Oregon - A Road Trip

So every year my buddy takes a roadtrip to visit his family in Oregon and this time he decided to take me along. He told me that we would checkout all kinds of cool places, and he wasn't lying! The first day we drove all day, all the way through California and up into Oregon. Getting into Oregon near Klamath falls we were greeted by the worst bugs I've ever seen. At first I thought they were clouds, then I noticed they were moving, then we drove into them and I realized it was just super thick swarms of bugs. As we drove through them they were blocking up the windshield and covering the headlights, so a few times I actually had to get out and clean them off so we could still see. Thus getting covered with bugs myself. Once we got through the bugs we found a nice place to camp off an old dirt road in some thick green forest. The next day we continued north up to Crater lake. Wow, just wow. Crater lake is an incredibly beautiful huge blue lake sunk down in a crater surrounded by big mountains and even a mountain rising up out of the lake making a mountain top island. We drove around the rim and found the trail where we could hike down to the lake. We made the hike down and found a spot where people were swimming and jumping off the rocks into the lake. We spent most of our day jumping and swimming. The water is so clear and blue and seemingly bottomless, it really is incredible. So after swimming we made the hike back up to the rim and then continued to drive north up to Bend where we found another nice little camp spot off a dirt road in the woods just outside of Bend.

Camp #1 near Klamath falls

First views of Crater lake

Hiking down to the lake

Hiking down to the lake

Down at the lake

Back up on the rim

Camp #2 near Bend

Our first adventure out of Bend was visiting Tumalo falls, a beautiful 97 foot tall waterfall. We hiked up to the falls and were even able to get back behind the waterfall! That was way to cool. For our next adventure we headed north out of Bend and made the hike down to Steelhead falls on the Deschutes river. We got there mid-day so the place was full of people already. Everyone was having lots of fun. Jumping from the cliffs, slacklining, and all kinds of other wild stuff. We jumped off the cliffs and swam in the river and hung out there all afternoon. Then we headed back to our camp spot for another night.

Tumalo Falls

Tumalo Falls

Behind the waterfall

Deschutes river

Steelhead Falls

Steelhead falls

The next morning we headed west out to the coast. We visited with my buddies family, and his cousin was able to get us a discounted room at a hotel by the beach in Bandon. The next day we explored the coast finding all kinds of cool stuff. The beaches were beautiful. We found a really nice beach that allowed camping, Seven Devils beach. We drove out onto the beach and found a great spot to setup camp right there on the sand. It was my first time ever being able to just drive down the beach and setup camp wherever we wanted. You definitely can't do that at the beaches here in Southern California. The next day we set out on our final adventure of the trip, Golden and Silver falls. We drove up into the mountains and found the trailheads for both trails. We headed to Silver falls first, then Golden falls. The hikes were pretty short, but it was really beautiful. Everything was so green and lush. Both the falls are over 100 feet tall and are incredibly scenic. It didn't seem like to many people go there, it is kind of way out there in the middle of nowhere, with the last few miles of driving being on a single lane dirt road, but it is so worth it. If you are ever in the Coos county area of Oregon do not miss Golden and Silver falls! After enjoying the waterfalls we headed back to the coast and stayed on Seven Devils beach one more night. The next day we made the long drive south, back home to Southern California, ending a great trip. I had a great time and I can't recommend Oregon enough, it is a really beautiful place with all kinds of amazing scenery.

Oregon coast

Exploring the beaches

Camp #3 at Seven Devils Beach

Approaching Silver Falls

Silver Falls

Golden Falls

Thanks for reading!

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