After pouring over photos of snow capped mountains and moss covered forests, I made the decision to take a 2 week road trip through Washington. But once I started doing research, the amount of things I wanted to do in 2 weeks started to pile up. Washington has three different National Parks, each with their own set of must see sights and mountain trails. Not to mention, Alpine Lakes Wilderness had always been on my radar. So if you’re looking for a 2 week itinerary for Washington state, here’s the best one you’ll find.
This 2 week itinerary for Washington includes: Seattle – Alpine Lakes Wilderness (Enchantments) – North Cascades – Mt. Rainier – Olympic National Park
Day 1: Fly into Seattle
On the first day of our 2 week trip to Washington, we flew into Seattle and rented a car. We explored Seattle for the day, visited the waterfront and the Space Needle, and spent the night in Belltown. We didn’t spend a ton of time in the city because our interests really lied outside the city walls.
Day 2: Drive to Leavenworth
We woke up in the morning and drove to Leavenworth, a tiny German themed town in the mountains. There are a ton of places to stay around here but we rented a tiny vintage trailer named Brenda. 🙂
Day 3: Alpine Lakes Wilderness (the Enchantments).
If we are spending 2 weeks in Washington, of course we’re going to fit in the Enchantments. The Enchantments are one of the most sought after backpacking treks in the US. This does however make them one of the most difficult backpacking permits to get. We didn’t have permits so there were two options: we could either use this day to hike to Lake Colchuck OR we could have one of the most physically taxing days of our lives and hike the entire trail (from Lake Colchuck to Snow Lake) in one day.
Here are the stats for both:
Lake Colchuck Hike: 8.7 miles
Entire Enchantment Hike: 20 miles
Day 4: Recover in Leavenworth
Since we did the entire Enchantment hike, we spent this day recovering in town, eating a lot of delicious meals and getting massages. Leavenworth is fun to explore. Imagine a German themed town full of bratwursts and wine slushies.
Day 5: Drive to Winthrop
On day 5, we headed towards the North Cascades and ended up settling down in Winthrop. Winthrop is an adorable western themed town right outside the Cascades.
Day 6: The North Cascades
On day 6, we headed to the North Cascades, and to my surprise this was one of the few free National Parks! A friend of mine recommended the Maple Loop Trail and this is still one of my favorite trails to this day. It’s so accessible and it felt like we were watching sunset in the mountains in only a few miles.
Maple Loop Trail: 6.5 Miles
Afterwards, we grabbed a beer at Methow Valley Ciderhouse.
Day 7: Diablo Lake
On day 6 of our Washington itinerary, we woke up and drove to the Diablo Lake overlook. We also headed down to the lake to hike the path around it, which I actually wouldn’t recommend doing because the best view is from the parking lot.
This night we stayed at a treehouse in Concrete Washington and fell asleep to the sound of a million bull frogs.
Day 8: Fire Tower
We knew we had to stay the night in at least one fire tower during our 2 week road trip in Washington, so we picked the Winchester fire lookout. You do have to make reservations at some of them, but this one was first come, first serve. It is a bit further North near Mt. Baker, so here’s a list of others if you want to choose another on route:
- Sun Top Lookout.
- Kelly Butte Lookout.
- Red Top Lookout.
- Pilchuck Lookout.
- Tolmie Peak Lookout.
- Granite Mountain.
- Heybrook Lookout.
- Fremont Lookout.
I would recommend checking the weather beforehand because we did ALMOST get snowed in.
Day 9: Drive to Mount Rainer
We woke up in the morning and hiked down from the fire tower to start the 4 hour drive to Mt. Rainier National Park. We decided to stay in Packwood and picked a place with a nice jacuzzi. We also did our laundry in said jacuzzi.
Day 10: Mount Rainier National Park
In the morning we headed into Mount Rainier National Park and hiked the Skyline Trail. We didn’t have a ton of time to explore the park so picked a trail with good reviews that seemed to have the best views of Rainier…and Skyline delivered.
Skyline Trail: 5.5 Miles Roundtrip
Afterwards we checked out Myrtle Falls and watched the sunset over Rainier. I’ll never forget this glow.
Day 11: Olympic National Park
We headed to Olympic National Park in the morning and hiked the infamous Hoh River Trail. You’ve probably seen pictures of this trail covered with giant mossy trees. It’s truly a dream, except that it was rutting season when we went so we did have to dodge a lot of Roosevelt elk!
That night we watched sunset at Hurricane Ridge.
Day 12: Olympic National Park
The next day we made our way down to Forks (which you probably know from the Twilight movies) and rented a tiny wooden cabin. On the coast you can find the Rialto beach trail and some of the famous rock arches. You can also camp or backpack on the beach here if you have a permit (which I plan to do next time around).
Day 13: Head back to Seattle
Time to say goodbye to one of the prettiest states in the US, until next time!
What would you add to this 2 week Washington Itinerary? Feel free to comment below!
