RV trip in late April - any suggestions?

We are travelling from California in a rented RV at the end of April, probably on 29th. We will be coming up the coast from North California. The RV will be dropped off in Seattle on 6 May. There seem to be so many attractive options in Oregon and Washington State that we would really appreciate any personal tips and recommendations. We realise that some of the most scenic options might not be possible because of seasonal weather, so any warnings will also be welcome. The plan is to stay in Seattle for 4 days at the end of our trip.

Alison Hurst

RV trip in late April - any suggestions?

If you are leaving California on the 29th of April and dropping off the RV on the 6th of May, you do not have much time.

Do you leave Seattle on the 6th? If so, you need to be in Seattle on the 2nd to have four days to tour there. Be sure to post on the Seattle forum too,BTW.

So you have 3 1/2 to 4 days to get from CA to SEA. That is not much time, so it is basically a drive-by, but a beautiful one.

Check out the Oregon State Parks on the coast. They all have great RV camping. In April there should be availablility, so you could just wing it without reservations. I wouldn%26#39;t do that in the summertime. To be safe, you could do the mileage math and make reservations. All the parks are nice, but Honeyman, South Beach and Ft. Stevens are particular favorites of mine.

Once you get to Astoria, head east and then go to Longview WA to go straight to Seattle, skipping Portland. If you want to go to Mt. Rainier or Mt. St Helens on your drive, that will take away from either your Seattle time or OR coast drive time, so plan accordingly. You could do Mt. St H on the way up but it does take 4 hours. Only go on a clear day. Mt. Rainier takes the full day (or a lifetime, or somewhere in between!).

RV trip in late April - any suggestions?

Ainwa, thanks for your reply. To clarify things - we have from 29 April until 6 May in the RV, THEN we have four days in Seattle. We fly out on 10 May. I hope this sounds more sensible. Advice so far sounds good...

Alison

That sounds like a much better plan! Lots of people used to smaller states have trouble getting a sense of how big the Western states are, so I was afraid for the worst.

Now what you need to do is decide what you really want to see. I presume the Redwoods, but how about the ocean? Do you want to spend time in the relatively more developed OR coast or the more undeveloped WA coast? Mt. St. Helens? Portland OR? High Desert / Newberry Crater near Bend, OR? Mt. Rainier? Olympic National ParK?

These are the main attractions, but in seven days you can%26#39;t do them all justice. Not even close! So look at a map and try to imagine a route without a lot of circling around. Bend or Oregon coast? Mt. St Helens or Olympic Peninsula? Pick one or the other. Since you%26#39;re seeing a lot of Seattle, you might want to give Portland a miss. You really do not have much time.

Enough to have a great trip though!

Thanks for latest posting, I will enjoy having a close look at my maps and planning in more detail...

Alison

I think a fundamental decision you%26#39;ll want to make is what part of Oregon do you want to see. RVing it you really have 2 options: the coast or the high desert... assuming you%26#39;ll want to stay out of the larger cities.

The coast drive is beautiful, a winding road along the Pacific Ocean with many wonderful towns along the way. The Redwoods of Northern California and Southern Oregon... Gold Beach on the Southern Oregon Coast... Bandon a little farther north (with a couple of the best golf courses in the world by the way)... Newport has a WONDERFUL Aquaruim... Lincoln City is nice, then up to Cannon Beach and Astoria... The only downside to this, is that you will see A LOT of the same type of rocky Oregon coast line (depending on the spring weather, you might get a fair amount of rain and fog).

The other option is after hitting the Redwoods in Northern California/Southern Oregon is to cut over towards the high desert of Eastern Oregon. There is beautiful territory to be seen.

You might try to stay a night at Lake of the Woods (on Hwy 140 between Medford and Klamath Falls) - one of our favorite places on earth - we have a cabin there.

Then you could head up to Crater Lake. An extinct volcano that has fallen in on itself and has one of the most beautiful bodies of blue lake water in the world. Then up to Bend, Oregon where you will have the option of seeing %26#39;The Three Sisters Mountains%26#39; and then heading up over Mount Hood towards Portland and then onto Seattle.

I would not try to bite off too much and do either the coastal route or the mountain/high desert route... just my opinion.

Wildcatpike

Your suggestions sound excellent - my initial feeling is to head inland after the first stretch of Oregon coast. I had heard that Crater Lake would be out of the question at this time of year due to snow - anyone got evidence to the contrary? We don%26#39;t mind snow, as long as the roads are passable.

Look forward to more ideas...

Alison

good call on the snow... I don%26#39;t actually know about the snow in the mid-spring... i have family in that area - I%26#39;ll ask them...

Plenty of people on the forum know the answer re: snow closure and schedule at Crater Lake w/o calling family. The park website answers the general question.

http://www.nps.gov/crla/

And, Alison, unfortunately, you don%26#39;t have the time anyway. Perhaps another trip during the summer.

Hi again, Alison. Voyaging gave you the website for Crater Lake, and I can confirm as can many others here that the rim drive and north entrance/exit will *not* be open in April! The road will be plowed only to the village area, and you%26#39;ll not see much. It will not only be snowy but very, very cold there and as a long-time RV%26#39;er I would not recommend it.

Oregon%26#39;s high desert is far different from where you live, but it depends upon what type(s) of scenery you%26#39;re interested in seeing?

The coast is divided roughly into thirds, south/central/north, with the south having the ';wildest'; landscape and fewest people. Central is busier, north is busiest. However -- important point here -- in April you will have far less crowds than you%26#39;ll find in much of Cornwall on Easter weekend. The only exception would be the towns of Cannon Beach and Seaside in the north, but even they are *nothing* like St Ives, for example! (Not sure exactly where you%26#39;re from . . . )

If you decide to go inland, there are routes which can take you through the Willamette Valley which is farming, ranching, wineries and you don%26#39;t have to be on the freeway. If you avoid our three or four large cities, you%26#39;ll find some nice small towns :-)

Thanks for all the input. Half-Brit - we live in Lostwithiel, near Fowey on the south coast of Cornwall.

We are interested in all sorts of scenery, but particularly places that are different from where we live (or indeed, different from Europe). Oregon%26#39;s high desert sounds very appealing. I think we will travel up the south %26#39;third%26#39; of the Oregon coast (probably now on 28 April), then head inland. Suggestions for a scenic route, with ideas for night stops and expeditions - all suitable for late April/early May, would be appreciated. We would like to stop and walk/hike for about 10 miles max. and welcome any suggestions or favourites here.We are flexible and may have to be more so if the weather is unfavourable! We need to leave Oregon to head for Seattle on about 2nd May. Not enough time , I know, we will be back.