Road conditions for proposed shorter route
We are planning a trip from Texas, up the California coast to Oregon, Crater Lake area. Then over to Idaho to visit DH's brother. It looks like we could knock around 200 miles off our trip from Medfor...
Forum Discussion
Are you going to visit Crater Lake? Or does 'Crater lake area' just mean Medford? Crater Lake is a mountain top.
62 and 140 are the routes to the Lake. OR138 drops from the north entrance to US97 in a straight downgrade.
I've looked at Silver Lake Rd on the maps but haven't driven it. Most of the area between 97 and 395 is flat, almost desert. There is an upland to the west of 31 above Summer Lake, but you have to take forest service roads to get up there. There's also a Rim to the east of 395.
US20 and 26 are easy drives across eastern Oregon. 97 and 395 are flat straight drives (some grades on 395 north of Burns).
Online maps like Google Maps give you lots of information of highways. Simply noting the color of National Forests helps (the forests are in the mountains). Terrain mode shows relief and contours. Sat. mode shows whether the area is farmed, forested or grass land. Zoom in enough and you can see every curve. Streetview shows you steetlevel images of the route, showing the guardrails and drop offs - or flat desert views.
62 and 140 are the routes to the Lake. OR138 drops from the north entrance to US97 in a straight downgrade.
I've looked at Silver Lake Rd on the maps but haven't driven it. Most of the area between 97 and 395 is flat, almost desert. There is an upland to the west of 31 above Summer Lake, but you have to take forest service roads to get up there. There's also a Rim to the east of 395.
US20 and 26 are easy drives across eastern Oregon. 97 and 395 are flat straight drives (some grades on 395 north of Burns).
Online maps like Google Maps give you lots of information of highways. Simply noting the color of National Forests helps (the forests are in the mountains). Terrain mode shows relief and contours. Sat. mode shows whether the area is farmed, forested or grass land. Zoom in enough and you can see every curve. Streetview shows you steetlevel images of the route, showing the guardrails and drop offs - or flat desert views.
