Pacific Northwest trip options

[Anton Solovyev]

Hi, I am looking for some ideas on what to hike in the Pacific Northwest. I can get 4th of July week off, about 9 days total. Living in Colorado, I get tired of places above the treeline and deserts and want to see some some real trees and ocean shore.

I am considering Olympic Peninsula coast (Oil City to the north), West Coast Trail (cost? insane!), North Coast Trail, Juan de Fuca trail, Wonderland Trail… What else? What else is good in British Columbia? (a summer trip there becomes an annual thing for me). Perhaps some packrafting?

Thank you in advance!h

[Jerry Adams]

Oil City to Third Beach is great. Mostly walking along beach. You have to syncronize with tide tables – some areas can only be crossed within 3 hours of low tide. When I do it in the winter there are usually Bald Eagles that accompany me. I think you need a permit in the summer. http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/wilderness-trip-planner.htm

Rialto Beach to Ozette is also nice

Wonderland is above treeline, hard to get reservations

[Hoot Filsinger]

Hello Anton,

If you are willing to travel farther south the coastal redwood forest should be on everyone's bucket list. If you are interested PM me and I will send an itinerary for hiking in the redwood forest and coastal zones.

Safe trails,

Hoot

[Anton Solovyev]

Oh yes, I thought of mentioning redwoods. I recently saw a Nat. Geo. documentary and thought that seeing these places would be very cool. Somehow there's relatively little info on hiking in Redwoods NP(?) Or is it because there's little public land there Thanks!

[Jerry Adams]

So where's a good multi-day backpack in Redwoods? Like 20 miles out and 20 miles back?

[Justin Baker]

"So where's a good multi-day backpack in Redwoods? Like 20 miles out and 20 miles back?"

The redwoods aren't a great place for backpacking.
All redwood forests are in private property or they are in well used state parks with lots of restrictions. There are trail camps in some parks but a lot of the time the camps aren't even located in redwoods.
You could do some overnights but with mandatory camping locations, permits (which could be hard to get), and the touristy crowds it makes more sense to do day hikes imo. There are a ton of groves and parks to explore.

You should ask John Abella (i hope I got his last name right). He lives up there and I talked to him at the GGG about backpacking in the northern redwoods.

The only redwoods forests that are located in actual wilderness are in the Ventana Wilderness of Big Sur. Lot's of old growth forests in isolated canyons but their size is not impressive.

[Herbert Sitz]

You could combine some other trip(s) in Olympics (e.g., Ozette loop) with a trip in Enchanted Valley, southwest corner of ONP near Lake Quinault. Sounds like what you're looking for: rainforest, huge trees, up along a river valley with little waterfalls everywhere, 13 miles in to area they call "Little Yosemite" b/c of steep cliffs and waterfalls. Plus early July is great time to go.

Use wta.org as resource, e.g., here's the dayhike listing for Enchanted Valley trail, which would only go a few miles in. There are loops you could do past camp at 13 miles in, but there might still be snow in the passes.
http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/quinault-river
Best resource for multi-day hikes in WA is Craig Romano's "Backpacking Washington" book.

Here's an Enchanted Valley trip report, you can probably find many others at nwhikers.net:
http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12152
There is a high concentration of bears in the valley, at least in spring/early season. But bears in Olympics are not problematic, bear hangs at most main camps, otherwise rangers will tell you you have to have bear can (which you can rent from them for a few bucks).

Another option in Olympics would be the Press Expedition Traverse. A mostly lowland hike (45 miles) that starts near Lake Quinault/southwest ONP and follows Elwha River from its source to where it empties into Strait of San Juan de Fuca. Need shuttle since it's a point to point hike. Here's trip report with some good forest pictures showing southern leg for this trip down near Lake Quinault:
http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8004821&highlight=press+expedition
Here're pics from same person of January hike of the northern section of Press Expedition Traverse:
http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7996229&highlight=

[Edward Jursek]

The coastal hikes in Olympic National Park are great. Oil City to Third Beach and Rialto Beach to Sand Point/Cape Alava are both winners. Over 4th of July it will be busy and don't forget you need a bear canister. If I had 9 days, I would spend 4 to 5 days beach hiking then the remainder on a hike in the interior of Olympic National Park.

[Paul Schwerdt]

There are some good trails for backpacking in the Redwoods if you go to Prairie Creek State Park near Orick CA.

http://www.redwoodhikes.com/PrairieCreek/PrairieCreek.html

[David Mydans]

Just FYI if you're planning to do the WCT. I am booked to hike the WCT for a third time with my son and his friend. It is definitely getting more expensive. I live in Seattle so it's just a ferry ride to Vancouver Island.
For 3 people..$126 Ferry + $478 Registration and fees + $180 Trailhead return bus $240 = $844 Total…still very worth it, but "Spendy" for a 5 day hike.

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