372 Results

This year we decided to cut down our own Christmas tree — it was so much fun — and now it will be an annual tradition. The process was very simple. We purchased a National Forest tree tag for five dollars at Powder House Ski & Snowboard in Bend. My husband, Mitchell, purchased a bow saw to cut the tree, then all that was left was to decide where to go. We were split between the Cascade Lakes Highway area and Sisters. Mitchell knew one... More

Eastern Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is famous for migratory birds. My wife Krista and I loved our recent bird watching trip to the refuge just south of Burns. During a long weekend in early May, we spotted more than 90 species of gorgeous birds, including great horned owls, burrowing owls, short-eared owls, sandhill cranes, golden eagles,… More

Imagine yourself on a stand-up paddleboard. Now imagine yourself doing a downward facing dog. Or striking a warrior pose. Or holding a plank. Yes, stand-up paddleboard (SUP) yoga is a thing now, with specially designed boards and international retreats attracting water yogis worldwide. In Oregon, many SUP outfitters offer yoga as an option, but Float On SUP Yoga in… More

I never realized the joy I found in waterfalls until I moved to Oregon. Within my first year of living here, I thought I had seen them all. I had gone on many hikes, stopped off the Historic Columbia River Highway to see all of the Gorge waterfalls more than once, and my computer was… More

Luke Martinez grew up splashing around in the Chetco River. As a teenager he became passionate about paddling, and spent his summers guiding rafting trips. That was 20 years ago, and Martinez has since returned home — to the tiny town of Pistol River, between Gold Beach and Brookings on the Southern Oregon Coast — to raise… More

Did you now there is over 30 million acres of forest in Oregon? Of this, 11 million acres are managed by the Oregon Department of Forestry to produce wood, paper and other pulp-based products we use every single day. In addition to adding $12 billion annually to Oregon’s economy and supporting more than 58,000 jobs, Oregon’s… More

You may be familiar with Oregon's very popular Painted Hills or John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, but if you keep rolling an hour east you'll have the entire Malheur National Forest to yourself. There are miles and miles of forest service roads to explore, jeep trails, hiking paths and even an OHV trails for the more adventurous folks. Watch out for cows and pack snacks because you could be by yourself for quite some time. More

Some years are better than others for snowfall in Oregon; many are stoked at this winter’s forecast, which calls for decent conditions. Even if skiing and snowboarding aren’t accessible, however, sledding and tubing are guaranteed ways to have a blast in the snow. Even with some early season snowfall, many tubing spots need more snow to… More

When you have a Ticket2Ride, there’s no telling how far you can travel! Twenty-six 5th grade students from Portland’s Marysville Elementary School gather for science class along the Maple Ridge Trail at Tryon Creek State Natural Area in Lake Oswego. Their field trip teacher for the day is Julie Baweja, a science expert from Ecology Classrooms Outdoors… More

Intrepid travelers trek to the Alvord Desert in Southeastern Oregon for wildly different reasons: to break a world land speed record, to fly a hot air balloon, to do yoga or let their dogs run or to grab some photos of the 12-by-7 mile dry lake bed in the shadow of the Steens Mountain range. Our… More

Just 15 miles west of Eugene, Veneta is located at the intersection of Highway 126, a direct path to the scenic Oregon Coast, and the Territorial Highway, one of the oldest roads in Oregon and the gateway to Willamette Valley Wine Country. As such, Veneta is a fitting locale in which to explore both the… More

A string of riverside communities greets the wild and oh-so-scenic McKenzie River as it drains down from the Cascade Mountains and tumbles west toward Eugene. Easy to reach along the McKenzie River Highway (OR-126), they’re your gateway to this river valley’s incomparable natural attractions. Lane Transit District will even handle the driving, with bus service… More

The verdant hills and rambling creeks of the Willamette Valley set the stage for this pocket of communities west of Salem. Long an abundant homeland for native tribes and later a productive farming and logging locale, this region’s lush landscape is still a powerful draw. It all feels a bit like a local’s secret, where… More

It’s safe to say we were here to explore, to savor each moment and to celebrate the freedom of the wilderness. We set off with our dog Riggins late in the afternoon toward Slide Lake. The trail turned south, traversing the eastern side of the ridge and offering views of aptly named Slide Mountain, with numerous avalanche paths leaving scars down its face. Above, basalt columns stood in various states of toppling into each other. More

With three days left of 2016, I found myself back in Oregon, celebrating the turn of the year and exploring two of the state's wonders: Mt. Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. I live in Seattle but love frequent visits to the this beautiful neighboring state and its many diverse outdoors. Thanks to the new Oregon Weather Compass, it's been easy to track down the sun, rain and snowfall, which is at epic levels right now. More

On a trip to the Columbia Plateau, where the Columbia River Gorge melds into the wide-open cowboy country of Eastern Oregon, you might need to recalibrate your sense of scale. Everything feels immense: the wide Columbia River jacks up with swells as big as the ocean, swaying wheat fields ripple toward a distant horizon and… More

Wake up in paradise, Hood River, the windsurfing capital of the world and the perfect place to linger during a tour of the Gorge. If you spend the night in the Columbia Gorge Hotel (N4), a 1920 historic landmark frequented by old Hollywood stars and presidents, grab a great view of Wah-Gwin-Gwin Falls, the second-highest waterfall in the Gorge. More

Yep, party barging! I’m officially making it a verb. My family and I recently spent the day with three other families — eight adults and eight kids in all — on the waters of Lake Billy Chinook in Central Oregon. More

To see where the dunes came from, just look inland: They’re essentially ground-up pieces of the Oregon Coast Range, worn away by time and weather and washed downstream to the ocean. Tides, currents, waves and wind pushed the resulting sand back inland. Since this part of Oregon’s coastline is a gentle slope instead of the usual steep headlands, the sand spread inland as far as 2.5 miles. Over millions of years, it piled up to 500 feet above sea level in places, interspersed with marshes,... More

It's a unique adventure in perhaps the most remote part of Oregon. Situated amongst one of the most stunning landscapes in Oregon, the Slocum Creek Campground of Leslie Gulch sits at the end of a 15-mile dirt road lined by towering rock cliffs, mysterious honeycombed walls and awe-inspiring rock features formed from colorful volcanic ash carved by the powerful and relentless forces of nature. Nearby, the wide Owyhee River flows slowly, giving life to an abundance of flora and fauna, including over 200 bighorn sheep,... More

Growing up in Portland, I was a Seaside-Cannon Beach-Lincoln City kind-of-gal, but now that I live in Eugene, I am absolutely loving trips to the Central Coast! More

The cooler climes of winter bring quieter times to the pristine lakes and rivers of Southern Oregon. Water-skiers have long put up their skis, rafters have deflated their crafts until spring. With fewer people on the water, it's a great season for anglers to wet a line. More

Every spring we plan a trip around the emergence of a 3-inch insect that flops clumsily in the sky like a small bird. It is the famed salmonfly hatch, and it’s the reason we first started visiting the small Central Oregon town of Maupin, located along the iconic Deschutes River. More

Sunriver has been one of Oregon’s favorite getaways for nearly half a century. The resort community 16 miles south of Bend has been recognized as a recreational and vacation destination since the 1960s, equally perfect for snowy ski excursions and sunny summer holidays. The beautiful location on the meandering Deschutes River in a thick forest… More

A remarkable wildlife show is happening at the Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge. This Willamette Valley site is a birder's paradise. Here, photographers can turn a fleeting moment into a work of art — and Jim Leonard has the images to prove it. Leonard is a famed Oregon wildlife photographer who likes this wildlife refuge because it's easy to reach from the highway,… More

Hosmer Lake near the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway I’ve lived in Oregon my whole life. I grew up on the Oregon Coast, spent my college years in the Willamette Valley and have been rooted in Central Oregon for more than two decades. I’ve traveled to every county in this great state, even making a career out of it as a writer — which might make me the luckiest girl in the world, and I always come back to Central Oregon. This region offers a real... More

I’ve walked the white sands along the western coast of Nicaragua. I’ve played on the warm, sunny beaches of the Southern California shoreline. And I’ve built sandcastles beside the turquoise waters of Key West. But my favorite beach remains on the wild, rugged Oregon Coast. More

The trails less traveled are the ones I cherish most and Oregon has a bounty of places to choose. We’re heading up the McKenzie River Valley into the rugged mountains where a gentle trail lead us to one of the state’s most remarkable sites called Tamolitch or the “Blue Pool.” The McKenzie River Scenic Byway may… More

I’ve traipsed all over Mt. Hood — past Burnt Lake and up to Zigzag Mountain, over to McNeil Point, nearly to the top of Barrett Spur, out to Owl Point, through Elk Meadows and up Gnarl Ridge. I’ve been to the summit four times, circled around the entire beauty twice on the 41-mile Timberline Trail, snowshoed to Cloud Cap, skied White River and paddled around Lost Lake. And yet I’ve never spent the night here, never pitched the tent among the wildflowers, burbling streams and... More

On a dark, snowy night in Central Oregon, all you can see is the puff of your breath as you tramp along. The only sound is the crunch of your snowshoes against the white ground in the quiet forest. Overhead a million stars pulse in the night sky. And then you see it up ahead,… More