Welcome to the overview of our recent, and mostly unplanned, 14-day road trip from San Diego to Forks, Washington, and back! As is our style, we set out with only the first few campsites reserved and a loose framework in mind. The plan was simple: leave early on a Saturday to escape the Los Angeles traffic, head north on the scenic Highway 395 toward Lassen Volcanic National Park, and chase the cooler weather of the Pacific Northwest.
Our rough itinerary looked something like this:
- Start drive from San Diego to Lassen early morning using Interstate 5 and Highway 395 via Reno
- Spend three days exploring the volcanic wonders of Lassen Volcanic National Park.
- Drive north through the vast landscapes of eastern Oregon to the mighty Columbia River.
- Travel west along the river, following the stunning Historic Columbia River Highway.
- Bypass Portland and head straight for the rugged beauty of the Olympic Peninsula.
- Visit Forks and La Push—not as Twilight fans, but out of curiosity for a town made world-famous by the series. We were a bit puzzled to find the actual scenery didn’t match the movies, confirming our suspicion that much of it was filmed elsewhere.
- Begin the slow journey south on the iconic Highway 101, a route that weaves along wild ocean shores through a chain of numerous state parks and unique territories.
- Finally, when time ran out, we would take Interstate 5 to the Mt. Shasta area before veering onto a more scenic path via Highways 89, 44, and back to 395, eventually connecting with I-15 in Hesperia for the final stretch home.
Over two incredible weeks, we covered about 4,000 miles and watched the world transform around us. We escaped the scalding Southern California heat and traded it for the cool, misty air of Washington’s temperate rainforests. Along the way, we stood in the shadow of the snow-dusted Lassen Peak, the formidable and still very symmetric Mt. Hood, and the equally formidable Mount St. Helens—a volcano once famous for a symmetry it used to have.
But the trip was more than just stunning landscapes. It was an education. We learned about the complex systems of dams on the Columbia River, the technology behind coastal cranberry farming, and the critical role of fish hatcheries in sustaining iconic species like Chinook and Coho salmon, Steelhead trout, and the prehistoric White Sturgeon. We marveled at the unique “sand lakes” of the Oregon coast and couldn’t help but notice the shift in driving habits—from the fast-paced chaos of California to the remarkably respectful drivers in Washington, with Oregon somewhere in between.
Sticking to our goal of avoiding large urban areas, we immersed ourselves in charming small towns like Port Townsend, Neah Bay, Ocean Shores, and the historic village of Oysterville. Embracing the flexibility of the open road, we slept in our car on 7 of the 13 nights. While not always luxurious, this strategy gave us incredible freedom, allowing us to start our drives before sunrise and adapt our plans on the fly. The other 6 nights were spent in our tent, spread across six different beautiful campsites. Totally we drove about 4000 mi and burned for it about 80 gallons of regular gas.
This post is just the beginning. Below is the day-by-day list of places we visited, and in the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing detailed posts from each leg of this unforgettable journey.
| part 1. Path to Lassen NP | 9.Aug | Sat | touristic Bishop, Mono lake, Topaz lake | |
| part 2. Lassen volcanic NP | 10.Aug | Sun | historic Virginia City, Almanor lake, Devil’s kitchen trail | Warner Valley campsite |
| 11.Aug | Mon | Boiling Springs Lake trail, Bumpass Hell trail | Summit Lake South campsite | |
| 12.Aug | Tue | Summit lake, Devastated Area, Lakeview, Plush, Sunstone Collection, the longly US 395 | ||
| part 3. Columbia river | 13.Aug | Wed | US 395 dunes, BLM Wild Horse Corrals, strange Burns, John Day, Nye, Pendleton, Plymouth | Plymouth Park campsite |
| 14.Aug | Thu | The Dalles, Mt Hood views, scenic 100, numerous waterfalls | Eagle Creak campsite | |
| 15.Aug | Fri | scenic 100, hatchery, Bonneville Lock & Dam, numerous waterfalls | ||
| part 4. St Helens | 16.Aug | SAt | Mt St Hellens National Volcanic Monument | |
| part 5. Olimpic peninsula | 17.Aug | Sun | scenic 101, beauitiful Port Townsend, Makah Indian reservation, Cape Flattery trail | Hobuck beach campsite |
| 18.Aug | Mon | fishy Neah Bay, La Push, world biggest Duncan Cedar tree, La Push, Forks | South Beach campsite | |
| 19.Aug | Tue | Quinault lake, world largest sitka spruce tree, Quinault Rain forest trail, Ocean Shores, C.Cobain’s childhouse (Aberdeen), Westport Marina | ||
| part 6. Way back to SD | 20.Aug | Wed | world largest oyster, cranberry fields, Bearberry trail, Cape Disappointment, Oystervill, Long Beach | |
| 21.Aug | Thu | Sandlake and Whalen Island, McPhilips Beach, Oregon Dunes | ||
| 22.Aug | Fri | US 5 – US 89 – US 44 – US 395 (rain!) – US 15 |
