We continued to explore the volcanic landscapes of the Pacific Northwest region exploring mountains and craters before moving on to the rugged coastline; we even drove through a desert!

The snow was still dictating where we could visit with several roads not yet having opened after the winter but we did get close to some of the highest peaks in the US including Mount Hood, Mount Rainier and Mount St Helens. 

All the mountains had some great hiking and the Mount St Helens park you can walk on the new landscape created by the huge volcanic eruption in 1982.

We drove into Leavenworth quite by accident and had to stop to have a walk around.  The town was built in the style of a Bavarian village and the restaurants serve German beer and food.  Yes, very touristy but a fun place to spend a couple of hours!

The photos on our Facebook page show more than my words ever could.

Motorhoming 

As mentioned before we hadn’t really thought much about the amount of snow before.  We are fine with sub-zero temperatures and the van has all season tyres plus we carry snow chains, however none of that matters when the volume of snow closes many roads for months!  The roads that were open were ploughed often and clear, and there was plenty of advance notification which roads were closed.  We also found that individual states have apps and websites with up to date information on road conditions and closures – these were our go to sources for information.  

The snow parks offer reasonable parking but you do need to buy a pass – USD25 for an annual pass to park around Mount Hood.

One night in Ainsworth State Park cost USD41 for a fully serviced pitch.  We can’t actually use any of the services so usually avoid these campgrounds but this was for a specific purpose.

A first for us in that we got the knock one evening and were asked to move on! Parking at trailheads has, up until now not been a problem, but this one was on BP owned land and they didn’t want us staying there.

We’re using iOverlander on a daily basis to find park ups, water, dumps and laundromats.  The more remote sanitation stations and water pipes are seasonal but we never had a real problem finding open ones.  

LPG, or propane, is easy to get and prices are pretty much as they are at home.