Help us plan our trip - Washington State and Idaho

[alesis]

After another post I started, the great members here gave me great info to make our trip the best it can be and this caused our trip to change. That said, this post is updated with our new location plans.

I'm looking for suggestions on campgrounds to stay at, and activities that are "must do" while there.

We are traveling from Michigan to Washington State, and will stop for a few nights in Idaho on our way home. Our current plan is 4 days travel to Washington, 6 nights there, then 3 nights in/near Stanley, Idaho, and then travel home.

We love scenic drives, hiking, swimming, awesome scenery, adventurous stuff, along w typical tourist traps like aquariums and such. Kids are 7, 11 and 13. Full hookup CGs are a must.

In Washington, we want to hit Olympic, North Cascades and Mt Ranier NPs. Also a day trip to Seattle. Looking for a campground that is central to all of these areas to allow for day trips. If drive times are over about 1 1/2 hours to get to all the NPs from 1 CG, we're open to staying at 2 different CGs in Washington.

In Stanley we'll just be doing day trips around the area, so we're looking for a good base camp CG there too.

Any help is truly appreciated!

[clikrf8]

alesis wrote:
Ok guys, Seattle sounds like it's out according to you all. I got the wife to add another couple days to the trip, so I think we'll do 3 nights near Olympia, 3 near Rainier, 3 near North Cascades and 2 nights in Stanley, Idaho on the way home.
Doing Log Cabin CG for Olympia, Monthaven for Rainier and possibly the Winthrop KOA for North Cascades. Haven't looked in Stanley yet but it's a smaller area so I'm sure we'll find a nice one. I'll definitely be printing your suggestions for trip stops. Thanks a ton for all the help!

I am glad you are not eliminating the Stanley area. It is beautiful. Stanley Lake with Mt McGowan reflected is gorgeous. Highway 75 along the Salmon River is very scenic. If you do drive along 75, there is a cool ghost town named Bayhorse. The ranger gives a great little talk and it is a self-guided tour.

I haven't been to the Winthrop KOA but Pearrygin Lake State Park is on a lake and has full hook ups. Winthrop is kind of tourist oriented so we never stop but you may like the little shops. From Winthrop, Highway 20 gains altitude to two passes. There a a long switchback then it is grntly curving iirc. These is a nice short hike to Rainy Lake at Rainy Pass at 4855’.

[alesis]

Ok guys, Seattle sounds like it's out according to you all. I got the wife to add another couple days to the trip, so I think we'll do 3 nights near Olympia, 3 near Rainier, 3 near North Cascades and 2 nights in Stanley, Idaho on the way home.
Doing Log Cabin CG for Olympia, Monthaven for Rainier and possibly the Winthrop KOA for North Cascades. Haven't looked in Stanley yet but it's a smaller area so I'm sure we'll find a nice one. I'll definitely be printing your suggestions for trip stops. Thanks a ton for all the help!

[jamesu]

Lots of good advice here from the locals. My perspective is that there are way too many things to see and experience between Michigan and here. So many miles to travel and too many things to spread yourselves thin. My advice is to pick a couple of things in each state and zero in on them.

Don’t worry about Seattle. You will waste lots of valuable time fighting traffic, getting lost, and wishing you were somewhere else like Mt. Rainier, or the Olympic Peninsula, or North Cascades National Park, or the Long Beach Peninsula on the Ocean, or Grand Coulee Dam, or the Columbia Gorge, or the Palouse Hills and Palouse Falls, or the Wenatchee River Valley, or Riverside SP in Spokane, or following Lewis and Clark’s route through SE Washington and up the Columbia to Astoria, Oregon, etc. Any two or three from that list will give you good memories of your visit to the far Pacific NW. Those are a good sample anyway.

[travisc]

I live right in the middle of all of this and usually visit these places annually - what month are you looking at doing your trip in? (We are going to my Ranier Paradise sledding tomorrow) and live about 2 miles from Kent Koa it sucks - look at Kanasketnpalmer start Park about 60 min out of Seattle and they do have electrical sides and out in the country a bit

[Veebyes]

While the traffic around Seattle is no fun I suggest that it is overrated. We have been in the area a few times with the 5er. We apply the same MO to Seattle as any other city. Avoid transiting through during rush hours.

At any given time Seattle has nothing on the Washington DC Beltway at any time, Atlanta, anywhere near NY, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia or Hartford. Done them all. I'll take Seattle over all of them & some more.

For camping in the area we have used Saltwater State Park not far south of SeaTac. Tight interior roads & not many big rig sites but very doable.

[clikrf8]

You do not want to visit Seattle unless you like lots of people, traffic and booming construction. As a native i quit going years ago. You do not even want to drive throught it.

Take 20 through North Cascades. There are a few short hikes. Stop at the Visitor Center which has some nice displays. Stop at the Diablo overlook for a restroom break (vault toilets) and a great view. Then through Skagit Valkey farmlands through Sedro Wooley then follow 20 to the Coipevill-Pt Townsend ferry for a PNW experience (½ hour, reservations needed- arrive ½ hour early. Walk slong the beach while you wait. Then enjoy the Olympic National Park.PT is a Victorian era town with the architecture of the times. There are lots of places to visit in the ONP but be sure to get to the coast to see the Pacific Ocean.

[Durb]

From advice on this forum (maybe from rhagfo) we stayed at Mounthaven Resort and found it enjoyable with full hook ups. It is about a mile from the Nisqually entrance and is very convenient to the park. If the weather is overcast and rainy you may want to cross Ranier off your to-do list. Mounthaven is full shade and the mountain would lose its grandeur if it were shrouded in clouds.

[rhagfo]

Tom/Barb wrote:

alesis wrote:
We’re definitely planning on going to Mt St Helens while out there. And while at Ranier CG we’ll do a day trip to Seattle too (without camper).

When you say “flight see”, what do ya mean exactly?

Seattle is about a 3-4 hour drive from Rainier Park.


"Flight seeing" is going flying to see stuff.

FLIGHT SEEING

From the Nisqually entrance, looks more like 2 hours to downtown Seattle.

Map Quest

Strongly suggest Mount Haven RV park.

http://mounthaven.com/

[enblethen]

Hard to tell people how long it takes to get from point A to B here in Washington.
Travel times in Puget Sound areas varies o much by time of day and direction of travel.

[Tom_Barb]

alesis wrote:
We’re definitely planning on going to Mt St Helens while out there. And while at Ranier CG we’ll do a day trip to Seattle too (without camper).

When you say “flight see”, what do ya mean exactly?

Seattle is about a 3-4 hour drive from Rainier Park.


"Flight seeing" is going flying to see stuff.

FLIGHT SEEING

[alesis]

Tom/Barb wrote:

alesis wrote:
Your suggestions have been fantastic!

After all your info on travel, I've decided that we will find a CG near each of the 3 NPs in Washington to facilitate seeing each area. We have 9 nights total to spend. How many nights would you suggest for each location? 3 nights in each or a different combination? We may not visit Idaho at all if it doesn't make sense for this trip. Suggestions appreciated...you guys rock!

Just some suggestions :

Mount St. Hellens, is an hours (+) drive off I-5. I suggest you not take your trailer up there. parking at the center isn't that great on busy days.
The whole thing is the drive and the interpretive center. Most of the devastation area is coming back with trees larger than a big Christmas tree. and the weather is a big deal, if it ain't clear you won't see much.

Rainer National Park. unless you into hiking and remote camping there really isn't much to see. Roads thru the trees. more roads thru the trees. Paradise Wa. very large hotel catering to those who hike, didn't leave a great impression on us, but the view of the mountain, awesome! shouldn't require more than one day.

Let us know if you'd like to do a flight see, we can make that happen for ya.

We’re definitely planning on going to Mt St Helens while out there. And while at Ranier CG we’ll do a day trip to Seattle too (without camper).

When you say “flight see”, what do ya mean exactly?

[Tom_Barb]

alesis wrote:
Your suggestions have been fantastic!

After all your info on travel, I've decided that we will find a CG near each of the 3 NPs in Washington to facilitate seeing each area. We have 9 nights total to spend. How many nights would you suggest for each location? 3 nights in each or a different combination? We may not visit Idaho at all if it doesn't make sense for this trip. Suggestions appreciated...you guys rock!

Just some suggestions :

Mount St. Hellens, is an hours (+) drive off I-5. I suggest you not take your trailer up there. parking at the center isn't that great on busy days.
The whole thing is the drive and the interpretive center. Most of the devastation area is coming back with trees larger than a big Christmas tree. and the weather is a big deal, if it ain't clear you won't see much.

Rainer National Park. unless you into hiking and remote camping there really isn't much to see. Roads thru the trees. more roads thru the trees. Paradise Wa. very large hotel catering to those who hike, didn't leave a great impression on us, but the view of the mountain, awesome! shouldn't require more than one day.

Let us know if you'd like to do a flight see, we can make that happen for ya.

[alesis]

Your suggestions have been fantastic!

After all your info on travel, I've decided that we will find a CG near each of the 3 NPs in Washington to facilitate seeing each area. We have 9 nights total to spend. How many nights would you suggest for each location? 3 nights in each or a different combination? We may not visit Idaho at all if it doesn't make sense for this trip. Suggestions appreciated...you guys rock!

[hotpepperkid]

AmasaJulie wrote:
Trying to give you suggestions about places to stay on your way thru Washington. Lots of people balk at staying at KOAs, but the ones I mention here we had good experiences with!

We made a trip to WA from WI a couple of years ago. We spent one nite at a nice KOA north of Spokane and visited a cool Ukrainian deli in Soap Lake for lunch. Stop at Lake Lenore Caves after visiting Grand Coulee, short fun scenic hike, no need to unhook. We did another KOA in Ellensburg and visited Roslyn where Northern Exposure was filmed. We also went down to Astoria, Oregon via Mt Rainier and Mt St Helens, both worth it.

While your experiences have been good with KOA I was never a big fan of KOA's Im less of a fan as we stayed in several this last summer. I will avoid them as much as I can