Oregon, washington, Idaho then back to CA ideas

[cbigham]

Hi,
Looking for suggestions on what to do in Oegon, on our way to Olympic national Park. Like to see Mount Rainer also, then head north thru Canada to. Idaho or direct to the Sand Point area?

We prefer camping in national park, forest cwmpgrounds, boondocking. We will take a class c and Jeep, street legal KTM motorcycle.
Any rides I should see is helpful too, street and dirt!

Thanks,

Chuck

[Yosemite_Sam1]

And if you are a cheese head, err, turophile, the route has good cheeses: Tillamook, Humbolt...

[cbigham]

Thanks,
Plan is up the 101 for a return to redwoods national park, up thru coos bay, then up to Shelton, near Tacoma to see nephew. If we can find a spot to dampness side of Olympic would be great. Thinking Oregon to Washington sticking to the coast, avoid big cities.

Fwiw to the riders I will bring either a plated ktm 500exc or a 625 sxc. Interesting dirt trails good, while wife and kid play. Both can do hwy speeds or single track, tho better in their own element.

[4runnerguy]

cbigham wrote:
Gonna be about 3 weeks give or take. My fly the kid and wife back. Wed do counterclockwise but as of now the nephew will be home early on. Cant guarantee later. He's out of Ft Lewis. (Place brings back memories!)

So it sounds like the trip to Sandpoint is the sightseeing part with the family and the return is just you heading home?

Might I suggest skipping Olympic NP this trip? It's kind of out of the way and adds time to get there. Plus, unless you want to spend big bucks on a ferry, you have to go south through Tacoma to get around the southern part of the Puget Sound.

How about this route:
I-5 north to William and west on CA 20 to US 101. Follow US 101 north through the Redwoods and up the Oregon coast as far as you have time for. I don't know whether this works for your motorcycles, but Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area along the coast has an OHV area: Link.

You can cut back to I-5 to get to Eugene or head further north to US 26 back to Portland where you can spend a day or two exploring the Columbia River Gorge. Or head all the way north on US 101 to Astoria where you can catch US 30 to WA 432 to I-5.

I might plan a day to head over to Mt. St. Helens. Interesting to see how the vegetation has regrown but yet the destruction is still quite evident closing in on 20 years later. Then north to Mt Rainier where there are plenty of hiking trails to spend a lot of time.

If you are still wanting to do Olympic NP, there are a couple of options. Head west on US 12 to US 101 north (Compared to what you'll see along the OR coast, I don't think the southern WA coast along US 101 is as spectacular). Then you can take US 101 all the way around the peninsula. TBH, for a lot of this trip, you'll just be in forest with only a few places where you'll be near the ocean. But the rainforest on the western end of the park is pretty interesting.

Another option for Olympic NP is to head west on WA 16 from the Tacoma area to US 101 up to the Port Angeles area. You can visit Hurricane Ridge and the Elwha area (hike up to Olympic Hot Springs) from there, plus if you have an extra day, take the fast ferry from Port Angeles over to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Plenty to see just walking around town then returning in the evening. Or get a motel for an overnight stay. (Hauling RV's via ferry isn't cheap).

I-90 is the quicker way heading back east, but WA 20 through the Cascades is more scenic (although I don't know what the recent forest fires did to the area).

Now if riding is more what you're looking for rather than coastal scenery, you might find that heading north on I 5 and visiting Lassen NP, Lava Beds NM interesting caves to explore), Crater Lake and then into Bend might give you more riding opportunities. There's more open BLM and NFS land in that area.

[cbigham]

Gonna be about 3 weeks give or take. My fly the kid and wife back. Wed do counterclockwise but as of now the nephew will be home early on. Cant guarantee later. He's out of Ft Lewis. (Place brings back memories!)

[4runnerguy]

I can't see where anybody has suggested this, but I'd reverse the order of your trip and head directly to Sandpoint first via an inland route. If you head south along the WA and OR coast on your return, you're on the ocean side of the road and it's easier to pull into scenic overlooks.

For the quickest route out, I'd suggest I-5 north to US 97 with a stop at Crater Lake and then continue up through Bend (lots to see and do around there) to I-84 to I-82 to US 395 to I-90 to US 95 to Sandpoint.

Returning from Olymipic NP, I'd try to get a visit to Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens before heading to the OR coast and south. One can spend a lot of time along the OR coast and there are amazing SP CG's along the way (although you may be a little late in getting reservations at many of them for this summer). Depending on your timing, you can get as far south as the redwoods and pick your route south from there, either more time along the coast or heading inland to I-5 for a quicker route home.

I don't know how much time you are alloting for this, but I'd say three weeks minimum if you want a fly-by tour of your proposed route. If we had a better idea of how much time you have and what time of year you are going, we could give a lot better recommendations.

[ppine]

Thanks for the heads up about Oly NP. The National Park Service is finally wising up and realizing that their Protection Doctrine creates major problems over time. I never thought as a forester, that I would live to see the day the NPS ever did any logging in their parks.

[dave54]

Tom/Barb wrote:
...
As far as logging in the parks? go to Google maps and see the Olympic park, enlarge it you will see there is plenty logging going on in the park. not as much as the private and state DNR lands close by but still it is continually happening.

When roads are being improved, parking lot or campgrounds expanded, Hazardous trees in public areas are felled, or other improvements to the National Park take place, only the trees necessary for the project are removed. If the trees have commercial value they are sold to the highest bidder, and the taxpayers (Treasury) get at least some of the project costs back. This is good sound use of the resources and no reasonable person objects. It would be wasteful and poor public stewardship to just burn the trees or haul to a landfill.
Many of the National Parks have National Forests or private timberlands directly adjacent to the National Park boundary, and timber harvesting can take place right up to the property line. Many people still do not understand the difference between a National Park and a National Forest, and the boundary is often not clear on the ground to a lay person (and usually impossible to determine from Google Earth without a boundary overlay, and I have noticed in some areas Google has it marked wrong). So people look at Google Earth and see the harvest units in the vicinity of a National Park and think the Park is being logged. It is not. National Parks do not have commercial timber harvest except as supporting other Park activities. The National Forests harvest timber, as that is one of the reasons the National Forests were created in the first place.

[Tom_Barb]

ppine wrote:
The US Forest Service roads on National Forests are federally owned. They all are numbered in theory, but you can't always find them marked. State owned lands are managed by the WA State Dept of Natural Resources (DNR). Not sure where you are getting this idea about all the state land being leased to tree farms.

Timber sales take place on Nat Forest lands. Private logging companies bid for stumpage (forest trees on the stump). They are responsible for building and improving roads on Nat Forests which get numbers and become part of the USFS road system.

There is rarely logging in parks. This fall I saw the unbelievable loaded log trucks driving across Yosemite NP.

but you can't always find them marked,
that is correct, vandals do their thing.

State owned lands are managed by the WA State Dept of Natural Resources (DNR)
This is also correct, DNR is who we rent the land from.

As far as logging in the parks? go to Google maps and see the Olympic park, enlarge it you will see there is plenty logging going on in the park. not as much as the private and state DNR lands close by but still it is continually happening.

[goducks10]

What month are you going.

[ppine]

The US Forest Service roads on National Forests are federally owned. They all are numbered in theory, but you can't always find them marked. State owned lands are managed by the WA State Dept of Natural Resources (DNR). Not sure where you are getting this idea about all the state land being leased to tree farms.

Timber sales take place on Nat Forest lands. Private logging companies bid for stumpage (forest trees on the stump). They are responsible for building and improving roads on Nat Forests which get numbers and become part of the USFS road system.

There is rarely logging in parks. This fall I saw the unbelievable loaded log trucks driving across Yosemite NP.

[Tom_Barb]

A note about crossing the north Cascades Highway, going East your last good rest area is Newhalem. watch for it on the left as you enter town. It's just a pull out area, no hookups.

There is a camp grounds at Colonial Creek. no hookups.


then it's 87 miles to Winthrop.

[Tom_Barb]

profdant139 wrote:
Tom and Barb, just for future reference, are the logging roads marked on the forest service Motor Vehicle Use Maps? Or are the "camping friendly" roads marked in a different way?

Thanks for clearing this up!

All the State forest service roads have a NUMBER posted, those that don't have other uses.
May be some ones drive way, may be a private logging road, Ya just never know?

99% of the state owned land is on a lease to a tree farmers. their roads are gated. You'll not find any tree farms in the parks, timber sales in the park, are let to the highest bidder, on sealed bid sales. Loggers make the UN numbered roads in the park.

[profdant139]

Tom and Barb, just for future reference, are the logging roads marked on the forest service Motor Vehicle Use Maps? Or are the "camping friendly" roads marked in a different way?

Thanks for clearing this up!

[Durb]

Hope you are budgeting a lot of time for your trip. There is a lot of beautiful country up here and it is widely spaced. I like Silver Falls State park for a day. It isn't too far off of I5 out of Salem.