The Wildernesses of Oregon
My buddies and I flew to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to backpack the Grand Tetons — that kickstarted our annual “outdoors” trip. We flew ourselves to Oregon this past month (August 2023) but changed it up a bit: we didn’t backpack. We flew into PDX and picked up a rental car and drove east to Mount Hood where we stayed for two nights (Kinnickinnick/Laurance Lake). The land around Mount Hood was interesting because there was a lot of land for vineyards and you can see mountains in the background…it reminded me a bit of Virigina. After, we drove south through Bend (stopped by Deschutes Brewery and The Apothecary Brewery) to Crater Lake National Park for another two nights (Thielsen and Mazama). I did not seem to be in awe of Crater Lake NP like I usually am with other parks. It didn’t seem to impress me. There were quite a few mosquitoes at the campsites (more so at Mazama). I was quite prepared to see more those because I saw a lot in when I took a short hike at the North Cascades a few years ago.
The second portion of our trip included driving west and a quick loop through California and the Oregon Redwoods to the Southern Oregon Coast. First stop: Brookings! It felt great to take a shower at the airbnb. This was also where we hit the first beach, but I won’t tell you the name because it’s a secret. This was probably the best beach I’ve ever seen in my life. Beautiful with rocks.
When then drove to our second airbnb in Bandon, OR. Stopped by Tony’s Crab shack and ate some delicious crabs and seafood! Highly recommend. After, we stopped by Bandon Beach and boy was that even more beautiful. Can you spot “Face Rock?” This sunset was one of the best tranquil ones I have ever seen. I have a newfound appreciation for the Pacific Ocean. Pacific: 1, Atlantic: 0.
We stayed in a hotel in Portland for our last night. We wanted something fancy but apparently there are no Michelin star restaurants in Oregon at all! There’s a couple James Beard winners but they were kind of hard to find. We settled on Eem PDX, which is a well-known Thai BBQ place and boy was that good.
My final thoughts on the trip: hiking the PCT on our second day really made me miss backpacking. The campsites we stayed at were really loud (families and children talking). Although we were able to see more places and stuff by driving around and camping at different locations, I think I still prefer to backpack a route for 3–4 days. It was very interesting to bring a lot of our camping gear into the plane and use it for the trip. Another thought I had was that I used to love PDX. Portland has gone pretty downhill from the last few years from reading about the worsening fentanyl endemic there. It sad to see the weird city of Portland suffering when it is surrounded by its wilderness and mountains. The beer was also pretty subpar. That’s all I have to say about that.
DK
