Juldie

I am considering an 8-9 day trip to the west coast over labor day into the 1st week of Sept. I am thinking about either northern CA from SF north or OR from Portland south. I am sure either will be wonderful. We want to experience the beauty, uniqueness, and all there is to see and experience. I love when I travel to get into the towns and experience the local vibe. I realize its not a long time to do such a trip and we will be originating from the east coast.

Whether we start or end in SF or Portland we won't spend more than 1 day or so in the city since we will want to head to the coast or our inland destinations. Once we decide which trip we will do, i will dig right in and plan a fabulous trip. I would love for you to sell me on one or the other, OR or N. CA. Thank you so much in advance.

bbqboy

First of all Portland to SF south, assuming you'll spend some time on the Coast. You'll be driving on the beach side.
Food, wine and beer, mountains, ocean, hiking, theatre-what are your interests?

Juldie

My interests are varied; hikes, lots of ocean, mountains, small towns, quaint, breathtaking sights, taking in local culture, special unique lodging, etc. To be clear, if we fly into SF we will do a loop and return to fly out of SF, same thing with flying into Portland. We will take in a variety of locations and then make our way back to Portland to fly out of. I just don't want to be on the road every day. I am thinking we would stay a couple of nights perhaps in a few spots.

I love the beach and being from new england and used to swimming in cold water, I have been warned to not plan on swim in northern CA or OR, that's its just too frigid. I do really love natural hot springs and have already looked into them in both CA and OR.

tomfuller

My suggested route: PDX via Astoria to Seaside or Cannon Beach if you want to spend 2 nights on the Oregon Coast. From Cannon Beach south to Reedsport. About 4 miles east of Reedsport on Rt. 42 you should see a herd of at least 30 Roosevelt Elk at the Deans Creek Viewing Area. Continue on to spend the night in the Eugene area. Head east on 126 out of Springfield to the Belknap Springs http://oregonhotsprings.immunenet.com/belknap.htm Either stay there or continue onward after your soak over the McKenzie Pass. Stop at the Dee Wright Observatory at the top of the Pass. Spend at least 1 night in the lovely town of Sisters before heading back to Portland.
If you had 1 more day, I would suggest seeing Crater Lake.

Juldie

tomfuller; thank you for thinking the route through for me. Is there a particular reason you suggest going to Reedsport besides seeing the elk? I just researched Crater Lake a bit and the lodge there and it looks pretty spectacular and perhaps not be missed. Who knows if I will ever be in Oregon again. How would you change the route to fit in Crater Lake?

Will I have missed a lot if we don't get to Hood River/Mt. Hood/Columbia River Gorge area? to Bend?

beckysbuys

Crater Lake is spectacular, as is alot of inland scenery, Rogue River for jet or river rafting trips, Lava Beds in Oregon from I-5 to Sisters is one of the most amazing sights we've ever seen. Sisters and Bend are great little towns with charm, breweries, hiking, and loads more. Then there is Ashland Oregon with its Shakespeare Festival, great restaurants and really cute downtown.
The dilemma is with the coast there isn't an easy or quick way to get there or back, figure a day driving from I5 to the coast at any point. Once in Calif I'd head straight to Napa Valley, even though we live in a great town off I-5 (Chico) with its own charm, if you like wine its a not to be missed place. Stay in Calistoga, tons of wineries to visit and enjoy. Have fun

tomfuller

Turn south on the east end of Elkton toward Roseburg then take 138 east from Roseburg about 87 miles to the north entrance of Crater Lake. If you can get a reservation at the Lodge it would be great. Otherwise, you can stay at the Diamond Lake Resort.
It is 90 miles from the north entrance of Crater Lake to Bend.
Take US 20 and OR 22 back toward Salem with a stop at Silver Falls State Park.
Try to find the time to go east on I-84 as far as the parking area for Multnomah Falls. There is a pedestrian underpass to get to the base of the falls, There are steps and a steep path up to the top of Oregon's highest waterfall.

Tomsd

As I recall - hiway 38/138 from Reedsport goes along the beautiful Umpqua River - past an Elk Preserve - and continues on over to 5 - where you head south a few miles to Southerlin - and then inland/east again on 138 to Crater Lake - for one of the most beautiful drives you will ever find. see: http://www.distancebetweencities.net...-lake_or/route

From Crater Lake - you could head to Route 97 - and then north through Bend and beautiful scenery along the east side of the Cascades - and stay a night at my favorite - the Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood. From there back to the Portland Airport is about an hour and a half. http://www.timberlinelodge.com/

Tomsd

You could also head north from Timberline Lodge to Hood River and back to Portland along I 84 - and see the Gorge/Multnomah and other waterfalls that way.

Tomsd

BTW - if Crater Lake Lodge is full - the nearby Diamond Lake is also beautiful - has a resort - and also has good trout fishing. You are also close to Ashland if you want to zip down for the Shakespeare festival. http://www.diamondlake.net/

Juldie

Interesting everyone. I will get on to google maps and start mapping out these different route options and see what makes sense with the time we have and see if we have to eliminate stops, what they should be. Not to sound unappreciative, but I am thinking I could cut out the waterfalls because I have seen some amazing falls in my travels. All of the post responses thus far have been for Oregon; no one seems to think doing the northern CA trip instead of OR would be better?

Juldie

I forgot to ask (hope this doesn't sound foolish) are there any places where I can swim besides a pool? Summer to me is tough without getting in some water but I understand if all bodies of water in the NW are just too cold.

Tomsd

Having pretty much driven the whole Pacific Coast a few times, and most of the West for that matter - (over - ahemmm - a number of years - I think that the Oregon plan allows for seeing more natural beauty - in an easier fashion - than heading north from San Francisco. The Cal Coast is a little harder to traverse (and it's long) - and you really only get a flavor of the cinder coned mountains of the Cascades starting at beautiful Mt Shasta - north of Redding in very Northern Cal - (6 plus hours from San Francisco) - whereas in Oregon - you can see Mt. Hood right away when you land, be in the Gorge in 30 minutes, up on Mt. Hood in another hour, or going the other way - be over on the Oregon Coast drive in two hours.

In California - the Sierras start up toward Lake Tahoe (as jewel in itself) - and are beautiful - but that's about 4 hours from San Francisco - heading away from the Coast.

There are nice Redwoods in California - but they also have those in Oregon, especially around where I grew up in Klamath Falls, (Southern) Oregon - just south of Crater Lake and over the hill/east of the Rogue Valley - Ashland/Medford/Grants Pass.

And if you want to add a "wow" factor - take the jet boats at the mouth of the Rogue River - at Gold Beach. http://www.roguejets.com/

And if you are a golf fan - the links at Bandon Dunes - just north of Gold Beach - are world renowned. http://www.bandondunesgolf.com/

Actually - the Oregon Dunes park north of there (by Reedsport- where you can head over to Crater Lake) is also interesting, although since my youth - some of the huge dunes have been covered by trees. http://tinyurl.com/7jzeb8t

Tomsd

BTW - as for swimming - I have been in the Oregon and Northern Cal Oceans - but I am part Polar Bear.

However - near shore in the lakes it warms up in the summer - and people are swimming/canoing/fishing, etc - and a pristine little lake is near where I grew up - Lake of the Woods - http://www.lakeofthewoodsresort.com/ between Klamath Falls and Medford - south of Crater Lake. It also has a great view of 10,000 foot cinder cone - Mt. McLaughlin ( http://tinyurl.com/7dgaoy3 ) and pls excuse me for bragging - but my niece climbed it a few years ago during her girl scout days - up and down in one day.

Also - Diamond lake that I have previously mentioned is nice (near Crater Lake) - or there are some lakes by/toward Bend (along hiway 97) where you can also "take the plunge".

Hey - that reminds me - our Boy Scout camp was at Lake Crescent - http://tinyurl.com/75jsupo
and east of Bend are two very cute little lakes - with cabins - at Newberry Volcano: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newberry_Volcano

Actually - Oregon - like say Wisconsin/Minnesota - has a lot of very nice lakes.

Tomsd

BTW - this will give you a good idea of the beautiful - cinder coned/snow covered peaks along the Cascade Mountain Range - and Mt. Lassen used to be one before it blew - just as Mt. Mazama/Tehama used to be before it blew - and now you have Crater Lake there. And our 30 plus mile long Klamath Lake has an average depth of only about 8 feet - because it received a lot of the ash from that Mt. St. Helens (on steroids) type event - centuries ago.

http://tinyurl.com/7a734hq

tomfuller

Tomsd, You and I have so much in common. Last summer I won a fishing trip on Diamond Lake with 2 nights lodging included.
After we had been out on the boat for several hours my buddy jumped out of the boat to cool off. In 2006 (February) the 2 of us visited an island in the Columbia. He was in his wetsuit and I was in his old inflateable boat with a paddle.
I have a geocache hidden on the south shore of Crescent Lake.
Paulina and East Lakes also have warm springs on the shoreline and under the water.
If anyone wants to see the Cascade Lakes, turn north off the Crescent Cutoff Road onto Cascade Lakes Highway. The highway is 70 miles into Bend. Crescent Cutoff is the road I use to go from Crescent (US97) to Crescent Lake (off 58).
Have you looked up Belknap? I do know of several more hot springs in Oregon. At one of them, I encountered naked people. Oh wait, he was wearing a hat.

Otis_B_Driftwood

"There are nice Redwoods in California - but they also have those in Oregon, especially around where I grew up in Klamath Falls, (Southern) Oregon"

I have never heard of any redwoods growing naturally around Klamath Falls. The sequoia sempervirens are coastal trees and found primarily in California. There are a couple of small groves in SW Oregon. You can see their range on this map:

http://www.redwoodhikes.com/

Redwood National Park is almost equidistant between San Francisco and Portland. If you decide to visit the area from Portland, you could do so easily as a loop that would include the coastal drive and a route through the Cascades via Grant's Pass and Medford, Crater Lake, Bend, etc.

Or, you could drive to the redwoods by Hwy 1 and 101 north of San Francisco and then loop over to Mt. Shasta and Lassen Volcanic National Park and maybe Lake Tahoe if you have time. Early September is a great time to travel in California.

"I am thinking I could cut out the waterfalls because I have seen some amazing falls in my travels"

I don't see how anyone can see too many waterfalls. The Columbia Gorge is stunning and should not be missed if visiting the Portland area. There's also some interesting locks on the Columbia that you can tour.

"At one of them, I encountered naked people."

Oregon is a very liberal state. There are a number of places you can swim or soak in a hot spring "au natural".

traveler24

Even though I am native Californian and live in northern Cal., I vote for concentrating on Oregon. You will see more for the miles and time involved.
Be aware the Labor Day weekend (where ever you are) needs to be booked NOW...Especially coastal --I bet Cannon Beach is already "full" .Also "driving time" estimates can be misleading on coast. mostly 2 lane roads, lots of little towns..35-45 MPH is average.
Crater Lake is awesome, Columbia River Gorge --you have some tough choices...
Happy Trails

tomfuller

ODoT has some big plans for Route 58 for 2012 and 2013. http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/REGIO...k_tunnel.shtml
The hot spring I mentioned is next to Salt Creek about halfway between the tunnel and Oakridge.
Salt Creek Falls is just off Rt. 58 east of the tunnel.
You can walk right up to the top of Salt Creek Falls which is Oregon's second highest waterfall.
When I go to California looking for scenic beauty, I head for Yosemite if I want to see Giant Sequoias. I head for Redwood NP to see big Coast Redwoods.
I'll take Crater Lake over Lassen any day.

Tomsd

Otis - you better drift a bit more through your history. In the early 60's - the Native Americans around Klamath Falls (Klamath Tribe for sure) - received $43,000 EACH - for the timber rights to the Redwoods on their reservation up by Chilouqin - about 30 miles north of Klamath Falls. Then a few years later - the Weyerhaeusers of this world determined that the prime Redwood lumber had been undervalued - so they received another $30,000 something - EACH.

They aren't quite as big as their bigger cousins - the Coastal Redwoods - that get more moisture from the Marine layer/fog - but the ones around Klamath Falls are still very robust trees, and I have paused under then when hunting - and there was a rain shower passing over.

see: http://www.propertyrightsresearch.or...ath_tribes.htm

and http://www.klamathcc.org/

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_a...h_Falls_Oregon