U.S. Van Life Travel Route: MUST SEE Destinations & Hikes
Over the last 6 months we’ve covered a lot of ground here in the U.S.
We primarily planned our route to follow the weather and see family. Here is an overview of our van life travel route thus far and our favorite destinations and hikes.
First Stop - SoCal (July)
We started our journey in Southern California. We were living in LA when we decided to trade in our apartment to live in a van and we’ve always dreamed of road tripped up the coast of California. It was finally a reality so we took full advantage and drove further south to start our journey in San Diego, California. Our first stop was at a Harvest Host winery/farm. We highly recommend staying at Harvest Hosts when possible. It is a safe place for you to sleep and it’s good to support these local businesses. Feel free to check out more info about Harvest Hosts on our discount page.
As we drove up Southern California, we spent a lot of time parked out near beaches during the day to enjoy the beautiful ocean and sunshine while sleeping at Harvest Hosts in at night. We worked our way up to Santa Barbara and then Paso Robles for the weekend. Paso Robles is a beautiful town full of vineyards and incredible Harvest Hosts to stay at.
The only downside of van life-ing up the coast of California is the lack of BLM land to park/sleep at. So be sure to have scheduled nights to stay at Harvest Hosts along your route. Once you get out of California you wont’ have any issues camping at BLM land for free.
Big Sur
The views of Big Sur are hard to beat making it a MUST SEE. However if you don’t have a campsite you will be screwed. Big Sur resides at the very central coast of California, making it ultra exclusive and hard to get to. Expect extremely windy roads and little to no cell service while you’re there. Due to the COVID-19 shutdowns most of the parks and trails were closed so it was a little bit of a let down for us, however we highly recommend anyone to go enjoy once the restrictions are lifted AND if you get a campsite as there is nearly no free or last minute camping options. While you’re there enjoy dinner and wine while you watch the sunset at Nepenthe and any of these hikes during the day:
McWay Waterfall Trail
Pfeiffer Falls/ Valley View Trails
Tan Bark Trail
Salmon Creek Trail
Purple Sand beach
Sand Dollar Beach Trail
The Redwoods
We stopped in San Francisco to enjoy the parks and city as we worked our way up to the Redwood Forest. We first stopped in Humboldt and found our first incredible BLM spot right on the river where we worked from during the week. We had some trouble finding BLM land close to the Redwoods so we rented a camp site at the Elk Country RV Resort and are so happy we did. This campsite made it easy to go into the Redwoods and explore during the day and not stress about finding a legal parking spot at night.
The Redwoods were the most impactful place we’ve visited on our travels which is why we’re rating it our
#1 MUST SEE destination.
The downside for van-lifers is that you will want to spend the money to invest in a campsite near by. But we promise, it’s well worth it. There are countless hikes to go on. We went on these and they changed out life.
Cathedral Tree Trail Loop (Combine with Foothill or Prairie Creek Trails)
Tall Trees Grove Trail. ...
Fern Canyon Trail. ...
Lady Bird Johnson Grove Hike.
Reality of van life-ing up California:
“Expect to stay at Harvest Hosts, campsites or random overnight pull offs along PCH when planning your sleeping locations. California does not make it easy for people to park for free so plan where you will be sleeping in advance.”
Crater Lake (August)
Crater Lake is an absolute MUST SEE. There is no question about it. Just be sure to go when the weather is warm so that you can comfortably go swimming in the crater. Now that you’re out of the California coast, your will be amazed to experience the INCREDIBLE, free, BLM land options in Oregon. Finding a beautiful place in the forest to sleep for free is so easy! Just use the app: iOverlander to find BLM land. We only spent one day here and did the Cleetwood Cove Trail as this is the only trail that you can take that will lead you to the water to swim. It’s only open for certain warmer months so be sure to make sure it’s open if you plan on swimming. The hike is tough so be sure to wear a swimsuit under your clothes, bring lots of water and you will be ready to jump in. It was so magical, there were cliff where people were jumping from. The water is crystal clear and is clean enough to drink straight! We ended up randomly running into friends in the crater and camped with them on BLM land that night and set up a movie screen and hammocks in the forest. Absolutely magical.
Bend, OR
Bend, Oregon is a vanlifers DREAM city. It’s a small, very clean city with a beautiful river running through the town. Lots of craft breweries and tons of nature to enjoy. Not to mention, there is BLM land you can stay just 10 minutes outside the city for free. It’s the ultimate house hack if you’re looking to work remote near a city and live for free. During the day you can park your van at Drake Park, we enjoying working from here during the week and working out in the park and eating out at restaurants and breweries in the town. They also had this super fun river tubing route you can do for free that has little rapids that are totally safe but really fun, accessible via McKay Park.
Bend, OR is a MUST SEE city that may make you want to end up living there full time.
Oregon Coast
The Oregon Coast was a wonderfully positive and beautiful expereince. We found some good BLM land options and got to enjoy the coast and rich forests all in the same day. Photoed above is us at the God’s Thumb hike on the Oregon Coast which was one of our favorites. Challenging but well worth the views. Don’t forget to eat the seafood while there and explore! These are some of our other favorite places we visited while there:
Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor
Ecola State Park
Devil’s Punchbowl
Cape Sebastian State Scenic Corridor
Cape Perpetua Scenic Area
Our last night on the Oregon Coast was spent on top of a mountain ridge (found on iOverlander) with sweeping views overlooking the forests to ocean. We counted over 15 shooting stars that night, officially named our van, Stella. Pushed her to the limit to get there but worth every moment.
Because we are both nature and city people we ended up checking out Portland and Seattle. Due to COVID-19, the towns were very sleepy but it was nice to see. We particularly liked Seattle and it’s proximity to so much nature.
Olympic National Park, Washington
Olympic National Park is a MUST SEE. There are so many different hikes to go on and each is beautiful. We did have some trouble finding BLM land near this national forest so we got a campsite at The Heart O’ The Hills and are very happy we did. The campsite is stunning as you can see in the photograph below! It get booked up fast so book your nights ahead of time.
The only downside with this national forest is the hikes had really long car lines to get in so try to get to everything early in the morning or later before sunset so you’re not waiting for hours simply to enter in the afternoon. Photographed above is us at the Hurricane Hill, Hurricane Ridge trail. We recommend going before sunset because that’s when all the deer come out to feed. We went off trail and found ourselves surrounded in a pack of deer. It was unreal! Other hikes we liked were:
Hoh River Trail, Hoh Rain Forest
East Fork of the Quinault River Trail, Quinault
Quinault Rain Forest Nature Trail, Quinault
Sol Duc Falls Trail, Sol Duc
Ruby Beach, Kalaloch
Don’t forget to bring bear spray and a bear horn for safety!
Mt Baker, Washington
Photographed above is me at this incredible hike called, Anderson and Watson Lakes Trail. And photographed below is this secret and ultra coveted free BLM land parking spot that overlooks Mount Baker we found on iOverlander. The coordinates are: 48°41'22.7"N 121°37'59.7"W. The road to get there is extremely bumpy so everything needs to be secured down. The camp site is kind of hard to find but if you get there you will be amazed! The weather got a bit rainy and cloudy when we were there so you can’t see it well in the photo below but on a clear day it is quite possibly the best campsite that exists near at Mount Baker. There are a ton more hikes you can do near Mount Baker you can check out here: https://www.10adventures.com/hikes/mount-baker/. We didn’t spend as much time at this location as heavy rain was coming and we didn’t want to get our van stuck up there and deal with mud slides.
San Juan Islands, Washington (September)
The San Juan Islands was a last minute decision as we got lucky and booked the last available campsite from someone who cancelled their reservation. We always wanted to go the San Juan islands but you can’t go unless you have a campsite booked and when we initially looked they were all full. We are so grateful it worked out in our favor. We took our van on the ferry and got to stay at the Moran State Park on Orcas Island. The San Juan islands is an absolute dream. We would park out in town while we worked during the day because we had better wifi and access to bathrooms and explored and did hikes in the evenings to enjoy sunset. I’m not kidding, the best sunset we’ve ever seen was at the San Juan Islands. It feels unreal, seeing all the tiny islands all the way to Canada as the sun sets behind the ocean. The hikes we went on were:
Turtleback Mountain Preserve - Ship Peak Trail.
Cascade Lake
Mountain Lake
Mount Constitution
Obstruction Pass State Park
We generally don’t spend lots of money while living on the road and we will only book campsites when we have to. But we decided to splurge and went on an Orcas island boat tour, in hopes to see some of the final Orcas whales before they go extinct.
Glacier National Park, Montana
Glacier is a MUST SEE however we happened to go over a holiday weekend and DO NOT recommend doing that. Lines were so long to get in that we couldn’t even get in one day and the second day, we had to get up at 4am just to get a parking spot. To be honest, Glacier wasn’t our favorite as there is limited parking and a lot of the forest is sadly burnt down. However we absolutely LOVED the Avalanche Lake via the Trail of the Cedars hike and did a cold plunge in the lake.
Since we were only there for one day we also did the Hidden Lake Overlook hike at sunrise (photographed below) and the light was beautiful. There are more incredible hikes you can do and check out here: https://www.alltrails.com/parks/us/montana/glacier-national-park.
Although our experience wasn’t the best, we did have the most incredible experience at our BLM land
Yellowstone
Yellowstone is great for people who have pets or those who want to do minimal hiking. You can drive up from spot to spot and get out to enjoy the views without getting too far from your car. I ended up sleeping on my neck weird and getting fairly injured so this was a good destination or us to be at. However if you’re well there are many hikes you can do and check out here. We ended up booking a campsite in advance as there aren’t any BLM land campsites with easy access to the area and expect to not have any wifi while there. Because of my injury we ended up skipping Jackson Hole and Grand Grand Teton in Wyoming. However this is a notorious MUST SEE and we’ll be heading back there soon to spend some quality time there.
Southern Utah (October)
Zion, UT
Southern Utah in October is magical, not too hot and wasn’t too busy. There are wonderful BLM land options to camp at but if you’re planning on getting into Zion you have to buy shuttle tickets in advance for entry as it’s only accessible by shuttle. We actually really loved the shuttle system. It’s very organized and easy to use and it’s not overcrowded with cars trying to park. We spent a week in Zion and can’t wait to go back again. Some of our favorite hikes were:
Angel’s Landing
The Narrows
Zion Canyon Overlook Trail
Emerald Pools Trail
Scout Lookout Trail
Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, UT
This was a quick stop we made but wished we camped out there for a night because you can rent out dune buggies and ride them on the sand.
Bryce, UT
Bryce is definitely a MUST SEE as it feels like you’re on a different planet. The views are absolutely unreal and hikes are really awesome and there’s vast BLM land to stay on. Our favorites hikes were:
Navajo Loop and Queen’s Garden Trail
Peekaboo Loop Trail
Sunset Point to Sunrise Point
There’s so much more to explore in Southern Utah but we had a deadline to be in Texas to meet with family so we’re planning on revisiting and exploring more of Southern Utah soon and can’t wait!
Horseshoe Bend, Arizona
Horseshoe Bend is a MUST SEE icon. It’s bigger than you’d think. We recommend going before Sunset, you will not be disappointed.
Grand Canyon, Arizona
As commercial Grand Canyon seems to be, it was actually very enjoyable. There’s BLM land close by where we camped at and did a few hikes during the day. The views are beyond grand and incredibly impactful. Some hikes we did and loved are:
South Kaibab Trail to Ooh Aah Point
Grand Canyon Rim, Mules to Mather Point
It’s our dream to go to Havasu Falls but it’s on an Indian Reservation and was closed due to COVID-19. Will have to go back another time.
White Sands, New Mexico
Expect to be jaw dropped when you go to the White Sands in New Mexico. The perfectly soft white sand is cool to the touch no matter how hot it is outside and you can rent sleds and wax from the shop to have some fun sliding down the sand dunes. You can’t car camp there but you can camp tent there and the sunsets and star gazing at night is world renown.
We eventually made our way to Austin, TX as we had a deadline to meet with family. Sunny is from Austin and we had the best time eating delicious BBQ, dancing at the White Horse for a honkey tonk and walking these hikes:
Mt. Bonnell
Lady Bird Lake Trail
New Orleans, LA
New Orleans has always been on the bucket list for me and our travel route happened to bring us there over Halloween. Halloween is my favorite holiday so we ended up splurging on a hotel for the weekend and exploring New Orleans in the fullest. It’s also nice to get a hotel for a weekend when living van life. The break is rejuvenating. Sunny and I used to both live in New York City so we feel very comfortable in cities. We did a night time ghost tour, a food tour during the day, and listened to tons of live music. If you go to New Orleans be sure to do a historical food tour. It was worth every penny and every meal we had that weekend was the best meals we’ve ever had. The city’s history and culture is so rich. It also has a world renown WWII history museum we spent two days at!
St. Andrews State Park, Florida (November)
Not going to lie, Panama City beach in Florida was a breath of fresh air. There’s no BLM land to stay or so we booked a campsite at the St. Andrews State Park which is located directly on a serene white sand beach. This was actually one of our favorite state parks we’ve ever stayed at. You can’t beat the warm weather and beautiful beach. They have tons of water toys to rent from paddle boards to kayaks and surf boards. The ocean water is warm and swimming in it is a dream. There’s tons of wildlife and we plan to come back here again. In our opinion, it’s a MUST for any van lifer who loves beach life.
Savannah, GA
Exploring the South was a first for me and I was blown away by Savannah. It’s extremely clean and the architecture is beautiful. We enjoyed walking around the city, looking at homes and listening to live music. There is a great free camp spot just across the river we found on iOverlander and would definitely go visit again!
Folly Beach/Charleston, SC
We spent a week in Folly beach and luckily had a nice driveway to park at while we were there. It was a family friend’s of Sunny’s mom and her house was ocean front. We surfed everyday and loved the small surf town vibes. We saw a ton of other vans there so I think it’s a popular place for van lifers who surf. Let me tell ya, “southern hospitality” is a very real thing. And I was loving it! We drove into Charleston and enjoyed a fancy dinner for our 3 year anniversary at this amazing restaurant called 5church. The restaurant is in a historical church and the food was beyond delicious. Highly recommend Folly Beach and a night on the town in Charleston.
Washington, DC
Washington DC is a MUST for history buffs. We stayed at this Harvest Host nearby called Port City Brewery. We were tourists by day and did tons of walking and drank craft beers each night at our campsite. It was pretty great.
We then checked out Philly and Boston as we made our way to Upstate New York. We had a deadline to be with Sunny’s family for Thanksgiving. While we were upstate we stopped at one of my favorite places, Storm King, rented bikes and enjoyed a day riding around and looking at art. Because we both met in NYC we decided to spend some time in the city before heading back west. The city was sleepy due to COVID-19 but we enjoyed a few days there because of it’s sentimental value to us.
We straight shot it from New York to Salt Lake City, UT in time for the holidays with my family and so Sunny could get on the mountains to snowboard. We have another 6 months at least of van life and are currently mapping out what our new route looks like for 2021.
