Redwood National/State Parks

Which Redwoods are you intending to see? The ones in Northern California? That’s about a 5 hour drive from Portland.

There are several Redwood groves near Crescent City, CA. There are several groves in this area: Jedediah Smith State Park and Prairie Creek State Park are beautiful. There is a beautiful drive through the forest at Jedediah called Howland Hill Rd. It’s a narrow dirt road that can get busy. I think with one day I would focus on Jedediah.

There are a couple areas where dogs are allowed on leash: https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/pets.htm

The actual Redwood National Park and Redwood State Parks are almost to Eureka, CA and that's likely at least an 8 hour drive from Portland. There are a couple of places to see redwoods and take short hikes in southern Oregon.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/rogue-siskiyou/recarea/?recid=69568. This one is out of Brookings, OR (6-7 hr drive).

https://traveloregon.com/plan-your-trip/ask-oregon/where-can-we-see-redwood-trees-in-oregon/#:~:text=In%20Southern%20Oregon%20you%20can,once%20you%20reach%20that%20point. For this one you can pick up the highway (199) in Grants Pass Oregon (about a 5 hr drive from Portland on I5, not along the coast) and it ends near Crescent City, CA.

Are you driving back to Porland after seeing the redwoods? Or heading somewhere else?

EDIT - I believe dogs are allowed on most forest trails in Oregon but must be kept on a leash.

As a general matter leashed dogs are permitted in most of the Oregon State Parks and on National Forest Land. You can check All Trails, https://www.alltrails.com/ for hikes in the area you want to be and filter for whether dogs are allowed.

I recommend that you consider doing part of the drive along the Oregon coast. It is beautiful and has generally cooler weather than inland. The I-5 route is entirely inland and is typical interstate highway driving mostly through trees. The coast has many state parks which make wonderful stops along the route. It could easily take all day, or several if you have the time.

Enjoy the planning and the trip!

Thank you for the replies.
As of now, we are planning to stay in Crescent city. I was thinking of going over to 101 somewhere along the way, south of Eugene. Route 38 connects 5 with 101. Any personal experience on this would be appreciated. 38 would end up in Reedsport and then drive down to Crescent city from there. We could stop along the way at a beach or two. Yes, I realize this would take all day. I am wondering if it would be better to drive all the way down on 5 and then back up 101 to see the coast??

I see there is an Oregon Redwood trail near the border, I will research that.

I also realize that it would be better to take more time, but alas, that isn't going to happen. DIL can only take one day off so will use the weekend and hubby doesn't want a hiking trip, he just wants to see some redwoods.

@travel4fun,
I will check out the state parks you mentioned and thanks for recommending your favorite.

We will be returning directly to Portland.

This is what I would do in your place. Drive Portland to Grants Pass, OR on I5, then take the Redwood Hwy (199) over to Crescent City, CA and spend the night there. The next day visit the Redwood National/State Parks and then head back north along 101 and spend the night somewhere between Gold Beach and Bandon - there are beautiful spots to stop along this part of 101. Then drive from Bandon over to I5 on hwy 42 (pick up I5 near Roseburg), then shoot up I5 to Portland.

North of Eugene take 20 from Corvallis to Newport, the drive down 101 from there is one of the better stretches.

If you go further south you can take 38. There's a very good chance you'll see elk on that route.

My favorite route is 42 to Coquille, it's very pretty with lots of small valleys and farms.

Remember, if you're driving south on 101 your passenger will have the ocean on the right with some drop offs (in case you have issues with such things.) Driving north on 101 is much less attractive.

Because of your late arrival, it might be best for you to drive I-5 to Grants Pass (4 hours from PDX) for the night. You don't want to drive US-199 after dark

As far as I can see, the OP does not say when they will be leaving Portland, so it's hard to say when they would arrive at Grants Pass. But, since it'll be in August, it should stay light enough to enjoy hwy 199 until at least 8:30 or so (and that's sunset, not actually dark). I would say that if they leave Portland early afternoon, say around 1:00 or 2;00 pm they should still enjoy the drive from Grants Pass to Crescent City that evening. But that would entirely depend on their desires. I have driven that route several times from Corvallis, but not from Portland, and it did not seem like overly long to me.

<< We will stay 2 nights, so we have one full day and the evening of arrival. >>

I interpret that to say, they only have the evening of the first day
for traveling.

I interpreted that to mean that they would reach their first overnight stop by evening (driving from Portland), which to me means they would be leaving Portland early afternoon. Just goes to show how our interpretations of the same post can be different. :)

Thank you so much for all of this great information. I will be digesting it in front of a map! Someone else suggested that we stay in Brookings instead of Crescent City and then drive down to Jedediah Smith State Park the next morning. Any thoughts on that?

Sorry for the confusion regarding the timing.
We will be leaving Portland in the morning, hopefully before 9 am. My DH has requested some ocean time. We usually go to Cannon Beach as a day trip when we visit Portland. I thought we could make several stops on the way south to tick the box of coastal walk. He particularly loves tidal pools. If anyone knows of a good stop for that, let me know.

I also forgot to mention in the OP that our son and DIL will be with us as well.

Thanks again for your suggestions! I can see a plan coming together.

He particularly loves tidal pools. If anyone knows of a good stop for that, let me know.

Good tidepools at Yaquina Head (just north of Newport) but a big staircase to get down there so not good if you have knee problems. I love Yachats but best at a really low tide. Seal Rock is great for tidepooling as long as the tide is out, but a great stop even if it isn't, I've gotten my best tidepool photos there and if you have a sweet tooth, the shop Indulge Sweets has good fudge and great brownies! If the ocean is acting up Depot Bay can be a good stop to see the spouting horns but no tidepools, and you can often see whales there, even in August, because there is a resident pod that stays around that area all year.

In answer to your other question: Brookings and Crescent City are only 1/2 hour apart and I've overnighted in both a couple of times each. No real preference but I lean slightly toward Crescent City because I love the lighthouse there and driving through there just takes me back to how so many of the towns looked along the coast back in the 50's. Either are convenient to Jedediah Smith but it's a bit closer to Crescent City.

Thanks Nancy!
Also many thanks to leonard for the detailed post.

Two summers ago, I drove from I-5 (northbound, coming from Grants Pass) across Hwy 38 to get to US 101 and south at Reedsport.

Cottage Grove, on your way southbound from Eugene, refers to themselves as "The Covered Bridge Capital of Oregon." There's a tiny visitor's center with a pamphlet that has a self-guided tour: Currin Bridge, Dorena Bridge, Stewart Bridge, Mosby Creek Bridge, Chambers Bridge, Swinging Bridge, Centennial Bridge.

https://traveloregon.com/things-to-do/trip-ideas/scenic-drives/cottage-grove-covered-bridge-tour-route/

From Sutherlin, Hwy 38 is the Umpqua River Scenic Byway, which runs along the river with lovely pullouts on the left (south) including the Dean Creek Viewing Area where I saw dozens of elk in August.

I found plenty of dog-friendly beaches along the way south to Crescent City, including one at Charleston, OR.

Just south of Charleston, OR there's a dog-friendly trail to Simpson Reef, where I saw hundreds of seals on the rocks offshore.

Thank you CW, I am putting these things on my list.

You have plenty of good advice already, but just one thing to note about driving anywhere on coastal 101 during August - it's peak visitor season and it can be very slow going with traffic/RVs/toy haulers/etc. plus there are slower speed limits through small towns so it simply takes more time (101 is not an interstate freeway). Given your extremely limited time, I would take I-5 to the Drain Highway 38 cut over, on to 101 at Reedsport (stop to see the elk at Dean Creek), stay overnight in Bandon or a bit farther south, next day head to the Redwoods. Return via 199 to Grants Pass and I-5 north. Are you sure you can't spare another night? All of that car time to cover that much ground in basically two days does not actually sound like much fun to me (and I live in Oregon, we drive a lot). So if you could even add a half day to accommodate travel time you'd be able to stop and explore a bit more.

Thank you CL.
We are staying 2 nights for this jaunt.
I haven't had time to go through all of the suggestions yet, but I think we will take a full day from Portland to wherever we decide to stay the first night (Brookings, Bandon or Crescent City).
Then we have one full day to visit whichever park(s) we decide on.
Then another full day to drive back.

Definitely not an immersive trip, but still pretty good.

If I had to do the trip tomorrow without any further planning time:
Portland to Brookings via I5, 38 and 101. Stop at beaches along the way.
Google says this is 5 hours 45 minutes without stops, so I think 9 -10 hours makes this doable, say 8:30 am to 6:30 pm, with
another few hours of daylight to spare.

The next day go down to J Smith Park
Stay in Brookings again for the sea views.

The next day up to Grant's Pass, then I5 back to Portland. We have all day again to do this drive.

But I will read through all of the suggestions and come up with a firmer plan.

Any further comments are welcome.
I am thrilled to be able to have access to all of your experience!