how many miles a day? washington and oregon

[Clara]

Hi, I live near Los Angeles and I'm planning a road trip to Oregon and Washington for about 9-10 days. I plan on covering Olympic and Mt. Rainier national parks, the Hood River Scenic loop, Crater Lake NP, and Lassen Volcanic NP. Do you think this is possible? I'm also having trouble budgeting time and mileage - how many miles, or hours a day, do you spend on an average trip, taking into account stops, sightseeing, and winding roads? Thanks a lot for your help!

[PNW Judy]

Sorry no one has answered you sooner.

First, I just want to suggest that you also see Mt. St. Helen's. In fact, that is the first and most important stop you should make, in my opinion. Since the eruption in 1980, Mt. St. Helen's has been slowly recovering from the blast. When I first went in 1982, it looked like the moon. When I went in 2000, it is showing remarkable signs of recovery with no growth, etc. Although the immediate area of the blast is still pretty desolate. It is a fascinating place to go and you should see it before it recovers further. I have never seen anything else anywhere that has given me such an appreciation for the power of nature. It is a MUST and I highly encourage you to do it this trip. The other places will probably always be there in their current form, more or less, so this is the only place that has a quickly changing landscape.

As for the rest of your questions. I would highly suggest going to www.mapquest.com and using the trip planning section to plug in your destinations and it will give you a suggested route, miles between, etc. Personally, I use Microsoft's Streets & Trips software to plan my roadtrips as it is more sophisticated and easier to manipulate than the on-line sites like Mapquest. Either option will give you an idea of miles that you will need to drive daily to complete your itinerary. Then you can judge whether or not you want to add, subtract, change your itinerary to fit what you want to drive.

I would highly suggest going up the coast from LA to the Olympic Peninsula but that could be a 2-week vacation in and of itself so you probably won't have time for that. The scenery is fascinating but you can get to Washington in 2 days from LA driving I-5 so that is probably the route you will want to take this trip in order to have time to see other things.

I hope this gives you some ideas on how to figure out your mileage, hours of daily driving, etc., for yourself. If you need more help, just post here again. Have a great trip!!

Clara,

Why are you weird? Anyways, about the trip. Have you traveled much of California before? I have many friends from the LA area who have never been further than say Lake Arrowhead, and others who have combed the state. The reason I ask is it will make a difference in your trip, as Judy states.

If you wish to go the quick route, it will still take a considerable amount of time. Judy, how many drivers are you planning to make the trip to Washington in two days? Are they driving round the clock? Sacramento/San Francisco are approximately 300 miles from LA and that takes approximately six hours. Pretty boring travel too on either I-5, 99, 395. I-5 is probably the worst through most of CA. I would also agree with Judy about stopping at Mt St. Helens. I am hoping to stop there soon myself! Happy trails!!

[PNW Judy]

It is 1183 miles from LA to Seattle which can be driven in just over 16 hours driving time at 70mph. That is not a bad 2-day drive if you're in a hurry to get somewhere. It can easily be done with one driver. And you can actually shave a few hours off of this time as most areas the "flow of the traffic" is closer to 75-80mph. Driving with the flow decreases the time.

I have driven this route several times to go on quick trips to Disneyland. In fact, it's usually more like a day-and-a-half the way we do it. We will leave right after work, around 5pm or so, and drive until about 11pm. This usually gets us to somewhere around Grants Pass or Medford, OR. These towns are about an hour from the CA border. If we have a lot of extra energy, we will push onto the Shasta area.

Then we will get up and get going early, usually by 6am, and then get to Anaheim by about 6:30-7pm, traffic dependent. This gives us plenty of time to check-in, enjoy a dip in the pool, have dinner, unpack, and get up early in the morning to hit the rides.

Not a bad trip at all, IMHO. Judy