Pacific Northwest - Visiting the Pacific Northwest

I'm considering taking 4-7 days to visit the Pacific Northwest. What places should be high on my list to visit? I keep hearing Portland is a cool place, but where else in the vicinity is good? Any other cities that I should consider poking my head in? What about natural spaces to check out?

Thanks!

When? Seasons will change our answers.

Also, are you bringing a bike, just looking for places to roam around, or what? What are you interested in?

There so much more to the PNW than Portland and while it's a great starting place it's NOT the "PNW" but only a glimpse of it.

For natural spaces, you should see:

Central Oregon, east of the cascades. This is Smith Rock State Park.

http://www.pbase.com/billd9/image/44022293.jpg


The Columbia River Gorge. Horsetail Falls.

http://www.pbase.com/billd9/image/84427433.jpg



The Coast. Downtown Florence.

http://www.pbase.com/billd9/image/79315189.jpg


The high desert. Shaniko.

http://www.pbase.com/billd9/image/43925970.jpg

Rereading your question, if I only had 7 days in the PNW and I were going to do some biking, Portland would be very high on my list. That said, Seattle has a pretty nice urban trail system and if you expand your definition of the PNW to include south western Canada then I would also highly recommend Vancouver and Victoria, both great biking cities. If you want to do something out of the city and enjoy MTBing then there are tonnes of rail-to-trail (http://www.trails.com/toptrails.asp?area=14385) systems in WA including the Iron Horse Trail (http://www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Iron%20Horse) among others. Also, the San Juan Islands, where I live, are quintessential PNW biking.

You could ride from Salem to the ocean. That is about 70 miles. There is a bike path/route just for that. People ride up and down portions of the coast once at the ocean. Anything from Tillamook down toward Newport catches some of the highlights. The Tillamook Cheese Factory has a nice visitors' center. There is also an air museum on the south side of Tillamook that has a lot of history connected to its location and some interesting airplanes to see. Include a stop at Pacific City.

There are some smaller roads that run between Hwy. 101 and the coast or along the coast, but you will also be on Hwy. 101 much of the time.

Some people like to follow the trail taken by Lewis and Clark over some part of it or other. I once saw a magazine article on cycling the Lewis and Clark trail, but the whole thing would require more time than you have.

If you want to make a cycle tour of Portland and/or Vancouver, you can download maps for both cities with cycle routes marked out on them. Start with the maps section in the Links at BikePortland.org. In truth, much of Portland is like any other large city.

I live almost 500 miles from Portland in semi-rural Idaho. I ride asphalt roads in farm country. While I enjoy it, it is not a big tourist draw for out-of-state cyclists.

I cannot comment on Seattle and other parts of Washington.

There will be a lot of climbing, especially between Salem or Portland and the ocean, even up and down the coast. Bring your granny gear and a good-sized rear cluster!

Seasons definitely can change the answers. Whether you bring a bike or not, if you'd like to try to meet up with some BF members, what kind of natural scenery you like....

We WILL find a way to keep you entertained, though.

East Hill

I'd like to go in summer or fall. I'm a SoCal boy. I can't take winter.

Thanks for the pictures Dogbait! Nice stuff!

I'd like to do some biking, but 7 days is rather a short time. If I wanted to hit some "highlights" to get a sampling of the PNW, where would I go?

Next, tell us what you want to do. Hiking + other outdoor pursuits? Sleeping in and doing the city-site-seeing? Combination of the two? Would you be willing to rent a car or do you want to do this as car-free as possible? Potentially bringing camping gear, or, plan to stay in hotels (etc)? Other constraints or desires?

Also, as previously noted above, the PNW could potentially include Idaho. However, Idaho is technically the inter-mountain west (between Rockies and Cascades), but the BF doesn't have that region. When people say the PNW, they usually are thinking of temperate rainforests and proximity to the ocean. This is not Idaho.

I'd like to go in summer or fall. I'm a SoCal boy. I can't take winter.

I asked my 6 yr old this am if he preferred the sunny cold we have right now or the rain that will probably be back by next week. He said he prefers summer.

I vote for checking out the west coast of Vancouver Island. Something like, start in Victoria then go up the west coast of VI, then cross over, and come back down on the mainland side, taking ferries across fjords until you get to the city of Vancouver BC. That should get your trees, ocean, fog, sun, city, rural balance straightened out.

If you like the city, not doing any biking, and you just want a sample then I would suggest three or four days in Portland and the rest in Seattle. That will give you a small sample of the PNW flavour.

. . . Portland and the rest in Seattle. That will give you a small sample of the PNW flavour.Pffft! Pimples on the a** of the Pac NW. I would suggest Snohomish, Bellingham, Wenatchee, Spokane, Sandpoint, ID and Bend, OR. That's a truer flavor of the country :D

If you like the city, not doing any biking, and you just want a sample then I would suggest three or four days in Portland and the rest in Seattle. That will give you a small sample of the PNW flavour.

Bumbershoot is a great (but crowded) music/arts festival happening Labor Day weekend in Seattle. It could rain, but then again, it could be sunny. You could plan your trip to coincide with it.

And, there's a fab blues festival in Portland on a weekend near July 4th, which is also a major fund raiser for the Oregon food banks. Two cans of food + a modest entry fee, and you get a whole day of great blues. You could plan your trip to coincide with this festival.

Given you only have 7 days, you obviously can't do both. :(

Ahh...........The great PNW. As far as cities are concerned........I like the oldies. Port Townsend, Fair Haven/Bellingham, Astoria and a trip South from there on the coast stopping at Oswald West will knock your socks off. Stunning scenery would include Canon Beach in Oregon, the Hoh rain forest and the wild coast east of it in WA makes me speechless. Especially during a winter storm. Victoria in Canada is like a shot to Britain and well worth the trip. I really like Portland.... and Seattle has its flavor too. Eugene and Bend in Oregon are alot of fun too. A trip over the mountains through Levenworth is spectacular and you can’t afford to miss Mt. Rainier or the spectacle of natures destruction at Mt. Saint Helens. Basically you cant go wrong here any which way you go.........We have it all! From deserts to mountains to pristine beaches and rain forests. Really...........it's the s*^#*!

Kelly D

P.S..............SHHHHHH Don’t tell anyone!

Ahh...........The great PNW. As far as cities are concerned........I like the oldies. Port Townsend, Fair Haven/Bellingham, Astoria and a trip South from there on the coast stopping at Oswald West will knock your socks off. Stunning scenery would include Canon Beach in Oregon, the Hoh rain forest and the wild coast east of it in WA makes me speechless. Especially during a winter storm. Victoria in Canada is like a shot to Britain and well worth the trip. I really like Portland.... and Seattle has its flavor too. Eugene and Bend in Oregon are alot of fun too. A trip over the mountains through Levenworth is spectacular and you can’t afford to miss Mt. Rainier or the spectacle of natures destruction at Mt. Saint Helens. Basically you cant go wrong here any which way you go.........We have it all! From deserts to mountains to pristine beaches and rain forests. Really...........it's the s*^#*!

Kelly D

P.S..............SHHHHHH Don’t tell anyone!

There is probably 3 weeks of vacation in this paragraph!

There is probably 3 weeks of vacation in this paragraph!

Ya probably. I could break it up into day trips..........For example......The 101 loop around the peninsula would show everything from Olympia to Port Townsend to the coastal beaches and rain forest/old growth and ending in Astoria Oregon.I've driven that in a day and had a good time and took some nice beach walks and hugged old growth trees in the hall of mosses at the Hoh. There is a great loop from there down the coast where you could catch some of the best beaches on earth (Oswald West,Canon) and head inland from Florance to Eugene and North to Portland (thats 2 days). I could keep going.......but I wont. I used to love day trips.......

If you like to mountain bike look into Oakridge, Oregon, it's about a 45 minute drive east of Eugene and home of the Cascade Cream Puff 100 (http://www.cascadecreampuff.com/) and a couple Mountain Bike Oregon (http://www.mtbikeoregon.com/) weekends every year. You could spend the whole 7 days there and not ride the same trail twice.

If you can swing just a day there look into the Alpine Trail. It's about 32 miles as a loop or you can find a for hire shuttle in town to descend over 4000ft on 15 miles of single track.

Idaho is technically the inter-mountain west (between Rockies and Cascades), but the BF doesn't have that region. When people say the PNW, they usually are thinking of temperate rainforests and proximity to the ocean. This is not Idaho.

You are probably quite right. I serve as a pastor for a congregation in the Northwest District of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. Our District includes Idaho, so I have become accustomed to thinking I live in the Pacific Northwest, but maybe I am like a kitten that was adopted by a mother dog and is nursed by the dog. The kitten now thinks it is a dog. ;)

This information is great! The problem is now I want to take 3 months of vacation, but I can't.

So if I was to "home base" in Portland, to where could take some day trips? Singletrack, hiking, or other cool little towns?

However, Idaho is technically the inter-mountain west (between Rockies and Cascades), but the BF doesn't have that region. When geocentric people from the Puget Sound Basin say the PNW, they usually are thinking of temperate rainforests and proximity to the ocean.Fixed.

This information is great! The problem is now I want to take 3 months of vacation, but I can't.

So if I was to "home base" in Portland, to where could take some day trips? Singletrack, hiking, or other cool little towns?

Here are some rides around Portland.
Five local rides (http://www.oregon.com/trips/cycle_portland.cfm)

For Mountain Biking around Portland, contact PUMP (http://www.pumpclub.org/). They have a forum also.

A few more links for Bike Maps (http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=34809) in, around and away from Portland. For day trips, see the Bike Touring Maps link.

Fixed.

No. When people, including those who have lived in Idaho think of the PNW, they think of just what I said. Rainforests and such.

When people who live/have lived in Idaho think of Idaho, they think of more than 5 different sagebrush, smile at lodgepole pine forests, want to keep quiet some of the best river runs in the country, enjoy thermals providing lovely open air spas, provide "free taters for out-of-staters", not to mention one of biggest barley malting areas in the country. And, they are proud of it; they wouldn't want to be anything else.

People who think of Idaho as part of the PNW are just Seattle/Portland wanna be's.

Ya probably. I could break it up into day trips..........For example......The 101 loop around the peninsula would show everything from Olympia to Port Townsend to the coastal beaches and rain forest/old growth and ending in Astoria Oregon.I've driven that in a day and had a good time and took some nice beach walks and hugged old growth trees in the hall of mosses at the Hoh. There is a great loop from there down the coast where you could catch some of the best beaches on earth (Oswald West,Canon) and head inland from Florance to Eugene and North to Portland (thats 2 days). I could keep going.......but I wont. I used to love day trips.......

I'm voting for this trip :) .

East Hill

No. When people, including those who have lived in Idaho think of the PNW, they think of just what I said. Rainforests and such.

When people who live/have lived in Idaho think of Idaho, they think of more than 5 different sagebrush, smile at lodgepole pine forests, want to keep quiet some of the best river runs in the country, enjoy thermals providing lovely open air spas, provide "free taters for out-of-staters", not to mention one of biggest barley malting areas in the country. And, they are proud of it; they wouldn't want to be anything else.

People who think of Idaho as part of the PNW are just Seattle/Portland wanna be's.Haha! We are a separate and far better world over here :) Wannabe? I left the PS Basin when I went to college, found a country that was as beautiful all over as my beloved vacation paradise on the Teanaway River and vowed never to go back.

Haha! We are a separate and far better world over here :) Wannabe? I left the PS Basin when I went to college, found a country that was as beautiful all over as my beloved vacation paradise on the Teanaway River and vowed never to go back.


I have to say that I do like the town of Republic...Mr. East Hill and I have talked about moving there when we retire.

East Hill

if you do hit Portland, Multnomah Falls and other parts along the Columbia Gorge are great natural sites (and sights, for that matter). There are lots of hiking trails. Also, part of the old scenic highway (30) along the gorge has been closed to cars, and is accessible only to bikes and foot traffic. I haven't done that route personally, but I understand it is quite lovely and a good workout too.