cathee

My husband and I will be driving a 9 day loop the end of July. Thanks to all of your help last fall, we decided on:
-fly into Portland-spend 2 nights at CRG
-two nights in Bend
-two nights at CL lodge
- 2-3 nights in Yachats--overleaf lodge--last night might be somewhere else

Please help fine tune. What should we not miss. We are mid 50's--love to hike, bike, raft,great food, and enjoy nature, wildlife. Can anyone suggest some good restaurants. We wanted to go further south to Ashland and Grant's pass--but are already pushing how much we drive--Should we spend the last night somewhere else on the way up to Portland?

beachbum

I'm not sure what you're asking, other than about restaurants. And even then, where? It looks like you're not spending any time in Portland, where you'd have a lot of options for great meals.

Ashland would make the most sense after Crater Lake, but I don't know if it would be worth the detour for you unless you plan to see a play.

Yachats to Portland is about three hours over the most direct route, but you could instead drive up the coast and apend a night in a northern coastal town. Lots of good scenery on the north coast too.

If nothing else, I at least topped this for you! ;-) Post back with some more specific questions. Every stop in your itinerary has options for almost every thing you enjoy, so it's hard to know where to start with any advice.....

cathee

you're right I do need to be more specific-----my posting might be premature---I am really looking for specific hikes--not too hard or long--(2 - 3 mile), boat rides, maybe even rafting options---we did one in Bend years ago want to do one raft trip again----restaurants, best route from CRG to Yachats and then to Portland. Is there enough to do in yachats area to justify 3 nights, or should we drive up the valley--or coast and get closer to Portland?
Aside from what replies I get to this, I will fine tune my own itinerary, then ask more specific questions when I get closer to the date.

beachbum

It would also be helpful if you clarify your route, cathee. Your first post led me to think it's PDX-CRG-Bend-CL-Yachats-PDX. But you ask for a route suggestion from CRG to Yachats to PDX in the next. What happened to Bend, CL, (and Ashland)?

Once the route is finalized, we can fill in blanks. In the meantime, think Bend (or possibly CRG) for whitewater and/or biking, Grants Pass for a jetboat ride, CL for a boat ride, CRG and Yachats (or Bend & CL too) for hiking, and all of it for natural beauty.

cathee

When looking at a map, it seemed to be pretty much only one obvious route from Portland to CRG--to Bend and to CR-----whereas there seemed to be more than one route to Yachats and then back to Portland. We don't love to drive---but a necessity to do this trip----so 4 lane highways as opposed to 2 are preferred, unless there are alternate routes that are farmore scenic. I don't think we will do Ashland for this trip. We might do a northern CA one day and add that area to it. Too much driving.

sunbum1944

I love the Eagle Creek hike in the Columbia River Gorge- I dont think its hard but there are some narrow trails on a high ridge- walk to a couple of water falls

Hiking in the Bend area ( actually close to Redmond) - I love hiking at Smith Rock- world famous for rock climbers - you can watch them while you hike and wonder what ever possessed them to take up that sport-several options of trails there.

In Bend there is an easy trail that starts in the Old Mill area but takes you into the woods and along the river - its very nice and easy -
and then of course when you are finished, there are restaurants and brew pubs right there.
Endless hiking in the Bend area

In the Yachats area- you can hike from the Heceta Head lighthouse down to a beach that is only accessible by hiking into - also a nice hike and you can picnic on the beach afterwards.

cathee

I'm adding these hikes to my itinerary as I read about them. Thank you.