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Following are brief descriptions of some of Oregon's many interesting places to visit:
| Bonneville Dam, the first major dam on the Columbia River, has a series of fish ladders. In season, salmon and other fish jump up the ladders on their way upstream to spawn. See Bonneville Dam. |
| Columbia River Gorge. Here the Columbia River cuts through the Cascade Mountains. Colorful basalt cliffs line the gorge for about 60 miles (97 kilometers) between The Dalles and Troutdale. Multnomah and other waterfalls tumble into the gorge. See Columbia River. |
| The Museum at Warm Springs on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation has interactive historical exhibits and collections of art and artifacts from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. |
| National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, in Baker City, has exhibits and demonstrations that recreate some of the experience of traveling along the Oregon Trail. |
| Sea Lion Caves, on the Pacific Coast near Florence, house hundreds of sea lions. The animals can be seen in the caves and on nearby rocks. It is the world's largest sea cave. |
| National parks and forests. Crater Lake National Park, the state's only national park, lies in the Cascade Mountains in south-central Oregon. Crater Lake, 1,943 feet (592 meters) deep, rests at the top of an ancient volcano. See Crater Lake National Park. Ten national forests lie entirely within Oregon. They are Deschutes, Fremont, Malheur, Mount Hood, Ochoco, Siuslaw, Umpqua, Wallowa-Whitman, Willamette, and Winema. Oregon shares Umatilla National Forest with Washington, and Klamath, Rogue River, and Siskiyou national forests with California. Congress set aside dozens of areas in Oregon's national forests as national wilderness areas, to be preserved in their natural condition. |
| National monuments, memorials, and historic sites. Oregon Caves National Monument is in the Siskiyou Mountains. Its limestone caverns contain beautiful stone formations. John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in north-central Oregon features fossils of prehistoric animals and plants (see John Day Fossil Beds National Monument). Lewis and Clark National Historical Park includes Fort Clatsop, near Astoria. The fort was the site of the winter camp of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their expedition to the area in 1805 and 1806. McLoughlin House National Historic Site in Oregon City was built by John McLoughlin, who is often called the Father of Oregon. He lived there from 1847 to 1857. |
| State parks. Oregon has dozens of state parks. Many have camping and recreational facilities. Visit the official website of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department at http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/PARKS/index.shtml for more information. |