Camping in Southern Oregon at Umpqua National Forest

My husband and I took a 5 night vacation from his food cart and my full-time job to spend quality time together and explore a part of Oregon that he has spent a lot of time in that he has been dying to take me to! We spent 2 nights in Eugene, Oregon and 3 nights camping at Umpqua National Forest. The time away was much needed! Dare I say it was the best trip I’ve had in a really long time? We took deep breaths, we didn’t have service for over 72 hours, I was really present for Michael and myself and felt really grounded and spent a ton of time laughing and making memories.

As I said above, this was my first time visiting that part of Oregon but Michael lived in Eugene for 7 years and was an awesome tour guide! Below I will go through our days and mention as many recommendations as I can incase you ever want to visit!

Day 01

I left work a little early, I got home around 3:15, Michael had already packed the car full of our camping gear, our cooler full of groceries, all of our clothes, wood and water (what a gem!) and all I had to do was go upstairs, change, grab a few things and hop into the car. We were on the road by 3:45. We drove from Portland, Oregon to Eugene and right when we got into town, Michaels memories started flooding his mind and we drove all around town while he showed me all the houses he lived at, what houses he had memories at, his favorite places to eat, what places used to be something else, his favorite places to skateboard and more. It was such a joy learning about Michaels memories and really being there able to visualize it with him. It brings a smile to my face as I type this! He knew before we left on the trip that he wanted to eat dinner at the Korea house and that is exactly what we did! I got the Vegetarian Clay Pot Bimipap and Michael got the hot chicken and although my dish was amazing, Michael gave me a few bites of his (sans chicken) and I still think about how delicious it was! Our recommendation from there is: Get the hot chicken!

That night we decided to break up our long drive and stay at a hotel so we could get up super early in the morning and grab a camping spot! We stayed at Even Hotel in Eugene and we would definitely recommend it. It wasn’t in the coolest part of town, but it was really nice, clean and the staff was wonderful. It worked really well for us when all we needed to do was shower and sleep!

Day 02

We woke up at 4:45 and drove the rest of the way (about 3 hours) to Umpqua National Forest and stayed on Diamond Lake in Thistle campground for 4 nights.

We arrived at our camp site around 8, set up the campsite, ate breakfast (eggs, bagels and cream cheese). Our favorite cooking camp set is linked here, it’s amazing and so convenient!! It’s great for up to 4 people. I’ll do another post about our camping essentials if you’d like to see it (let me know in the comments!)

After setting up we set off on an adventure!

Day 03:

We woke up around 8:15, the latest I’ve slept in, in a while and had breakfast (potato, egg, cheese and salsa burritos and coffee, of course) and headed off on our most exciting part of the trip… Crater Lake National Park! Michael has been many many times but I’ve never been. It’s absolutely stunning. It looks exactly like the photos!

We spent a lot of our time in the beginning driving around, pulling off at viewpoints and taking it all in. Michael was a great tour guide!

There are several hikes and things to explore inside the park. We did a two hour round trip hike/ walk (really easy, flat almost the whole way) to a beautiful waterfall. Saw beautiful butterflies and wildlife along the way.

We also went to see the volcanic pumice spires, which are colored various shades of grey and brown, formed by erosion. Wow those things are incredible and huge!!

We then hiked down a mile to the actual Crater Lake jumped in… it was the highlight of the trip. I’ve heard so much about this place and how beautiful it is… and wow, it did not disappoint! The water looks like the blue sky. It’s clear and absolutely stunning. We swam for a few hours and then hiked back out. The hike out was a pretty steep mile, but doable! We paced ourselves and made it out with minimal stopping. On the hike down you pass everyone walking up and they all seem out of breath and like it’s miserable… but don’t let them fool you! It isn’t so bad and you can do hard things! We were so sad to say goodbye to Crater Lake when we left. It’s really special there. I highly recommend going.

After Crater Lake we drove back to Diamond Lake (20 min drive) and hung out by the Diamond Lake lodge for a while and put our feet in the water and ate some hummus, cucumbers and chips. It was a great way to unwind from a busy and exciting day.

We then went back to the campground and made a fire, had dinner and made s’mores and went to bed. Actually, in the tent, we played the game on the phone called “dig it”. We didn’t have any WiFi or cell service and we enjoyed playing that game togeter in the evenings before we went to sleep.

Day 04

The next day we woke up and we weren’t sure if we wanted to go kayaking, take a boat out or drive for a while and go on a nice hike and try to find swimming holes. We ended up talking to some locals and they gave us some swimming hole and small hiking recommendations, so we spent out morning doing that. It was really fun! All around Umpqua National Forest there are several waterfalls you can hike to, and some have swimming areas. Most of the hikes seem pretty short and easy, only a few are longer. It’s a really fun way to enjoy your day! Since we were swimming all day, we didn’t have our camera for photos.

Day 05

We knew we wanted to either take a boat or kayak out on the lake so Michael could fish but we weren’t sure which route we wanted to go. We ended up deciding to go kayaking – we left really early in the morning in hopes that the lake would be calm and that the kayaking would be pretty mellow. Wow… were we wrong. We got out in the water and immedietely it was a battle to even kayak! (I have no photo proof of any of the upcoming events – we decided not to bring our phones on the kayak with us). This was my first time kayaking, thankfully Michael had done it before so he was showing me the ropes. We knew where we wanted to make it to to so we could pull over and fish and eat lunch. The water was so choppy we didn’t think we could even make it, but we were going with the current, which made it easier. We finally made it to our spot, we had lunch and Michael fished for a while. It was really enjoyable! We knew getting back to where we rented the kayak would be difficult as the water was even choppier and we had to go with against current, which makes it so much harder. We were about 3/4 of the way there, the last stretch was around a bend… as we turned around the bend, the current was meeting another current and before we even knew it, we lost our balance and were in the water. Ahhh! We were so happy that we didn’t take our phones and that we packed everything else up tightly inside of our backpack. We were lucky we were by the shore when it happened, as we were able to pull the kayak up onto land and empty the water out. We were dreading getting back into the water to make it back to drop it off. We even considered walking back and telling them we couldn’t make it. However, we got back in the kayak, I sat in front (as I did the whole time) and Michael said he was going to get us back in safely. So, I just sat in the front, kept my balance and Michael rowed us in… with only one more fall.

After that we went back to the campsite, Michael fished more and we just relaxed and enjoyed a peaceful afternoon. We headed back to Portland the next morning.

The whole trip was lovely and much needed. This is a reminder to prioritize making memories with loved ones and taking time to get away from this hectic world we live in.

xo,

Jehn

September 25, 2019