Canadian Border to Vancouver

Distance: 320 miles
Routes: Old Highway 99, Interstate 5
Estimated Driving Time: 6 hours

Tour Overview

State Route 99 was constructed along the Territorial military roads that linked the settlements of the Puget Sound and the Columbia River regions. In the southern section, it approximates also the route of a branch of the Oregon Trail, blazed northward around the middle of the nineteenth century.

The northern section of the tour passes through the most popular part of the state. From many points, it affords sweeping views of the island-dotted Puget Sound and the jagged Olympic Mountains to the west, and of the Cascade Mountains, a blue-green ridge tipped here and there with white, in the east. At intervals the route crosses sluggish rivers flowing through fertile bottom lands, or skirts the edges of high, wooded bluffs. Large well-cultivated farms, truck gardens, orchards and berry fields, dairy farms, and poultry ranches alternate with areas of mature forest. Between the small towns strung out along the highway are the usual roadside inns and gasoline stations, joined since by RV parks and fast-food joints.

South of the Puget Sound Basin, the tour crosses gently rolling prairies, broken by small areas of evergreen, maple, and alder. Dominating the eastern horizon is Mount Rainier, while southward Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens seem less majestic, though only by comparison. In the lowlands, the large farms, gardens, and poultry ranches of yesteryear have given way to pulp processing plants, auto dealerships and the occasional farmhouse. Logging operations have been largely reduced. For miles, the tour follows the Cowlitz and Columbia Rivers and, finally, crosses the Columbia into Oregon.

Canadian Border to Mount Vernon

The tour runs almost due north/south through a green and pleasant region of truck gardens, orchards, woodland patches, and meadowlands, and neat, attractive houses and well-built barns.

This leg of the tour has 11 waypoints and 5 side trip tours

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Key Waypoints along Canadian Border to Mount Vernon

Blaine

The town derives its income chiefly from tourists’ trade and from the surrounding farming area. A small co-operative shingle mill... Visit

Bellingham

Port of call 18 miles south of the Canadian Border, industrial and educational center, and distribution point for northwestern Washington.... Visit

Burlington

A shipping center and local supply point for the fertile Skagit Valley. First settled in 1882 by John P. Millett... Visit

Mount Vernon

The seat of Skagit County, it was named for Washington’s Potomac home. The Skagit River has played an important part... Visit

All waypoints on this leg

★ Mainstreet Community

Side trips along Canadian Border to Mount Vernon

Sumas

This 54 mile side trip explores farming communties in the Nooksack River valley and Sumas Prairie.

Birch Bay

This 10 mile side trip cuts through an area once populated with small farms, and orderly houses set in neat patches of lawn, and woods of vigorous, second-growth fir and alder to reach Birch Bay.

Lummi Island

This 31 side trip includes a ferry crossing as it winds out along the shoreline to reach Lummi Island.

Chuckanut Drive

This 24 mile side trip covers marine aquaculture along Samish Bay, agriculture in the north portion of the Skagit Valley, runs along the west edge of the Chuckanut Mountains that supplied sandstone for buildings in Bellingham and Fairhaven.

Little Mountain Park

This 8 mile side trip takes visitors to one of the best viewpoints of the Skagit Valley.

Side trips along Canadian Border to Mount Vernon

There are no side trips along this tour leg.

Mount Vernon to Seattle

The tour crosses through rich agricultural lands along the flats and deltas of the Skagit, the Stillaguamish, and the Snohomish Rivers, which with their tributaries reach back through many miles of rolling land and wooded foothill to the Cascade Mountains.

This leg of the tour has 22 waypoints and 9 side trip tours

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Key Waypoints along Mount Vernon to Seattle

Mount Vernon

The seat of Skagit County, it was named for Washington’s Potomac home. The Skagit River has played an important part... Visit

Everett

County seat of Snohomish County, lumbering center, seaport, and distributing point for a fertile agricultural and dairying area, the city... Visit

Seattle

The largest city of the Pacific Northwest, it lies along Elliott Bay, on the east shore of Puget Sound, 128... Visit

All waypoints on this leg

★ Mainstreet Community

Side trips along Mount Vernon to Seattle

Camano Island

This 43 mile side trip loops out around the picturesque shoreline of Camano Island.

Darrington

This 82 mile side trip follows the north fork of the Stillaguamish River up into the North Cascade Mountains from farmland to mining towns.

Silverton

This 74 mile side trip runs up the river valley of the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River, follows abandoned Monte Cristo branch of Northern Pacific railroad; railroad used to run all the way up to Monte Cristo, mining towns.

Mukilteo

This 10 mile side trip leads out to a former trading center for Native Americans.

Edmonds

This 5 mile side trip leads out to the scenic beach front town of Edmonds.

Bothell

This 16 mile side trip drives through residential communities developed along Lake Washington to downtown Bothell.

Firland Sanatorium

This 1 mile side trip leads out to the former sanatorium site.

Dunn Gardens

This 2.5 mile side trip leads out to a beautifully landscaped Historic site.

Ballard

This 5 mile side trip leads out to the historic downtown of Ballard.

Side trips along Mount Vernon to Seattle

There are no side trips along this tour leg.

Seattle to Olympia

This section of the Pacific Highway lies through Washington’s State Capital and some of its largest cities. Skirting the bays of lower Puget Sound, the tour passes through the State’s most densely populated and most highly industrialized area, yet woodland stretches and thinly settled fanning districts are met with just outside these centers.

This leg of the tour has 20 waypoints and 7 side trip tours

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Key Waypoints along Seattle to Olympia

Seattle

The largest city of the Pacific Northwest, it lies along Elliott Bay, on the east shore of Puget Sound, 128... Visit

Fife

Located at a valley crossroads by the 1940s it was in the midst of a thickly settled berry growing and... Visit

Tacoma

Lying along the protected waters of Puget Sound and Commencement Bay, into which the Puyallup River drains, is about midway... Visit

All waypoints on this leg

★ Mainstreet Community

Side trips along Seattle to Olympia

Georgetown

This 2 mile side trip leads out the brick commercial and industrial core of this community that developed around the Rainier Brewery.

Museum of Flight

This 3 mile side trip leads to the largest independent, non-profit air and space museum in the world.

White Center

This 3 mile side trip leads to the bustling commercial core of White Center.

Point Defiance Park

This 17 mile side trip leads out through downtown Tacoma to the picturesque Point Defiance Park, passing through several of Tacoma’s major historic districts

Steilacoom

This 12 mile side trip leads out through Fort Steilacoom to Steilacoom overlooking the Puget Sound and ferry access across Cormorant Passage to Ketron Island and to Anderson Island

Thornewood

This 1 mile side trip leads to the historic home and grounds of Thornewood.

Dupont

This 2 mile side trip leads out to the Dupont Village Historic District.

Side trips along Seattle to Olympia

There are no side trips along this tour leg.

Olympia to Mary’s Corner

The tour follows the highway, lined with service stations, taverns, lunch counters, tourist camps, and billboards. It cuts through a prairie and winds around low hills before entering the Chehalis and Newaukum river valleys as it winds on to Mary’s Corner.

This leg of the tour has 12 waypoints and 7 side trip tours

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Key Waypoints along Olympia to Mary’s Corner

Tumwater

Tumwater (Chinook, “waterfalls”) was the Puget Sound terminus of the northern extension of the Oregon Trail. Here, in 1845, the... Visit

Tenino

The city came into existence in the early 1870s, when a railroad under construction from Kalama to Tacoma located a... Visit

Centralia

Near the junction of the Chehalis and Skookumchuck Rivers, the city is often referred to as the “Hub City” of... Visit

Chehalis

Near the confluence of the Newaukum and Chehalis Rivers is Chehalis (“shifting sands”), the seat of Lewis County. The business... Visit

Mary’s Corner

A corner at the junction of the National Park Highway and old Pacific Highway. The corner is named for Mary... Visit

All waypoints on this leg

★ Mainstreet Community

Side trips along Olympia to Mary’s Corner

Millersylvania State Park

This 7 mile side trip leads to the recreation amenities at Millersylvania State Park.

Bucoda

This 8 mile side trip leads out to the former lumber community of Bucoda.

Mima Mounds State Park

This 20 mile side trip leads out to the remarkable Mima Mounds.

Malone

This 50 mile side trip leads out through the Chehalis River valley and Ford Prairie to Elma.

Raymond

This 104 mile side trip cuts west across coastal range between Grays River Divide (to south) and P and E Ridge to north, going up Chehalis River valley, across Pe Ell Prairie, and coming out on west side along Willapa...

Napavine

This 8 mile side trip leads out to a small trading community.

Morton

This 60 mile side trip follows a scenic byway out along highway 508 along north fork of Tilton River through several small communities.

Side trips along Olympia to Mary’s Corner

There are no side trips along this tour leg.

Mary’s Corner to Vancouver

This tour follows an old stage route connecting Mary’s Corner with Vancouver, on the Columbia River. The tour follows the Chehalis, Newaukum, and Columbia rivers.

This leg of the tour has 21 waypoints and 10 side trip tours

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