Oregon is 165 years old on Valentine’s Day this year! In case you haven’t noticed, I love my home state. I wasn’t born here (or any of the states in the USA, for that matter), but it’s the only U.S. state I’ve lived in, and I love it.
My husband and 5 kids and I recently moved across town, so it’s been a busy winter. This last Sunday, we finally took a break from unpacking and organizing to do one of my favorite Oregon activities: driving to the high passes of the Cascade Mountains to play in the snow. We needed it! The fresh mountain air, the pine trees, the snow… it was invigorating. Last year, we met friends at Santiam Sno-Park in the Santiam Pass. This year, we went to Salt Creek Falls Sno-Park near Willamette Pass. Both are great, but there are some differences. Stay tuned for a few travel tips, and comment below to share your favorite places to go in Oregon in the winter! (Or if you’re not living in Oregon, where would you want to go?)
If you’re not familiar with the Sno-Park system here in the Northwest, it’s pretty cool (pun intended). For one $4 parking pass, your whole family can play all day at any of the designated Sno-Parks in the national forests. Other than that, you do have to pay for (or borrow) the gear: sleds or inner tubes, snow pants, winter gloves, snow boots, hats, scarves, and anything else you need to keep warm. But you’d need all of those but the sleds/tubes if you went to one of the more expensive places anyway, like the pay-per-person tubing runs that pull you up the hill at the ski resorts. And those usually cost at least $10 per person. So I think the sno-park passes are the best bang for your buck, at least if you have as many kids as we do. But be aware that Sno-Parks usually only have a pit toilet for facilities. We used the bathrooms at a gas station in Oakridge on our way there.
Salt Creek Falls Sno-Park has sledding runs that are longer and a shallower grade than Santiam Sno-Park. For that reason, we felt that it’s a little safer than Santiam. But do beware of a ditch off to one side that our kids kept sliding into because they were trying to avoid the snow ramps people had built into the runs on the other side. There is a lot more flat space at the bottom for building snowmen and other typical snow activities, too. Our kids built snow-bears after getting bored of sledding and played in a fort that someone had previously built. But for most of them, the highlight was careening down the hills on an inner tube with one or two of their siblings. Okay, for our 13-year-old, her highlight was filming Chris and me ride down together and flip over at the bottom. My face planted deep in the snow, and she laughed for about 10 minutes.
Salt Creek Falls is also less crowded than the busier Santiam area. We found out last year that Hoodoo Ski Lodge at Santiam Pass is huge! It even has an arcade! In contrast, after playing in the snow this year, we visited the much smaller and quieter Willamette Pass ski lodge. If our kids were overwhelmed at Hoodoo last year, they were underwhelmed at Willamette Pass. But it was nice. Be aware that Willamette Pass Lodge doesn’t allow you to bring in your own food anymore. We may or may not have eaten our packed lunch at a cafeteria table as discreetly as we could because we didn’t know till we got in there and saw the gazillions of signs posted about it (they even wrote it on a white board). We ordered nachos to ease our conscience a bit, ate quickly and played some board games, and gratefully used the real bathrooms before heading home.
Someday, my husband and I hope to book a room and stay a couple days at Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood. We plan to sit by the giant fireplaces, look at the views of the mountain, and read and write and play card games to our hearts’ content. But until then, my favorite winter activity in Oregon is probably playing at the sno-parks. What is your favorite winter activity or place to go in Oregon? Or somewhere else if you don’t live here? Comment below; I’d love to hear it!
P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day! And Ash Wednesday to some of you. I hope that wherever in the world you are, you feel loved by the people around you. You are definitely loved by God. I’m praying for peace in the world on this day dedicated to love.
2/14/2024 Note: Evidently I’m not the only one who celebrates Oregon’s birthday! Check out That Oregon Life’s post here: https://thatoregonlife.com/2024/02/love-letter-to-oregon/?utm_source=brevo&utm_campaign=Daily%20Newsletter%2021424&utm_medium=email
The Compass Rose Queen 