oregon get over it

Oregon: Get Over it

Photos of Crater Lake are everywhere. Why is that? Is it because it’s our only National Park? Washington has three and they are huge and very interactive. When I was a kid Crater Lake was a disappointment. It took forever to wind up the road to get there. My father was tense because there was this thing called “vapor lock,” that happened when you climbed steep roads, and it was dreaded like swine flu for cars. Then we get there and stare at this very blue lake with an island you can’t get to. There were a lot of chipmunks. Everyone took pictures of their families standing in front of the lake and left.

OK, so we have the Columbia Gorge. But face it, Washington shares it with us and they have some of the best views, granted it’s of our side. Besides they have more of the Columbia river. Then there are the views from Portland. Three big Mountains, Mt. Hood, St. Helens and Mt. Adams. Right, but you guessed it, only Mt. Hood is in Oregon. I think Mt. Hood is more graceful than Mt. Rainer. Rainer is bulky like a mountain on steroids. And think about Portland’s setting. It’s not really in the Willamette Valley. It is its own bowl set off at the South By Willamette Falls, the Tualatin Mountains on the West, and the Columbia on the North. Its views are pastoral. Seattle’s views are water and mountains. And to the west of Seattle are the amazing Olympic Mountains, while all we see are the stunted Coast range, worn down hills. The Tualatin Plains stretching down to French Prairie probably looked like heaven at one time, but…

Our coastline is longer and I suppose roughly comparable to Washington’s. And there are places, like the view from on top of Nehakanie mountain--the one where I yearn the most to be an eagle or letting go to the innate death wish. So I’d might even give Oregon a little edge there. And Washington has one of the most depressing coastal towns in the megalopolis of Hoquiam and Aberdeen. A clear-cut entrance into Olympic National Park. Really, how could you let that happen? Only Lincoln City comes close on the Oregon Coast. On the other hand have you backpacked along the coast stretch of the Olympics? Oregon has nothing so wild.

I could go on and on. But here’s my main point. Oregon does have some places that are totally awesome but we just keep plastering Crater Lake on everything. Here are a few of my candidates for alternatives.

Stens Mountain—Washington has nothing to compare with those surprising lush canyons of aspens or that view down to the Alvord desert

Silver Falls state park—The only place that compares is the Plitvice Waterfalls in Croatia.

Wallowa and Blue Mountains—If you go on into Washington here you get to Hanford and the surrealistic Tri-city area. With disproportionate number of suited people its like walking into the set for that TV series Eureka.

Willamette River and Valley—Washington’s equivalent is the Centralia Chehalis area. Great Outlet Malls, but….Of course part of why Washington doesn’t have a Willamette Valley is because God gave them Puget’s sound instead. A pretty good trade-off.

And what about Abert Rim—Castaneda would feel right at home. You don’t need magic mushrooms to get high. In fact the whole boundary with California is pretty amazing. Nothing compares with the Illinois Valley, butterfly Valley, the area that David Rains Wallace calls the Klamath Knot.

I could name others. And I am sure you could too. So suggest some.

Cheers, Your Curmudgeon, Oregon native