Buffalo, NY to Seattle and back suggestions

[aka4170]

Hello! You all give great advice so I thought to ask for this years summer trip. We have 6 weeks traveling in a 35 foot travel trailer with two teenage daughters, a cat and dog. Every summer we travel for about 6 weeks around the USA. This trip will earn us visiting 47 states.

Leaving last week of June (we are teachers). Looking for campground suggestions at these spots (we need at least electric and water hookup. Dump for more than 3-4 nights), recommended nights at each and must sees there or along the way: (we like our National Parks and historical sites. We like off the beaten ways but if a major city is a must, we will visit it for a few hours). Our route will be drive straight out two days from Buffalo, NY to Teddy Roosevelt to ensure enough time to see all out west:

1. Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota (both entrances)
2. Glacier National Park
3. Possibly North Cascades National Park
4. Olympic National Park
5. Mt. Rainer National Park
6. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
7. (I want to go, hubby not too excited thinks it is too far south) Redwood National Park in California
8. Crater Lake National Park
Now headed back East....
9. Craters of the Moon National Monument (is it worth the visit?)
10. Grand Teton National Park (we already did Yellowstone in 2012)

After this...suggestions to get back to Buffalo, NY??

Any tips are greatly appreciated. Just starting to plan.

THANK YOU!!!

[vermilye]

Craters of the moon has a dry campground. That said, it is a great place to see the night sky.

[bigred1cav]

Take loads of money. The ferries are expensive and if you put your RV on you will pass out at the costs.

[Roy_Lynne]

If I was going to skip anything it would be Mt Rainer and Mt Saint Helens. I live at their base and believe me, they are just mountains, one with a hole. Id take Hwy 2 across and stop at Glacier. Then I'd bypass Seattle and go to Whidbey Island. If you can get reservations at Deception Pass you would really love it. I'd take the ferry to Port Townsend, staying at Fort Flagler. If time and if you have a passport or enhanced drivers licence, take a ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria for the day. Its a great place to walk around and enjoy. My next stop would be the Hoh Rain Forest and hike the trails into the Olympic heart. If you have an interest in history, check out the Lewis and Clark exhibits on either side of the Columbia River in WA and OR, staying both at Cape Disappointment and Fort Stevens State Park. Go down the Oregon Coast, Cannon Beach is a real tourist hole, but probably worth the stop and any of the State Parks are worth staying at. When you get to Tillamook, Or stop at the creamery and have a double deck ice cream cone in a chocolate dipped waffle cone. LOL. At this point, I'd go east on Hwy 6 to McMinnville, Or and would check out the Air Museum and Spruce Goose and I'm not even interested in planes, but it was a great stop and we all enjoyed it. From there I'd head to Crater Lake, and then northeast to John Day Fossil Beds and the Kam Wah Chung State Historic site. Its another hidden gem.
As you see, I've also skipped the Redwoods and you could skip McMinnville, and do the Redwoods and then Crater Lake. Happy travels.

[aka4170]

martinto wrote:
We used RVParky.com: Set up our routes to desired stops along the way. Generally called a day ahead to CG’s that were in our path. The site shows all the CG’s in your selected area. All the reviews are on the RVP site. In 7 week between SC and WA, we only hit one CG that was below our expectations. Safe travels.

Thank you for sharing about RVParky.com. after all of this traveling, we never heard of it. I have using it to help plan this trip along with RV Park reviews. THANK YOU!!!!

[linnemj]

I would skip Craters of the Moon National Park. If you haven’t been to Custer State Park it was one of our favorites. Happy Travels!

[docsouce]

We made a similar trip last year. We ran west on Canada 17 to Sault St Marie then US Route 2 west. On RT 2 and east of Glacier NP 2 parks stand out. Indian Hills Resort in Garrison ND. Is a beautiful state park on Lake Sakakawea. Next up is the Downstream Campgrounds a COE campground in Fort Peck Montana. Has a great museum, right next to the dam. We stayed on the east side of Glacier NP at the St Mary KOA because they have pet sitting and car rentals, which we wanted. Less crowded and right next to the NP entrance. We avoided Seattle. Worked our way to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge then on to US 101. If you able try to stay at the Cape Blanco State park on Rt 101 in Oregon. BEAUTIFUL beach and lighthouse.
Heading east we really enjoyed the Craters of the Moon. Didn't expect what we saw. There are camp sites there but we stayed in Arco at the Mountain View RV Camp. They serve a great BBQ!!!! If it's not to far off your route Keep in mind Devils Tower in Wyoming. A special place.
The trip your planning is exciting, I found that multiple long travel days need multiple days to recover from. Just a personal observation.

[Thom02099]

A previous poster suggested leaving your fur friends at home. That's a good suggestion. I know being separated for 6 weeks could be an ordeal for your family as well as the pup and kitty. And the kitty would probably be ok with being alone in the trailer while you're touring around. However, your doggie will limit where you can go and what you can see. The National Parks are not dog friendly. In most, they are not allowed on any trails, and are usually limited to parking lots on a 6 foot leash. As the past human to 2 wonderful Weimaraners, we had to plan on staying and hiking in USFS areas rather than NPs, which impacts touring plans. IF you can find a private CG or RV Park that has pet sitting, in the areas you'll explore, that would be a wonderful alternative...IF you can find them.

[jamesu]

A good stopover for a night or two in Western Montana: Jim & Mary’s Campground in Missoula. Very clean. Lots of good, long pull throughs. Very clean, functional Laundromat plus beautiful flower displays throughout park. On the West edge of Missoula at the turnoff to Kalispell right off I-90. We always stay there to rest up when heading east or west.

Campgrounds on US-12 in the heart of Mts. Rainier/Adams/St. Helens: my advice is google Campgrounds in and around Randle and Packwood, WA. We stay at Maple Grove Campground in Randle, but we are KM members...you might give them a call and see what they say. Maple Grove RV Pk is a clean, centrally located campground to those 3 mountains. You need 4-5 days in this vicinity to do it justice.

Some excellent WA State Pks east of the Cascades, google: Riverside SP in Spokane, Sun Lakes SP near Coulee City, Lake Chelan SP, Pearrygin Lake SP near Winthrop, Confluence SP and Lincoln Rock SP which are each in/near Wenatchee. West of the Cascades and north of Seattle and on Whodbey Island: Deception Pass SP, Ft. Ebey SP, Ft. Casey SP. Camano Island SP on Camano Island which is next to Whidbey Is. On the Olympic Peninsula a short ferry ride away and at or near Pt. Townsend, WA: Ft. Worden SP and Ft. Flagler SP. Arriving in Pt. Townsend gets you on the route to Hurricane Ridge and rest of Olympic NP. This Peninsula is worth a good week all by itself.

You gave your destination as Seattle. No doubt you will want to visit it to be to say, “We’ve been there”, but I recommend you plan way more time seeing nature away from the congested I-5 corridor, which is roughly the 100 mile stretch from Olympia to Smokey Point north of Everett. You will waste lots of time in LA-style traffic.

I am a teacher (retired) who loves to research also. The above will get you started on your planning of this trip to the NW corner of the USA. You will no doubt get lots more info from others along your route. I envy you as I find that the Anticipatory Stage of a trip can be more fun than the Participatory Stage of a trip. You’re planning a humongous trip with smalll sample bites along the way...you will find plenty of places you want to return to after you retire. Have fun.

[Fred_n_Jo]

BarabooBob has the right route for the trip from Buffalo to Medora, ND. Still, it is a 1500 mile trip and for a 50 mph average RV speed that is 30 hours of driving. We have found in our 20 years in an RV that with stops for fuel, food, stretch breaks, and then slow downs for road construction and traffic jams 50 mph is a good overall average.

In Medora we stayed at the Medora Campground and it was very nice. From there we took a day trip to the northern part of the TR national park for a drive through.

Don't miss the Medora Musical outdoor theater show and the pitchfork steak fondue dinner just before the show.

[Busskipper]

aka4170 wrote:
Hello! You all give great advice so I thought to ask for this years summer trip. We have 6 weeks traveling in a 35 foot travel trailer with two teenage daughters, a cat and dog. Every summer we travel for about 6 weeks around the USA. This trip will earn us visiting 47 states.

Leaving last week of June (we are teachers). Looking for campground suggestions at these spots (we need at least electric and water hookup. Dump for more than 3-4 nights), recommended nights at each and must sees there or along the way: (we like our National Parks and historical sites. We like off the beaten ways but if a major city is a must, we will visit it for a few hours). Our route will be drive straight out two days from Buffalo, NY to Teddy Roosevelt to ensure enough time to see all out west:

1. Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota (both entrances)
Images
2. Glacier National Park
IMHO this and Olympic NP will be the Main Stops
3. Possibly North Cascades National Park
Would be a Crime to Miss, even if just fo the drive through - Beautiful!
4. Olympic National Park
Ocean and Big Trees - Eagles and just Amazing,
5. Mt. Rainier National Park
Is, and looks big as it rises from almost sea level.
6. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
Reminds you How Powerful Nature IS.
7. (I want to go, hubby not too excited thinks it is too far south) Redwood National Park in California
GO!
8. Crater Lake National Park
Now you are close thanks to Redwoods NP:)
Now headed back East....
9. Craters of the Moon National Monument (is it worth the visit?)
Sure it and soooooo... much more along the way home.
10. Grand Teton National Park (we already did Yellowstone in 2012)
Need to stop and let the Girls Shop in Jackson.
After this...suggestions to get back to Buffalo, NY??

Any tips are greatly appreciated. Just starting to plan.

THANK YOU!!!

BIG TRIP

Lot's of good info here.

Stan's Images across the country can suggest many more stops along the way.

Girls (with my DW two DIL's and 6 Granddaughters) almost feel as if I Know that we need to include a Mall or two along the way - 🙂 Mall of America might work, depends on Timing going out. Ski Resorts in the Rockies are always fun for the Girls.

Couple spots I often suggest that are along your Route - SLC - Flaming Gorge - Dinosaur NM - More Rockies if Possible - Floppy hats - Good Boots - Layers - (Often cooler and you will see some Rain) keep in mind late in the Season your plans may be altered with the Fires - Going to the Sun Road Opens LATE - sometimes as late as 4th of July - when in Tetons may as well exit through Cody and YNP just too much to see in even 10 trips - I could go on and ON........

Keep us updated and maybe even take this Post over to irv2.com

Best of Luck, this will be fun to follow 🙂

[rhagfo]

donn0128 wrote:
Thats an awful lot of driving to only see the highlights. Heck, you could spend 6 weeks on Oregon alone and not see everything.

X2!
The Oregon Coast is a must see!

[rhagfo]

dennis1 wrote:
Mt Rainier NP no Full hookup within the park. White River campground in Mt Rainier NP opens late June. Crater lake NP opens late August or somewhere about there. Need to check. May need to check North Cascade NP ALSO.

There is a great little private RV park just outside the Nisqually entrance to Mt. Rainer called Mount Haven, Mount Haven

[BarabooBob]

Crater Lake was open in early June when I was there 3 years ago.

If I was taking this trip, I would take the route that goes through upper Michigan. You avoid Chicago entirely with its crazy traffic and tolls. I went from Buffalo through Ontario, crossed into the US at Sarnia. Traffic was not bad at all and we waited about 1/2 hour to get through customs. Just remember that you will not be allowed to take any firearms into Canada. I didn't even have to purchase any of the high priced Canadian gas because it is only about 210 miles from NY to Michigan. Crossing Mackinac Bridge was very scenic. If winds are high, you may have to cross the bridge in a convoy at 10mph led by a bridge safety vehicle.
I love going across this northern part of the country. The people are extremely friendly. the past of life is lower.
If your family travels well, they will not have a problem. I would aim for getting to Theo Roos NP on the third day at around noon.

[bikendan]

aka4170 wrote:

bikendan wrote:
Most of the national parks you've mentioned, have no hookups. So you'll have to stay in private parks.
North Cascades is mainly a hiking region and has very few campgrounds for RVs.
You'll need reservations for any of the Washington and Oregon campgrounds.

Thank you. have you camped at any campgrounds around that you would recommend?

when we camp at these places, we dry camp. only park, that we've been to, that has a campground with hookups, is in Grand Tetons, Colter Bay RV campground.