January 6, 2009
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Hiking in Oregon
Finding a place to go hiking in Oregon can be as simple as stepping out the door and looking around: There are lots and lots of trails here.
One of our favorite walks in the Cascades is the 20-mile trail around Waldo Lake, which sits along Highway 58 an hour or so from Eugene. The trail is long but level and will give you a glimpse of some beautiful country.
A more challenging walk is the all-day, knee-pounding hike to the top of South Sister. You can actually climb a 10,000-foot Cascade volcano without any technical climbing ability -- it's all walking -- though the ascent is long and steep and you should be prepared for mountain weather. Another great non-technical climb is Mount McLaughlin.
A great easy walk on the coast is the loop trail that connects Shore Acres State Park near Charleston with Cape Arago.
Far and out the best authority on hiking in Oregon is Bill Sullivan, a good guy and well-informed writer who has written extensively on the subject. His journal of a 1000-mile hike he took across Oregon in 1985, Listening for Coyote, was chosen by the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission as one of Oregon's 100 Books, the 100 most significant books in the state's history. We walked along with him on part of that hike and even got our photo in the original hard-cover edition of the book.
Check out this and other guides by him at Amazon.
Photo: On top of Strawberry Mountain
all text and images © 2005-06 by Bob Keefer
no reproduction allowed in any form without written permission