11 Days in the Pacific Northwest

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So, it is not furniture or woodworking related, but my wife and I went on a vacation to the Pacific Northwest recently. We hit multiple national parks on our trip and enjoyed a number of day hikes. I figured I would share some pictures and details for anyone interested. Our vacation started on Wednesday, July 11 and finished on Saturday, July 21, 2018

Day 1 (7/11): Travel and Seattle

We flew from Chicago to Seattle and grabbed our rental car (CX9). Our first stop was the space needle then ate at the pike place market (Piroshky Piroshky and Beechers). We did some walking around as well and saw the gum wall. In the afternoon, around 1:00, we left Seattle for our first stop in Port Angeles. Traffic was pretty awful, but we made it around 5:00 PM that night. We stayed at the Olympic Lodge in Port Angeles, which was a nice place with good breakfast and an outdoor pool.

Day 2 (7/12): Olympic National Park

Klahanne Ridge

We wanted to hike up to hurricane hill, but the trail was closed for repairs. So, we did the Klahanne ridge hike. It was a nice hike, but it was a little tough for our first one on our trip. Roughly 7 miles in total with undulating elevation and then it finished with some switchbacks up to the ridge. The hike starts at the visitor’s center and a paved path. The paved path that starts the hike is the furthest from the visitor’s center and is well marked. We started our hike around 10:15 and the parking has plenty of spots open.

The views from the visitor’s center are excellent

During the first part of our hike we stumbled across a couple deer eating brunch.

The trail is well maintained and easy to follow

The below picture shows the meandering path along the ridgeline before you descend back into the trees.

A couple good spots are available for pictures before you reach the top.

We reached the top of the ridge around 12:15 and the views are awesome

We also saw some other wildlife at the top where we ate lunch, rested a bit, and took some pictures

We made our way back down around 1:15 and reached the parking lot around 3 PM. So, the hike took us about 5 hours in total.

Day 3 (7/13): Olympic National Park

Marymere Falls, Barnes Creek, and Lake Crescent

We had originally planned to hike Mt Storm King, but we were both sore from the previous day’s hike, so we took it easy today. We drove over to Lake Crescent and easily found a parking spot around 9:30. We walked past the ranger station and under the highway towards the Marymere falls trail. It was a pretty wide open trail and not too many people early in the morning.

We saw a buck eating breakfast on our hike out.

The falls are pretty and only a short hike.

After we finished walking to the falls we decided to take a short hike down the Barnes Creek Trail. The total trail is like 17 miles long, but we only walked about a mile out and then came back. It was very quiet and peaceful with no one else on the trail. I only took a couple of pictures of the trail.

After we got back from the creek trail we decided to eat some lunch on the dock by the boat launch. Nice views

After our lunch, we went over to the Lake Crescent Lodge, which was a short walk through the woods. It looks like a very nice place to stay if we ever go back. All in all, we probably hiked about 4-5 miles that day, but it was mostly flat. By the time we were done walking around (1 pm), the parking lot was packed.

The end of day 3 was a drive from Lake Crescent down to our cabin by Mt Rainier. We stayed at the Storm King Cabins near Ashford, which was only 1.5 miles from the park entrance and was our favorite lodging of the trip.

Day 4 (7/14): Mt Rainier

Skyline Loop Trail

Our favorite hike of the trip was the Skyline loop at Mt Rainier. It is roughly 5.5 miles long. Full of beautiful views the entire way around and such a fun trail with the various terrain we walked over. Our hike was started around 8:30 AM and we had ample parking to choose from. We had to walk a bit from the parking lot to the beginning of the trail which is marked by the below steps right behind the visitor’s center. We traveled clockwise around the trail which is pretty well marked and very well maintained.

Along the way up, we had a good view of the glacier along the way.

As we climbed up, the valley became viewable to the right.

The trail started out mostly asphalt and then turned to stone steps and kept changing.

We made it up to Panorama point around 10:05 which is a very apt name. There is a restroom near the point if all this nature calls to you.

Below are some pictures from the point.

We had a quick snack at Panorama point and then continued our ascent to the uppermost ridge. We arrived at the top of the upper ridge at 10:20 and took a bunch of pictures, but only a few of mine turned out.

The below picture is a good shot of the mountain range, the valley, and the visitors center where we started.

You can see a waterfall in the center of the picture as well as people hiking pebble creek.

The last picture show all the people hiking up the snowfield. Basically little black dots. The small red line is pointing down towards them and there are more behind.

The way back down was slower and longer, but it was just as enjoyable. There was a lot more snow than I imagined which led to a bit of confusion at times.

You can see the people coming down the snow hills in the below picture.

We were nearing Myrtle falls at this point

Myrtle Falls is below with the mountain in the background.

The end of the hike is not much further past Myrtle falls and we finished our hike around 1 PM. We were a bit weary and ate some lunch, then headed into the super busy visitors center. It was a Saturday and there were cars and people everywhere. Overall excellent hike. As we left the park, the line of cars at the pay booth was crazy long. Our resort was only 1.5 miles away and cars were backed up all the way to that point. Yikes

Day 5 (7/15): Mt Rainier

Comet Falls and Van Trump Park

Our second day in Mt Rainier we decided to hike to Comet Falls. The trailhead is located on the main road into the park on the left. There are probably 15 parking spots that are marked and maybe 10 more along the road, so we got there early around 7:50 to ensure we got a spot. After getting our gear ready we started hiking around 8:05 AM.

Comet Falls Round Trip is 3.8 miles and Van Trump Park is 5.8 miles round trip.

The first sight on the trail is Christine Falls

The trail continues on with various terrain to walk over. Some rocky steps, lots of roots and rocks, wooden steps, etc.

You know you are getting close when you walk across this plank overlooking the unnamed falls

After we crossed the creek and climbed the hill, we got our first sight of Comet Falls. We kept walking closer and got the full effect. Beautiful falls. We arrived at the falls around 9:20 AM

We were both feeling good and decided to keep going. We looked at the map and thought Van Trump park may have some nice views, so up we went. It turned out to be a pretty steep ascent the rest of the way and felt like it went on forever.

We saw our first sign after a while and saw we only had 0.2 miles to go. Keep on keepin’ on.

We arrived at Van Trump park around 10:15 AM and took in the sights and a very friendly bird.

After recharging a bit, we made our way back down. We made it back to this signage and I figured I would like to see the creek that fed the falls.

We continued our way back down and the lighting was better for pictures later in the day. So we took some more photos of the falls and then sat and ate lunch.

After lunch, we made our way back to the car and got back around 1 PM. Overall we hiked about 6 miles and gained about 2000 feet. Time for beer

Day 6(7/16): Travel to Mt Hood

Multnomah Falls and Hood River

This day was probably our least amount of hiking and probably most frustrating. Mostly due to our poor preparation and research. Our initial plan was to drive from Mt Rainier to Multnomah falls and then hike to Oneonta Falls and back. Well it didn’t go as planned. Since we were driving from Mt Rainier it took us a while to get to the falls. We drove by the parking location and couldn’t pull in since it was blocked, but the other side was open from traffic driving west. So we drove down a few miles, turned around and came back. When we approached the lot the west bound end was closed, but the east bound side was open. Son of a *****. We decided to continue west to the shuttle location. Paid 5 bucks to park and waited with 100s of other people in a line for the shuttle.

It was probably nearing noon by the time we got on the shuttle and headed for the falls. It was neat place, but the amount of people and building frustration wasn’t helping. It was also about this time that we realized all the trails were closed that we wanted to do. Should have checked various park websites and would have found that out easily.

So, after about 15 minutes we make our way back to another shuttle line. Wait for about 10 minutes and decide to get a Lyft back to our car. We probably saved about 30 minutes of line waiting. Overall, rather disappointed, but it was due to our poor research on this one. Very touristy and the Eagle Creek fire from 2017 put a damper on our excursions.

After we jumped in our car we drove to Hood River. We found a small rental shop (Hood River Waterplay) and rented some stand up paddle boards. Which is pretty intuitive, but takes some coordination. We relaxed in the sun and water for a little over an hour, which was needed after our frustrating morning. After our stop we made our way to Mt Hood (Government Camp). We stayed at the Best Western, which was a nice place and right next to the Mount Hood Brewing Company where we ate and drank both nights in Government Camp.

Day 7(7/17): Mt Hood

Mirror Lake, Tom, Dick and Harry Mountain, and Trillium Lake

Our first morning at Mt Hood we decided to hike up the Tom, Dick, Harry Mountain, which looked like it had some nice views and a reasonable hike. We started by going to govy general store for a day-use-pass, which all parks require in Oregon. From there we drove towards the Mirror Lake trailhead just outside of town. The current trailhead, is located on the opposite side of the highway when leaving town, so we had to double back. I read that the trailhead is getting moved to a larger lot and hopefully accessible from both sides of the highway.

We got our hike started a little before 8 AM and had plenty of parking. The trail is a pretty stead ascent and has the typical rocks and roots to watch out for. The trail is well marked.

At roughly 8:30 we hit Mirror lake, which may have been more of a “mirror” at 6 AM, but still a nice view of the mountain. We walk counterclockwise a short distance to get to this point.

We doubled back a short way to head up to the top of TDH. Once again the trail has good signage by the lake to direct you. When passing by a rocky opening, turn around. You can see a good view of Mt Hood.

From there the ascent continues until you hit this rock pile. The trail reverses direction and then flattens out for a bit before the final climb to the top.

The shots below are from the top of TDH. We arrived at the top around 9:25, had a snack, and relaxed.

The below picture shows Government Camp on the right, Mirror Lake at the bottom and Mt Hood.

Looking opposite of Mt Hood

We started our way back down around 9:55 and then did a counterclockwise loop around Mirror lake before ending our hike around 11:35. By that time, the lot was full. The hike was great, it didn’t feel long, but was roughly 7 miles.

Our next stop was Trillium lake. We drove back through town and followed our GPS to the road sign for Trillium lake. As you can imagine it was pretty busy, but we found a parking spot. We did a quick walk around a portion of the lake and found a good rock to eat lunch from.

The lake was very recreational in nature and had a camp site next to it. Very nice views and next time I will bring my swimming trunks. We headed back to the hotel for some further relaxing.

Day 8(7/18): Travel to Bend

Misery Ridge (Smith Rock) and Painted Hills

We had a full day on day 8. Started by a drive to Smith Rock from Mt Hood. We pulled up and paid and got our hike started around 9:30. The hike starts down a hill, called “The Chute” and then across a small bridge which you can see in the picture below. The start of the ascent can also be seen zig zagging up. We traveled counter clockwise around the trail.

The ascent was steep and short, but the views and landscape are really cool. We had a quick snack and pictures on the top.

After we walked around the ridge a bit, there are some other good sights on the other side with some mountains in the distance.

We headed back down the steep ascent on the back side of the ridge and met up with the Mesa Verde Trail and followed the creek back to the start.

We made it back to our car around 11:45. The hike was only about 3.5 miles, but it was tough. I was a little weary and my legs felt it the next couple of days.

The next stop on our trip was to drive to the painted hills. It is quite a ways out of the way to our hotel in Bend, but it is one of the “wonders” of Oregon. We pulled up to the lookout point and then back tracked a bit to the Carroll Rim trailhead.

We took a quick hike up to the top of Carroll Rim to get some good views of the painted hills. Started our quick hike around 1:40.

The hills looked almost unnatural with the rest of the landscape and really look like someone painted them. We returned to our car around 2:30. I think the hills were worth the drive! Our last part of the night was the drive to Bend.

Day 9(7/19): Travel to Crater Lake

Mt Scott and Cleetwood Cove

We started our morning with a drive to Crater Lake from Bend and arrived to the trail head of Mt Scott around 9:50. The hike starts off in an open area and then starts to climb. The below picture shows the top of Mt Scott and the open beginning of the trail.

The overall trail is easy to follow and has nice views along the way.

Once you arrive at a big rock wall is when the switchbacks begin and the views of Crater Lake are close.

We arrived at the top around 11 and walked up to the fire lookout (shack thing), took some pictures, and ate a snack before heading back down.

We arrived at the bottom around 12:15 and got into our car to head over to Cleetwood cove.

The parking lot at Cleetwood Cove is busy and the lot was packed, so we had to park on the street. The

The trail is mostly switchbacks and some are steep. The walk down felt like it took a long time, but I think it was only a mile. The views are nice the entire way down. Lots of signs reminding you that rocks can fall, so watch out, I guess.

Cleetwood Cove is the only place you are allowed to swim, so people take advantage of the opportunity. it is also where the tour departs from, so the trail is very busy.

We ate lunch with our feet in the water and took in the views. We headed back to our car and drove to Medford, where we stayed for a couple of nights. It is a long drive every day, but doable.

Day 10 (7/20): Crater Lake

Garfield Peak

Our last hike was Garfield Peak overlooking Crater Lake. The trailhead is located past the Crater Lake Lodge. Just follow the asphalt sidewalk between the lodge and the lake and it will turn to rock/stone and there is signage about the trail. We started our hike around 10:10 AM.

The trail is easy to follow and has many opportunities to see the lake and take some pictures. The below picture is at the peak. You can see the trail along the ridge line and then Wizard Island in the distance. We arrived at the top at 11:05 and took many pictures and relaxed. The views were excellent even though there was a slight fog.

The below picture shows the phantom ship rock and then the white dot near it is a large tour boat. A boat and a boat.

We made our way back down to eat some lunch. We arrived at the bottom around 12:15.

Day 11(7/21): Travel Home

It was time to leave the beautiful PNW. We flew out of Medford Airport (Rogue Valley International), or something similar. Pretty small airport with only one restaraunt, but the food was good.

If you are looking for an abbreviated agenda, here you go.

Day1 (Travel Day)
- Flight to Seattle, drove to Port Angeles, stayed at Olympic Lodge
Day2 (Olympic Park)
- Klahhanne Ridge
  - 7 miles
  - 5 hours total
Day3 (Olympic Park)
- Marymere Falls and Barnes Creek
  - 4 miles
  - Few hours
- Drove to Mt Rainier and stayed at Storm King Cabins
Day4 (Mt Rainier)
- Skyline Loop
  - 6 miles (including walk from parking lot)
  - 4.5 hours
Day 5 (Mt Rainier)
- Comet Falls and Van Trump Park
  - 5.5 miles
  - 5 hours
Day 6 (Travel Day)
- Drive to Mt Hood, Multnomah Falls, Hood River
  - Stayed at Best Western (Government Camp)
Day 7 (Mt Hood)
- Tom, Dick, and Harry
  - 7 Miles
  - 3.5 hours
- Trillium Lake for Lunch
Day 8 (Travel Day)
- Drive to Bend
- Misery Ridge and Mesa Verde
  - 3.5 miles
  - 2.5 hours
- Painted Hills/Carroll Rim
  - 1.6 miles
  - 45 minutes
- Stayed at Comfort Inn & Suites (Bend)
Day 9 (Crater Lake)
- Mt Scott
  - 4.4 miles
  - 2.5 hours
- Cleetwood Cove
  - 2.2 miles
  - 1.5 hours
- Stayed at Springhill Suites (Medford)
Day 10 (Crater Lake)
- Garfield Peak
  - 3.4 miles
  - 2 hours
Day 11 (Travel Day)
- Fly home out of Rogue Valley airport (Medford)
In Summary
- 3570 miles flown
- 1200 miles driven
- 54.5 miles hiked
- Excellent trip, but went by extremely fast

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