Oregon Road Trip
 

Hi all, this is very last minute, but I'm in the process of making plans for an Oregon road trip... and we leave this week. I'm from the Seattle area and have been to Oregon lots of times which is why this is so last minute, but I thought it'd be nice to get some tips/recommendations/thoughts. We are going to be going for only 4 nights, and I know that the itinerary will be a little tight, but we're all ok with lots of driving especially through scenic areas. We'll be camping all 4 nights as well.

Here's our almost official itinerary:
1st night - Fort Stevens State Park
2nd night - South Beach State Park
3rd night - Diamond Lake Campground (I haven't reserved this yet... any opinions on this campground? I've heard mosquitoes can be bad - is that true?)
4th night - LaPine State Park (then back up to WA on HWY 97)

What are the best driving routes? Obviously HWY 101, but how about from the coast to Diamond Lake? Any other tips would be a great help! We'll also be stopping at Crater Lake NP if anyone has advice about that. Thanks for any and all help!!

Hey--

​​​​​​I have camped at your first two parks. Love Fort Stevens, so much to do there. A bike ride out to the WWII battery, plus the shipwreck on the beach. South Beach is solid and really close to Newport.

Never stayed at Diamond Lake. We stopped to eat lunch there years ago and I don't remember being very impressed by it. Still, I've never heard anything bad about it, either. When we went to Crater Lake we stayed at Joseph Stewart Recreation Area. This is a good park, but it is a little further from Crater Lake. If Diamond Lake is full, try for it.

Crater Lake--the things to do are: take a boat ride, do a hike, stop in at the Lodge (it's gorgeous), or drive all the way around the rim, stopping at viewpoints. Boat ride also requires a decent hike from rim down to the water. Some of the hikes bomup to viewpoints.

​​I have not stayed at La Pine, but two of my family have, and they liked it. So much to do in Bend area, but if you go to Oregon a lot, you know that. One thing that gets overlooked is the night time star observatory at Sunriver. Some great telescopes and volunteers have them set up to see some amazing things. Rings of Saturn, and so on. Google it--there's a site with hours and info.