The Fantastic Scenery of Oregon

Oregon is well known for its coast. There are beaches, beautiful viewpoints, and rocky shores like this one. The massive fog bank in this view is either coming in or going out. I can't say which because it depends on the time of day. In the morning, the ocean is warmer than the land, so there would be an onshore flow and the clouds would be coming in. In the late afternoon, the land is hotter than the ocean and there would be an offshore flow, so the clouds would be going out. I'm unsure when this was taken, so I can't say for sure which it is. My suspicion is that it is an afternoon picture, so the clouds would be moving out.

This is a sunset picture taken on the Oregon coast. It is beautiful, but it reminds me of a humorous occurrence. I had a cousin who'd lived her entire life in Florida. We continually talked on the phone (back when we had to pay for long distance) and she once made the statement, "I'd love to come to visit you and have you take me to the coast. I really want to see a Pacific sunrise in Oregon."

That caused me to laugh and say, "No matter how long you'd visit and stay on the coast, you'll never see a Pacific sunrise on the Oregon coast. The sun sets in the west. You'll only see sunsets."

There are numerous waterfalls in Oregon. Most are located either in the Cascade mountains or in the area to the west of those mountains. This is called Koosah Falls. There are trout in this stream.

Here is another, more spectacular waterfall called Multnomah Falls. This area has mild winters, so the plants grow lush and everything is green, most of the time. The footbridge that can be seen in this view offers an even more breathtaking view of the falls.

This area is near the ocean and it is one of the places where there is a great deal of sand that form sand dunes. This is a favorite place for people to ride dune buggies and motorcycles. It is scenic in its own sort of way.

This is one of the major rivers in Oregon, Willamette River, and not surprisingly, it is found in the Willamette Valley. The Willamette Valley is the 'banana belt' of the state, in the northern part of Oregon. The climate is mild in the winter and hot in the summer. This river is a favorite for fishermen who fish for trout, steelhead, and occasionally even sturgeon.

The river also accounts for a huge amount of the irrigation water that is used in the valley. Among the more water-intensive crops grown here are blueberries, allowing Oregon to be the top producer of blueberries in the US. Blackberries and Marionberries are also grown in huge amounts. Most of these last two grow wild.

This is one of the gorgeous streams found in the western part of the state. Many streams look like this, so I'm not sure which it is, but if I was to venture a guess, I'd wonder if this was Union Creek. Virtually all of these streams also contain trout, but some are hard to get to.

This is another stream, this one in southern Oregon, south of Crater Lake National Park. The grassland that you see is all part of Wood River Valley and is one of the richest grasslands, in terms of raising cattle, in the world. Two to three times as many cattle can be raised per acre here, because of the fertility of the land and the richness of the grasses.

I've spent more hours than I can count, fishing this river for rainbow, brook, and brown trout. This is also very near (about 6 miles) from where I have camped almost half of the entire time I've been camping.

I wasn't kidding when I said that this was south of Crater Lake, either. This image faces north and the mountains in the distance are part of the park.

Most pictures that are from Crater Lake are of the lake itself. That is only a tiny portion of the park, though the park isn't very big. This image is from Crater Lake, but it is facing away from the lake. As far as the eye (or camera) can see, the land is heavily forested. This is all volcanic soil, so it is quite rich, except where the pumice is deep. In some places, the pumice can be hundreds of feet deep and plants struggle to grow there, partly because pumice is so light that it will float on water.

Pumice is the solidified remains of the foam on lava. It is soft and quite abrasive. It is also so light that it won't support the weight of large trees. They'd topple over in the slightest breeze.

This gorgeous picture is of Mount Hood, in northern Oregon, reflected off a pretty little lake. Mount Hood is the tallest mountain in Oregon and it isn't far from the largest city, Portland. The mountain is a haven for skiers, snowmobilers, hikers, and mountain climbers. However, the weather can change very quickly and almost every year, people need to be rescued from Mount Hood, most often because of the weather.