Norther California to Bend, Oregon
Replies: 13 - Last Post: Sep 16, 2012 3:50 AM Last Post By: victalis
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Norther California to Bend, Oregon
My sister lives in Marin (just north of San Francisco) and I'll be going out to visit in a couple of weeks. We're hoping to make a 4-5 day trip up to Central Oregon (Bend, or thereabouts) while I'm in town roughly October 6/7- 10. Any good scenic route suggestions? We don't care how long it takes as long as it's beautiful. She's explored all the Northern California coast so it's a bit of an old hat, but I'd love great suggestions for amazing campgrounds, best hot springs, great snacks in the Bend area. I worked near Sisters for a summer so I'm looking forward to getting back to wild and wonderful Central Oregon!Any suggestions greatly appreciated! Thanks!
1
The most scenic route would include Highway 101 through Redwood National Park north of Orick. Youcould continue north up to the prime part of the Oregon Coast between Florence and Newport (dozens of
beautiful campgrounds) before heading eastward on Highway 20. This will take you through the college
town of Corvallis before landing you in Bend. On the return, I'd drive south on Highway 97 and arrive at
Crater Lake via Highway 138 and Crater Lake Highway. Following Crater Lake, I would return to the scenic
portion of highway 138 and drive west (the road follows the Umpqua River in a beautiful gorge)
arriving at Roseburg where you join Highway 5 to turn south for the return to California.
3
That park is awesome too! They filmed portions of Jurassic Park there- I just read last week that Humboldt Redwoods State Park south of Eurekahas 130 of the 180 redwoods known to be taller than 350 feet.
4
On our trip from SF to Portland we stayed each night: Fort Bragg > Crescent City > Medford > Bend. The timing was just about perfect. The highlight redwood park for us was Jedediah Smith SP just inland from Crescent City, but I agree that Prairie Creek SP was good too. Humboldt Redwoods SP was good too. Interestingly, the least exciting park was Redwoods National Park itself - lots of driving for not too much reward.Crater Lake NP is sensational, and between Crescent City and Medford, we ventured up the Oregon coast as far as the small town of Brookings, and then spent some time meandering around Rogue River Gorge. We did the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway into Bend, after Crater Lakes NP, but it was not that exciting.
5
If I were making that trip I'd take hwy 101 to Arcata, then hwy 299 to Redding following I-5 to Weed where I'd grab hwy 97 and follow it all the way to Bend.Great scenery the whole way with both coastal areas (hwy 101) and high desert (hwy 97) and plenty of mountains in between.
It'll take all of your 5-days, and a couple more days would be much better.
7
When were you last in Bend? Just asking so I can make recommendations based on what may not have been here when you were last here.The food cart thing has taken off, but I think a lot of them close down after the summer.
For food and beer and a good time I recommend 10 Barrel Brewing. It is always crowded but if you are patient you'll land a table outside around the fire. The food is good pub food. The new brewery in town is Crux Fermentation Project which is also good. The food is OK. I haven't really eaten there much. For brunch I like Chow. The other popular place on the West Side is The Victorian Cafe, but I've never been since I always choose Chow.
Right now there is a huge wildfire about six miles from Sisters in the Sisters Wilderness. It will be out by October (we hope!) but that might be worth seeing, post burn, if you are allowed on those trails.
8
If your sister has explored the California coast already, try an inland volcanic itinerary instead:Lassen Nat'l Park
Lava Beds Nat'l Monument
Crater Lake Nat'l Park
We've camped at Medicine Lake in Modoc Nat'l Forest. The drive from there to Lava Beds is on dirt, but it's well paved and it passes such oddities as ice caves and an obsidian mountain.
10
All the suggestions above are great. If you do Crater Lake, Highway 230/62/Crater Lake Highway is beautiful.I moved to Bend 8 years ago because I love it, I still feel like I'm on vacation with all the outdoor activities. Here are just a few of the local activities & restaurants:
Bend Ale Trail (14 breweries & counting)
http://beermebend.com/
Cycle Pub
http://www.cyclepub.com/
Stand Up Paddle Paddling
http://standuppaddlebend.com/Home.html
Tumalo Falls
Benham Falls
Dillon Falls
Lava Island Falls
Sparks Lake
Devils Lake
Hosmer Lake
South Sister
Mt Bachelor
Jackson's Corner
Brother Jon's
10 Barrel
Deschutes Brewery
Tetherow Golf Club
Level 2
5 Fusion
12
McMenemin's is OK. The food is meh and the beer is decent enough. The best part is O'Kane's bar in the back which is a cigar bar (if you are into that sort of thing) and has lots of fire pits outside and is just kind of cozy and the movie theater where movies are $3 and you can have dinner and beer with the movie.The design of the place is unique and worth a walk-through, too. Oh, and the outdoor hot tub is supposed to be great in the winter after skiing.
13
Zydeco in Bend, great food and cocktails...Red fish...Port Orford
Fantastic camping in Jedediah redwoods and on the Mckenzie river, Paradise was very nice
The 38 and the 242 to Bend were very scenic (coast between Bandon and Reedsport, nothing special, ugly in fact)
Oregon coast beautiful, but depressing towns IMO.....(Gold beach a little bit better than Brookings)
Arcata in California nice hippie town, much better than Eureka...
