San Francisco, Crater Lake, and the Northern California Coast

The plan is coming together.

I reserved a car this morning from Hertz in South San Francisco. I'll pick it up on Tuesday morning, and drop it off the following Wednesday morning. Going with an Economy Car, using my AAA discount and a AAA coupon code, it's going to cost just $181 for the 8 days.

At that price, the cost of Parking for a day in SF shouldn't seem so bad, and more importantly, we'll also be able to save money by getting a hotel Tuesday night out around Fairfield, which should be quite a bit less than another night out by SFO. From the looks of things, the public transit system isn't all that cheap either, so I think having a car should work out reasonably well for just one day in SF.

So the plan now is to arrive Monday evening, and head to an airport hotel (nothing booked, yet, but will take recommendations if someone has a favorite).

Tuesday, get up, get the rental car, and head into the city itself. Plan right now is to visit Alcatraz, and then maybe enjoy some seafood around the Warf or head up to China Town, and then head to the Giants game. After the game, head across the Bay Bridge and onto a hotel.

Wednesday drive up to Crater Lake, Spend all day Thursday there, and then Friday-Tuesday making our way down the coast. Probably ending up at an airport hotel again on the Tuesday night, although that's not a must, since our flights don't leave until around 2pm on Wednesday.

The trip is getting closer, and I'm finally getting my act together in terms of planning.

Sketching out a rough plan with my latest ideas.

Monday - Arrive at SFO @830pm, airport hotel.
Tuesday - Pick up rental car, Day in SF, finishing with Giants Game, night somewhere near Fairfield.
Wednesday - Head North to Ashland, via Lassen Volcanic NP.
Thursday - Rafting Trip on Upper Klamath River based out of Ashland.
Friday - Crater Lake
Saturday - Drive to Coast, stopping at Oregon Caves NM, night near Crescent City.
Sunday, Monday - Head south down the coast, stopping points to be determined on the road.
Tuesday - Finish trip down coast, arriving back in Bay Area for a baseball game - either Oakland As, or the Stockton Ports.
Wednesday - Flight home @ 130pm.

Definitely check out Fern Canyon in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park when you're driving back down! It's just north of Orick! Watch out for the elk :)

Looks like all paved roads in Lassen are completely open now, but at Crater Lake the East Rim Drive and Pinnacles Road are still closed.

Lassen is one of the easier peaks to summit and it is one of the "less crowded" CA national parks. And on the topic of expensive state parks, our family liked Patrick's Point State Park. I also have an older edition of Stienstra's California Camping.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CAnative

I also have an older edition of Stienstra's California Camping.

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That book was a camping bible to us when we were tent-campers (back in the 80s and early 90s). Great book!


Donna

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Midwest Michael

Sunday, Monday - Head south down the coast, stopping points to be determined on the road..

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I must have been asleep at the switch, not having noticed this thread before....

A couple of fun places to stop for a bite....

The Seascape Restaurant in Trinidad -- I've not visited since June, 1996 -- but it's in a beautiful location and the current reviews are still positive.

The Samoa Cookhouse on Samoa -- here's a review I wrote years ago -- but it's much the same today.

Other places of note:

Long-term RTA member, roadie, captured this photo of Patrick's Point:
http://atenpo.smugmug.com/photos/42512116-S.jpg

Heading in from the coast -- I think you'd get a kick out of visiting Boonville and grabbing a beer at the Anderson Valley Brewing Company

There are so many cool places to eat and stay in Mendocino... Long-term RTA members know of my favorite -- the Stanford Inn (It's pricey) --

Much more....

One of my favorite drives along the north coast is the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway No matter what, don't miss the views along Coastal Drive!

Double checking rental car rates comes through again. I had already found what I thought was a very good rate, but I looked again this morning, and found I could save another $20.

I'm now going through Hertz - off airport location in South San Francisco - and will have a compact car for 9 days for $170, including taxes. I actually could cut that down another $10 by reserving and economy car, but $10 is worth it to make sure I don't get stuck in a Kia Rio!

The more I look into Lassen, the more I'm interested. A secluded park with tons of thermal features looks like it would be right up my alley. I am now thinking of spending a night there, so I'll have at least a half day in the park. The problem is figure out where to take the time from....

If this helps:

Fairfield-Lassen: 3.5 hours via I-80/I-5/CA-36
Lassen-Ashland: 3.5 hours via CA-89/I-5
Ashland-Crater Lake: 2 hours via I-5/OR-62
Crater Lake-Crescent City: 4 hours via OR-62/OR-234/I-5/US-199/US-101
Crescent City-SF: Tough to gauge, but it's 400 miles via US-101/CA-1/US-101. I'd guess no more than 10 hours.

Does not include sightseeing stops, just gas/bathroom.

Michael, I definitely would not pass up Lassen if it were me. We enjoyed our time there way back when (17 years ago, I think). We took the hike into Bumpass Hell and a couple of other shorter hikes. My daughters wanted clothespins for their noses in Bumpass Hell (thick odor of sulfuric acid)! We spent two days there because we took the hikes, and also spent a third day driving up towards Burney Falls. We never quite got to the Falls area because we found a couple of other places along the way, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.

GLC's "10 hours, 400 miles" from Crescent City to SF is about right. We did that one on a different vacation (before children), and even back then it was about that much.

Donna