Crater Lake, Oregon
Highlights
Long weekend road trip from Eugene Oregon to Bandon Beach, south to Redwoods National Park near Crescent City, California, north to Crater Lake National Park, west to Roseburg before returning back to Eugene, Oregon
Time of Visit: May 2024
Duration of Visit: Three nights.
Description
This long weekend adventure began and ended at Eugene, Oregon. On our first day, we drove from Eugene airport west until we hit the quaint community of Florence. Then we drove on the Oregon Coast Highway south to our first destination, the beautiful seaside community of Bandon.
We continued driving south on Highway 1 on our second day to our second destination, Klamath, California Along the way, we made several short stops at scenic places like Arch Rock, Secret Beach and Natural Bridge Viewpoint in Oregon and Redwood National Park near Crescent City, California.
On our third day, we visited the Enchanted Forest just north of Klamath and Crater Lake National Park before spending the night at Roseburg. We did a short hike to a two tiered waterfall just 40 minutes from Roseburg before returning to Eugene to catch a mid afternoon flight out.
This trip could easily be extended to a full week or more because of the many scenic places and small towns along the way that could be destinations in itself.
Day 1
Oregon Coast Highway Between Florence and Bandon
There are many parks along this stretch of highway. What is nice about Oregon parks is that most are free admission. Some parks even have sand dunes like at Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.
Bandon, Oregon
The draw of this small seaside community is the half mile or so beach that is adorned by many sea stacks and other rock formations that juts out from the ocean. The most famous are Face Rock and The Witch’s Hat. There is a cliff that separates the beach and the community that provides several wonderful vantage points. There are also wooden stairs that allow people to safely get to the beach from the clifftop.
Tidepools become exposed during low tide that allow people to get a closer look at marine life such as mussels and starfish clinging to the rocks. There are also colonies of nesting sea birds that call the majestic sea stacks home. Finally, just walking along the beach is just pure relaxing and makes you forget all your worries.
The best place to stay is in one of the many accommodations that has unobstructed views of the beach and the ocean. Though these accommodations may be pricey, the view, especially close to sunset, is just priceless. One such accommodation is the Windemere. All their units have outdoor seating that faces west – perfect to just unwind, relax and sip wine.
Day 2
Oregon Coast Highway Between Bandon and Klamath
This is a long drive that can arguably be stretched to two to three days due to the number of state parks along the way. Coos Bay is a decent size town that is also worthy of a short stroll along its nostalgic main street that is lined with shops. But we skipped all of that due to time constraints and instead spent about two hours admiring the sights at Arch Rock, Secret Beach and Natural Bridge Viewpoint.
Arch Rock involves a short 100 meter or so walk to the viewing area. Hang on to your hat, it is very windy here. Stay on trail too as there are poison oak in this area.
Unlike Arch Rock and the Natural Bridge Viewpoint, there is no sign on the side of the road pointing to Secret Beach. However, its location is shown on Google Maps. It has a small parking area about half a mile south of Arch Rock behind the guardrail. The parking area is large enough for about five vehicles.
The trail to Secret Beach is to the right as you face west. The trail to the left is steep and just meets up with the trail to the right. It takes about 10 minutes to reach Secret Beach where we were treated to more sea stacks and a 20-foot waterfall. Best thing – we had the place to ourselves!
About a two minute drive from Secret Beach is the Natural Bridge Viewpoint. The walk from the parking lot to the viewpoint takes less than five minutes. We spent about that much time admiring the natural rock formation before continuing to Crescent City, California. Some people tried to get on top of the natural bridge by continuing on a trail to the left of the viewpoint only to return unsuccessfully. However, there must be a trail that leads to the top of the bridge as there is a definite foot path on it.
Crescent City
Crescent City is a quiet town by the ocean. It has a number of lodging establishments and places to eat. Plus it is within 30 minutes of the northern section of Redwood National Park.
Redwoods National Park
Redwoods National Park is a long park. It spans from Crescent City, all the way to about 20 miles north of Eureka. Initially, we planned on driving further south to see the trees in the Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail but the park employee at Crescent City said that it was two more hours away. He added that we could see the same giant trees in the Grove of Titans trail no more than 30 minutes away from the Crescent City.
So we changed plans and headed over to see the northern section. The drive through the park was dirt road and narrow in some places such that we had to sometimes give way to oncoming traffic. Our only stop was the Grove of Titans where we did a 4 mile out and back hike through a native grove of redwoods.
The park employee was right. Though not all redwood trees are the same, they look the same from the ground. Just one big hunking tree that you cannot tell the difference in height. Glad we did not have to drive further south. But that does not lessen the fact that there are many trails and places to see in this immense national park. It is just how much redwoods you want to see. For us, seeing the giant sentinels along the Grove of Titans trail was enough such that we did not have any inkling to see more.
Day 3
Trees of Mystery
The Trees of Mystery is an irresistible private park that has redwoods as well. The giant Paul Bunyan and blue ox named Belle are just unmissable from the highway. The place charges close to $30 pp admission that is good for about 1.5 to 2 hours of enjoyment while walking the one mile interpretive trail. We were at the park entrance a few minutes before their opening time at 9 AM and had the place to ourselves majority of the time.
Though most of the trees in this private park may not be as big as those in the Grove of Titans, the place is enjoyable nonetheless. There are some unusual tree shapes that can be found along the interpretive trail such as the cathedral and the candelabra. There are also plenty of wood carvings. Perhaps the draw of this park are the suspension bridges that connect several trees together. There is also a five minute aerial tram ride that takes visitors up the side of the mountain to have a view of the Pacific Ocean.
The Redwood Highway
The Redwood Highway spans between Crescent City and Grants Pass in Oregon. The first half of the highway parallels the Smith River and its tributary until reaching the California-Oregon Border. The drive is scenic in some places as it winds through the canyon carved by the beautiful Smith River.
Crater Lake National Park
It took us around four hours to drive from the Trees of Mystery to Crater Lake National Park. This did not include the lunch break we had at Grants Pass. Though the drive was long, it was worth seeing the deepest lake in the United States.
There was still plenty of snow at the park’s visitor center. Some of the snow drifts still buried part of the structures. The rim drive to Meriam Point was closed to vehicular traffic at the time. Short on time, we walked for about half a mile on the rim drive until we found a good spot to take photos with the Wizard Island directly in front of us.
Roseburg
It is worth mentioning that it took about two hours to drive from Crater Lake to Roseburg. So keep this in mind if you book your accommodation in Roseburg for the night as you may lose track of time while at Crater Lake.
The road to Roseburg is winding in some places with one lane of traffic each way. You cannot really step on the gas without risking getting into an accident. More importantly, wildlife, particularly deer, could shoot out at any time out of the thick woods and cause an accident. This could quickly sour the mood of a wonderful vacation.
We would allow an entire day if we were going to do this drive again. There are so many waterfalls along the North Umpqua River that we missed exploring. The glistening Diamond Lake and the snow capped Mount Thielsen were also ripe for explorations.
Day 4
Wolf Creek Falls Hike
Our last adventure for the trip was the out and back hike to Wolf Creek Falls. The trailhead is about 40 minutes east of Roseburg. We followed the Little River Road past the small community of Glide until we reached the trailhead (shown on Google Maps). The parking area is just across the road a few feet from the trailhead.
This is an easy hike with minimal elevation difference. The hike is through the forest so it is shaded most of the time. The trail follows Wolf Creek until it ends at the waterfalls about a mile in.
There are lower and upper falls. The lower fall drops 20 to 25 feet while the upper fall drops twice as much as the lower fall. We were at the falls at 11 AM on a Monday and were the only ones there.
Summary
There is no shortage of places to see and things to do in Southern Oregon and Northern California. Our long weekend itinerary could easily be stretched to a week long exploration.
The many state parks along the Oregon Coast Highway between Florence, Oregon and Crescent City, California would alone give you a full week of things to do and see. Bandon Beach is still relatively unknown unlike the more popular Cannon Beach to the north. To us, the former is more beautiful and has no crowd.
Redwoods National Park is so big that it alone can fill up at least a couple days of explorations.
Picturesque Crater Lake National Park is off the beaten path but worth the drive.
The many waterfalls between Crater Lake and Roseburg also provide scenery and exploratory activities. We hope this story about our Southern Oregon ramble plus redwoods would inspire you to get out there and plan your own, but longer explorations.