What scenes/places/cities do you like in Oregon?--Show everyone on TV (Portland: relocation, cars)

[Mount Hood]

Hi everyone,

This has nothing to do with relocation or a specific city in Oregon, nor is it an advertisement. I just thought it would be a great opportunity for my friends on City-Data to share what places/scenes they love in Oregon with the rest of the country as well as some opinion.

This month (Aug. 2010) [a television channel] is filming places/scenes in Oregon by helicopter for a 50-part show documenting each of the states. Their tentative shot list for Oregon includes: Astoria, Fort Clatsop, Cannon Beach, Port of Portland, Tom McCall Waterfront Park, the Willamette Valley, Mt. Hood, Multnomah Falls, Bend, Crater Lake, and Hells Canyon. The channel is allowing people to make suggestions for other great places for them to shoot in the state. If you would like to suggest other places/scenes/sites/cities (as I did), here is a link: Aerial America

Overall, saw that the tentative shooting locations are focused on Northwestern Oregon, so I suggested some other places for them to shoot.

In this thread, I would like to know what other places/scenes/sites/cities you like to see or visit in Oregon (besides those above). In addition, do you believe Oregon is mostly associated with the NW part of the state? Why or why not? If yes, any other reasons besides population? Are you content with the way you believe it is (i.e. centralized/not centralized on the NW part of state)? I am interested to see what all of you think.

I recommend suggesting more places for the channel to film if you think necessary. It think it will be a great way to show Oregon's beauty and diversity.

Mount Hood

[skypros]

Fort Rock and Hole in the ground may be good for a very short segment... and it would not be out of their way via the air.... It is close to bend

[PNW-type-gal]

The Steens, Alvord, Joseph, the Wallowas, the Blues and Strawberries around Sumpter, John Day, Paulina/Newberry, Hart Mountain....

[skinem]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

The Steens, Alvord, Joseph, the Wallowas, the Blues and Strawberries around Sumpter, John Day, Paulina/Newberry, Hart Mountain....

Ah, a girl after my own heart! Wonderful places!

One of my favorite places is the Eagle Cap...sometimes called Oregon's Alps...

The Owyhee...how many people outside Oregon, shoot inside it for that matter know the link between it and Hawaii?

Frenchglen, once the center of the largest ranch in America, and now much of it part of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge.

The Metolius River...not too many places to you see an artesian well so large it blows a full formed river out of the side of a mountain.

The Painted Hills and fossil beds.

The Alvord desert and salt flats...one of the nation's premier wind-sailing spots and alternate landing site for the space shuttle.

Oregon is so much more than just the area between Portland and Eugene...

[karlsch]

As PNW-type-gal and skinem mentioned, Steens Mountain, the Malheur Wildlife Refuge and the similar areas on the drive to Frenchglen, the Alvord Desert and everything else on Steens East Road such as the hot springs and Mann Lake - it should all be considered one area for a two day visit.

In my opinion, next to the coast, it’s the most picturesque place in Oregon. The east rim view from Steens Mountain is breathtaking.

You have to be willing to drive on gravel roads to see it all, but it is worth it. You can’t skip East Steens Road.

If you are old enough you might remember Kitty O’Neil, the “Worlds Fastest Woman,” who set her record on the Alvord Desert:

Drag Racing List - The Northern Dry Lakes

When Kitty O'Neil broke the women's land-speed record by - 01.17.77 - SI Vault

The Alvord Desert is probably the best place in the USA for speed record attempts - every year thousands of tourists take their cars and motorcycles out on the desert to see how fast they can go (mine goes 116), but as soon as someone wants to come and set an official record, the environmentalists and others object. See part 2 of the above linked Sports Illustrated story:

“Whereas Democratic Governor Robert Straub of Oregon favored the record attempt, Republican Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon opposed it, fearing that such motorized antics might harm "unique natural life." (According to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the area, the Alvord Desert has no life of any kind.) Several Oregon newspapers editorialized against the attempt. A very small band of nature lovers, known as the Oregon High Desert Study Group, objected to the record attempt, citing among other concerns that spectators might harm the vegetation fringing the 11-by-5?-mile desert, and that the noise might affect wildlife on higher ground more than two miles from where the car ran. (When Kitty made her record run, there were 50 people on hand, counting crewmen, press and officials. As for noise, every year, thunder accompanying cloud bursts gives the distant high ground a harder pounding than the Motivator ever could with its 20-second bursts, and so do the Air Force F-111's that sweep over the clay flat at 2,000 to 5,000 feet three or four times a month in VFR training.)”

[FVWinters]

Other areas to consider are:

The "Pillars of Rome" on US 95 about 3 miles northwest of Rome. These are the eroded remnants of thousands of years of accumulated layers of mostly volcanic ash. What's left is faintly reminescent of Monument valley in northeastern Arizona.
Succor Creek natural area on ORE 201 about 40 miles ssw of Ontario. This is a narrow steep walled canyon containing, among other things, a nice riparian environment and - it is said - great geodes, commonly called thunder eggs.
Leslie Gulch, not near anywhere in particular but take the same road from Ontario you took to get to Succor Creek and follow it about 8 miles further on to a dirt road taking off to the right down another steep walled canyon all the way to the upper reaches of Owyhee Reservoir. These rock formations are spectacular and some of the cliffs and spires rear up five to over six hundred feet above the road.

[Deezus]

I'd say the Wallowas definetely...most people outside of the Northwest don't know that Eastern Oregon has mountains on par with the Rockies or even the Alps. Mirror Lake or Glacier Lake right below Eagle Cap peak are both awesome.

[OregonYeti]

The Wallowas, agreed!

[Mount Hood]

In the suggestion area, the channel said that after all the comments on the Wallowas, they are definitely going to catch them--a very good thing! Now I'm trying to push for the John Day Fossil Beds and Steens Mountain/Alvord Desert. Make sure you leave suggestions too if you want.

[skinem]

Cool! Thanks MH.