Road trippin' - the I5 to Portland, Oregon

The American road trip is part of the American cultural identify. The open roads, long distances, summer escapes to the National Parks and State Parks, small towns and big cities. Unlike the UK where a two hour car ride is long, here the journey is part of the adventure, Spotify gets loaded, the Yeti is packed with snacks and drinks and off you go! In part one of our 2025 trip we take scenic detours, find hidden waterfalls, and drive the long road north.

In mid-June, we embarked on our first major USA road trip, covering over 2,300 miles from our home on California’s Central Coast to Northern California, reaching the top of Oregon, and winding back down the coast.

For my dear British readers to put that into context you’d have to drive from Land’s End to John O’Groates two and 3/4 times to get that mileage. Or from my hometown of Basingstoke in southern England to Athens….But the difference is the roads. To travel from Cornwall to Scotland the route involves two A Roads (similar to a Highway - can be single lane in both directions of double lane with a median) and 5 Motorways (similar to a Freeway or Interstate). 

From our house we took Highway 1 for an hour, crossed to the Interstate 5 which we followed pretty much all the way to Portland. The I5 and Highway 1 both start on the border of Mexico and end at the border of Canada! Driving is so much easier on the long straight roads of the United States, but veer off the main freeways and there are some exceptionally scenic winding roads too, of which we drove a few on this trip. 

I spent far too long planning it, but with 25 years of travel industry experience I like to seek out the extra special spots and have everything planned. Once I realized that state campsites fill months in advance my search for nice places to stay also took way longer than expected. I booked the majority of accommodation in April for a June departure and have learnt we need to start planning a little earlier for the next one.

Summer break rolled around and we filled the Jeep with the camping gear and ALL the kit and headed off on our epic trip. We combined nights at motels, hotels, glamping sites and camp grounds with the main rule of if we’re staying one night it was in a place with walls and no tent faffing! 

Our plan was to push to the top of Oregon as quick as we could using the Interstate 5 (I5) which is a soulless road straight up the middle of California and Oregon. But as I started planning I discovered there were plenty of side trips off the I5 to relieve the monotony and slow the trip down.

We roll at dawn.....

First stop, Sacramento. Small person (H) had been learning about Californian history so when he realized we were doing a quick night stop in Sacramento he asked if we could go to Sutter’s Fort, Sutter was taught as a hero of the gold rush in school, and to cut a long story short Sutter’s Fort on educates visitors on how the indigenous population were treated but this hero. H soon realized that history isn’t always taught in the most rounded informed way, every nation has much work to do on this. 

I managed to book the worst motel in Sacramento and we had to completely unpack to the Jeep and secure everything safely and sleep with one eye open. We were within walking distance of Sacramento Old Town so we headed there for a quick dinner and look around and watched the historic train pull back into the museum.

An early start and we headed to Shasta County, the I5 started to climb and got a little winding, in the distance we could see Mount Shasta with its snow capped summit. We stopped at Lake Shasta for a hike - I’d found the Bailey trail which was an easy trail on a promontory that gave use great vistas of the lake and mountains around us. It was quiet on the trail, we didn’t see another hiker but we watched plenty of people enjoying the lake by boat and quirky houseboats which you can hire to stay on. 

We continued up the I5 to our accommodation at Dunsmuir, the Caves Springs Resort. I’d booked a surprise and our first proper night was spent in an Airstream and redeemed myself for the motel. Dunsmuir is located on the banks of the Sacramento River so we went for a short walk to its banks and thoroughly enjoyed watching the river running fast and the sound of flowing water. Where we live most of the river beds are dry, so Northern California is a huge contrast and it was a great live stream.

We spent the evening enjoying the live music at Cave Springs, relaxing in Adirondack chairs and playing lawn games. All with the distinctive local smell in wafting through the air - IYKYK! 

The next morning we walked to our first waterfall, Hedge Creek Falls is a short drive from Dunsmuir and the short walk takes you downhill to a beautiful waterfall. When we first arrived there was a big group so we carried on the hike down to the banks of the spectacular Sacramento River which was wider and more genteel at this point. Oh how we’d missed green trees and flowing water. 

As the group we had encountered arrived at the river bank we headed back and enjoyed the waterfall alone, clambering across the rocks and walking behind the falls. We headed back to the Jeep for our next stop.

The temperature was rising and our next detour off the I5 was towards Mount Shasta and a short hike on the foothills, and it was short - after about a mile we decided it was too hot abandoned the route and jumped back in the Jeep. Next stop Oregon….

Within an hour the I5 was descending quickly and we crossed the border into Oregon. We stopped at a rest stop which was also on Oregon Visitor Information centre - I was in my element, I love the publications that visitor centres create - maps, guides, suggested itineraries I had to hold myself back from collecting it all. They really are worth stopping at and speaking to the staff to get some real local information (not like blogs and Instagram accounts wink).

We headed to our night stop at Union Creek Resort, just short of Crater Lake National Park. Our lodge was right opposite the Rouge River Gorge, so we wondered over to find an easy walk along a interpretive trail that was a good geography lesson for H. The sound of the rushing water as it get pushed with the gorge and the cool air on our faces was spectacular. 

We wondered back across the road and met with our friends who were on a similar route to us, the evening was spent with more Adirondack chairs, a campfire with marshmallows and the Union Creek flowing beside us.

Next morning, we were up early as we were pushing through to Portland today. But not before we headed to our first USA National Park - Crater Lake. The road wound up the mountain side to the main village and we parked up, wrapped up and headed to the viewpoint. It was awesome, Crater Lake is the what it says, a volcanic crater that over time the caldera has filled with water. We were at 1,800m (I still don’t speak feet) and the snow was still surrounding the rim, turns out June is early in the season and the rim road was yet to be cleared and open. We walked a short way along the rim, awed at the views, let the boys play in the snow (the nasty compacted stuff that probably fell 7 months ago) and then got back on the road after a mooch in the gift shop and the obligatory purchase of  a sticker and a walking pole badge.

Crater Lake National Park

We could have taken the quick route to Portland but I wanted to see the waterfalls of the Umpqua River valley. Highway 138 is known as “Oregon’s Highway of Waterfalls” and we could have spent a week hiking and exploring this 137 mile stretch of road. We pulled off the highway to go in search of waterfalls. Our first stop was Clearwater Falls, which is an easy five minute stroll from the car park, these falls were low and wide with fallen trees, vibrant green moss and plenty of fun to be had clambering over trees and rocks. This one is really accessible so does mean its quite busy. We headed to our next stop, Watson Falls. These falls are the highest in the National Forest at 90 metres and its a decent hike to get the the viewpoints, there was a lot of up but the reward of seeing the waterfall and feeling the spray on our faces was worth it. And of course its downhill all the way back to the Jeep. 

We were running short of time and wanted to be in Portland for dinner so we carried on along Highway 138 which follows the river, the colour of the Umpqua River is spectacular, a blue like we haven’t seen before and the towering mountains above. As we came to the end of the route we stopped for refreshments at The Steamboat Inn for coffee and pie and to marvel at this spectacular river. We’ve vowed to come back, this is the sort of place we like - incredible scenery, good hiking trails, lots of campsites and barely any people.

Then we headed back to the I5 and on to Portland…

Part two coming soon...