FIND OUT WHERE WE WENT & HOW WE DID IT

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This was a cool trip because it was somewhere that none of us, including our guest had ever been. We had to cram as much in as we could in 3.5 days and we saw so much but could have easily spent 3-4 weeks there and barely scratch the surface of what Oregon has to offer. 

The must do's on the trip for our guest Kourtney were Cannon Beach, the Oregon Dunes, Crater Lake and Smith Rock. With that being said, we sort of mapped out our trip using this 4 sequential points and luckily, we happened to find most magical, albeit unplanned places along the way. 

Day 1 - Portland to Cannon Beach and Yachats

We picked our guest up from the PDX airport and made our way straight to Cannon Beach. Haystack Rock was our main point of interest. We made it there by around 4 pm and then made our way over to Ecola State Park. Ecola is tucked away in  a PNW style rainforest and protrudes out onto a peninsula that provides a viewpoint for all of Cannon Beach. If you're in the area, you should definitely check it out. We booked a hotel in Yachats which was  a little bit over ambitious. I say this because we ended up driving some of the coast line in the dark, The Oregon coast is some of the most breathtaking scenery i have ever laid eyes on so if you can avoid driving in the dark, that is advisable.  For the evening, we stayed at the Adobe Resort. This is a great hotel with rooms right on the water for less than $140/night. 

Day 2 - Yachats to Diamond Lake This was probably our most active day and also gave most variety in terms of weather and terrain. We started the day on the beaches with 70 degree weather and ended it in alpine at Diamond lake. The Oregon Dunes National Rec Area stretches about 30 miles down the coast and provides lots of options for short and long hikes. There are several access points but the two most scenic are in Florence at the Day Use Access Point and in Reedsport at the Umpqua Lighthouse state park. 

Next we started making our way to Tokotee Falls and followed the Umpqua River deep into the Umpqua National Forest. The drive to the falls is about 3 hours but there are plenty of cool hikes along the way. We decided to stop and hit Susan Falls and it was worth the 1 mile round trip hike. We finished the day with Toketee Falls and then stayed at Diamond Lake Resort to put us in a good spot to hit Crater Lake the following day. Umpqua is probably one of the most beautiful national forests I have seen. 

Day 3- We made the 50 mile trek from Diamond Lake to Crater Lake through beautiful alpine roads. It was one of my favorite parts of all the drives we did. The massive trees split by the road with Mt Thielsen in the background made for some good photos. After Crater, we made our way to Smith Rock State Park to hike misery ridge. Definitely a long day with a lot of driving but if you are ambitious and get up early enough you can do both with time to spare at the end of the day. 

Day 4 - We made the drive from Bend to CRG which is most well known for the variety of waterfalls that exist there. We did the main 4 that are visible from I-84. Multnomah Falls is the most popular and for good reason. It stands at 620 feet high and thunders the surrounding canyon. Well worth stopping by and checking out if you are in the area. 

For WTFTES's first ever trip, we hosted Brandy from Michigan and it couldn't have gone better. A lot of questions were asked about the practicality of flying someone out west whom we didn't know and then taking them on an adventure of a lifetime , but the answers we got were what we hoped for. In total, the concept CAN work and it CAN  be impactful. 

So what did we do? Below you will find our trip route and some details that may be helpful  if you ever find yourself in Southern Utah wanting to see as much as possible. Keep in mind, we have been exploring southern Utah for quite some time, and in our opinion, the best way to attack it if you only have a few days, is  to be prepared to spend a lot of efficient time in the car to maximize all that you can see. The drives themselves are spectacular and when you get to where you are headed, you will not be disappointed. 

Day 1 - Salt Lake to Zion National Park

We made the 298 mile drive to Zion and got a late start but still made it to the Southwest Entrance before 12:30. We had to be in Bryce before 10 PM so we chose to see the park via the scenic drive. If you don't have a lot of time, the scenic drive from the Southwest entrance to the Northeast entrance is a good way to go. There are plenty of little spots along the way to stop and take photos and you might even get lucky enough to nab a parking spot at the Zion Canyon Overlook Trail which is a really short hike with amazing views. Parking is normally hard to come by if you arrive between 8-4PM. In our case, the trail was shut down due to some trail work. 

However, all was good because our intent was to hit Observation Point. One of the main attractions at Zion is Angels Landing, which is cool, but has been permitted due to an extreme influx of traffic. With that said, a permit can be hard to come by and if you do end up getting one,  foot traffic can be pretty heavy even though capacity is limited. We like to get our guests off the beaten path a little bit and so we chose Observation Point where there is not even a fraction of the crowd. The trailhead starts on the Northeast side of the park. With Observation Point you get a similar view as Angels Landing except you're probably 500 feet higher up and you get a wider view of the canyon. What you don't get are the razor thin spines that you have to ascend to get to the view point. In our case, when we finally made it to the viewpoint, we were the only ones there. 

After we finished we made the 1 hour so drive to Bryce Canyon. 

Day 2 - Bryce Canyon and Escalante Slot Canyons

We started our day horseback riding at the edge of Bryce Canyon with the help of the folks at Rubys Inn.  When we were supposed to go at 8 AM, it was almost a white out blizzard at 33 degrees. Thankfully the folks at Ruby's were extremely accommodating and pushed our reservation back and slotted us with the later group . This was helpful because it provided a perfect window of weather for us to see some of the canyon on horseback. 

Afterward, we entered the park to do some hiking and we did a small 2 mile loop from Sunset Point through Wall Street. This is a very popular hike that has the iconic switchback clay walking paths cut between the giant orange walls. Definitely worth doing if you're in the area and short on time. One thing to keep in mind with Bryce is that the park sits at 8K feet elevation and so the weather can be unpredictable. It seemed like every other 5 minutes it was shifting between clear blue skies and heavy snow. No exaggeration. 

After the hike we started to make our way,  toward Escalante for slot canyons. Like the drive from Zion to Bryce, it is about an hour or so and the changes in landscape over that 60 mile stretch are insane. When we got to town we stopped at Georgie's Outdoor Mexican cafe. The food is bomb. Keep an eye for a little orange food trailer on the right. 

From there we started our 28 mile drive down Hole in the Rock Road to hike some slot canyons. I am going to leave the name of the trail out to keep it  hidden but what i will say is that Hole in the Rock Road is a geological wonderland. There are countless hikes and sights along the 80 mile dirt stretch of road for you to do before ending at Lake Powell. 

After slots, we stayed in cabins at Escalante Outfitters. I don't have enough nice things to say about this place. The food is AMAZING. The accommodations are a perfect reprieve from a few days on the road. And the staff are so nice and helpful. So helpful that they set us on an unexpected path for day 3 of which we couldn't be more thankful. 

Day 3 - Burr Trail and Capital Reef 

The stretch of road on highway 12 between Boulder and Escalante is undoubtedly some of the most unfathomable  landscape you can see from a vehicle.  There are plenty of hikes along the way (some of which include some very popular waterfalls)

Our original plan was to head straight to Capital Reef  from Calf Creek and hike Cassidy Arch but we were pointed in another direction by some folks at Escalante Outfitters. We followed their direction and we were not disappointed. In the end, if felt like we discovered and entirely new part of Utah that we didn't know existed.  I will leave the name above and the rest up to discovery.

Day 4  - Canyonlands

We split the difference in distance and stayed in Green River Utah before heading to Moab in the morning. Moab can be a very busy place this time of year so we minimized our time in town, got some food and then headed up to Canyonlands.  The rave of Utah when it comes to national parks is often Zion and Arches but in my opinion, Canyonlands beats them both, especially if you have a 4x4 vehicle and can get a permit for the backcountry. The park is massive and if you get to the right places, you can literally go days with only seeing a couple people. However, if you like to stay on the main path, the viewpoints will still take your breath away. 

So in summary, we did all of this in 4 days. If you're shorter on time, we would be happy to provide must sees and some suggestions about how to go about it. Send us a DM on Instagram @West4TheEeast and we would be happy to help you out!