A Lofty Goal

Last night, I went bargain toy shopping with a couple of my friends and, during the drive back, I admitted my lofty goal.  I want to visit all of the state parks in Oregon.  Sounds easy, right?  Well, there are 189 of them and Oregon is a BIG state.  True, it’s not Alaska big–but it could totally kick some New England state butt.  Oregon is, in fact, the 10th largest state.  The only larger states are Alaska, Texas, California, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming.  To put this in perspective, I think it takes about 7 hours to drive from our home in Hillsboro to the eastern state line.

So, yeah, there’s my goal.  Obviously, I’ve been to some state parks before–but I’m only going to pre-count the ones I’ve been to in the past month, which is when I started thinking about this lofty goal. So, here are the parks–all 189 of them!

Darlington State Natural Site	Governor Patterson Memorial State Recreation Site	Beachside State Recreation Site
Carl G. Washburne Memorial State Park	Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint	Muriel O. Ponsler Memorial State Scenic Viewpoint
Neptune State Scenic Viewpoint	Smelt Sands State Recreation Site	Tokatee Klootchman State Natural Site
Stonefield Beach State Recreation Site	W. B. Nelson State Recreation Site	Yachats Ocean Road State Natural Site
Yachats State Recreation Area	Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park	Alsea Bay Historic Interpretive Center
Driftwood Beach State Recreation Site	Lost Creek State Recreation Site	Ona Beach State Park
Seal Rock State Recreation Site	Yaquina Bay State Recreation Site	South Beach State Park
Agate Beach State Recreation Site	Boiler Bay State Scenic Viewpoint	D River State Recreation Site
Devils Lake State Recreation Area	Devils Punch Bowl State Natural Area	Ellmaker State wayside
Fogarty Creek State Recreation Area	Gleneden Beach State Recreation Site	H.B. Van Duzer Forest State Scenic Corridor
Neskowin Beach State Recreation Site	Otter Crest State Scenic Viewpoint	Roads Ends State Recreation Site
Beverley Beach State Park	South Jetty (South Beach)	Whale Watching Center
Rocky Creek State Scenic Viewpoint	The Cove Palisades State Park	Jasper Point (Prineville Resevoir)
Prineville Resevoir State Park	Heritage Landing (Deschutes)	White River Falls State Park
Deschutes River State Recreation Area	Cline Falls State Scenic Viewpoint	LaPine State Park (09/12/2009)
Pilot Butte State Scenic Viewpoint	Tumalo State Park (09/11/2009)	Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint
Smith Rock State Park	Ainsworth State Park	Benson State Recreation Area
Bridal Veil Falls State Scenic Viewpoint	Crown Point State Scenic Corridor	Dabney State Recreation Area
George W. Joseph State Natural Area	Guy W. Talbot State Park	Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail
John B. Yeon State Scenic Corridor	Koberg Beach State Recreation Site	Lewis and Clark State Recreation Site
Mayer State Park	Memaloose State Park	Portland Women’s Forum State Scenic Viewpoint
Seneca Fouts Memorial State Natural Area	Shepperd’s Dell State Natural Area	Starvation Creek State Park
Viento State Park	Vinzenz Lausmann Memorial State Natural Area	Wygant State Natural Area
Rooster Rock State Park	Goose Lake State Recreation Area	Frenchglen Hotel State Heritage Site
Ontario State Recreation Site	Farwell Bend State Recreation Area	Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site
Unity Forest State Scenic Corridor	Unity Lake State Recreation Site	Clyde Holliday State Recreation Site
Succor Creek State Natural Area	Lake Owyhee State Park	Catherine Creek State Park
Hat Rock State Park	Hilgard Junction State Park	Red Bridge State Wayside
Ukiah-Dale State Forest State Scenic Corridor	Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area	Wallowa Lake Highway Forest State Scenic Corridor
Fort Rock State Natural Area	Booth State Scenic Corridor	Chandler State Wayside
Fort Rock Cave	Blue Mountain Forest State Scenic Corridor	Battle Mountain Forest State Scenic Corridor
Sumpter Valley Dredge State Heritage Area	Iwetemlaykin State Heritage Site	Bradley State Scenic Viewpoint
Del Rey Beach State Recreation Site	Fort Stevens State Park	Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area
Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint	Oceanside Beach State Recreation Site	Bob Straub State Park
Cape Lookout State Park	Arcadia Beach State Recreation Site	Ecola State Park
Hug Point State Recreation Site	Manhattan Beach State Recreation Site	Oswald West State Park
Saddle Mountain State Natural Area	Tolovana Beach State Recreation Site	Nehalem Bay State Park
Clay Myers State Natural Area at Whalen Island	Munson Creek State Natural Site	Sunset Beach State Recreation Site
L.L. Stub Stewart State Park	Bonnie Lure State Recreation Area	Mary S. Young State Recreation Area
Milo McIver State Park	Tryon Creek State Natural Area	Banks-Vernonia State Trail
Government Island State Recreation Area	Willamette Stone State Heritage Site	Casey State Recreation Site
Prospect State Scenic Viewpoint	Joseph H. Stewart State Recreation Area	Illinois River Forks State Park
TouVelle State Recreation Site	Tub Springs State Wayside	Wolf Creek Inn State Heritage Site
Valley of the Rogue State Park	Collier Memorial State Park	Jackson F. Kimball State Recreation Site
OC&E Woods Line State Trail	Golden State Heritage Site	Geisel Monument State Heritage Site
Humbug Mountain State Park	Otter Point State Recreation Site	Paradise Point State Recreation Site
Port Orford Heads State Park	Cape Blanco State Park	Bandon State Natural Area
Coquille Myrtle Grove State Natural Site	Face Rock State Scenic Viewpoint	Hoffman Memorial State Wayside
Seven Devils State Recreation Site	Bullards Beach State Park	Alfred A. Loeb State Park
Cape Sebastian State Scenic Corridor	Crissey Field State Recreation Site	McVay Rock State Recreation Site
Pistol River State Scenic Viewpoint	Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor	Winchuch State Recreation Site
Harris Beach State Park	Cape Arago State Park	Golden and Silver Falls State Natural Area
Shore Acres State Park	William M. Tugman State Park	Sunset Bay State Park
Bolon Island Tideways State Scenic Corridor	Umpqua Lighthouse State Park	Arizona Beach State Recreation Site
Alderwood State Wayside	Elijah Bristow State Park	Washburne State Wayside
Maples Rest Area	Mongold (Detroit Lake)	North Santiam State Recreation Area
Bald Peak State Scenic Viewpoint (10/03/2009)	Molalla River State Park	Detroit Lake State Recreation Area (09/13/2009)
Champoeg State Heritage Area (09/21/2009; 10/03/2009)	Erratic Rock State Natural Area	Umpqua State Scenic Corridor
Maud Willamson State Recreation Site	Sarah Helmick State Recreation Site	Willamette Mission State Park
Cascadia State Park	Silver Falls State Park	Fall Creek State Recreation Area
Lowell State Recreation Site	Jasper State Recreation Site	Dexter State Recreation Site
Fort Yamhill State Heritage Area	Thompson’s Mill State Heritage Site	State Capitol State Park

 

Still reading? I’m impressed! I will admit that this is not as daunting as it sounds, as a lot of these are wayside and rest areas and such….but I will get the buzz of accomplishment when I can cross them off my list!

So here’s how this is going to work….

1 – I’ll count visits to any of these from September 2009 on. So, yeah, I can’t count places like Silver Falls State Park or Devil’s Punchbowl until I go there again.

2 – I’ll post a quick summary of my visit on this blog (although I may combine several visits into one post if that is appropriate). I’ll try to post pictures as well, but no promises!

3 – I’ll update this post (and put a link to it on the sidebar) each time I post a visit to a park. Check the chart for the date visited and the link to the write-up.

4 – No deadline! This is all about enjoying the State Parks, not about getting a book and movie deal!

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Tags: Lofty Goal, Oregon, Oregon State Parks

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