In February 2016, I met a man named Jesse (on the dating app Bumble) who lived in a Great West Dodge Sprinter van with his cat Bandit. I was a little skeptical about a grown man living in a van, but he referred to himself as a “digital nomad” and I was curious. We met up for dinner and had a nice conversation, after which he showed me the van he moved into the month prior. It was a nice van with a kitchen, a bathroom with shower, and a comfortable bed. The curtains, textiles, and colors were a bit outdated but when I heard the price he paid, it was very reasonable. Jesse was very excited about vanlife and explained to me why he chose that lifestyle versus living in a “stick and brick” (as he called an apartment or house).
Jesse was inspired by a young Google employee who lived in a box truck in the parking lot that was getting a lot of press. With exorbitant cost of rent in the San Francisco Bay Area, he also wanted to save his hard-earned money and retire at an earlier age, which vanlife allowed him to do. The vanlife movement was just starting to take off at that time, and he was saving 80% or more of his income by not paying rent. Even though I initially had some reservations about dating a guy who lived in a van, I did understand his reasoning for the decision and really enjoyed learning about vanlife living from him.
My introduction to vanlife was local weekend getaways during which I learned what sleeping and cooking in a van was like, how to find good overnight spots, how many beautiful places there were around the Bay Area that I never knew about, and how this lifestyle really allowed you to explore and enjoy nature and the surroundings. As a travel enthusiast, I was hooked pretty quickly! A few months later, Jesse was planning a trip to Seattle for an Ayn Rand convention and asked if I wanted to go since it was during my birthday, to which I immediately said yes. Despite living the Bay Area most of my life, I had never been to Oregon or Washington, nor had I been to most of the Northern California. As you can imagine, I was super excited to see and explore the Pacific Northwest!
We set off on our week-long trip at the end of June from San Francisco towards Bodega Bay, then drove north on Highway 1 along the California coast passing various small coastal towns. For some reason, I remember passing this cute little cemetery along the highway just south of Mendocino with grave stones lined up on the cliffside bordered by tall trees and thinking what a beautiful place to be laid to rest. We found a great spot overlooking the Pacific Ocean just north of Fort Bragg, made dinner, and fell asleep to the sound of waves crashing below the cliff.
Waking up to the sound and views of the ocean is probably one of my favorite things, so that next morning was an absolute joy and a great way to start off this epic trip. We headed north to Highway 101 since the region north of Fort Bragg all the way to Eureka is mostly undeveloped without any major roads and referred to as the Lost Coast. The 25-mile-long trail through that area is a backpackers dream, though there is one road from 101 to Shelter Cove that vehicles can utilize to see a section of that coastline. Jesse and I enjoyed driving through the Avenue of the Giants near Myers Flat, then we continued north where the highway meets the ocean again and stopped in a charming little community called Westhaven-Moonstone. We spent the night at the Trinidad Northbound Rest Area, which is off the highway tucked into the forest and honestly a great place to get some rest.
On our third day, we headed north into Oregon and I was enthralled by how beautiful the coastline is! I know California is famous for Big Sur, but the Oregon coast rivals that easily, with pristine beaches and rocky bluffs for miles and miles. The Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor is probably one of the most stunning places along the West Coast! To cover a lot of distance, we drove a lot that day, all the way to Yachats, known for the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area. I had read about Thor’s Well on Atlas Obscura but we had no idea that whole area, known as Cook’s Chasm, was going to be as incredible as it was! We ended up finding this awesome little park on the highway to spend the night, which turned out to have stairs down to the beach with a river going under nice-looking bride. There was a day-use-only sign but we decided to chance it anyways, and luckily didn’t get bothered.
We continued north through Oregon all the way to Tillamook Creamery, where we stopped to grab some cheese-laden dishes and delicious ice cream, which we ate on Nedonna Beach enjoying the ocean view. We made another quick stop at Haystack Rock, which I wanted to see because of the movie The Goonies. From there we got back on the road driving over the Astoria-Megler Bridge into Washington, stopping quickly at the Dismal Nitch to take a photo of the WA sign. We worked our way up the Olympic Peninsula, decided to take a dip in Lake Quinault to freshen up (the water was super cold), and then right at dusk we luckily found a dirt turn-off on the side of the road that took us to this amazing open space on the cliffs by the ocean, where we spent the night. It was one of the most secluded, perfect spots that we could have discovered, and we had it all to ourselves.
The next morning was my birthday, so Jesse made me bacon and eggs in a smiley face on the plate. We had to get to Seattle by 3pm, therefore, we drove around the Olympic Peninsula without stopping at any of the amazing places I would have loved to see. That drive took us through Forks (made famous by the Twilight series), then along Crescent Lake (we did make a quick stop the La Poel Picnic Area to revel at this glacial lake’s incredible beauty), then through Port Angeles and Sequim, and finally all the way around to Bainbridge Island, from which we took the ferry to Seattle. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I was in awe of the Emerald City and its iconic skyline with the Space Needle! Seeing Mount Rainier in all its glory looming in the background was also quite stunning — I can see why locals talk about whether the mountain is out since the visibility of this large active stratovolcano makes a huge impact. Did you know that due to its high probability of an eruption in the near future, Mount Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world and it is on the Decade Volcanoes list?!?
Jesse forgot to buy tickets to the Ayn Rand Convention he had wanted to attend, which was sold out when we arrived in Bellevue, so our plans veered into a new direction and we decided to check out downtown Seattle instead. We stopped at a cider bar, walked around Belltown, and ended up having a fancy dinner at The Metropolitan Grill, voted the best steakhouse in Seattle. We spent the night on the streets by Ruby Chow Park, an overnight spot Jesse found on Freecampsites.net, a website many vanlifers use to find places to park. It wasn’t the most ideal location, but at least it was next to a park and away from downtown traffic.
The following morning we headed out of Seattle and passed Oxbow Park which features a 44' wide cowboy hat and 22' high boots known as "Hat n' Boots." My boss (who was from Seattle) told me prior to the trip that we had to see Snoqualmie Falls and he was right — this 270’ waterfall was majestic to see and totally worth the drive! Then we headed to Mount Rainier National Park and drove around various viewpoints to witness the enormous footprint Mount Rainier has and even caught a glimpse of a small waterfall near Paradise. We secured a campsite at White River Campground on the northeastern section of the park with the highest elevation of all three drive-in campgrounds on Mt Rainier, where we enjoyed a campfire dinner in the charming forested canopy.
July 4th was another busy day of driving. Jesse really enjoys finding remote and unique overnight spots, therefore, we drove around the Gifford Pinchot National Forest to various spots he had saved on his phone (since there’s no service in that area) to see how viable they were to spend the night. We found some really cool places on dirt roads and along rivers which would have been ideal, but instead of staying in the area, we decided to check out Mount St Helens. Sadly the weather was a bit overcast and we couldn’t see the cratered peak that well as it was engulfed in clouds. I did enjoy seeing Spirit Lake and learning more about the eruption from all the roadside interpretive signs and how it altered the landscape. We headed further south and stopped at Swift Reservoir for a quick swim but the water so surprisingly cold considering it was July. We ended up along the Columbia River Gorge early that evening, saw the Bonneville Dam, then found a wonderful spot along the railroad tracks just west of Stevenson on the Washington side of the river. We cooked a steak dinner and watched the fireworks over Cascade Locks after a spectacular sunset.
The next day we headed over the Bridge of the Gods into Oregon and stopped at Multnomah Falls, the tallest and most famous waterfall in the state. We headed into Portland for breakfast at Pine State Biscuits that a good friend of mine recommended and enjoyed their delicious Reggie Deluxe breakfast sandwich. Afterwards, we drove towards Mount Hood with a stop at Trillium Lake, which I absolutely fell in love with. I thought Oregon’s High Desert was quite fascinating as we headed through Warm Springs with a quick stop along the Deschutes River before heading into Madras. Seeing the Cascade Mountains to the west as we drove down Route 97 was quite lovely, with magnificent glimpses of Mount Jefferson, Three Sisters, and more. We ended that day at Crater Lake National Park enjoying the incredible views of this deepest and most pristine lake in the USA. We spent the night just outside the park at one of the big turnouts and were inundated with mosquitos when the sun went down — by inundated I mean that it was a mosquito blackout that you couldn’t see through, something I have never experienced before!
Sadly our road-trip was coming to an end so our last day consisted of us driving home from Southern Oregon into California through Klamath Falls, Weed, Mount Shasta, and Dunsmuir, with a pitstop at Lake Shasta due to heavy traffic. We found a dirt road that led to a nice spot on the Sacramento River Arm where we ate some lunch and got into the lake to cool off. We drove the final stretch home through California’s Central Valley with views of various agriculture and sunflower fields and finally made it home to the Bay Area.
It was a magical and memorable first trip to the Pacific Northwest despite the fact that Jesse and I broke up later that year. He showed me a whole new world of exploration that I had never imagined before, which left such an impact on me that I bought an RV in December 2016 and started going on solo road trips, including multiple trips to Oregon and Washington in 2017, 2018, and 2020! My life is completely different now due to vanlife so I guess I have Jesse to thank for that.
