want to go from las vegas, nv. to vancouver canada. thinking about going up through idaho and across washington. has anyone been in that area?
will probably return south along the pacific coast.

 

I've ridden across central and northern Nevada and some of those highways are barren with not much to see. I would recommend heading out on the 95 to 6 to 120 toward Lee Vining. From there the easiest way to cross the Sierras is to make your way up toward Lake Tahoe and then cut to the coast. Stay in San Francisco for a night. We stayed in Chinatown. We've ridden from Southern California to Vancouver. There is some nice riding along the coast. Cross the Golden Gate bridge if you can. We rode on the 101 to Port Angeles in Northern Washington. Took the Ferry to Victoria (clear customs). Ride up to Nanaimo. Took another Ferry to Horseshoe Bay in Northern Vancouver.

We left Vancouver south and crossed back into the US on the 5. Took smaller highways and made our way by Mt Rainier, Mount St Helens, Mt Hood, Crater Lake, Mt Shasta, etc. From there you can head south east back home. The 395 is a scenic ride. We did this in 9 days (two weekends and one work week).

 

If you are going through Idaho and heading to Vancouver, a nice ride in my experience (assuming you want roads rather than high speed freeways) would be:
- Make your way from northern Idaho over to Spokane (go west from 95 in Idaho to 195 in WA, then north to Spokane).
-Go west on 94 through Spokane to Hwy 2, follow 2 west to Davenport, then north on 25.
- At Kettle Falls you can go north on 395 to the border. It is a small border crossing, not real busy, watch the times because they aren't open 24/7.
-When across the border go west on Hwy 3.
- You can follow Hwy 3 right through to Hope where you connect onto Hwy 1 to take you into Vancouver
- If you really want to enjoy the BC roads, and want to take a bit more time, instead of following Hwy 3 all the way to Hope you can do a loop North on 6 at Salmo, north to Nelson, then west to Crescent Valley, then north again - this will take you up through Slocan to New Denver (biker friendly hotel there named the Valhalla - good people), then keep on going north to Nakuskp, and then follow 6 south along the lake Fauquier.
- there is a little cable ferry that takes you from Fauquier to Needles (called the Needles ferry, it is free), where you then just follow Hwy 6 to Vernon.
- From Vernon follow Hwy 97 to Kelowna, past Kelowna catch 97C (make sure you fuel up first) across to Merritt
- From Merritt follow Hwy 5 (Coquihalla hwy) west to Hope, where you can catch Hwy 1 into Vancouver.

If by the time you get to Merritt you are enamored of the riding and want to take a bit longer still, instead of catching Hwy 5, go north out of Merritt on Hwy 8 to Spences Bridge. Go south on Hwy 1 from Spences Bridge to Lytton.
- In Lytton you can make a choice, follow Hwy 1 through Hope to Vancouver, or you can go north on Hwy 12 to Lillooet, catch the Hwy 99 in Lillooet to go west across the Duffy Lake Rd. (spectacular road) to Pemberton, then south through Whistler and then down to Vancouver.

Timing:
- if you just come across the border and go west on 3 to 1 and into Vancouver, that is about an 8 to 10 hour ride.
- if you take the detour up to New Denver, across through Vernon, back to Kelowna, and across through Merritt to Hope that adds at least another 12 hours
- if you take the detour at Merritt north to Spences Bridge then south through the Fraser Canyon to Hope and into Vancouver it only adds about 3 hours.
- if instead you take the detour at Merritt north, then through Lytton to Lillooet and across the Duffy Lake Rd to Pemberton, and south through Whistler to Vancouver, that adds about 8 to 10 hours to the trip.

All of these times are without a lot of stopping for pics etc, and I think you will really want to do some of that so add some time.

Hope this helps, enjoy the trip

 

If you want to save the coast for the ride home...

US-93 N through Nevada to Twin Falls, ID. Check out the Snake River Canyon where Evel Knievel tried to rocket-launch it. ID-75 N to Ketchum, Stanley and Challis. Pick up US-93 again in Challis and take it north to Kalispell, MT. Now you've got choices: (1) through Glacier NP then over to Vancouver. (2) West on US-2 to the ID-WA border then West on WA-20. Cut north anywhere along WA-20. (3) Stay on US-93 to Eureka, MT and cross into Canada. Make your way west to Vancouver.

All are excellent and scenic routes.