Planning: RT06 (Fall 2011) - Victoria, BC and the Pacific Northwest

Can't believe it's been over a year since I checked in. Life briefly took over the past 12 months as I switched jobs and also bought a home, so 2010 was my first year in a while without a single roadtrip excursion. I guess it was bound to happen. Even with a now-tight budget, I earmarked some funds to take a decent roadtrip for 2011.

Anyway, my folks and I have decided to concentrate on the Northwestern part of the U.S., as well as a jaunt up to BC, Canada, although we're still debating whether to go to Vancouver or Victoria, depending on what's there to see and how it will affect our timeline (leaning towards Victoria). Our route will take us up through eastern california via Hwy 395, up and over to Spokane, WA where we stay with some relatives, then head west over the Cascades and up into Canada for a day or so, then head back down the coastline, largely using Hwy 1 in Oregon to view the awesome coastline.

I've got 2 weeks plus the dove-tailing weekends to give us a 16-day window. I'm trying to keep the pace somewhat moderate, although in doing that I've made no room for cushion days with what I'm trying to squeeze in (and nobody in this forum should be surprised at that, haha). I know I may shorten or cut things out somewhere, and that's where all the advisor help would come in. Since we're starting this roadtrip before the Summer Solstice begins, I'm technically calling this a Spring 2011 trip. :)

Here's the line-up leaving Saturday, June 11th from the LA/OC area:

Day 1: Hwy 395 to June Lake, CA
Day 2: Visit Carson City, NV (capitol building!) to north Lake Tahoe
Day 3: Loop around Lake Tahoe
Day 4: Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA
Day 5: Lava Beds National Monument, CA
Day 6: Crater Lake National Park, CA (pass Mount Hood)
Day 7: Drive to Spokane, WA
Day 8: Visit Spokane, WA
Day 9: North Cascades National Park, WA
Day 10: Travel to either Victoria or Vancouver, BC (leaning to Victoria, but still debating this)
Day 11: Visit Victoria/Vancouver, BC
Day 12: Olympic National Park, WA
Day 13: Mt. Rainer National Park/Mt. St. Helens National Monument (both in one day? possible?)
Day 14: Travel to Crescent City, CA (via Hwy 1 through Oregon)
Day 15: National Redwood Park, CA
Day 16: Pinnacles National Monument, CA

High priority things are visiting relatives in Spokane and seeing the "Victorian Gardens" in Canada, so I've had to dedicate one full day for each of those. I looked at the ferry schedules for Victoria (with vehicle) and it seems to be somewhat complicated. It looks like Anacortes, WA is the only place you can ferry your vehicle over to Victoria, if that's the route we decide to take, which makes for some interesting decisions on our timing.

I also have one full day for Lake Tahoe, although this roadtrip is mainly a sight-seeing mission so if there's not much more than views of the lake, I may just make that destination an overnighter and pick up an extra day. I would also consider passing minor things such as National Monuments if there's not much play there.

I'm also concerned about accessibility to some of the high-elevation National Parks. I planned this in mid-June on purpose to minimize any winter road closures, but with the record snowfall we had the past few months, I'm worried that the NPs of Lassen and Crater Lake will still be closed, and that would cause a huge detour if they were.

Thoughts, advice, accusations of my being absolutely crazy (again)? Good to be back.

What you need to look at is the Tsawwassen - Swartz Bay ferry. That is the main ferry used to get to Victoria from the mainland.

Lassen can open anywhere between May 10 and July 21.

Thanks glc. Just looks like we'll have to cross the border into Vancouver if we want to get over to Victoria in decent fashion.

We've decided to postpone the entire trip until the latter half of September, when the high-elevation parks are sure to be open and I'll have more vacation time saved up by then. I'm pretty sure I need to dovetail an extra day or two in order to squeeze all this in.

(This thread could now technically be moved into the Fall section, at the mod's discretion)

Couple quick thoughts:

Consider Virginia City as an excursion from Carson City.

Oregon Coast on 1 all the way to Crescent City is a long, long day. Consider stopping somewhere along the coast.

Greetings roadtrippers...

Early this year I had thrown out a rough draft of travelling up and down the west coast largely using Highways 395 and 101. Because several of the National Parks were not scheduled to open until July, we decided to postpone it back a few months.

Well it's now officially official. We're heading out the early morning of Friday, September 16, 2011 and following yet another counter-clockwise motion through the 4 western states, and the capital of British Columbia, Canada. I was able to get 11 working days off (for a total of 17 travelling days) in order to fit everything in, being the speed-runners that we are- I mean, that I am. :)

Here's the new schedule. Tell me I'm not crazy:

Fri, Sep 16 (Day 1): Hwy 395 (through June Lake, CA) to Carson City, NV
Sat, Sep 17 (Day 2): Drive east side of Lake Tahoe, to Chester, CA
Sun, Sep 18 (Day 3): Lassen Volcanic NP and Lava Beds NM, CA to Klamath Falls, OR
Mon, Sep 19 (Day 4): Crater Lake NP, OR and Mount Hood, OR to Gresham, OR
Tue, Sep 20 (Day 5): Traverse Columbia River (waterfalls) to Spokane, WA
Wed, Sep 21 (Day 6): Visit family in Spokane, WA
Thu, Sep 22 (Day 7): North Cascades NP, WA to Mt. Vernon, WA
Fri, Sep 23 (Day 8): Vehicle Ferry from Anacortes, WA to Sidney, BC, drive to Victoria
Sat-Sun, Sep 24-25 (Day 9-10): Visit Victoria, BC
Mon, Sep 26 (Day 11): Vehicle Ferry to Olympic National Park, WA, to Olympia, WA
Tue, Sep 27 (Day 12): Mt. Rainer NP/Mt. St. Helens to Longview, OR
Wed, Sep 28 (Day 13): Cruise entire Oregon Coastline (lighthouses) to Crescent City, CA
Thu, Sep 29 (Day 14): Trees of Mystery and Redwood NP, CA to Santa Rosa, CA
Fri, Sep 30 (Day 15): Through San Fransisco, CA and Pinnacles NM, CA to San Luis Obispo, CA
Sat, Oct 1 (Day 16): Drive home
Sun, Oct 2 (Day 17) (Cushion Day)

I also made a Google Maps route if you need more of a visual.

I know some of the driving days are really aggressive, but our primary focus is Victoria, Canada and I wanted to be sure to have at least 2 full days there. Second priorities are the National Parks and visiting family in Spokane. Everything else is a nice-to-have. My only wish is that the timing allowed us to visit Victoria outside of the weekend, but that just wasn't meant to be.

Once we leave Victoria and depart the ferry back into Washington, we have the option/luxury of slowing our pace, since I have programmed in a Cushion Day™ for emergencies. We're only reserving the first few nights, plus the nights and ferry departures for Canada, so we could really adjust for unexpected changes to the schedule.

As usual, I welcome feedback and other suggestions/options available to us.