Oregon (/ˈɒr(ɪ)ɡən/
is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon’s northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. The 42° north parallel delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada.
In 1843, an autonomous government was formed in the Oregon Country, and the Oregon Territory was created in 1848. Oregon became the 33rd state of the U.S. on February 14, 1859. Today, with 4 million people over 98,000 square miles (250,000 km2), Oregon is the ninth largest and 27th most populous U.S. state. The capital, Salem, is the second-most populous city in Oregon, with 169,798 residents. Portland, with 647,805, ranks as the 26th among U.S. cities. The Portland metropolitan area, which also includes the city of Vancouver, Washington, to the north, ranks the 25th largest metro area in the nation, with a population of 2,453,168.
Oregon is one of the most geographically diverse states in the U.S., marked by volcanoes, abundant bodies of water, dense evergreen and mixed forests, as well as high deserts and semi-arid shrublands. At 11,249 feet (3,429 m), Mount Hood, a stratovolcano, is the state’s highest point. Oregon’s only national park, Crater Lake National Park, comprises the caldera surrounding Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States. The state is also home to the single largest organism in the world, Armillaria ostoyae, a fungus that runs beneath 2,200 acres (8.9 km2) of the Malheur National Forest.
Because of its diverse landscapes and waterways, Oregon’s economy is largely powered by various forms of agriculture, fishing, and hydroelectric power. Oregon is also the top lumber producer of the contiguous United States, with the lumber industry dominating the state’s economy during the 20th century. Technology is another one of Oregon’s major economic forces, beginning in the 1970s with the establishment of the Silicon Forest and the expansion of Tektronix and Intel. Sportswear company Nike, Inc., headquartered in Beaverton, is the state’s largest public corporation with an annual revenue of $30.6 billion.
Little Bay with natural bridge and islands, Samuel H. Broadman state scenic corridor, USA
I got really excited when I saw all this, add that the sun sets over the ocean on the west coast, what more could I’ve asked for? The bridge I climbed over to get to the viewpoint is in the centre of the picture, it doesn’t look like much but it was a very scary climb.
Last but not least I arrived in Oregon, the state north of California, the second last state before I was going to re-enter Canada. Washington would be the last one and even though the idea crossed my mind I didn’t set out to try and find the Capitol (the famous American government building).
I thought it was located in Washington as well, but I learned later that it was on the other side of the country and not in the state but rather the city. I did wonder about the odd location, which seemed far off when I still thought it was located in the state of Washington. My research showed that there weren’t any national parks but quite a few state parks along the coast and the big national forests inland. Normally figuring out what to do had been quite easy, just visit the next national park on the map, but here I had to do a bit more research to find the best places to visit. It wasn’t too hard, I just had to follow the paths in the state parks that led to or around the ocean. A road along the coast led to all of the places on the coast but there were so many and that I nearly missed a few of the best ones. I hadn’t had internet on the phone for the whole trip, which didn’t matter so much in the national parks, as everything was signposted and upon entering they always gave me a little map, but in this case it didn’t help.
Little Bay with natural bridge and islands, Samuel H. Broadman state scenic corridor, USA
Luckily there was a sunset that day, considering it was late December most days the skies were filled with clouds, but thankfully nature delivered. Also the typical Insta-photographer kid just climbed the mountain for that shot everyone is taking these days. He was well prepared with all the fancy gear, from clothes to cameras you could imagine. I looked like such a hobo towards the end of the trip, shoes broken, jacket broken, pants broken.
Woods and River, Orgeon, USA
Once going inland from the coast, Oregon looked pretty much like this, misty forests, a lot of green, moss on the ground and in the trees, I absolutely loved it, The climate of northern California and southern Oregon might be one of my favourites. Not too cold, very humid but not in a tropical way, very moody, enough sun throughout the year and some ocean winds. Other than that a lot of space and nature, one of the better places one could live for sure.
I didn’t expect it at all but the Oregon coast turned out to be one of the favourite places I visited on my entire trip through the US and it wasn’t even a national park. I just loved the ruff coast, the giant waves and the big trees in the woods, the ocean mist, the fog, the shitty but warm enough weather, the little islands, the inlets, the beach towns with their wooden architecture…
A drive Inland was great as well with woods similar to the Redwoods, rivers, mountains and a lot of mood, deep hanging clouds and fog. It started to remind me of Vancouver Island and the surrounding nature more which made sense as I was getting closer to Canada. I can’t remember how long I visited and where I slept for the most part. There were countless state parks on the coast as well as the lighthouse trail and a lot of big uninhabited beaches. Most of these parks had a few little hikes out to the coast I am pretty sure I visited most of them. I stopped in some of the small lovely beach towns for food and slept somewhere in backstreets or on the side of tiny roads in the back country. Some of the state parks along the coast had camp grounds with kind of showers in them, other times I just visited official camp grounds and asked if I could pay for a shower which always worked. Camping culture, or to the more extreme, people living in their vehicles were quite common in the United States and even more in Oregon it seemed, so I for sure wasn’t the first person to ask for amenities.
Travel homie, Somewhere along the highway 101, USA
The 101 is the highway that leads all the way up from southern California to the boarder or the inlet that separates Canada and the United States. One of the drives of a lifetime for sure, so other people in their camper vans and sleeper vehicles were definitely around. This lady had a pretty nice setup, an old VW T1 around in very good shape, cruising down the 101 with her dog.
Oregon Inland, Orgeon, USA
Another Photo that shows the inland part of Oregon, A lot of rivers and woods, combined with heavy mood as in clouds and fog (At least in December)
The Samuel H. Boardman state scenic corridor turned out to be my favourite places of all the great places I visited in Oregon, even of the whole trip and considering it wasn’t even a national park this says something. I stumbled across it just at the right time, a few hours before sunset.
I had downloaded the offline maps which gave me an idea of were things were, but it didn’t show me any pictures. I checked the place and was overwhelmed by how awesome it looked. I rushed in and tried to figure out the best spots to go to for sunset. There were steep, rough cliffs, a few little islands and a big natural bridge from where on of the best perspectives was had. It was a little dangerous, I had to climb around the rocks and coast to get to it. If I had failed I would’ve fallen into the ocean and probably be crushed by the waves on those cliffs. It always feels funny when I do stuff like this, an interesting little feeling asking myself :”hmm is this the right decision?” paired with a bit of adrenaline running through the veins. The place was an Insta-highlight for sure, so quite a few other people were around, especially in the sunset hours, but I doubt that anyone would’ve jumped into the water and saved me. Once done exploring for the day I found a good sleeping spot, just on the side of one of the parking lots a little road led into the woods up a hill. I reversed the car and backed in as far as I could. It turned out to be a nice sleeping position as the back of the car was elevated a bit. The place was close to the road but the car couldn’t be seen from it. I made my salad in the front seat as I had done so many times before and went to bed early, darkness came in around five to six pm and there wasn’t much to do at nighttime. I came back the next two nights to sleep in the same location, not necessarily to visit the same spot but the surroundings as it was a very convenient location. I visited the park one more time in the early morning hours and then moved on with my journey further north.
