Routes in Oregon

[Coach Reese]

Hey Everyone,

I'm part of NW Overland Quest. We explore the Pacific Northwest as a team and share route information from our adventures. Most of us are weekend warriors and sometimes manage to get one or two weeks off during the year to take longer trips together. We are currently focused on routes in Oregon before we tackle Washington. When we first started, folks in our area were stuck in this mindset that the only overlanding opportunities were at Browns Camp OHV Area and Barlow Road, unless they wanted to go all the way to Moab. There are so many great places to explore in this state and most can be done with a stock 4x4. We've built a decent list and are now organizing them better. Here are our current routes. There are several more in the hopper, but we make sure to run them through at least once before sharing publicly.

Here are some of the most popular. Hopefully these help you plan your own adventures. Feel free to ask questions on here or Instagram @nwoverlandquest.

01: Valsetz to Lincoln City

Activity : Offroading | Duration : 308d 6h 38m | Distance : 43.6 mi (70.2 km) | Total Ascent : 3241 ft (988 m) | Highest Point : 2360 ft (719 m) | Average Speed : N/A

www.ramblr.com

11: Tillamook State Forest

Activity : Offroading | Duration : 8h 8m 17s | Distance : 125.1 mi (201.3 km) | Total Ascent : 8579 ft (2,615 m) | Highest Point : 3280 ft (1,000 m) | Average Speed : N/A

www.ramblr.com

14: Christmas Valley & Crater Lake

Activity : Offroading | Duration : 1d 4h 16m | Distance : 308.3 mi (496.2 km) | Total Ascent : 7346 ft (2,239 m) | Highest Point : 7799 ft (2,377 m) | Average Speed : 10.9 mi/h (17.5 km/h)

www.ramblr.com

15: Santiam Wagon Road

Activity : Offroading | Duration : 3h 49m 58s | Distance : 43.6 mi (70.2 km) | Total Ascent : 2851 ft (869 m) | Highest Point : 4701 ft (1,433 m) | Average Speed : N/A

www.ramblr.com

16: Barlow Road & Friend School

Activity : Offroading | Duration : 17391d 0h m | Distance : 58.4 mi (94.0 km) | Total Ascent : 3153 ft (961 m) | Highest Point : 4187 ft (1,276 m) | Average Speed : N/A

www.ramblr.com

17: Estacada to Detroit

Activity : Offroading | Duration : 0h 0m | Distance : 88.1 mi (141.8 km) | Total Ascent : 3862 ft (1,177 m) | Highest Point : 3569 ft (1,088 m) | Average Speed : N/A

www.ramblr.com

20: Steens Mountain & Alvord Desert

Activity : Offroading | Duration : 21h 48m 49s | Distance : 199.1 mi (320.4 km) | Total Ascent : 7372 ft (2,247 m) | Highest Point : 9559 ft (2,914 m) | Average Speed : N/A

www.ramblr.com

21: Hells Canyon

Activity : Offroading | Duration : 1d 2h 56m | Distance : 52.5 mi (84.5 km) | Total Ascent : 2421 ft (738 m) | Highest Point : 6920 ft (2,109 m) | Average Speed : N/A

www.ramblr.com

 

[Smileyshaun]

Very cool , always nice to find new places to explore in Oregon

 

[wallygatoresq]

Thanks, we are planning a trip to Hells Canyon and this helped a lot

 

[Luinil Explorations]

Great idea, thank you.

 

[SCS]

This is an awesome list. I did the Friend school to Barlow trip with some other trails based on this article earlier in the season. I'm looking forward to checking out some of the other routes asap.

 

[Overwatch52]

As a newbie, I will b trying some of these. Thanks for sharing Coach.....

 

[Anvil Overlander]

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to having a look at the list for my wife and I.

 

[SCS]

Drove the Valsetz to Lincoln City route. It's a logging road with some dump truck and logging truck traffic so be careful. Lots of signs posted that it's a private road that can be closed at any time. The road itself would have been a bit boring had it not been for the rain storm which kept things slightly more interesting. There is some nice scenery along the way. There are a lot of smaller short roads off the main Valsetz road but I didn't have time to explore more than a couple. Most of them were gated off as well. The route spits you out directly across the street from Itwhich park which was a nice spot to air up and would be great if you had a kayak ready to roll once you arrive at the coast. If I do the road again I would combine it with some paddling.

 

[madcratebuilder]

Great list thanks for posting, I've done a few of them.

 

[Jaytperry89]

Awesome list, my wife and I have been thinking about the Christmas valley area for some time, might have to use your route and expand on it. Good job though it's a great list hopefully I'll be able to explore some of them in person