Myrna Oakley - Oregon Off the Beaten Path®: Discover Your Fun

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ISBN 978-1-4930-5361-2 (paper: alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-4930-5362-9 (electronic)

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To all those wonderful dining and lodging hosts and the dozens of volunteers and staff at regional and local visitor information centers who stand ready to offer local information and helpful advice to travelers; to all those travelers who enjoy finding out whats just around the bend; to family members and friends who return to their favorite places year after year; and to everyone who enjoys exploring Oregons byways and finding those enticing and scenic places off the beaten path.

OREGON

Contents

Myrna Oakley has traveled the byways of the Northwest and western British Columbia since 1970, always with a camera in hand and an inquisitive eye for natural and scenic areas, as well as for wonderful inns, gardens, and places with historical character and significance. In this process, she has developed an affinity for goose-down comforters, friendly conversations by the fire, and intriguing people who generally prefer to live somewhat off the beaten path.

In addition to Oregon Off the Beaten Path, she has written Washington Off the Beaten Path; Recommended Bed & Breakfasts: Pacific Northwest; Public and Private Gardens of the Northwest; and Bed and Breakfast Northwest. She also teaches about the business of freelance writing, novel writing, and travel writing.

About the Reviser

Fifth-generation Oregonian Kim Cooper Findling writes about the people and places of her home state. She is the editor of Bend Magazine , the publisher of Dancing Moon Press and the author of The Sixth Storm, with Libby Findling; Day Trips to the Oregon Coast: Getaway Ideas for the Local Traveler ; Bend, Oregon Daycations: Day Trips for Curious Families ; Day Trips from Portland: Getaway Ideas for the Local Traveler ; and Chance of Sun: An Oregon Memoir . She lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband, three teenagers, and two cats.

I have worked two decades as a travel writer and author, and I am blessed beyond words for the journeys to fantastic destinations both physical and metaphysical that have ensued. My books would not come to fruition without the support and assistance of many others. First to thank in a cosmic shout-out is the Pacific Northwest, for existing as such a diverse, fascinating, and richly beautiful place. I am unbelievably fortunate to reside and write here. I owe thank yous to dozens of tourism and travel professionals and longtime colleagues who contribute to my worktoo many to name here, but you are all unparalleled. Personal thanks to friends and acquaintances who regularly contribute travel destination ideas. Finally, I extend endless gratitude to my family, my steady traveling companions. You are the best road trip sidekicks on the planet, and I am so very lucky.

Growing up on the Oregon Coast in the 1970s and 1980s, I was aware that I lived in a beautiful and remarkable place. I was born to a family of wanderers, and as we traveled from the blustery coast to the lush Willamette Valley, from the austere high desert to the alpine forests of the Cascade Range, from the bustling city to the wide-open rural stretches, I reveled in the diversity, grandeur, and hidden delights of my home state. Later, when I became a writer, it was no surprise that Oregon itself would be my subject and my muse. Sharing with readers stories of this states people, hidden pockets and many pleasures has been my privilege for twenty years.

Exploring 101: Favorite Oregon Highways and Byways

Historic Columbia River US Highway 30: Starting at Troutdale, east of Portland, and continuing in several sections roughly paralleling I-84, to The Dalles. Note : Several sections of US Historic Columbia River Highway 30 (US 30), including a number of tunnels, have been reopened for walking, hiking, and bicycling (hcrh.com).

US Highway 101 (US 101): The more than 300 mile-length of the scenic Oregon coast starting at Astoria in the north or starting at Brookings on the south coast

Highway 126: From Florence, on the central coast, to Eugene, then east and onto Highway 242 at the small community of McKenzie Bridge and winding up and over McKenzie Pass to Sisters and the central Oregon high desert region (or, if Highway 242 is still snowbound, go instead to Highway 22 over Santiam Pass to the high desert)

Highway 138: From Roseburg winding east along the scenic Umpqua River to Diamond Lake and Crater Lake

John Fremont Highway 31: Heading southeast from Bend and La Pine (on US 97) and continuing on US Highway 395 to Lakeview

Highway 205: Scenic route from Burns south through the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to Frenchglen and on to the Alvord Basin desert region and returning back to Burns

Highway 82: From La Grande to Elgin, Enterprise, Joseph, and into the scenic Wallowa Mountains area and the end of the road at Imnaha, all in northeastern Oregon

Highway 86: From Baker City to Halfway and on to Hells Canyon Dam, then the paved back road around to Joseph

Highway 395: Traversing the center of the state north at Pendleton to south at Lakeview, through the John Day Country and the high desert

TOP Hits in the Beaver State

Columbia River Gorge

from Troutdale east to Umatilla

Covered bridges

Willamette Valley and southern Oregon

covered-bridges.org

Crater Lake National Park

southern Oregon

Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

northeastern Oregon

Historic Columbia River

US 30

from Troutdale to The Dalles

Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge

Klamath Falls

Lava Lands and Newberry National Volcanic Monument

central Oregon

Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery sites

Columbia River Gorge, Long Beach Peninsula, and Astoria

nps.gov/focl

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

south of Burns in southeastern Oregon