Oregon in August ’26

Last vacation before the new school year kicks off - trying something new! Read more

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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Lower South Falls
August 4 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F
This was another beauty, and again, accessible to walking around and behind it. Definitely worth the hike!
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Winter Falls Trail
August 4 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F
Our next stop was at the Winter Falls trailhead where we were supposed to hike in and see another six or so waterfalls. Unfortunately, the first fall was not even more than a dribble, but luckily the rest were just fine. It was starting to get hot though and we were all getting tired, so it was nice to find one that we could splash some cool water on our faces and necks before we headed back out the way we came.
Our final stop was something called North Falls, but we were a bit too beat to hike to the falls, so a distance shot had to suffice. from the trailhead though, we were able to find a nice forested shady picnic area to enjoy lunch and take off our shoes!Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Salt Creek Falls - wow!
August 4 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F
Leaving Silver Falls State Park, we prepared for our last three hours driving south towards Klamath Falls. However, after cruising through the forested canyons for a while, we stopped at a "sidetrack" that we found on the map - a National Monument that we hadn't even listed on our "must see". Walking just a few yards from the parking lot, we were met with an amazing viewpoint overlooking this beautiful falls. Turns out, it is the second highest single-drop waterfall in Oregon at 286 feet. It was formed when the hardened basalt lava flows cracked and washed away down the canyon. The top edge of the falls was so straight, it appeared to have been man-made, cut with a sharp knife. We wandered the forest where the peaceful creek could be misleading, in fact there is a sign warning you of the falls, just in case you decided to go tubing or something. We eventually tried to hike to the bottom, but it was a bit too steep (old steps had been eroded away), so we headed back up.Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Lake Odell and Diamond Peak
August 4 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F
Apparently there is no such thing as a long, boring drive in Oregon (at least not yet). We saw a giant mountain lake off the road as we continued through the canyons, and made a quick stop at this viewpoint, near the highest point in the canyon. Eric decided to even try out the water! The beauty here in this part of the country never ceased to amaze us!Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Taqueria! Our last possible food stop
August 4 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F
After driving south along a very long, straight road, where off in the distance in the sunset we were able to see Mount Scott (part of the volcanic formation around Crater Lake), we got a bit worried about finding civilization, as it was getting late and we were hungry! Luckily, in a little town called Chemult, we found a highly rated Taqueria where we enjoyed some street tacos and dice (while we waited) before heading on to the last leg of our drive. When we finally reached Upper Klamath Lake, at one point it sounded like it was raining, but we realized it was just the number of bugs hitting our car - eww!Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Morning in Klamath
August 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 57 °F
After our long four hour drive the night before, not to mention the “rain” on our car as we drove around the lake in the dark, it was interesting to see the carnage of bug deaths on our little bronco. It was also fun to see the deer grazing right in our little Airbnb back yard!Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Entering Crater Lake
August 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F
On our drive-in, we stopped to see a few nice canyon shots, but it was also amazing to see the super tall pine trees with their red trunks. Driving down these roads felt like they were just lined with all of these trees, quite amazing!Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Our first glimpse
August 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F
As we crested the top of the rim from the approach drive, we were so excited to see the amazing sight that is Crater Lake. We had spent some time in the lower visitor center learning about the lake and how the volcano had collapsed and eventually filled with water. It’s a pretty amazing geological discovery and we were very happy that they have preserved it so well for us to enjoy.Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Wizard Island Viewpoint
August 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F
This big island is of course one of the most prominent features in the lake. It’s over 700 feet high from the surface of the lake and has a pretty impressive presence. Definitely a conic volcano, it looks just like it should, but it sits a stark contrast to the deep blues in the lake around it.Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
East Rim Viewpoints
August 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F
Being higher up, these were some great views down into the deepest part of the lake. Apparently it is over 1900 feet deep and holds trillions of gallons of water. And all of it comes from snow melt and precipitation only. This really is an amazing feature of nature and it’s amazing to behold in person.Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Phantom Ship - finally!
August 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F
This was the site we were waiting for the most. Due to the haze in the air, we couldn’t really see it from a distance, except for a ghostly shape which was fitting. But this view was absolutely amazing with the blue contrast of the water and the green trees, it was everything we hoped it would be.Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
The Pinnacles
August 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F
These we actually got a glimpse of at the beginning when we entered the park, but it was pretty neat to see them up close. These hollow formations were made by all of the steam and pressure shooting up during the pyroclastic flow. As a result, the walls were hardened, and as the soft material eroded away, these things were left behind. It was way too hot to take the hike to go see more of them, but we got to see enough of them from the stop.Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Plaikni Falls
August 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F
Temperatures were getting high, but we figured we could squeeze in a 2 mile round-trip hike to see one more waterfall. It was definitely worth it. Tall trees sheltered us from the sun, and we got to dip our heads in the cool water as it flowed out of the natural springs at around 7000 feet above sea level near the crater (formed from water seeping into the porous volcanic soil and being forced back up).Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
A few shots on our way out
August 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F
As we came back up from the pinnacles and the waterfall hike, we noticed the air around the lake was a little bit clearer. We decided to stop and grab a few more pictures, hoping to get a little bit better shots. But it turned out that the wind was causing the surface of the lake to not reflect like it did in the morning. So I guess a little less haze in the air, but a little less reflection on the water. Either way it was worth it to take a few more pictures of this amazing place.Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Finally Dinner!
August 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 91 °F
After a short rest back at the house, we headed out to a place called Rodeo Pizza. We ordered a few by the slice with a fresh salad and the boys were able to order their own custom pizzas. It had something for everybody and it was delicious. They were a little slow so it gave us some time to play a game together while we waited. After stuffing ourselves and enjoying every minute of it, we spent some time in Walmart hunting down dessert and waiting for sunset. So we then headed for Moore Park at the south end of Upper Klamath Lake, hoping to get there in time. We got there a bit late, but it was probably good, as the bugs were rampant by that time!Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Lava Beds NM - our first stop
August 6 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F
After about 45 minutes on the road, we made it through the pay gate of the national monument. We didn’t realize however, that we still had another 20 minutes till we got to the visitor center. On the way, though, we got to stop at Devil’s Garden, a massive field of lava from the nearby ancient eruption. The haze was in the air from all of the wildfires around, but it was still a pretty neat view.Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Labrynth and Lavabrook
August 6 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F
After stopping in at the visitor center, we snuck into a couple of caves just to explore before we went to mush pot, which was supposed to be our first stop. Turns out these were both black diamond caves, meaning just like in skiing, that these were more difficult caves, to explore. Took a lot more crouching with a lot more narrow gaps, but it was fun to poke around a bit.Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Mushpot Cave
August 6 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F
This was the only paved and well lit cave in the park, with plaques that explained information about the lava formations and the native inhabitants of the cave, meaning the bugs. It didn’t go back very far, but it was fun to get us started.Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Golden Dome!
August 6 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F
According to the brochure, this one was titled for the color that you see once you get into some of the bigger rooms. And as you can see from the pictures, it lived up to its name! It was really pretty and really fun to explore. However, we started realizing that our battery + flashlight situation might not be sufficient for exploring all of the caves on our list.Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Sunshine on my shoulder
August 6 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F
This one wasn’t originally on our must see list, but we decided to stop anyway, given that the length of it wasn’t very long. By the way, along with a sheet that showed the difficulty of each cave, it also showed the length. This one was pretty neat because it did have a definite termination point where you could actually see the sun coming through in a couple of spots. We stopped at the nostrils, if you get it from the picture 😀Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Upper Sentinel
August 6 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 90 °F
Sentinel was definitely on our list and it turns out there’s both an upper and lower. We started in the upper and came out the lower. So then two of us (Dad and Aiden) went back up the cave to go back to our car while the other two (Mom and Eric) walked above ground to get there. The above ground team won, but it could be that the cave crawlers had run out of batteries and were only working with one flashlight!Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Valentine and Skull caves
August 6 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 93 °F
The last two caves were not on the cave loop, but we had to drive a little ways out. Glad we did, though as these two were definitely unique. Valentine was big with ribs that made it look like walking through the inside of a whale. Skull was an interesting one because it was deep and very cold with actual ice in the bottom. They won’t let us go on the ice because they are trying to preserve the ecosystem, but it was pretty neat to see it.Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Petroglyphs… where?
August 6 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 95 °F
We followed the signs to go see a slightly out-of-the-way part of the national monument where we were supposed to see petroglyphs. However, we couldn’t find them down at the base of the cliff so we took the marked trail up to the top. At this point, it was 100° outside and we were a little disappointed to find out there was actually nothing at the top aside from an amazing view of Mount Shasta.Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Sunset and fire!
August 6 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F
Our last night in Klamath Falls, we revisited the pizza place and afterwards went to the south of the lake to see the sunset. It was something recommended to us by ChatGPT so we thought we would check it out. As we got there, we were also able to see the gigantic plumes of smoke from the wildfire that was just over the hill from the town. It looked pretty spectacular in the Sunset glow. And... we finally got some time to play a game together as a family!Read more
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Oregon in August ’26 Traveler
Newberry National Volcanic Monument
August 7 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 90 °F
As if we hadn’t seen enough volcanic action already, we decided to stop right before the town to see this national monument. There was a mile long lava tube, but you apparently had to have a reservation to go into so we had to skip that one. instead, we went to the visitor center and took the shuttle bus up to the top of the cone, where we could see the amazing lava flows and the other volcanic mountains off on the horizon. While we were there, we got an alert about a new fire that was just over the hill from us, and it was actually spotted by the firewatch tower there at the top of Lava Butte cinder cone.Read more
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