There’s No Place Like Home

Feature image by Kurt Windisch

I am gazing upward at morning sunlight filtering through a canopy of moss-covered Douglas Fir and western red cedar trees, towering over a soft bed of needles and fuzzy pine cones they’ve strewn about, inviting me to abandon my sandals and walk from cooler to camp kitchen to tent, barefoot. A Great Blue Heron cackles overhead, complaining loudly at whatever interrupted its nap, the swoosh of its powerful wingspan reverberating through the Siuslaw National Forest. Down a short path, I can hear the gurgle of a shallow creek, whose cool water I’ll bathe this afternoon before filling a kettle for tomorrow morning’s tea. Across the road is a trailhead, a gateway to a mountain biking network that is the finest I’ve traversed anywhere, a long gradual climb up not-too-technical sidewinders higher and deeper into the forest, terminating at a black diamond spur called Misery Whip, where bold bikers soar into the sky off of hand-built jumps and sweep this way and that along berms cut into the stable soil. From there, the trail drops down, down, down, one rollercoaster after another, a merry-go-round of singletrack glee, until I’ve pedaled back to camp for a late breakfast and a pour-over.

I’m home. I’m 120 miles as the heron flies and two and a half easy hours from my house in northeast Portland, Oregon. I’m also 45 minutes east of a quiet stretch of the central Oregon Coast, the same distance south of a whole host of Willamette Valley’s superb vineyards, three hours west of drier climes and the rust-red pine trees of the high desert, and three hours north to Shakespearean Ashland, en route to the mystics of Mount Shasta and some of the most stunning dispersed riverside campsites I’ve ever seen.

There’s no place like home because of the memories you make there. The open arms of lingering family members eager to see you back for the holidays, the roads requiring no satellites to navigate, the cafe still serving the best tofu scramble in the American West. Because, as a college classmate said to me once, you can’t make old friends. But as someone who has amassed enough privilege to travel to several dozen countries over the past 15 years, from the labyrinths of Fes, Morocco, to the grandiose Fitz Roy mountains of Patagonia, I’ve developed a new appreciation for this home, a Pacific Northwest whose reliable rainfall keeps landscapes green and forest floors firm, where an abundance of public lands (and free camping) house uncrowded trails and cold, crystalline rivers nourishing explorers of every stripe. This home is now prone to big wildfires and long smoke seasons, but a mindful eye on air quality apps and wind forecasts makes it pretty easy to find clear skies within a half-day drive of anywhere.

At home, I can load up a single SUV with enough gear to camp, lounge, mountain bike, hike, and kayak anywhere four wheels will go. In the American West, where abundant public lands offer anyone who spends a little time researching them a plethora of free and gorgeous places to camp, it would take a lifetime to cross every bucket-list destination off your bucket list. After 20 years in Oregon, there are regions I’ve only dipped a toe into, largely because I keep returning to a loyal list of favorite places, all within a single day’s drive of my house.

The Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

This 80-mile canyon carved out by an epic series of floods some 15,000 years ago is spectacular. Driving it, both along Interstate 84 in Oregon and along Highway 14 in Washington, is awe-inspiring all by itself. But the gorge would be a good place to spend a month, camped out along the Klickitat River, glamping at Skamania Lodge, or pampered at the Society Hotel in Bingen, whose world-class sauna, cold plunge, and hot tub is a perfect place to recharge and get clean (non-hotel guests can buy an hourlong spa pass for a very reasonable $30.)

The food in nearby White Salmon — from the White Salmon Bakery to the upscale tacos at Pixán to the continental fare at Henni’s — punches way above its weight for such a tiny town. The mountain biking at Post Canyon is nothing short of joyful, a byzantine network of hand-built trails for rides of all ages and abilities. The hiking on both sides of the gorge is breathtaking, and when it’s soggy on the south (Oregon) side, it tends to be drier on the north (Washington) side. There are BLM campsites aplenty along the Klickitat River, which is a good place for beginner whitewater kayakers and rafters to get some practice. And it all starts 30 miles east of Portland, an easy day trip.

Mount Shasta, California

You could sneeze and drive right by this mystical town at the base of Northern California’s most impressive mountain (Shasta). But the town, and its neighboring Dunsmuir, opens up a banquet of adventure options, from mountain biking in the Gateway trail network to kayak paddles on Lake Siskiyou to a summit of the mighty mountain itself, Shasta is stunning and rarely overcrowded.

I’ve found beautiful campsites along the South Fork of the Sacramento River throughout the peak season—many of which have robust cell coverage—and the picnic areas on the lake are peaceful places to while away an afternoon. There are nicely refurbished accommodations at the Inn at Mount Shasta and the Angler Lodge in Dunsmuir. The wood-fired pizza in a plant nursery at The Garden Tap is a required stop, and downtown Shasta is a fun place to walk around, where a vortex of witchy energy that has inspired several crystal and gem shops. One of my favorite grocery stores, Berryvale, has a fun little collection of local and regional organic produce, coffee, and other goods.

Ashland, Oregon

I grew up in Berkeley, and in middle school, I was lucky enough to join a theater program woven into the school curriculum called the Gilbert & Sullivan Troupe. In addition to our regular studies, our ambitious teachers cast the entire class in Shakespeare plays, Verdi operas, and Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, which we took on tour to Nevada and New Mexico. For inspiration, the troupe also traveled each year to Ashland, Oregon’s southernmost town and home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a regional repertory theater founded 90 years ago that features expertly acted and directed renditions of the author’s greatest works each season, which runs from spring to fall.

As an adult, I have returned only as a hotel guest to the charming Lithia Springs Resort and Ashland Hills Hotel & Suites and Convention Center, but there are good places to camp along the Rogue River, which offers some of the state’s most adventurous and scenic whitewater rafting and is one of the only places I know of where you can take a guided multiday float in an inflatable kayak, via Orange Torpedo Trips. For a more classic campground experience, I like Emigrant Lake County Park, where every RV site has a view of the lake. The trails here start right in town, along the babbling Ashland Creek, near Lithia Park, and wind up to Bull Gap, a ridgeline at the base of Mount Ashland.

Photo by Justin Olsen

Walla Walla, Washington

If you’ve ever heard of Walla Walla, it was likely while searching for good liberal arts colleges (Whitman University is here) or because the 15 million-year-old basalt soils make for a great place to grow wine grapes. Tucked more than an hour from any interstate highway, this isn’t a town that’s on the way to somewhere else, and that’s key to its charm. You have to want to go to Walla Walla to go to Walla Walla.

There’s plenty to want, from the adventure-inspired digs at The Finch to the historic grandeur of the Marcus Whitman (camping is pretty minimal around here); both hotels are good landing spots for exploring the town’s vibrant food and wine scene. There are 120 wineries in the region, offering excellent and interesting varietals of syrah, cabernet sauvignon, and Grenache. Some, like The Walls, grow many of their grapes in The Rocks District, a geologically unique landscape where vintners trip over small boulders as they tend vines, and wine drinkers enjoy a flavor profile that is unlike most others, especially in the U.S.

The charming downtown makes for a fun afternoon stroll, and the food scene has evolved, especially at Walla Walla’s best restaurants: Passatempo Taverna, Brasserie Four, the Walla Walla Steak Company, and TMACS. The trails in the nearby Blue Mountains are blissfully uncrowded for hiking and mountain biking. My favorite is the Umatilla Rim trail, a 36-mile out and back that hugs a canyon and can be accessed from several trailheads to split it up.

Photo by Natalie Starr

Bend, Oregon

Thanks to a bevy of dispersed camping options that meet what I think of as the Holy Grail trifecta (cell service, riverfront, and close to a trailhead), I’m in Bend as often as I am anywhere, at least outside of what has become a depressingly long wildfire season. There’s excellent year-round mountain biking, a gorgeous and thrilling whitewater kayaking run on the Metolius River, lazy floating on the Deschutes River, and more consistent sunshine than most of the state as the Cascades tend to block coastal storm fronts from creeping over to the high desert.

It doesn’t have near the stellar food scene of the state’s largest city, Portland, but El Sancho dishes up excellent tacos and other Mexican fare at two locations, and the pizza at Pine Marten, part of The Bite’s food cart lot, is as good as it is anywhere. Bend was discovered long ago, and many of its popular hiking and biking trailheads are packed, especially on weekends, but there are loads of crowdless alternatives.

Summer is dry and dusty, spring blustery, and fall consistently delightful. Bend is also an exploration headquarters, within reasonable drives of some of Oregon’s finest scenery, from the McKenzie River Trail to the west, the Alvord Desert and Painted Hills to the east, and Crater Lake, the state’s only national park, two hours to the south. It’s no wonder housing prices have gone sky-high in recent years.

Photo by Kurt Windisch

The Methow Valley, Washington

If I’ve got the stamina for a six-hour drive from Portland, I beeline for the Methow Valley, a magical place just outside of the northern reaches of the Columbia River Gorge that draws Seattleites each winter for a robust network of cross-country ski trails. There’s also great whitewater, mountain biking, and hiking throughout the valley. The rugged Buck Mountain Loop, near Winthrop, offers sweeping views of the surroundings, as does the Sun Mountain Loop, further south, and there are several good places to van camp that have access to both trails.

But the valley is also home to cute towns like Twisp, Winthrop, and Mazama, each with its own historical appeal. There are a few great restaurants in these towns, too: Meza in Winthrop does perfect Mediterranean food. Plenty of dispersed camping options in the hills of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest offer sweeping views of the North Cascades looming in the distance and some stunningly beautiful paid camping along the North Fork of Gold Creek.

Photo by Kurt Windisch

The Willamette Valley, Oregon

“Pinot,” you’re thinking, and to be sure, the Willamette Valley has an incredible wine scene, with all the quality and sophistication of Napa or Bordeaux but none of the stuffiness. Impossibly cute towns like McMinnville and Carlton feature some of the best hotels, like Inn The Ground and Tributary, as there are anywhere in the world.

But the valley’s treasures extend far beyond its vineyards. Silver Falls State Park and its Trail of Ten Falls is a jaw-dropping 7.2-mile loop hike that traverses one epic waterfall after another. Alsea Falls, where the mountain biking trails I referenced earlier can be found, is also home to easy and beautiful hikes, including to the falls. Further south lies Eugene, aka “Track Town USA” or “Berkeley North,” home to a gleaming college campus, hikes through peaceful oak groves, and placid float trips on the Willamette and McKenzie rivers, which converge just north of town. Especially in the fall, these rivers call to fishers, who wade out into the slack water behind a rapid or drop anchor from a drift boat, like the guided trips from McKenzie River Drift Boats.

There are great music venues like WOW Hall, bakeries like Sweet Life Patisserie, a legendary Saturday Market, and reliably good restaurants throughout the city. Outside town is the Cascades Raptor Center, where a collection of rescued birds gives visitors an up-close look at some of the valley’s majestic avifauna.

Photo by Greg Lief