Sacramento to Seattle

[Shibu George]

I'm planning to do a one way photography road trip from Sacramento to Seattle in 3 days in first week of June, I'm not familiar with that area.

Which route is the best?
Any tips on photo locations?

All advises and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance

 

[JimFox]

That sounds like a fun trip Shibu!

Since you have only 3 days, here is my thoughts.

Day 1. Drive straight to Columbia River Gorge. It won't all be open because of the fire, but enough that you can go shoot some waterfalls.
Day 2. Then head west to Cannon beach the next day and shoot there.
Day 3. Go to Mt St Helens and shoot there.

Depending on the roads, you could skip Cannon Beach and go straight to Mt St Helens, then on Day 3 go to Mt Rainier.

 

[Shibu George]

That sounds like a fun trip Shibu!

Since you have only 3 days, here is my thoughts.

Day 1. Drive straight to Columbia River Gorge. It won't all be open because of the fire, but enough that you can go shoot some waterfalls.
Day 2. Then head west to Cannon beach the next day and shoot there.
Day 3. Go to Mt St Helens and shoot there.

Depending on the roads, you could skip Cannon Beach and go straight to Mt St Helens, then on Day 3 go to Mt Rainier.

Thanks so much, Jim!

 

[Shibu George]

Hi Jim,

That sounds like a fun trip Shibu!

Since you have only 3 days, here is my thoughts.

Day 1. Drive straight to Columbia River Gorge. It won't all be open because of the fire, but enough that you can go shoot some waterfalls.
Day 2. Then head west to Cannon beach the next day and shoot there.
Day 3. Go to Mt St Helens and shoot there.

Depending on the roads, you could skip Cannon Beach and go straight to Mt St Helens, then on Day 3 go to Mt Rainier.

Hi Jim,

Based on your input I made some changes, I will be flying to Portland and flying back from Seattle, so it will be be one way road trip from Portland to Seattle, total 4 days, any suggestions? Thanks in Advance.

 

[BarryHamilton]

Hi Jim,


Hi Jim,

Based on your input I made some changes, I will be flying to Portland and flying back from Seattle, so it will be be one way road trip from Portland to Seattle, total 4 days, any suggestions? Thanks in Advance.

I would add the loop up the 101 along the coast into the Olympic National Park. Lots of gorgeous beaches and of course the Olympic Mountains and rain forests.

 

[AlanLichty]

As someone living in the Portland area I would skip the Gorge right now. There are really only a couple of falls you can shoot right now without fencing around them (Latourell and Bridal Veil). The gorge itself is still quite beautiful but your tour will be mostly on the freeway since the Historic Columbia River Highway is closed for now.

I would second Barry's suggestion of looping 101 around the Olympic Peninsula. Take the freeway north from Portland to Olympia and then head over to Aberdeen to connect up with US101. Follow it around the peninsula and then take a ferry over to Seattle.

 

[Shibu George]

Thanks Alan, Thanks Barry.

 

[JimFox]

Since you have 4 days and are starting from Portland, the idea of going on the Olympic Peninsula is a good one.

It sounds like from Alan that only a couple of waterfalls are open. That could change between now and June, and if you have never been there, then even spending 3 or 4 hour there to shoot a couple of waterfalls might be worth it. But then I can see why maybe it would be best to skip that for now. Alan lives very close to that area, so hopefully he can periodically keep us updated.

You can just head west from Portland to Cannon Beach, shoot it and then head north on the 101 to Forks and shoot 2nd Beach, Ruby is a great beach too, and I like the idea of taking a Ferry across Puget Sound. You can certainly spend a day in the Fishermans Warf area, shoot the Space Needle if you want some city photography.

An other option would be to still add in Mt St Helens at the beginning, either backtracking back from Cannon Beach to head up there, and then swinging west to the Olympic Pennisula. Mt Rainier is an area I truly love, and that mountain is so majestic, but early June it still may have too much snow and I am not sure how much lodging is open up there that early. But it would be worth looking into also for one of your days.

It will be a fun trip and it will be interesting to see how you choose to fill up each day.

 

[Shibu George]

As someone living in the Portland area I would skip the Gorge right now. There are really only a couple of falls you can shoot right now without fencing around them (Latourell and Bridal Veil). The gorge itself is still quite beautiful but your tour will be mostly on the freeway since the Historic Columbia River Highway is closed for now.

I would second Barry's suggestion of looping 101 around the Olympic Peninsula. Take the freeway north from Portland to Olympia and then head over to Aberdeen to connect up with US101. Follow it around the peninsula and then take a ferry over to Seattle.

Thanks Alan for the great tips, my trip starts on this Saturday, I'm mostly interested in shooting water falls & water (preferably with lots of moss around) and coast landscapes. Is multnomah falls open? Is it worth the trip there? What are my options currently around Columbia river gorge area? Thanks.

 

[AlanLichty]

Thanks Alan for the great tips, my trip starts on this Saturday, I'm mostly interested in shooting water falls & water (preferably with lots of moss around) and coast landscapes. Is multnomah falls open? Is it worth the trip there? What are my options currently around Columbia river gorge area? Thanks.

Multnomah is open via the freeway (historic highway is closed). Latourell and Bridal Veil Falls can be accessed via the old highway. If you are on I-84 you can use the Corbett exit to get to this section of the old highway. That road is closed after Bridal Veil Falls but is open downstream from there.

The Washington side of the Gorge (WA14) is open all the way but there aren't many falls along the north side of the river.

For serious moss it's hard to beat the Olympic Peninsula. I'd head up I-5 towards Olympia and then head over to the Gray's Harbor area and head up US101. That takes you into Olympic NP with lots of neat coastlines. This area includes Ruby Beach, Second Beach (near LaPush) and Rialto Beach. The Hoh rainforest will redefine what you might consider constitutes "lots of moss". They average around 144" of rain/year.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Shibu, what about Spirit Falls that's a cool one on the Washington side.

 

[Kyle Jones]

If you want waterfalls in the Portland area, you have options with Silver Falls and Abiqua Falls to the South and the Washington falls to the east. Jim mentioned Spirit Falls and you can combine that with Panther Creek and Lewis River for a good day. Especially good if it is overcast.

 

[Shibu George]

Cool, you guys are awesome!

Hey Shibu, what about Spirit Falls that's a cool one on the Washington side.

Spirit falls is really cool, thanks for the tip!

 

[AlanLichty]

Be careful with Silver Falls on a weekend. That's a highly utilized local park for the Portland/Salem area. Weekdays aren't bad but on a weekend it can have traffic jams.

 

[Shibu George]

Be careful with Silver Falls on a weekend. That's a highly utilized local park for the Portland/Salem area. Weekdays aren't bad but on a weekend it can have traffic jams.

Alan, I don't think I've time for that anyway, my plan now is to go to spirit falls straight from airport (around 11AM Friday), on the way or back or next day morning -shoot Multnomah, Bridal veil and latourell falls and stay near Bridal veil. Sat go to Canon beach area, shoot and stay there. Sunday drive on 101 towards Olympic national park stay there, Monday again Olympic peninsula and wrap up evening at Seattle city area. Tue morning return flight from Seattle. Any suggestions?

 

[AlanLichty]

Are you camping or doing a motel trip? Not sure about lodging near Bridal Veil Falls - closest campground is Rooster Rock State Park. It is open. Sounds like a fun trip.

Your least productive photo day will be driving US101 from Cannon Beach to the Olympic National Park area. It is an interesting drive but not all that photogenic once you leave the Columbia River in your rear view mirror and head north up to the Aberdeen-Hoquiam area.

As for the Olympic Peninsula area - you could spend much longer than your entire trip up there and not even come close to running out of things to shoot/places to go

 

[Shibu George]

Are you camping or doing a motel trip? Not sure about lodging near Bridal Veil Falls - closest campground is Rooster Rock State Park. It is open. Sounds like a fun trip.

Your least productive photo day will be driving US101 from Cannon Beach to the Olympic National Park area. It is an interesting drive but not all that photogenic once you leave the Columbia River in your rear view mirror and head north up to the Aberdeen-Hoquiam area.

As for the Olympic Peninsula area - you could spend much longer than your entire trip up there and not even come close to running out of things to shoot/places to go

Cool, you guys been very helpful and made my life easy, thanks a lot. I will be staying in motels along the way. You are right, can't find any motels in Bridal veil area, about 5 miles west there are few, will book in of those.

 

[Shibu George]

Cool, you guys been very helpful and made my life easy, thanks a lot. I will be staying in motels along the way. You are right, can't find any motels in Bridal veil area, about 5 miles west there are few, will book in of those.

One more question, I'm trying to reduce my gear backpack size, is it worth to take the macro lens for this trip?

 

[AlanLichty]

You are asking someone who has yet to figure out how to leave one of my lenses at home (or even in the car)

Depends on your level of adult onset attention deficit disorder - I am a chronic case and space out on little scenes along the trail regularly. That said most of the usual suspect landscape zooms have good enough macro capabilities to take on a respectably wide range of what you will see along this trip.

 

[Roger Bailey]

Being from California, I am partial to some of the wonderful vistas we have here. June is tough though as we usually do not have much rain after April and a lot of the great waterfalls are somewhat diminished. Travel time is also a consideration as you didn't have much time to spend and really if you are on the road all the time it is challenging to plot the best spots during the right time of the day. Next time you think you may want to photograph Northern California let me know as there are some awesome places, waterfalls and moss to your desires.
That said have a wonderful trip and look forward to seeing some great photos!
Best.