June 2015: Santa Barbara - Vancouver Island, BC suggestions

[SB_Surf]

We are starting to plan a 2.5-3 week trip for mid-June and are open to suggested "must sees" especially in Oregon and Washington within the Pacific Coast and Highway 97 corridor. Our travels must go thru Seattle at some point to visit our daughter.

We will be rolling on the heavy side and we do not have 4X4, so wander too deep off decent roads is Out, but hiking and biking in is Ok.

Thank you in advance for your suggestions!

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Olympic NP is a must see. There are some nice campgrounds in the Forks area,close to the ocean. Along the Oregon coast there are lots of very nice places to stay state parks and national forest campgrounds.
You can make reservations at most if that is a need. A lot of the campgrounds along the coast fill up fast.Some don't take reservations
and are on a first come basis.
You mentioned British Columbia,there is a nice CG outside Victoria (Gold Stream) if you wanted to visit that city.Which is a nice spot to see.
Along the 97 corridor there are NF spots.Crater Lake ,Diamond Lake just a place to spend the night if you can't find anything at the stopping point of the day. The Umpqua River route has lots of CGs right along the river.
If Lewis&Clark history is of interest,there are spots to see along the Columbia River near the mouth.
Frank

 

[Bill D]

We've camped at Goldstream (16km form Victoria City Centre) at least 3 or 4 times now. We absolutely love it. It is amazingly beautiful. There is a nice waterfall where you can go swimming. The bathrooms offer hot showers and are brand new. The sites are relatively far apart from one another and relatively private. Some are extremely private. The road in is paved and smooth as silk. The are no insects, except the odd wasp.

You could cycle from the campground into downtown Victoria. You can hike to the top of Mount Finlayson.
Whale watching, fishing, kayaking and touring downtown Victoria, Butchart Gardens, Craigdarroch Castle etc. etc.

You will run out of time before you run out of things to do.

Don't let the fact that the campground is so close to Victoria fool you. When you enter the campground you descend into an old growth forest with 200 ft tall 600 year old Douglas fir tress, red cedars, alders maples and cottonwood. It reminds me of Jurassic Park. It's stunningly beautiful. It's safe, quiet, clean. I can't say enough good things about it. You may as well be 5 hours away from everything, because you feel like you are in another world.

I suggest you reserve. They start taking reservations in March 15.
https://secure.camis.com/Discovercamping/

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/goldstream/