The Historic Columbia River Highway in Oregon is a pioneering scenic highway built between 1913 and 1922 through the Columbia River Gorge, stretching about 75 miles from Troutdale to The Dalles.
Heceta Head Lighthouse, perched 205 feet above the Pacific Ocean on a dramatic basalt bluff 13 miles north of Florence in Oregon's Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint, was constructed between 1892 and 1894 with bricks from San Francisco, stones from the Clackamas River, and a massive first-order Fresnel lens from England's Chance Brothers, first lit on March 30, 1894, to fill a 90-mile coastal lighting gap with its powerful beam visible 21 miles out to sea.
Milo McIver State Park spans 950 acres along the Clackamas River and Estacada Lake in Clackamas County, Oregon, USA, about 45 minutes southeast of Portland near Estacada.
Hat Rock State Park lies on the south shore of Lake Wallula, a Columbia River reservoir behind McNary Dam, nine miles east of Umatilla off U.S. Highway 730 in Hermiston, Oregon.
Umpqua Lighthouse State Park is a 326-acre coastal gem in Douglas County, Oregon, USA, located six miles southwest of Reedsport along U.S. Highway 101 near Winchester Bay, centered around scenic Lake Marie within the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.
Yaquina Bay State Recreation Site is a coastal state park in Newport, Lincoln County, Oregon, USA, at the north end of Yaquina Bay near its Pacific Ocean outlet, established in 1948 and administered by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.
Silver Falls State Park, Oregon's largest at over 9,000 acres near Sublimity southeast of Salem, captivates visitors with the Trail of Ten Falls, a moderate 7.2-mile National Recreation Trail loop descending 800 feet through a temperate rainforest canyon past ten stunning waterfalls including the iconic 177-foot South Falls where hikers walk behind the cascade.
Ontario State Recreation Site is a day-use park on the west bank of the Snake River just north of Ontario, Oregon, offering green lawns, shaded picnic areas under majestic cottonwood trees, modern restrooms, and easy access for boating, fishing, swimming, and wildlife viewing.
Ko-Kwel Casino Resort Medford in Medford, Oregon, is owned by the Coquille Indian Tribe and opened in January 2025 within the former Roxy Ann Bowling Lanes at 2355 South Pacific Highway, marking the tribe's first off-reservation casino after U.S. Department of Interior approval placed the 2.42-acre site into federal trust.
Seaside Beach in Seaside, Oregon, stretches along the Pacific Ocean at the southern end of the Clatsop Plains, offering miles of wide, soft white sand ideal for long walks, kite flying, sandcastle building, boogie boarding, and beachcombing for sand dollars and shells amid dramatic sunsets and ocean views.
Hilgard Junction State Park covers 232 acres along the Grande Ronde River next to Interstate 84 at its Highway 244 junction near La Grande in Union County, Oregon, offering shaded camping amid cottonwood and ponderosa pine forests.
The Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon, Oregon's official state maritime museum founded in 1962 by collector Rolf Klep and opened in 1963 in the old city hall before moving to its 37,000-square-foot waterfront site in 1982, preserves Pacific Northwest maritime heritage through over 30,000 artifacts, 15,000 photos, and a research library focused on the treacherous Columbia Bar dubbed the Graveyard of the Pacific.
Fort Rock State Natural Area is a striking geological landmark in Lake County, central Oregon, USA, about 45 miles southeast of Bend in the high desert near Christmas Valley.
Timberline Lodge, a majestic National Historic Landmark perched at 6,000 feet on Mount Hood's south slope in Oregon's Mount Hood National Forest roughly 60 miles east of Portland, was hand-built from 1936 to 1938 as a Works Progress Administration project during the Great Depression, employing hundreds of local artisans who crafted its 55,000-square-foot rustic structure from native stone, timber, and handmade furnishings like massive hexagonal fireplaces and intricate ironwork.
Rooster Rock State Park spans 873 acres along the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon, USA, just 22 miles east of Portland near Corbett, offering a mix of riverfront beaches, forested trails, and the park's iconic 175-foot basalt pillar named by Lewis and Clark during their 1805 expedition.
Latourell Falls, a stunning 224-foot single-plunge waterfall in Guy W. Talbot State Park along Oregon's Columbia River Gorge just east of Troutdale off the Historic Columbia River Highway, cascades straight down from an overhanging basalt cliff showcasing rare columnar basalt formations and vibrant chartreuse lichen, making it one of the Gorge's most photogenic drops visible from the road.
Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area is a state park in Umatilla County, northeastern Oregon, USA, nestled in old-growth forest near the Blue Mountains summit along Interstate 84, about 15 miles southeast of Pendleton.
Iwetemlaykin State Heritage Site is a 62-acre day-use park in Wallowa County, northeastern Oregon, USA, on the south edge of Joseph along Oregon Route 351, near Wallowa Lake and adjacent to the Old Chief Joseph Gravesite in Nez Perce National Historical Park.
