Great park (dog park too) for the whole family. Stopped…read morehere about 1/3 of the way on our 6hr trip to let everyone stretch and play. We had our travel trailer and the parking lot was large enough to accommodate. There is a large covered pavilion with picnic tables and an air pump for bikes. Nearby walking/bike trails. The play area for the kids is awesome and the dog park was separated for large/small dogs. Across the bridge was a trail with a story walk Bathrooms were closed for the winter season but there was a porter-john which was clean.

Nice little park in La Grande for a quick break or picnic. Clean amenities and grounds. Close…read moreenough to hwy 84.

Great park, lots of fun play equipment, clean, turf under the play equipment and grass under the…read moretrees... lots of benches and seating both in sun and shade

Lovely, peaceful little park nestled in Baker City, just off highway 84. Clean and safe, it's a…read morefantastic place to stop on a long haul and stretch your legs. We stopped on one such long haul to grab a pick-me-up (there's a Starbucks and more than half a dozen restaurants within three blocks of the park), gas for the car, and a walk for our felines. Ample free parking around the border of the park, and make sure to check out the water feature bordering the western edge!

Two Joaquin Miler trails diverged in the woods. I chose the one less taken. That made all the…read moredifference. The name Joaquin Miller, a one-time pony express rider, gold miner, judge, teacher, ex-lawyer, and critically praised poet of the American West, is closely connected to Oakland, California, where MIller lived for many years. As is the case with Jack London's former ranch near Glen Ellen, part of Miller's tree-filled estate ended up being preserved as a park. It grew over time to 500 acres of open space and trails, making it a popular destination for local residents and visitors, for whom the park is a welcome breath of fresh air: http://www.yelp.com/biz/joaquin-miller-park-oakland. It's an inspiring story of how local activists and boosters worked (and still work) to protect the land from private development. The result is a beautiful public space mere miles from one of America's most densely populated and culturally vibrant urban areas. While it certainly has lots of trees in common, the Joaquin Miller trail in Eastern Oregon is a different kind of outdoor experience entirely. It's located in the rugged and (arguably) remote Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, about a 45 minute drive from Canyon City, where Miller worked as a lawyer and judge during the Oregon gold rush of the 1860s. Over the course of about 6 miles, the trail leads from a modest dirt and gravel parking area into a valley filled with rare old-growth Ponderosa pines. It then meanders, steeply at times, to the jagged crest of Strawberry Ridge, past cascading mountain streams, and offers hikers and equestrians spacious views of snow-covered peaks, rocky ridgelines, and dense forests. That's about it. This is not a Yosemite kind of place, filled with glamorous granite cliffs and photogenic falling water. It's quiet as hell, though, and extremely beautiful in a simple, unadorned, and unaffected way. Old growth ponderosas don't wow you like a coastal redwood, red cedar, or douglas fir, and Strawberry Ridge is barren, windswept, and patched with snow well into May and June. But there's something startling about the place that is hard to put into words or capture with digital pixels. It's never easy to put a price on solitude. One shouldn't even try. The reason wilderness areas like Strawberry Mountain exist is to make sure that people don't start calculating its potential real estate value in dollar-denominated terms. So what was it worth, then, to me? Well ... for four long and sometimes arduous hours, I wandered in the footsteps of Joaquim Miller's namesake trail, past orange-covered trees and snowmelting streams, up stone-covered mountain switchbacks and through dense stands of trees. I was completely alone in a vast open space with only my thoughts and backpack to keep me company. Sun and clouds kept the temperature mild, even above 7000 ft on the snow-covered ridgeline. At the top, someone had hung a pair of binoculars and a half-empty bottle of whiskey from a low tree branch that was protected from the elements. A nice thought, but I wasn't in the mood for that sort of a drink. Look, you don't just stumble upon a trail like this. You seek it out, like I did, because of an inarticulate but insistent inner need. A Forest Service map and compass sure help, but otherwise the trail is quite clear if unsigned most of the way. There's just not much foot or hoof traffic out here except maybe in peak summer months. It's very well maintained with minimal treefall that is cleared away in late spring. You feel "lost" without actually being lost. That's not always easy to pull off. A single winding path in an ocean of pine, stone, and snow. Just you and lots of wilderness close enough to make it a short day trip.That's what this particular excursion is all about. Nothing more than that. But somehow, for me at least, that was enough. Enough to make all the difference in the world. You don't need to be a famous poet like Joaquin Miller to figure that out. So just do it. Show up and see for yourself. The trail will do the work for you.

Most surprising hole-in-the-wall eating experience! The staff was so friendly and the food was…read moreexcellent! Don't skip out on the beef stew - it's homemade and it's excellent! We all loved our food so much!

**As with all my hot spring reviews, I'm starting this out with a plea/admonition: I get a lot of…read moreguff from hot springs regulars for my "irresponsible" compulsion to share hot springs info with the world -- I guess the old-timers are afraid that the more people know about these places, the worse condition they will end up in. I steadfastly maintain that sharing is caring, and that to hoard these locations is greedy and selfish...so I'm sharing this info here with the request that, if you visit these springs, PLEASE be respectful and PACK OUT YOUR TRASH!!! I've see so many hot springs strewn with gross litter (including human and pet waste) that it really turns my stomach.** All-natural hot spring pool on an island in the middle of the Malheur River. I visited in mid-July 2015, and had to wade across the fairly swift-moving river to reach the island -- a car wouldn't have made it. To reach the island, follow U.S. 20 east across the bridge over the river at Horseshoe Bend, then take the first left -- a dirt road which winds back along the river. Park on the riverbank and wade across, or (depending on water level) if you have a hardcore rig, drive across. There were two pools: a nice hot one on the island itself, big enough for several people, with a sandy bottom and plenty of flat space nearby on the island for camping. There was also a second pool built into the side of the island on the river itself, which is cooler because of the river water mixing in with the source water. No shade at all on the island (it's high desert), and rattlesnakes in the area. But I still give it 4 stars because of its remote inaccessability -- I guess it used to be a party spot (or maybe still is), but it's difficult enough to access that I can't see how that's possible. I would definitely come here again, and maybe even camp out!

Great Forest, low visitor numbers. Perfect wilderness area to explore and see environment less…read moretarnished by colonization

Great campsites with clean restrooms. 10$ for a tent site with a great picnic table and fire pit.read more

We drove out to the Painted Hills for a day trip and had a great couple hours exploring the area…read more We walked most of the trails and it's such a unique place to see - well worth the 1+ hour drive from civilization. It even rained just a bit while we were there and a rainbow came out - wow! High recommend.

The Painted Hills Unit of the John Day National Monument was indeed a very scenic and beautiful…read moresight seeing stop as we were in the Bend, Oregon area. After seeing Yelp entries I am kind of kicking myself for not proceeding to the Painted Cove area as the walk through there looks amazing. We just stopped at the main Painted Hills and did not proceed further. But what we saw was beautiful. With the three primary colors of yellow, red and black you can see the layers of these colors in the Hills. The texture of the Hills are amazing too. And I suppose depending on the angle of the sun enhances these textures as far as appearance goes. You can see little trails all through these Hills and at first I thought they were hiking trails for people but they are indeed wildlife trails and people are to not go on them. There are signs all over that go into the history here and it is both fascinating and beautiful. We were here mid-morning but I am told the colors really get enhanced at sunrise or sunset.

A remarkable place with the cornucopia of volcanic features including bombs, AA, ash, and collapsed…read moreanticlines

Diamond Craters, an Outstanding Natural Area of 17,000 acres (23 square miles), has some of the…read moremost diverse basaltic volcanic features in the nation clustered within a small, accessible area. The area displays an entire range of eruptions possible in basaltic volcanism. It was formed sometime in the past 25,000 years and now resembles a thin, rocky pancake with a few bumps. Features identifiable at the Outstanding Natural Area include craters and vents, cinder cones, spatter cones, lava tubes, driblet spires, a graben, and a water-filled maar.

Its a real treat to be able to camp in a pristine state park that has only been open a month! We…read morestopped here for a few nights of camping on a longer roadtrip. It feels INCREDIBLY isolated. Out of cell service and quite far from any kind of services. The campground itself is quite small and open - but with big grassy pads for tenting and great star gazing. Each site has a fire pit and picnic table. There was no camp host but we were able to buy a bundle of firewood. Pit toilets in the bathrooms and a day use area with a power outlet where we charged our phones. The site has some interesting history, previously being the site of a sawmill. There are some placards around about this. We spent a bit of time exploring the trails - well maintained and pretty sufficient for a family with small kids. My kids also enjoyed seeing the pond and dam.