Itinerary: Wildest California Road Trip

· by · in Road Trip Itineraries. ·

The road is there. You just have to decide when to take it.

Glacier Point, Yosemite, WildestCAroadtrip

I thought it would be fun to document the different stops we made and hopefully inspire you to plan your own road trip.

This itinerary will take you from Seattle, through California, and back to Seattle over the course of ten days.

We always aim to first drive to the furthest location we want to visit (we feel less rushed when we feel like we’re making our way ‘back home’ while making our stops). But if something catches our attention, we make an unplanned stop, as was the case in Lake Tahoe.

In some instances, we spent more than one day in the national parks. 

Remember it’s not entirely the destination that makes a road trip fun. What makes a good road trip is the company, patience (you might get lost), and your flexibility to accommodate last minute change of plans. Be prepared for all the awesome roadside stops you come across.

Find a compilation of photos from this road trip on Instagram by searching the hashtag, #WildestCARoadtrip.

Where Did Our Wildest California Road Trip Take Us?

From Seattle we decided to take a backroad near Eugene, OR. This essentially led us near Lake Tahoe, which was not originally in our plans.
After leaving southern Oregon, we jumped back on I-5 to come back home quicker.

From Seattle in this order:

1. Lake Tahoe

2. Mono Lake

Mono Lake, Sierra Nevada

3. Yosemite National Park (posts here, here, here)

Glacier Point, Yosemite, WildestCAroadtrip4. Death Valley National Park (posts here, here)

Death Valley, Golden Canyon

5. Sequoia National Park

Sequoia National Park, CA Road Trip, PNW

6. California Highway 1 (Pacific Coastal Highway) due North

          McWay Falls

CA Coastal Highway Roadtrip, Big Sur, CA Road trip, PNW, #WildestCAroadtrip           Monterey Bay Aquarium

CA Coastal Highway Roadtrip, CA Road trip, PNW, #WildestCAroadtrip, Monterey Bay Aquarium           Mount Tamalpais

CA Coastal Highway Roadtrip, CA Road trip, PNW, #WildestCAroadtrip, Mount Tamalpais

           Cypress Tree Tunnel

CA Coastal Highway Roadtrip, CA Road trip, PNW, #WildestCAroadtrip, Cypress Tree Tunnel, Point Reyes

7. Redwoods National & State Parks

Redwoods National Park, coastal redwoods, #WildestCAroadtrip, USA summer road trip, Fern Canyon

8. Samuel H. Boardman State Park

Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor, Oregon coast, Secret Beach, summer road tripBack to Seattle!

And this concludes our #WildestCAroadtrip! Ten wonderful days. We followed similar logistics to our previous southwest road trip, which you can find here.

Happy planning!

***

Know an adventurer that would love this post? Don’t be shy to share!

Comment below to let me know your opinions or simply share stories. If you have any suggestions or would love to see other content on Of Wildest Heart, let me know.

Want to see more photos, recent travel updates, and inspiration? Check out my Instagram or Facebook. Interested in working with me, or simply want to meet? Email me at ofwildestheart[at]gmail.com

Stay curious, wild hearts!

***

2 responses to “Itinerary: Wildest California Road Trip”

  1. Interesting that you go to the further spot first then take your time on the way back. I’m thinking back to when we did a road trip in Iceland. We did the opposite. We stopped by each location on the way to the furthest point then just passed them by on the way back.
    I can see why you would go to your further point first though.

    • I’ll have to try doing the opposite one day :-D Somehow just thinking about it gives me some sort of anxiety & makes me feel like we’ll miscalculate our drive time back home and be late to work. LOL!

What do you think?