Oregon is blessed with many scenic waterfalls, and most are at their best during winter and spring when water flow is high. In this post, I am going to take you to five that are less than an hour from I-5, and all can be enjoyed in a single day. Four are in McDowell Creek […]

A Tectonic Masterpiece California has more national parks than any other state in the union with nine – Yosemite, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Lassen, Redwood, Channel Islands, and the one that few people even know exists, Pinnacles National Park. Pinnacles National Park protects 26,685 acres of the southern region of the Gabilan […]

Natural Bridges State Beach Natural Bridges State Beach is a 65-acre park in California located between the Pacific Ocean and the city of Santa Cruz just to the north of Monterey Bay. The park is known for its tide pools, opportunities to view wildlife such as shorebirds, migrating whales and otters, and monarch butterfly visitors. […]

Elkhorn Slough is a seven-mile arm of the Monterey Bay between the cities of Santa Cruz and Monterey on the California Coast. This arm bends as it goes inland, and the Elkhorn Reserve lies at this bend. The Reserve is owned and managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) which partners with […]

Part 4. Clarno Unit – John Day Fossil Beds. Today we will go from the most visited unit of the Fossil Beds (the Painted Hills) to the least visited (Clarno). Mitchell is the best epicenter for visiting all the units of the National Monument although it is a very small town. There are three restaurants, […]

Part 3. The Painted Hills. The tour route from Shaniko on OR-218 heads eastward through Cross Hollows into a remoteness that truly makes you feel as if you have been transported to another time and place. Today’s journey takes us east to Service Creek on OR-218 and then south on the OR-207 spur to Mitchell […]

Part 2. A Living Ghost Town. There are more than 80 ghost towns sprinkled throughout Oregon. The first stop on Oregon’s Journey Through Time Byway is 58 miles southeast of Biggs in Wasco County at the ghost town of Shanico. Shaniko traces its beginnings to August Scherneckau, a Civil War veteran, who began operating a […]

Part 1. Oregon has 29 designated Scenic Byways/Tour Routes which highlight the varied landscapes of the state. These routes fall into one of four designations – All-American Roads, National Scenic Byways, State Scenic Byways, and Tour Routes. This fall I have been exploring the Journey Through Time Scenic Byway, one of the nine State Scenic […]