West Coast National Parks Road Trip: All 13 Parks
Thirteen national parks sit on the West Coast: Olympic, Mount Rainier and North Cascades in Washington, Crater Lake in Oregon, and Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Redwood, Lassen Volcanic, Channel Islands and Pinnacles in California. A Seattle to Los Angeles trip that visits the seven headline parks runs about 1,600 miles and wants 14 days. Go between July and September if the Washington and Oregon high country matters to you, because the passes and rim roads there open late. Our full West Coast road trip lays out the coastal version day by day.
Which national parks are on the West Coast?
Nine of the 13 are in California, which is why a West Coast national parks road trip ends up spending more than half its days in one state. Working north to south:
- Olympic, Washington. Three parks in one: rain forest, wild coast and a mile high alpine ridge at Hurricane Ridge.
- Mount Rainier, Washington. Paradise and Sunrise are the two hubs. Wildflowers peak late July into August.
- North Cascades, Washington. The least visited of the three. Highway 20 across the park closes with the first heavy snow and reopens in spring.
- Crater Lake, Oregon. The only national park in the state. Rim Drive is a summer road, usually fully open from July.
- Redwood, California. Old growth coast redwood north of Eureka, free to enter.
- Lassen Volcanic, California. Hydrothermal basins and a summit trail, with a park highway that also waits for the snow to go.
- Yosemite, California. The valley, plus Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Road in summer.
- Sequoia and Kings Canyon, California. Adjacent parks, one entry fee, the largest trees on earth.
- Pinnacles, California. Talus caves and condors, and small enough for a day.
- Channel Islands, California. Reached by boat from Ventura, so it needs its own two days.
- Death Valley, California. A winter and shoulder season park, with summer highs past 120F that regularly put hikers in hospital.
- Joshua Tree, California. Also a cool season park, best October through April.
Two of those, Death Valley and Joshua Tree, sit inland in the desert. They belong on the same trip only if you are travelling outside high summer, which is the single biggest scheduling decision on this route.
The 14 day Seattle to Los Angeles route
This is the version that works if you have two weeks and want the headline parks rather than all 13. It runs north to south so the alpine parks come first, while the passes are still clear.
- Days 1 to 3, Olympic. Two and a half hours from Seattle to Port Angeles. Hurricane Ridge, the Hoh Rain Forest and Rialto Beach are three different days and three different climates. Our Olympic Peninsula loop covers the circuit.
- Days 4 and 5, Mount Rainier. Paradise for the wildflower meadows, Sunrise for the glacier views. Check the Mount Rainier timed entry rules before you drive up.
- Day 6, North Cascades. Highway 20 is the park. Diablo Lake Overlook and the Blue Lake trail fit a single day with a night in Winthrop or Marblemount.
- Days 7 and 8, Crater Lake. A long driving day gets you south. Walk part of the Crater Lake Rim Trail and drive the full 33 mile rim loop.
- Day 9, Redwood. Cut west to the coast. The Tall Trees Grove permit is free and limited, and the Newton B. Drury Parkway needs no permit at all.
- Days 10 to 12, Yosemite. Two days in the valley, one on Tioga Road if it is open. Our Yosemite 3 day itinerary is built for exactly this slot.
- Days 13 and 14, Sequoia and Kings Canyon. Four hours south of Yosemite Valley. Finish with the Giant Forest and drive on to Los Angeles.
The 7 day version
Seven days is one state, not three. Pick by season.
- July to September: Seattle in, Portland out. Olympic, Mount Rainier and North Cascades, three days, two days and one day, with the last day for Mount St. Helens on the way south.
- April to June: San Francisco in and out. Yosemite for three days at peak waterfall flow, Sequoia and Kings Canyon for two, and Pinnacles for one.
- October to March: Las Vegas or Los Angeles in. Death Valley for two days, Joshua Tree for two, and the Sierra foothills for the rest.
Drive times worth planning around
The mileage between these parks is the part people underestimate. Nothing on this list is a hop.
- Seattle to Port Angeles: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Olympic to Mount Rainier: 4 hours
- Mount Rainier to North Cascades: 4 hours 30 minutes
- North Cascades to Crater Lake: 8 hours, so break it in Portland or Bend
- Crater Lake to Redwood: 4 hours
- Redwood to Yosemite Valley: 8 hours 30 minutes, again worth splitting
- Yosemite Valley to Giant Forest, Sequoia: 4 hours
- Sequoia to Los Angeles: 4 hours
Two hundred miles a day is a comfortable ceiling on this trip, because the last 40 miles into a park are usually mountain road. Days that look short on a map take three hours.
Reservations to sort before you go
Four things sell out or run on a timer, and all four are free or cheap if you plan and expensive in wasted driving if you do not.
- Timed entry. Rainier and Yosemite have both used peak hour entry reservations in recent seasons. Check each park page the month you book flights, not the week you leave.
- In park lodging. Yosemite Valley, Crater Lake Lodge and Paradise Inn open a year ahead and fill.
- Campgrounds. The good ones release on recreation.gov six months out at 7am Mountain.
- The pass. An America the Beautiful pass is $80 and covers every park on this route. Single park entry is $35 for seven days, so the pass pays for itself on the third park.
Going further inland: the trip out west
Plenty of people searching for national parks out west do not mean the coast at all. They mean the red rock and the Rockies, which is a different trip with a different season. Utah and Arizona work in spring and autumn, Wyoming and Montana work in summer. If that is the trip you want, start with the Utah national parks road trip for the Mighty 5 loop, or the Yellowstone and Grand Teton route for the northern Rockies. Our national parks road trip map compares the five classic loops side by side.
Plan your West Coast parks trip
If you want the coastline rather than the summits, the West Coast road trip itinerary follows Highway 1 and the Oregon coast instead of the park roads. If you want this route built around your actual dates, tell us when you are going and we will lay it out day by day. Planning is free, and we earn only if you book through us.
West Coast National Parks Road Trip: All 13 Parks FAQs
Thirteen. Washington has three (Olympic, Mount Rainier, North Cascades), Oregon has one (Crater Lake), and California has nine (Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Redwood, Lassen Volcanic, Channel Islands, Pinnacles).
Fourteen days for the seven headline parks between Seattle and Los Angeles, covering about 1,600 miles. Ten days works if you skip North Cascades and Redwood. Seven days should stay inside one state.
Late July through mid September. That is the only stretch when Rainier's meadows, the North Cascades Highway and Crater Lake's Rim Drive are all open and clear. Trade off: Death Valley and Joshua Tree are too hot then, so save the desert parks for a spring or autumn trip.
North to south in summer, so you cross the alpine parks early while the snow is at its lowest and finish in California where the weather holds into October. South to north in spring, because the Sierra opens before the Cascades do.
An America the Beautiful annual pass costs $80 and covers entry at every national park on the route. Individual park entry runs $35 per vehicle for seven days, so the pass wins as soon as you visit three parks.
Yes. Every park on the route has gateway towns with motels: Port Angeles, Ashford, Winthrop, Klamath Falls, Crescent City, Mariposa and Three Rivers. In park lodges are the ones that need booking a year out.
