May-June 3 week roadtrip from Seattle-Portland-Las Vegas- LA (with multiple stops)

[jvwvalmar]

Hello RTA community!

me and a friend are planning on doing a 3 week trip alongside the westcoast of America.

Our route would consist of the following stops (in that order):

• Rialto Beach
• Portland
• Mount Hood (area)
• Crater Lake
• Samuel H Boardman State Park
• Bryce Canyon
• Observation Point Trail
• Zion National Park
• Grand Canyon
• Las Vegas
• L.A.

That'd be most/some stops (still figuring out the to-do's at the end) but that should be about it.

I'm wondering though - we originally planned to fly in via Portland and start there but someone really recommended Rialto beach.
I suppose Seattle would be the best place to fly in then?

Rialto Beach + all the stops up until Las Vegas (so Seattle - Rialto & Vegas - L.A. aren't included) has us at 2500 miles.
Would this + the 2 routes not yet included be do-able in 3 weeks (say 20-22 days)?

Also - any other parks, towns or cities, activities you would definitely recommend doing?
We're mainly going for nature and some hiking when possible and visiting Vegas and L.A. for more city-scape and the grandeur.

We could also start in L.A. and go upward but the route would be the same really.

Any help and other advice would be welcome!

Thanks in advance!

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Let's answer your most pressing question first. "Would this + the 2 routes not yet included be do-able in 3 weeks (say 20-22 days)?" Absolutely Yes. In fact, since a straight shot between Seattle and Los Angeles could be done easily in three days, and not so easily in two, you can consider doing a complete loop, returning to your original arrival airport. That could potentially save you a fair amount of money on the car rental certainly, and perhaps on the airline tickets as well. And it means that you would get to see both the interior and coastline of the American West, although I'm not quite sure what you mean by "the 2 routes not yet included".

Other than that, the best advice I can give you is to try to include the Columbia River Gorge in your itinerary. The south side of the Columbia River especially, using US-30 the 'Historic Columbia River Highway', gives access to a number of beautiful trails back into stunning waterfalls. Then continuing on US-30/I-84 will take you to the Snake River through southern Idaho, another gorgeous route with many hiking opportunities, to Salt Lake City and the southern Utah National Parks.

There are many, many more great venues available to you than you could possibly have time for, so what I'd suggest before we get too deep into the weeds is that you work out a rough route, based on the major stops that you absolutely want to include, and then we'll work from there.

AZBuck

[glc]

To amplify on what Buck suggested, consider a loop trip, starting and ending in any of the cities along your desired route, traveling in a counter-clockwise direction so you will be traveling south along the coast and north inland. Choose your city for best airfare and car rental rates.