West Coast Road Trip

[chawthorne6]

I'm planning on taking a road trip in about a month or so. I'm starting in Arizona and I'm planning on ending up in Northern Oregon/Southern Washington area, but I only have about 2 weeks round trip alloted for this trip. I was curious if anyone had any suggestions of some wonderful places to photograph. I do have a few places in mind but I would love to hear some suggestions.

Please be as specific as you can be (with names and locations, or specific areas within that are of photographic interest) due to the fact that I tend to get lost easily)......Thank You!!!

[Hikin Mike]

Yosemite, Yosemite or maybe Yosemite.

[sparker1]

Good places all along the CA and OR coast. Interior favorites, in addition to Yosemite, include Lassen NP, Burney Falls, Crater Lake, the Bend/Sisters area, Mt Hood, Columbia River Gorge, Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier, Mt Baker, Northern Cascades NP, Leavenworth, etc, etc. The possibilities are unlimited, but you only have two weeks.

[j-wilson]

Certainly no shortage of photo locations between Arizona and Oregon. The Pacific Coast Highway between San Luis Obispo and Monterey is one of the best road trips in the country. John Muir Woods just north of San Francisco is spectacular as is Yosemite. If you go to Crater Lake in southern Oregon, make a point to stop at Toketee Falls just to the northwest of the lake. Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge is very cool as well.

Enjoy the trip!

[Enjoivw]

I actually leave in 12 days on a cross country road trip to many places that might interest you...

Up the route you suggested I would say Yosemite, Redwood, Big Sur, Crater Lake, Mt Hood, Mt St Helen, Mt Rainier, Columbia River Gorge are just a few places that will get your trigger finger very excited. I would do alot of research and see how much time you would like to stay at each place, because many of these parks you can get sucked in for days at a time by just how big and beatiful each one is.

Another option you could look into is driving up Cali and not going higher than Crater lake in Oregon and start heading east through the top of Nevada and down into Utah and end the trip at Zion, Canyonlands, Arches, etc. Depending though I where you live in Arizona you might have easy access to these parks already, but its another idea for you to look at.

NPS.gov has all the information on the parks in the U.S. and even look at travel blog sites (travelblog.org, travelpod.com). Those two sites have alot of great blogs and information on areas you might be interested in also.

Have Fun!!

[johnnybfan]

Drive up and fly back. That's the only way you'll get to see what you want. Besides, with the price of gasoline, it may be close to the same price.

[doidinho]

Oregon Gorge, Painted Hills, Crater Lake.

[tgamron]

Redwood National Park.

[greg20d]

Yosemite, Yosemite or maybe Yosemite.

since nobody said it Yosemite (don't miss it if you haven't been there ...or if you have
then come back out 120 and go the back way to tahoe then from there you can head up to oregon

[Playm]

If you like history, there is a lot of it in CA that goes back to the gold rush days (1849+). (north of Yosemite) (since it sounds like you may be up here in the foothills)

Highway 49, which runs N & S, through the foothills contains MANY towns built in the 1840s & 50s. Sonora, Angel's Camp (where Mark Twain wrote about the frog jumps), Jackson, Sutter Creek, Plymouth (Old Pokerville), Fiddletown (where there use to be over 10k Chinese gold miners.. yet now has a pop of 100), Placerville (Hang Town), Coloma (where John Sutter had his mill where they discovered the gold nuggets just sitting in the river).. If you have any interest in this type of history, Google Amador & El Dorado counties. .. or "Gold Country" (?)
(btw/ this is also "the Other wine country" (beating the Napa/Sonoma vinyards)... a bizillion vinyards all over the place).

.. but speaking of Napa/Sonoma .. it's pretty along the Sonoma coastline too. There's a great unpopulated beach (Sammon Creek) just north of Bodega Bay. .. most mornings are foggy .. lots of dunes and sea grass.

I guess it depends on if you like "a road less traveled" or the normal tourist stuff. (I tend to be "a road less traveled" type of person.. so thought I'd mention the foothills). This is the area where the infamous Juaquine Murieta (the bandit) roamed the hills.

.. anyway, it will be interesting to see your photos of the trip.