Favorite Road trips in the NW

[mtflat]

My wife and I returned from a quick rainy trip to the coast Apr 19-25.

Spent a night at the Coeur d'Alene. Nice!

Then took the two lane blacktop on the north side of the Columbia gorge - rte 14 I think. Beautiful scenery and more relaxed trip than the Interstate on the south side (sorry OR)

Drove up to Mt. St. Helens but the clouds there look just like the ones here in Glacier Park. Weyerhauser has done a great job of replanting the devastated areas.

Then down thru Astoria and spent a couple of days in Seaside.

Stopped at the Tillamook Air Museum in the old blimp hanger. Absolutely amazing building. 300x700 - covers 7 acres and is just a huge wood truss quanset hut. Saw one of my favorite WWII planes - a P38 Lightning. Lovely lady! A guide there told me a story about a visitor from Germany who walked up to the 38 and reverently laid his hand on the stabilizer. He told the guide that in WWII he was manning an AA battery along a railroad when a P38 came in on a straffing run. Said he got two shots off as it approached, then he ducked for cover. Rising to shoot as it was going away, he found nothing left of the AA. It disintegrated under the fire power of the .50's and 20MM cannon.

Worked our way on down hwy 101 as far as Florence before we ran out of time and had to start back. My wife loves lighthouses so our last morning there we took in the Heceda Head lighthouse.

On the east side of OR we spent a night in Pendleton before heading up rte 11to Walla Walla and rte 12 up the Lochsa drainage into Montana via Lolo pass. Beautiful drive. I would like see more of Orofino sometime.

Didn't start out with a focus on Lewis and Clark's journey but ended up in many of the same places the Corp of Discovery traveled. Bought a couple of books that focus on the trail between the rivers.

 

[BKW]

Sequim to Neah Bay-Olympic Peninsula.

Following the Columbia River-Astoria to The Dallas / Fort Clatsop / Totem Pole / Astoria Maritime Museum.

Ferry from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island to Anacortes.

A must see: Antique Shops in Snohomish / Pioneer Square / "Doing the Puyallup" / Aircaft tour over Mt. St. Helens.

btw: I have not been east of the Cascades-WA.

 

[jebadiah04]

I think about the best road trip you can do is the "going-to-the-sun" road in Glacier NP. Starting off in glacier itself, its only a day trip over GTTS road and back, but its a very sweet drive. I suggest making it a morning over, and an evening back. To avoid heavy traffic. The road itself is cropped out on the side of some big ass cliffs for miles, which you finally cross over the continental devide. From there you can go up to many glacier and see the HUGE log lodges, open to the public of coarse, and catch up on tons of history.

 

[F One Fifty]

I'll agree with jeb, up there. When I read the thread title, I figgered, if they haven't done the Going to the Sun drive, stopping along the way at the many beautiful spots along McDonald Creek... they haven't had a good trip. Well... that's not entirely true..but I do love Glacier.

Mid July we have a car show here in Kalispell. Gets bigger every year it seems. There's a lotta hotrods taking that same drive, that week. Would be cool to have a coffee social at the top of the summit. Pose with a few mountain goats ( unless Ms Ranger is there), go walk in the snow and watch it turn pink. Take lotsa pictures. The usual schmeer.

I hope to get up there this spring as soon as the roads open... they're still plowing out Going to the Sun. Lotta snow this year and ought to be still around in early July, I'd guess.

If I get up there, I'll try to post some pics of the "Big Drift" that you drive through the middle of, starting down the east side of the divide.

 

[polarbear]

Agree on the Columbia River, but the real deal is to get off of I-84 after Troutdale and take the old road ("scenic hwy") up to Crown Point and back down again. View from Crown Point is one of those one-in-a-million varieties. Lots of hiking possiblities on the way down, and the drive ends at Multnomah Falls- another charmer.

For a coast run from Portland, we like to take Hwy 26 west to Hwy 6 (Wilson river Hwy) to Tillamook. Outside of the beautiful scenery and very entertaining back road, there's some unique fishing, camping, and hiking opportunities. After Tillamook, we go straight through town toward Cape Mears, then head south towards Netarts => Cape Lookout=> Sand Lake=> Pacific City. This stretch of road has it all- expansive Pacific views, wildlife, beaches, dunes... pick your pleasure, it's there. It's also, for the most part, not over run with tourists outside of July/August (translated, private).

Another favorite run is Hwy 26 East out of Portland through Sandy, around Mt. Hood, then onto Hwy 35 towards Hood River. A favorite of ours in the late summer, since we'll cruise the orchards coming into Hood River for fresh apples and pears. Return drive is I-84 through the tail end of the Gorge.

Speaking of the Gorge- if time isn't an issue, going the Washington side on Hwy 14 affords some spectacular views on a two lane road.

 

[1970Custom]

I personally love the drive from my place up to McCall and Cascade, only a couple of hours each way and great views...