📌 Save this for your next Oregon adventure and follow for a Part 3! 1. Santiam Lake - GREAT beginner backpacking destination. You also get to take the PCT for a bit to get to it. Fishing is great just before full snowmelt. 2. Rouge River Trail - Great for a first thru hike because of the low amount of vertical throughout the trail (4500) and low mileage (37). 3. Jefferson Park - mindblowingly beautiful. We took the Whitewater Creek Trail in. Tbh, I do not know what this area looks like now AFTER the huge 2020 fires in the area, but do know they have reopened trails in the area and that the Forest Service didn’t think there was much damage to that area.