Best route to take for our 9 day trip

Please help! We can鈥檛 decide on a route to take for the Oregon sights we鈥檇 like to see on our 9 day vacation the 1st week of June.

We will land and depart from Portland. Our list of must sees鈥olumbia River Gorge-Hood River area - Mt. St. Helens, Mr. Hood 鈥?Waterfalls, as many as we can see (preferably close to the road) 鈥?Crater Lake - the Oregon coast (as much of the coast as we can according to our route).

Driving is not a problem for us and we don鈥檛 mind staying in different places each night. We鈥檇 like to make the trip in a loop of some sort but can鈥檛 figure it out. Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions

Best route to take for our 9 day trip

Since St. Helens is the only of your ';must sees'; north of Portland, it makes sense to see that at the beginning or end of the trip, independent of the ';loop';. And the loop typically looks something like: Portland - coast - Crescent City, CA - Crater Lake - Bend - Hood River - Portland. Crescent City is included because there%26#39;s no better route from the south coast inland, and it gets you into Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

Couple things to consider..... It%26#39;s doubtful that Crater Lake%26#39;s north entrance will be open in early June (still clearing snow from the Rim Road), so you%26#39;ll have to enter and exit the park from the south. Also, because they%26#39;re close to population centers, the better lodgings in north coast towns book up, sometimes months in advance. And many have minimum stay requirements - 2 nights or more - during the summer season (though possibly not in this economy). So, you should be firming up plans and making reservations ASAP.

Questions?

Best route to take for our 9 day trip

If you enjoy waterfalls, I%26#39;d recommend a trip to Silver Falls State Park not far from Salem. Although you have to hike to a lot of the falls, the trails are easy (relatively flat), and you have the chance to walk behind some of the falls! There%26#39;s an 8 mile loop to see all of them, but you can pick and choose the ones you really want to view. We saw the north %26amp; south falls only, as we were on our way to Bend.

Have fun.

I agree with mistletoe%26#39;s suggestions. It really is a good idea to have some flexibility with the trip to Mt. St. Helens. If the weather is cloudy, rainy, and/or overcast, a trip to the mountain can be a little disappointing.

If you allow yourselves and couple of days in the Portland area at the beginning and end of your trip, there should be one day that will be a good one for the drive to Mt. St. Helens.

You might consider the Columbia Gorge as a day trip from Portland, take the Historic Scenic Hiway east (this gets you to many waterfalls), lunch in Hood River, then return on I-84 or on the WA side of the river on SR 14. The Gorge drive can be done on a cloudy day, the waterfalls a pretty in any weather.

Mt. St. Helens can also be a day trip from Portland, or it could be part of the loop. On the return drive from Mt. St. Helens, exit I-5 at Longview/Kelso, cross the Columbia River to Rainier and take Hwy 30 west to Astoria to begin your trip down the OR coast.

If you do the Gorge as a day trip, you can drive from Bend back to Portland on Hwy 26 over Mt. Hood or take Hwy 20 thru Sisters and Salem. Both are very nice.

Misteltoe - word from the Crater Lake ranger over last weekend is they expect the North drive to be ready to open by the first week of June. Just FYI. :-)

If the north entrance to crater lake is going to be open while you%26#39;re here, and if you want to add a couple dozen waterfalls to your itinerary, and if you don%26#39;t mind missing the southernmost 140 miles of the Oregon Coast, then perhaps you could cut over from the coast at Reedsport on hwy 38 to Roseburg. Then take 138 through steamboat and glide to crater lake. Yeah, that%26#39;s what I%26#39;d do with nine days if mt. st. helens needs to be visited:

Day 1: arrive portland, check in, settle down.

Day 2: day trip to st. helens if clear, columbia gorge if cloudy. back to the hotel.

Day 3: hwy 26 to cannon beach for a picnic lunch, quick visits to Munson Creek Falls south of Tillamook, manzanita, nehalem, wheeler. Spend the night in lincoln city (tons of hotels there so something must be available).

Day 4: Meander down central coast stopping often. Stay in Florence at that Best Western on the river or get your last taste of beach at driftwood shores.

Day 5: 101 to reedsport, 38 to sutherlin, 1-5 to roseburg (stop at the CofC here to get a waterfall map), 138 to maybe Dogwood Motel in Idleyld Park.

Day 6: Crater Lake first thing in the morning. Then 97 north to Bend. Stay at McMenamins if possible.

Day 7: 97 north to Madras, 26 west to Mt. Hood. Stop at timberline lodge if you have time. 35 north through the fruit loop to Hood River (it%26#39;s worth printing out the fruit loop map http://www.hoodriverfruitloop.com/things/locations.html).

Day 8: Did you see st. helens on day 2? If so, then meander back to portland through the gorge. If not, head straight back to portland on I-84, check into the hotel, and day trip it up there.

Day 9: Before flying out, stimulate my local economy by visiting beautiful downtown St. Johns. John Street Cafe or James John Cafe for brunch, buy an ';Enjoy St. Johns'; shirt at The Man%26#39;s Shop, gelato at Legong, etc.

Or maybe that last 140 miles of the oregon coast is more important?

Don%26#39;t bother with Munson Creek Falls, in my opinion. It%26#39;s a couple of miles up on a muddy single lane road, and unless the trail has been unblocked, you can%26#39;t get to the falls, anyway, unless you want to scramble over downed trees. Dengay might know if the trail has been cleared?

Thank you all for your help. Your suggestions were great and have helped us decide on the route we will take. We will have many questions I鈥檓 sure as we finalize our plans but all of your information has started us off in the right direction鈥e can鈥檛 wait for our Oregon vacation!