Getting far away in the Owyhee Canyonlands

Owyhee Canyon. Image courtesy BLM Oregon Washington/Wikimedia Commons

If you’re looking to get far away – and over the past year, who hasn’t been? – you can’t get much farther away in Oregon than the Owyhee Canyonlands.

Located along the far eastern border of Oregon — about six hours from Portland — the Owyhee Canyonlands unfold over more than 2 million acres. Cut by just three paved roads, it’s considered one of the largest expanses of undeveloped land in the lower 48 states.

Out here, the Owyhee River has has sculpted the land into stunning canyons amidst colorful remnant volcanic features, rock formations and rolling sagebrush hills. Pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, badgers, horned lizards and rattlesnakes are just a few of the wild creatures who call the Owyhee Canyonlands home.

The Owyhee Canyonlands is also a hiker’s paradise, something I wrote about for Travel Oregon early last summer. Take a gander – and then take a hike.

A Scappoose Bay Getaway

It’s easy to get out of Portland and into the Great Outdoors in the summer. Sunshine, blue skies and long, light evenings set the stage for warm weekend getaways or after-work jaunts.

The winter, however, with its rain and gray and darkness, can be a little less inspiring.

But what if there was a place close by where you could escape the city quickly and feel like you’re way outside, far from home? A place where you could almost lose yourself paddling through slim streams and curving channels, watching majestic birds soar overhead or strolling along the mighty Columbia River just a half-hour from home?

Well, there is.

It’s called Scappoose Bay — and I wrote all about it in a recent story for Travel Oregon.