Three West Coast volcanoes line up on one 550-mile drive, and you can’t touch the water at the best one this year

Draw a line south from Mount Rainier through Central Oregon to Mount Shasta and you’ll notice something: three of the West Coast’s biggest volcanoes sit almost directly on top of each other. They’re all part of the same Cascade chain, and stringing them into one drive is more straightforward than it looks. About 550 miles, three states, one road trip.

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Leg one: Mount Rainier to Bend, Oregon

The drive south out of Rainier country runs close to 300 miles to Bend — call it six hours if you’re not stopping much, longer if you are. A single-vehicle pass into Mount Rainier National Park runs $30 and covers seven days, or an America the Beautiful annual pass skips per-park fees entirely if more national parks are on your calendar this year.

If you want to break up the Washington side of the drive, Yakima makes an easy first-night stop before you continue south — grab a hotel and get an early start the next morning.

Leg two: Bend to Crater Lake, still Oregon

From Bend, it’s about 111 miles and roughly two hours to Crater Lake National Park on Highway 97, one of the more scenic stretches of the whole trip. If you’ve got an extra hour in Bend first, Smith Rock State Park is a worthwhile detour before you head south.

Crater Lake’s peak-season entrance fee, which runs May 22 through October 31, is $30 per vehicle, $15 per person, or $25 for motorcycles. The same America the Beautiful pass from the Rainier leg gets you in here too.

Here’s what’s different this year: Cleetwood Cove Trail, the park’s only route down to the water, is closed for a multi-year rehab project that started this summer and isn’t expected to reopen until 2029. Boat tours out to Wizard Island are off the table for the same stretch. Rim Drive and its overlooks are still fully open, so the views aren’t going anywhere — you just can’t touch the water until the project wraps.

Lock in a hotel in Bend or Klamath Falls if you’re splitting this leg across two days instead of one.

Leg three: Crater Lake to Mount Shasta, California

The last stretch is about 133 miles and two and a half hours south into California. Mount Shasta climbs to roughly 14,179 feet, the second-highest volcano in the Cascade Range, and you’ll see it on the horizon for the better part of an hour before you actually arrive.

This stretch runs through forested mountain terrain that sees real wildfire activity most summers, so check current conditions and any active closures before you lock in the exact route.

Book a hotel in the town of Mount Shasta itself — it’s small, walkable, and about as close to the mountain as you can sleep.

Three volcanoes, three states, one long weekend if you keep moving or a full week if you don’t. Which leg are you tackling first?

Trip tips: grab a rental car to make this one work — it’s not a trip you do without your own wheels — or skip the hotel search entirely and book a camper van instead.

Rules and fees change — always confirm current requirements before you go.