Northwest Oregon

We are loving our time in northwest Oregon. Our route took us from Lincoln City on the Coast to McMinnville and then to the dense forest. The forest is about an hour east of Portland. From there we moved to LL Stub Stewart State Park which is about an hour (in our RV) northwest of McMinnville and up into the mountains to the west of the Willamette Valley.  Our next stop will be for the fourth of July in a small town about 15 miles north of here.  We would have preferred to stay at the state park, but because it is so popular and we are not used to needing to be proactive in our planning, we don’t have and couldn’t get reservations.

In a dense forest in northwest Oregon, Stub Stewart State Park is really nice, it reminds me of the state park in LaPine, but really it has a more elevation change and much less nearby water. LaPine had a river and winding trail just behind our RV. The hiking in the forest here doesn’t have such an obvious destination.  Our RV is parked in a huge meadow, next to the tree line and we have everything we need to relax.

While in this part of Oregon we had a really nice visit with Tami’s cousin. She and her son came up to the RV for a show and tell with a picnic. We also drove, way too far to go to the east side of Portland, to see waterfalls. 

Columbia Gorge

The drive across Portland was easy on Sunday morning, and we didn’t want to miss seeing the waterfalls in the Columbia Gorge. Unfortunately for us, there were two problems with the plan. First, because there was a fire in the gorge, the best road was closed and had been closed for a year. This was the dumbest forest fire story I have ever heard about. I will leave that story at that, it is heartbreaking the damage the fire caused.

The second problem with the plan is that we drove too far, so by the time we got to the most impressive waterfall, the parking lot was full. My Oregon State park pass paid off, otherwise, we would have had to drive much further just to find parking. As it was we had to park in a state park and take a bus to the biggest waterfall.

Our plan after the fourth of July will be to continue north into Washington.  

Here is a link to the google map for the area.

Link to our 2018 Route.

Link to our route Coos Bay to Jim Creek  

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