National Parks Tour Plan Part 3: Oregon & Washington

Parts one and two of our trip.
Oregon and Washington are amazing. I have been to both states before and am super excited to spend some time in the wilderness there. After Redwoods National Park we will head north and hopefully hit up some Oregon wineries along the way to Crater Lake and then visit some breweries in the Portland and Seattle areas on our way to other adventures.

Crater Lake

At Crater Lake we plan to do some short hiking trips and hopefully take a boating trip out to Wizard Island. Then maybe some pit stops in Portland and Seattle for a little civilization time before heading further north.

Olympic National Park

Here we hope to spend a day exploring the coast and checking out the tide pools. Then hopefully hit up the Sol Duc Trail for some mountain fun and then a day or two on the Dosewallips River Trail through an ancient forest. This park looks particularly amazing so am extra excited about this one. 

Mount Rainier


This will hopefully be our big foray into the wilderness this summer. The Wonderland Trail is our goal. 93 miles of up and down around the mountain. This is a very popular trail so hopefully we will get a permit (the reservation system is closed this year). Our goal is 10 days but we have up to 14 days to complete it....after that not sure what happens. They remove you from the mountain....? This will be the true test of our equipment and core strength as you are either climbing or descending on this trail. 

North Cascades


This is our last stop in Washington. I have a loop backpacking trip planned, the Rainbow/ McAlester Pass loop that involves some subalpine lakes and gorgeous views. Part of this loop is on the Pacific Crest Trail so if we do this loop it will be our first look at the trail we will spend some extended time on next year. Another option is to hike into Stehekin, a remote community with no road access, you can only get there by boat, plane or hiking. Sounds interesting. 

This part of the trip looks like it will be really beautiful and a bit of a challenge in terms of our endurance and fitness with some mountain backpacking. After this we are headed into bear country....

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