Landscape help for Washington/ Oregon

Hello all, I am probably going to take a quick motorcycle ride up to Seattle this week for only 3 or 4 days, and I'm hoping to get a little advice.

Weather-wise the forecast is for sunny skies and highs in the mid 60's for both Portland and Seattle through the weekend. I am going to ride up from Monterey, CA to Portland on Wednesday, and then spend Thursday in and around Seattle.

What I'm hoping for is suggestions on good photos spots for the Cascades (Washington or Oregon), for Thursday night/ Friday morning, and then again on Friday night/ Sat morning. Ideally I would like to find someplace to camp near the photo spots, so please keep that in mind.

I will be taking my 5DII and the only lens will be my 24-105f/4L (with tripod of course). I'm not looking for a long ways away shots of forests with a tiny mountain poking up , I'm more interested in places I can get fairly close to the mountain. Feel free to suggest iconic/ popular spots, since I'm not going for originality, more just to practice taking mountain shots.

As for which mountain, I'm open to suggestions. I will be leaving Seattle on Thursday afternoon, and ideally I'd like to be at the camp site/ photo site by nightfall. On Friday, I need to be well down into southern Washington or more likely Oregon because I have to get home on Saturday at the latest.

I will probably be using the I-5 corridor as my travel route, just since this is a quick trip and the weather should be a little more mild than on the eastern side of the Cascades. Do any of the mountains like Rainier, St. Helens, Hood, Three Sisters, or McLoughlin have decent snow on them yet?

Thanks in advance, and since I'll be leaving early on Wednesday morning, any suggestions after that will not get to me (I won't have internet access).

I can see hood from my bedroom window, and over the last 2 weeks it has gotten a lot more white stuff on it. There are some nice campgrounds on Mt. Hood that have great views of the Mt. with lake reflections. About an hour East of the 1-5 freeway.

Have fun Jedi -- sounds like a great adventure. Too bad you you can't take the PCH, but obviously, there are time constraints. Sorry that I don't have much advice to offer you, but I look forward to hopefully seeing some pics after your return that document your journey!

Bryan

Littlejon Dsgn wrote in post #16372868
I can see hood from my bedroom window, and over the last 2 weeks it has gotten a lot more white stuff on it. There are some nice campgrounds on Mt. Hood that have great views of the Mt. with lake reflections. About an hour East of the 1-5 freeway.

Thanks for the head's up Littlejon. I've seen Shasta, Rainier, etc. in person, but never Mt. Hood (it was dark when I rode past it last time. That would be fun to check it out.

Bryan, thanks for the well-wishes. I'll try to snap some good photos to share.

Trillium Lake is a good place if you want close ups of Mt. Hood. There is a nice RV park just east of Sandy (I think its Mt. Hood RV Park), they have tent sites and yurts, then its a short ride up to the lakes for photography if you don't want to be camping on the mountain.

The ride out to Johnston Ridge is again about 1.5 east of I-5 but on a clear day it gives you full on views of St. Helen's and the crater. We drove it during the summer and if I had a bike it would be on my list or rides, just getting to the observatory is beautiful (we were passed by at least 150-200 riders that day.

Taking a ride to Larch Mountain is another good option, its off the Old Columbia River Highway just past Troutdale, its a mountain/back road that takes you up to a viewpoint where you can see I believe 7 mountains on a clear day (there is a short hike when you hit the parking lot to get to the top of the mountain (I did it in flip flops on my last trip so its easy). But that view will give you large landscapes with mountain peaks popping out, might not be what your looking for. But it gets you close to Crown Point as well, and the Womans Forum look out which gives great views of the Columbia River and Crown Point.

Thanks a ton. I'm going to google those places and see if I can check some of them out. When you say "camp on the mountain", I've never camped in the cascades before...do you need a backcountry permit like in the Sierras?...are there designated sites?

I don't require any water or shower facilities, I'd just be primitive tent camping for 1 night at each location.

Jedi5150 wrote in post #16373121
Thanks a ton. I'm going to google those places and see if I can check some of them out. When you say "camp on the mountain", I've never camped in the cascades before...do you need a backcountry permit like in the Sierras?...are there designated sites?

I don't require any water or shower facilities, I'd just be primitive tent camping for 1 night at each location.

Trillium lake is a Forest Service campground and you can make reservations online, Mt. Hood RV park is a private campground also make reservations online. I am not 100% sure that Trillium is still open, might be closed for the season (my work computer wont let me access their website).

Hi Bryan and Littlejon, I just got back and wanted to share a few photos of my trip. I'm still pretty crappy at landscapes (I just can't get the hang of it), but for my abilities, I'm happy with a few I took. I rode from Monterey to Chehalis, WA the first day (about 812 miles). The second day I rode up to Pike's Place Market in Seattle after stopping off at HIlleberg Tents in Redmond. I then rode back down to Eugene, where I stayed the night.

The third day of my trip was the most enjoyable. I skipped Hood, and instead went for the Three Sisters. I rode from Eugene to the 242 scenic byway...WOW, what a fun ride! It got chilly up on top of the pass, about 32* at 11AM, but the views and ride were worth it. Then I rode to Sisters and took forest road 16 from Sisters to the back side of the mountains, before going south to the back way up to Crater Lake. Following that I rode to Redding, and spent the night. Day 4 was by far the shortest riding day, from Redding to home. Most of the days were 500+ miles, but the weather was sunny and the scenery worth it.

Here is the Sisters from Scott Lake. I didn't plan on the guy rowing his canoe, in fact I thought I was the only one there until I saw him through my viewfinder.

Me "photo bombing" my Crater Lake and Wizard Island shot