I will be driving from Portland for 3 days travel. Not sure how the ports are connected. And which hotel gets good price to fit the Itinerary.
Thanks a lot.San Juan Island %26amp; Olympic National Park Itinerary?
There is no easy way to get from San Juan Island to Olympic National Park or visa versa.
Probably the most efficient way would be to turn off I-5 near Olympia and go to Highway 101. Going along highway 101, drive counterclockwise around the Olympic Peninsula. This is the opposite direction of the route recommended on the National Park website.
You can take the Port Townsend to Whidbey island (Keystone) ferry, but beware that it sometimes doesn't run if the tide is too low so check ahead with the Washington State Ferry. From the ferry landing on Whidbey, drive north up the island, across the Deception Pass bridge and on to the Anacortes Ferry landing to San Juan Island.
The other option is the Kingston to Edmonds Ferry. Shortly after driving past the exit to Port Townsend is the junction to Highway 104. Take Highway 104 to Kingston and take the Kingston ferry to Edmonds. From Edmonds go east and get onto I-5 northbound. Take I-5 north for about an hour. Get off at exit 230 (near Burlington) and take Highway 20 westbound to the Anacortes ferry terminal where you can take the ferry to San Juan Island.
Another option would be to go to Seattle from the Olympic Peninsula and take the Victoria Clipper to San Juan island which would be a lot faster, but you can't take a car on the Victoria Clipper.
Predicting where you would want to stay to make hotel accomodations would depend on what time of day you plan on leaving Portland, what you want to stop and see and how far you want to drive the first day. Your options on the Olympic Peninsula are pretty much limited to Forks, one of the park lodges (Lake Quinault, Kalaloch or Sol Duc) or Port Angeles. The park lodges book up pretty fast, so I doubt that anything will be available there.
You will probably be able to find something on San Juan Island, since there are quite a few hotels, B %26amp; Bs, condos, etc. available.
I've included a few links that I hope might help you plan it out.
Plan to do a lot of driving and waiting for ferries to do both San Juan Island and Olympic National Park on the same long weekend.
If you start at Olympic National Park, the most efficient way to get to San Juan Island will be to drive to Port Townsend and take the ferry to Keystone. Then drive north up Whidbey Island over deception pass to Fidalgo Island, and then west to Anacortes to take another ferry to San Juan Island.
Ferry Traffic is heavy on summer weekends, and holiday summer weekends in particular. Expect a several hour wait for the San Juan Ferry going both directions, and make sure you have a place to stay before you go. It's a bit late for making hotel reservations for the holiday weekend at this point, and your options may be limited.
Port Angeles to Port Townsend - about one hour
Port Townsend to Keystone via Ferry - 35 minutes - reservations recommended
Keystone to Anacortes - about an hour
Anacortes ferry terminal to San Juan Island via ferry - 1 - 1.5 hours depending on which sailing. No reservations allowed - expect a long wait to drive your car on.
Once you get back to Anacortes on your return trip, the drive to Portland should take about 5 hours if the traffic isn't too bad.San Juan Island %26amp; Olympic National Park Itinerary?
Yikes, San Juan on the 4th? you had better get to the ferry terminals WAY EARLY if youre traveling on that weekend. the link i put below is to washington's ferry website. (click the PDF schedule and you will get a map of their routs) you can only make reservations between keystone and port townsend, and to canada. every other ferry ride is first come, first serve. and they mean it. they are very fair though. Ive never done this, but you could try to call and ask what ferry traffic is usually like.
Anyways, this is the way i would travel to your destinations. I would go up Highway 101 to the Olympic National Park. Then i would backtrack and get on Washington Route 20 and (with my reservation!!!!) go from Port Townsend to Keystone. From there, I would continue on Route 20 to Anacortes, and take the ferry to San Juan Island. Of course, you could go to San Juan Island first, blah blah blah. but from experience, route 20 is a very good way to go.
good luck!
PS- the PT/KS ferry is more commonly cancled due to high winds. If I were you I would try camping on San Juan, the weather is highly deserving.
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