The Great American Road Trip Challenge~4.5 years · 48 states · one loop
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Leg 9 · Summer

The Pacific Northwest

Volcano, evergreens, rain

The Pacific Northwest

Tap a pin to open that stop's first day · numbers follow the driving order

Up through Oregon and Washington: Ashland and Crater Lake, Bend's high desert, the Columbia Gorge and Mount Hood, Portland, Salem, and the Oregon Coast; then Washington's volcanoes at St. Helens and Rainier, the capital at Olympia, the Olympic Peninsula's rainforest and wild coast, Seattle, the San Juan Islands, a Vancouver and North Cascades detour, and the Bavarian village and wine country of the eastern slope.

Evergreen and rain-grey

Time it right

Time the Northwest for summer, when the mountain roads are open and the weather is at its driest — Crater Lake's Rim Drive, Rainier's Paradise meadows in bloom, the North Cascades Highway, and the ferries all at their best. Bring a passport for the Vancouver detour.

17

Stops

48

Days

45

Things to do

2

States

Jump to a day

Stops, in order

  1. Stop 1AshlandAshland, ORDays 469–470

    A cultured little town just over the California line, famous for its long-running Shakespeare Festival and a lovely creekside park.

  2. Stop 2Crater Lake National ParkCrater Lake National Park, ORDays 471–472

    An impossibly blue lake filling the caldera of a collapsed volcano — the deepest lake in the United States.

  3. Stop 3Bend & Central OregonBend & Central Oregon, ORDays 473–474

    High-desert playground of the Cascades — a legendary craft-beer scene, a river through downtown, and volcanic landscapes and climbing rock all around.

  4. Stop 4Mount Hood & the Columbia GorgeMount Hood & the Columbia Gorge, ORDays 475–476

    Oregon's glacier-capped high point and the waterfall-laced river gorge below it — including the tallest falls in the state.

  5. Stop 6SalemSalem, ORDays 482–483

    Oregon's capital in the heart of Willamette Valley wine country, with a glorious ten-waterfall park just east.

  6. Stop 7The Oregon CoastThe Oregon Coast, ORDays 484–486

    One of the great drives in America — Highway 101 past sea stacks, lighthouses, tide pools, an aquarium, and 40 miles of towering sand dunes.

  7. Stop 8AstoriaAstoria, ORDays 487–488

    The oldest American settlement west of the Rockies, at the mouth of the Columbia — a hilltop column, Lewis and Clark's winter fort, and 'Goonies' nostalgia.

  8. Stop 9Mount St. HelensMount St. Helens, WADays 489–490

    The volcano that blew its top in 1980 — a still-recovering blast zone with a gaping crater and a superb ridge-top observatory.

  9. Stop 10Mount Rainier National ParkMount Rainier National Park, WADays 491–493

    The glaciated 14,411-ft giant that looms over Seattle — wildflower meadows at Paradise and high alpine views at Sunrise.

  10. Stop 11OlympiaOlympia, WADays 494–495

    Washington's capital at the southern tip of Puget Sound — a grand domed statehouse and an easygoing waterfront.

  11. Stop 12Olympic National ParkOlympic National Park, WADays 496–499

    Three parks in one — glaciated peaks, a moss-draped rainforest, and a wild Pacific coast of sea stacks and tide pools.

  12. Stop 14San Juan IslandsSan Juan Islands, WADays 506–508

    An emerald archipelago reached by ferry — orca waters, a mountaintop with a 360° view, and slow, salt-air island life.

  13. Stop 15North Cascades & Vancouver, BCNorth Cascades & Vancouver, BC, WADays 509–512

    A Canadian city detour and the 'American Alps' — Vancouver's parks and markets, then the jagged, glacier-hung peaks and turquoise lakes of North Cascades.

  14. Stop 16LeavenworthLeavenworth, WADays 513–514

    A former timber town remade as a Bavarian village in the Cascade foothills — alpine kitsch, river play, and the trailhead to the storied Enchantments.

  15. Stop 17Walla WallaWalla Walla, WADays 515–516

    A charming southeast-Washington town that's become one of the West's great wine destinations — and the last stop before the Rockies.