Cape Meares Loop opens after 10-year closure
The Cape Meares Loop, located on the north Oregon coast, has reopened after a decade-long road closure. A landslide wiped out a portion of the route closing one of the best scenic drives in the state. The reopening allows road trippers to once again complete the 40-mile/64-km Three Capes Scenic Loop from Oceanside to Netarts, which includes three state parks: Cape Kiwanda, Cape Lookout and Cape Meares. Visitors will not want to miss the view of Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge, the discovery of a hidden beach accessed through a tunnel carved into towering Maxwell Point, or hiking through an old-growth forest to find the Octopus Tree, a Sitka spruce which has no central trunk and limbs reaching 30 ft/9 m across.
A train to Oregon with a national park twist
Amtrak’s Coast Starlight rail journey between Seattle and Portland is part of a partnership with the National Park Service called Trails & Rails that educates travellers on the heritage and natural resources of America’s national parks. The program brings volunteer guides onboard to deliver stories, information and maps of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park along the Coast Starlight’s 175-mile/282-km route. It runs April to September, Wednesday through Sunday, and is one of more than a dozen included routes across the country. Since the beginning of the 20th century, railroads have played an active role in developing America’s national parks and this partnership provides a fuel efficient and environmentally friendly way for passengers to connect to public lands and gain a better understanding of the need to protect natural and cultural sites.
“Wiking” in Oregon wine country
Oregon often leads the way when it comes to culinary trends (it has long reigned as a capital of craft beer and was home to James Beard, after all), and now visitors can partake in “wiking” – yes, that’s wine and hiking. A number of Oregon wineries are offering by-reservation vineyard hikes with wine tastings, including Knudsen Vineyards, Winderlea Vineyard & Winery, Left Coast Estate and Eola Hills Wine Cellars, where their pup-friendly trails are a partnership with Pacific Hound. Oregon boasts over 900 wineries with more than 700 found in the Willamette Valley, the state’s largest wine region and first American Viticultural Area (AVA), and any season is ideal to experience its famed pinot noir grapes and vines.
Go with a guide
Oregon continues to encourage visitors to practice responsible travel when visiting the state and has rounded up its top guides, through a new resource: Go With A Guide. Guides provide the gear, instruction and expertise to boost traveller safety, education and confidence. Examples range from Shifting Tides who forage for wild mussels and clams, and farm Pacific dulse and regenerative aquaculture; Adventures Without Limits who create accessible, adaptive and inclusive outdoor adventures for all visitors; and Wanderlust Tours who is the only guide company permitted to take visitors into Central Oregon’s vast network of lava tubes and caves.
