Pacific Coast Roadtrip

I mentioned some time ago that my roommates and I took a week long camping/hiking trip along the Pacific Coast. Well, now I'm here to recap that! (One day I'll learn to blog in real time!) Once our assignments ended in Seattle, we all took some time to go home to see family. We met back up a week in advance to start our new assignment in Portland. Since the two cities are only about three hours apart, we decided to make a big loop and check out the coast instead of just driving straight down.

We started in Seattle and headed west to the Olympic National Park, on to the Washington coast, down the Oregon coast, across to Central Oregon, then back north to Portland. In typical Pacific Northwest fashion, we encountered mostly grey, foggy, and rainy days but we didn't let that interrupt out plans. We camped and hiked and explored to our hearts' content. Disclaimer: we did cheat one night and stay in a hotel. We were desperate for a bed, shower, and real food (hellooo, pizza!). Plus, it was the first night of TGIT so it was a win/win!

Dungeness Spit// Olympic National Park

Mt. Olympus// Olympic National Park

Sol Duc Falls// Olympic National Park

Second Beach// La Push, WA

Aren't my roommates adorable?

Giant Cedar Trees// Olympic National Park

Salmon Cascades// Olympic National Park

Columbia River// Astoria, OR

Ecola State Park// Cannon Beach, OR

Haystack Rock// Cannon Beach, OR

Devil's Punchbowl// Otter Rock, OR

Seal Rock, OR

Cape Perpetua// Florence, OR

Thor's Well// Florence, OR

Crater Lake National Park

Lots of fires while camping to keep up from freezing at night!

After being in the Pacific Northwest for the last five months, I knew it was a gorgeous place. This trip definitely lived up to the expectations, rain and all. There is so much more in Oregon I was to see and do, but I'm not a big snow person and so many of those places are already snowy! I'll just have to come back next year.