A month in the great northwest. What would you do?

[Denchiro]

I am taking the wife in our new Tiffin Allegro Open Road 36' from north Texas upwards toward Canada. We have a month. I'm thinking various spots in Colorado, Tetons/Yellowstone, Glacier and possibly Oregon and Washington. Want to stop and smell the roses along the way and not wear ourselves out. What do experienced travellers consider the must-sees? We love getting as close to nature as a 36' RV will allow and are not averse to dry camping. A little trout fishing is a serious consideration. Love national and state parks. Hate crowded RV/mobile home parks.

[bikendan]

Sept. will be a great time to go. that's when we camp, to miss all the crowds and the weather is still great out West.

i agree about going one way there and return the other way.
i suggest doing the northern route to Seattle, first.
then return back the coastal route south.

[Lauren]

4runner guy makes good point about the 101 - north to south if possible.

[4runnerguy]

Denchiro wrote:
The more I think about this trip the fewer stops I see along the way. The ultimate destination is Seattle. Do we go up throught CO,WY,MT to Glacier and over to WA or do we take the southern route to CA, up the Oregon coast and then to WA?

How about up one way and back the other? However you go, it will be a somewhat rushed trip. Even by going the most direct route and skipping all the NP's along the way, your one way mileage is ~1800 miles. That's four days of hard travel each way for most of us. Once you get on the US highways leading to the NP's, travel is quite a bit slower.

Is Glacier an ultimate destination or can you skip it? It's quite a bit further north than Yellowstone. I'd pick one or the other.

You could head to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons with a few days stop in RMNP if that's a destination you're interested in. After four or five days in YNP (barely enough time to smell the roses), head up to I-90 and over to Seattle.

On the return trip, I'd head south on I-5 to Longview (Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens are just east of the highway if you're interested), US 30 to the coast, and US 101 south until you run out of time and have to return home. This will put you on the west side of US 101 for the best views and easiest access to the viewpoints along the highway. Plenty of great SP's all along the coast. At some point, you'll head inland to I-5 then south to I-40 for the quickest route home.

[Lauren]

Kinda like ---- is the glass half full or half empty! 🙂

Both are spectacular - and very different. Having been to both several times I would be tough to suggest. You cannot regret going either way.

Good luck on your decision making!

[Denchiro]

The more I think about this trip the fewer stops I see along the way. The ultimate destination is Seattle. Do we go up throught CO,WY,MT to Glacier and over to WA or do we take the southern route to CA, up the Oregon coast and then to WA?

[2gypsies1]

Busskiper - what a great way of putting it!! So often folks plan a long trip and others say it can't be done. We, too, think it's better to skim the top rather than not see these beautiful places at all. One can always go back for more. Some folks have only a 2-week vacation and are told you can't do it. I'm sure this bursts the bubble for many people. If there are children involved in the long trips, than no, rethink the trip. But if adults enjoy driving then go for it!

[profdant139]

Wow -- September in the Cascades. This is wild mountain blueberry season, with Mt. Shuksan in the background:



Unbelievably delicious berries. But be careful not to eat too many at one sitting. Don't ask me how I know this.

[Busskipper]

Denchiro,

Just from the nature of your post I ‘ll take a wild guess and say this might be one of your first real trips in the Coach? We have a couple of things that I think we all know – just you and the DW – Going in September – Heading to Port Angeles (Olympic Peninsula, WA) -- Last you are realizing that the original assumption of a vacation up and leisurely trip back might be out of the question in only 30 days. 4runnerguy is right about not trying to do too much, but when we travel we always try to make the trip to and from the destination as much fun and as informative as possible. So let me make a couple of suggestions.

First, one of the saying about RV’ing is that the Coach is good for SIX for Drinks – FOUR for Dinner and Sleeps TWO. Another RULE is the 230 rule -- try to drive no more than 230 miles each day and always try to stop by 2:30 in the afternoon. I have been doing this RV thing for almost 50 years and it has taken until just recently to understand that these two rules or saying have a lot of wisdom packed into them. (In my case we often leave a little later so we drive a little later but unless we are driving to see the Granddaughters we seldom drive the Coach more than 300 miles on any day.

OK that will give you an Idea where I stand in the travel part of this – let me say that a few of the places you mentioned in the original post might be impossible to truly VISIT in your time frame but who said you could not drive through and at least scope them out for a future trip. Going in September is great it will allow you to drive through many of these areas after the summer crowds have left – understand I said summer crowds – now you will be only seeing the September crowds -- which in some spots are substantial. Also keep in mind that the time of the week is critical – weekends, if the weather is good will still have some big crowds.

So I did a Bing Map on your trip and just going straight it is something like 17-18 hundred miles if we add some flavor to the trip we might only bump it up say 600 miles – two days with just a little fudge factor to the 230 rule. Take your map and place these points on it – Golden, CO – Estes, CO – RMNP and Trail Ridge (Coach is only 36’ – He can make it) – Dinosaur NM – Flaming Gorge Marina CG, WY – Jackson Hole, WY – Grand Tetons NP -- YNP – West side GNP – Port Angeles. WA.

The good is that you will SEE a lot, the BAD is you will only have time to SEE IT not touch it or even get to know it – but trust me if you see it you will COME BACK. Now with my calculations you will take 10 days to get to your destination, if you follow the 230 rule you will arrive relaxed and will have so much to talk about when you arrive at your friend’s house they will feed you and provide you with all the libations possible just to try to slow you down. You will have probably 2,000 pictures and stories that will last till you get back.
Now for the next problem – you can only stay with your friends a few days (get them to drive, while you talk to the Olympic Peninsula and The Cascades, no matter how long they have been there, they have not seen these two areas enough) and you will need to add a couple more weeks to your trip time – Going down the Coast of California will take a while especially with all the side trips and the “Vacation” part of your trip. IMHO nothing beats the Pacific Coast – the added bonus is SUNSETS, so it is hard to get inland to the NP’s but at least you can start in Redwoods NP so again you will need to leave the Coast to get to Shasta – Lake Tahoe – YNP – Kings Canyon – Sequoia then to the GCNP and then a dash home.

Tried to make this simple but the truth is some people have been going to these places for years and they still have not seen them enough. I know I’d go back to any, and all more than once.

Just thought I’d give you a different perspective – maybe you can modify it and get back to the group for approval.

BOL,

[Denchiro]

It's looking like September is the time we will have available. I know that most Nat'l parks are open year round weather permitting. I have found that that some are not as well as state parks. I'm sure the crowds are a lot less. So what will Sept be like this year hmmmm....

[bikendan]

it would help if you posted what month you're planning to go.

[profdant139]

Yosemite in the summer can be a zoo (and hot). I prefer Sequoia -- higher, cooler, quieter.

[Lauren]

We live south of Tucson and have done the route to Cannon Beach several times and plan to do it again - God willing - in 2015. Route takes you close to the desired South Rim of the Grand Canyon and up the 395. Have done the northern CA once in RV - couple of times more in car - and it is beautiful....can be tough to get to though. Will leave that up to others.

[Denchiro]

Thank you all for your sage advice. I have come to the same conclusion that a giant loop would leave us worn out and un-relaxed. Across to CA and up to Washington with stops at various places such as Grand Canyon, Sequoia, Yosemite, Redwoods, up the Oregon coast, on to Seattle to see friends and the Olympic Peninsula. Recommendations along this route?

[1stgenfarmboy]

Mount Rainier...my favorite spot ever, with Yosemite a close 2nd, the Columbia river valley is something to behold, the rain forests of Olympic N.P. are a must while your that close.