Northwest Road Trip (pic heavy)

saline · 08-01-2009, 04:43 PM

We just got back from an awesome month long jaunt through the Pacific Northwest. All told we drove about 4200 miles. We left Colorado on June 30th and made a b-line for Portland for a wedding, from then on we took it a bit slower, inching our way along the coast north through Oregon and Washington and ended up in the Olympics for a few days. From there we continued north to the San Juan Islands for about 5 days. Then onto Winthrop Washington via a scenic route through the North Cascades.
From Winthrop we headed southeast into Idaho as we had a raft trip through Hells Canyon planned with some friends from Boise. After the raft trip we headed south on our way back home through the Jarbidge Mts. and then on home via numerous slow and scenic roads.
This was our first major trip in the SMB. We camped 19 nights in it! It was great and we are very happy with our decision to get one. The only problem we had was a crapped out u-joint that I had replaced for $130 in Raymond, Wa.
Worst mileage: 14.1
Best mileage: 16.4

Here are a few pics:
Wallawa Mtns, Eastern Oregon

Washington Coast

Ruby Beach Washington

Hoh River, Wa

Sol Duc River, Wa.

Tight squeeze on the Ferry

Doe Bay Resort, Wa.

North Cascades, Wa.

Hells Canyon, Id
Why do I get to row the smallest boat? (we dubbed it the Green Bean)

Scouting the rapid "Granite".

Lunch spot, Pine Bar

More to come......

saline · 08-01-2009, 05:08 PM

On occasion along the coast we tried to stay at a few state parks with elec. hookups. The short drives were not charging the house battery very effectively.
Grayland Beach SP

Deer Park, Olympics

twolost · 08-02-2009, 08:59 AM

Awesome!! Thanks for sharing. Looks like you came through during a mini NW heat wave as the temps this past week finally peaked out at 109 degrees in the shade on my front porch (uncommon for western WA). It looks like you found plenty of water to stay cool though.

Cheers,
---TWOLOST---

Ed in Montana · 08-02-2009, 08:31 PM

Thanks Saline! Great pics. Makes me want to go back to the Olympic Pennisula and the San Juan Islands again.

bitburger · 08-02-2009, 08:42 PM

Great pics Saline.

This is a beautiful part of the country and it looks like you hit many of the highlights however the heat of last week was both unusual and unpleasant.

Glad all went safe and without major troubles. We also need to plug in every 3 days or so if the drive charging doesn't cover it, luckily there are plenty of state or national parks across the west to cover us all.

Thanks for the trip report.

**daveb** · 08-02-2009, 09:54 PM

Super report....wish I had the time to do something like that. Maybe someday. A picture is worth a thousand words. I want to see all I can, but Knowing where I want to visit...priceless.
Thanks so much.

Dave.

saline · 08-03-2009, 10:39 AM

Thanks! It was nice to have 5 weeks off! That was a first for us.
We lucked out and left the NW before the super hot temps hit. Ugh! Thats got to be rough with the humidity up there. Also, thanks to those who gave us recommendations and info on a few cool areas up there. It made our trip just that much better.

A couple more pics:
In the Jarbidge Mtns. We figured it was going to get pretty steep judging from the sign!

Jarbidge Mtns. campsite. Very Nice!

Strawberry Reservoir campground.

In case you were wondering, you can make a great batch of cornbread in a BBQ!

Nearly back home when our cargo top blew off, nearly hitting a following motorcyclist ( very scary!).Ugh! The lid and the other items that flew out were unscathed with the exception of a new bottle of 44 North Huckleberry Vodka. It was in a soft cooler and somehow just popped the cork and didn't break the bottle. The only thing I can figure is that the forward most latch was not secure allowing it to lift enough to catch the wind. ***make sure you hear 3 clicks when closing these***

**BroncoHauler** · 08-03-2009, 11:28 AM

Did you at least offer the motorcyclist a couple of shots of the vodka? Wow, I bet he needed to change his shorts after that. Glad to hear no one was hurt.

Herb

REF · 08-17-2009, 08:53 PM

Hey fellow Coloradan, we both even have green vans and a chocolate lab, just read your trip report and we are headed out to Tahoe for a few weeks and then following much the same route up to oregon/wash. and might even go up to vancouver and come back down through idaho and wy. Thanks for posting we will get some good ideas on where to go.

By the way, no one has started an October meetup for Colorado, we are game, be back mid sept, we'll post then

-Rick

saline · 08-30-2009, 05:17 PM

Hey there! Nice looking van. Hope you have a great trip. I would be willing to help organize a Colorado/Eastern Utah meetup this year if anyone is interested.

On another note, a very sad one for us. Our 11 year old lab Dignan lost his fight with cancer last week. He traveled nearly everywhere with us and he was our kid. He is truly missed. The house is too quiet.