Oregon and Washington: Trails, Camping and Sightseeing Ideas

I'll be taking a road trip from Central Alberta to Bend, Oregon to pick up a CVT tent in April or May and am looking for suggestions as to offroad trails, campsites and points of interest that might be worth checking out. I'll have some time to explore a bit and was thinking of heading into southern Oregon and over to the coast before heading north thru Washington and British Columbia on the way back home. I'll be fairly well equiped with a winch, recovery gear, spare fuel and water, set to live out of the truck for a couple of weeks.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance, Shane

 

........ Morning bump.

 

My wife and I did a rooftop tent trip from San Fran to Calgary a couple summers ago. I will dig out our travel logs and send you over some of the awesome free camp spots we found. A couple while your in the Bend area... We spent four nights in Bend camping along the Fall River. Its a spring fed river that dumps into the Deschutes before heading north to Bend. We found an awesome campsite of of NF-4350 on Highway 42 and stayed there 4 nights. Along the Deschutes on that side of town as well we found a lot of free campsites but didn't stay there. Anyways thats a starting point and once I find our logs from that trip I can tip you off to a few more along the Oregon coast. We also stayed in a few pay campsites in Central Washington that were really nice and cheap. Once we crossed into BC and Alberta we payed to camp at Provincial Parks and National parks because we were not sure of the rules in Canada regarding Dispersed free camping.

 

Thanks @nabcracker that would be great, the last time I was down the Oregon coast and thru Washington was when I was about 12 years old on a camping trip with my parents (mostly camped around the Tillamook area). The fiance and I are really looking forward to this trip and are hoping to make the most of it. I appreciate any info or tips you can share.

..... Shane

 

Bump

 

Also any highly recommended breweries to stop into for a tour or tasting would be great!

 

Bumpity bump bump....

 

Bend has a Beer Bus tour ( http://www.bendbrewbus.com/ ) that is pretty cool if you want to sample a bit of the local microbrews.

If you don't want to go that route, I suggest checking out 10 Barrel Brewing and Crux. Crux's owner/brewmaster is the former Deschutes Brewery brewmaster (he created Mirror Pond Pale Ale!). 10 Barrel has REALLY good food that is sometimes overlooked by their decision to get a high-powered distributor on their side. Check them out!

You'll find through some Googling that Bend has limitless microbews much like Portland.

 

Thanks for the info, been doing quite a bit of googling lately and was planning on checking out Crux, Rogue, Deschutes and a couple others. I hadn't heard of 10 Barrel but will look into it. We are planning on spending a couple of days around Bend area and also Portland. Getting really excited for this trip will be there in early-mid May.

 

Bump

 

If you're going to spend some more time in Bend... go check out Smith Rock. It's in Terrebonne, OR about 30 minutes outside of Bend. Gorgeous hike(s)! Go shred on Mt. Bachelor if you're into that.

 

Smith Rock is on the list of possible destinations

 

Crux, 10 barrel, and worthy are musts while in bend. Portland there are to many to name. You'll love it.

 

Thanks for the tips!

 

No problem! What are you going to mount your tent to? Bed rack? Canopy? Roof?

 

I'll be mounting the tent onto a Prinsu rack on top of my canopy.

 

Christmas Valley sand dunes, the lost forest, the Oregon Backcountry discovery route (OBDR), Steins pillar, Hole in the ground, crack in the ground, the ice caves (near Bend), China hat, Fort Rock OHV,headwaters of the Metolius river (it just barfs out of the side of a mountain, pretty cool), man I could go on for days. A bunch of expedition types are doing a run starting in Prineville, Oregon (near Bend) May 13th ending in Walla Walla, Washington (the town so nice they named it twice) on May 16th if you're interested. It's around 500 miles of mostly dirt and gravel roads, nothing too hardcore. Mostly Landcruiser guys right now, one 4runner I think. http://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/spring-2016-obdr.902411/

 

Wow.... thanks for the ideas, I've got some serious googling to do I'm thinking. So many cool places to check out in Oregon!

 

If you search around a little, you can make a very interesting adventure out of it. The snow will still be pretty deep in the high cascades through May too, if you ski or snowboard check out https://www.mtbachelor.com/
Lots of things to do, you'll find something that interest you.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g2269441-Activities-Central_Oregon_Oregon.html

 

Im in eastern washington, right near Leavenworth, in the foothills of the cascades! endless supply of free camping spots here and endless FS roads to explore.
heres a photo of my favorite spot.

I dont think I'll ever leave this place!