling for that scary-looking greasy spoon just because it’s 2 p.m. and you’re both starving. And make it real food, not just chips and junk food, because you will snack on those as soon as you have them, and then you won’t have them anymore. Take stuff like Beefaroni that you can eat out of a can, cold, with a plastic fork, if you have to, if it’s 2 p.m. and the only place to eat is a scary-looking greasy spoon. (Get the cans that have pull-tops, then you don’t have to worry about a can opener.)

Take water, in bottles, for the thirst crisis, when the only place to get a drink is a Pepsi for $3.00.

If you have room in your car, I’d take a 2-gallon jerrycan of gasoline. Some of the places you’re heading give new meaning to the word “boonies”. If not, then keep a really close eye on the gas gauge, and start looking for a gas station when it gets down to less than half a tank. The distances are so vast that if you wait until it’s down to 1/4 or 1/8, you may find yourself walking down an interstate towards an exit that you hope has a gas station.

Take an emergency toilet. This consists of a box of Drawstring Hefty sacks, a box of Kleenex, and a tub of baby wet-wipes. You do your business into the Hefty sack by dropping trou and squatting with the opened Hefty sack snugged over your relevant parts (pretend you’re a shuttle astronaut), clean up, and tie it shut tightly, round and round and round, with the tag-end of the drawstring.

Take a small basic toolkit: duct tape, screwdriver (Phillips and regular), hammer, couple wrenches, pliers, exacto knife, stuff like that. Things fall off during road trips, and it’s amazing what you can do with duct tape and coat hangers.

37

I just wanted to say that you should keep an eye on Tioga Pass. It may be open and this would open the possibility of driving through Death Valley from Las Vegas (or you could drive south of Death Valley). Do not attempt this unless your car is in top running condition and you have plenty of water. Full disclosure, I have been to Death Valley, but never traversed it. it is fantastic and beautiful. Then, you can head up the 395 with tremendous vistas of the Eastern Sierras, and past Mono Lake. You can take a quick side trip to the south side of Mono Lake and see the tufa formations which were shown on the post card in Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here. There is a gas station on the corner of 395 and 120 that has the best food you will ever have at a gas station. Try the fish tacos. The place is famous.

The drive through Yosemite and Tuolumne Meadows via 120 is unbelievable. I’m prejudiced because I worked at Tuolumne (and Yosemite Valley) when I was in college. Make sure you stop at Olmstead point for distant vistas of Yosemite Valley via Cloud’s Rest.

I’m sticking with my assessment that the Oregon coast and PCH between Monterrey and Morro Bay are similar. or at least equal in beauty. I’ve ridden a bicycle from Canada to Mexico along the coast and have driven from British Colombia to Santa Barbara about a year ago. Oregon has more civilization than the undeveloped coast of central California (it blows the mind that such a drive down PCH through mostly pristine wilderness could happen in California).

I think it is really individual opinion as to which is better. Let’s face it, it’s all good. I’d do both if possible, and then you can have some arrogant opinion about which is better. That said, the run through Redwood National Park is damn near essential. The Fern Canyon in Redwood National Park was one of the most fantastic things I’ve even seen, and I’ve been to 68 countries.

Don’t try to do to much. Come on back some other time!