Backpacking Oregon
From River Valleys to Mountain Meadows
Your guide to 28 of Oregon's best backpacking trips
In Oregon, backpackers can explore wild beaches, enjoy colorful desert canyonlands, hike amid stunning granite peaks, relax in wildflower meadows, and circle glacier-clad mountains. Backpacking Oregon details the premier opportunities across the entire state. Author and hiking expert Becky Ohlsen presents 28 magnificent scenic escapes, whether you have three days or two weeks. See the world-famous Oregon coast; or visit stunning white granite peaks, sparkling lakes and streams, alpine meadows, and the attractive forests of the Wallowa Mountains. Survey the peaks of Mount Hood and the Three Sisters in the High Cascades, and the gaping chasm of Hells Canyon, where you might glimpse black bears or bighorn sheep. Each carefully crafted itinerary offers geographic diversity, beautiful landscapes, and attainable daily mileage goals.
This in-depth guide provides all the information backpackers need, including trail highlights, mileage, elevation gain, days on the trail, shuttle distances, required permits, and more—not to mention full-color photographs and detailed trail maps. Plus, ratings for scenery, solitude, and difficulty help you to find the exact adventure you seek. No matter which trek you choose, spectacular scenery and superb vistas await.
Douglas Lorain moved with his family to the Pacific Northwest in 1969, and he has been obsessively hitting the trails of his home region ever since. Spurred by an unquenchable thirst for new trails to explore and a great enthusiasm for backpacking, he has now hiked more than 30,000 miles through every corner of the American Northwest and many thousands more in other western states and Canadian provinces. Despite a history that includes being bitten by a rattlesnake, being shot at by a hunter, being charged by grizzly bears (twice!), and donating gallons of blood to mosquitoes, Lorain claims that he wouldn’t trade one moment of it because he has also been blessed to see some of the most beautiful scenery on Earth.
His other books for Wilderness Press include Afoot & Afield: Portland/Vancouver, Backpacking Idaho, Backpacking Washington, Backpacking Wyoming, One Best Hike: Mount Rainier’s Wonderland Trail, One Night Wilderness: Portland, and Top Trails: Olympic National Park & Vicinity.
Lorain is a photographer and recipient of the National Outdoor Book Award. His photographs have appeared in numerous magazines, calendars, and books.
This third edition of Backpacking Oregon was updated and revised by Becky Ohlsen. Ohlsen has lived in the Pacific Northwest since 1995 and is the author of Walking Portland. She also writes travel guidebooks for Lonely Planet, covering Sweden, Oregon, and Washington, among other destinations.
