Southern Oregon

 The Steel Visitor Center is at the Crater Lake National Park headquarters and offers a 18-minute film, free advice about how best to enjoy Crater Lake, and has a post office. 

The Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater is southern Oregon's state-of-the-art community performing arts center. The facility features excellent acoustics and sightlines, an impressive array of theatrical equipment and is operated by a professional staff. The auditorium is intimate and comfortable and seats just 732 patrons, yet the stage can accommodate large national concert, dance and theatrical tours.

Your journey through the Umpqua River Basin starts with 10 waterfalls with a variety of picnic areas and hikes. There's something here for all skills and abilities.

The Grave Creek covered span at Sunny Valley, about 15 miles north of Grants Pass, can be seen by motorists traveling Interstate 5.

A long-time Medford and Rogue River Valley business that not only grows pears and peaches, but is one of the largest United States mail order companies. Started in 1934 as a catalogue company, Harry & David now has stores around the U.S. and offers a tour of their facilities.

Starting from the historic Crater Lake Lodge, this path climbs along the rim of a gigantic collapsed volcano, now filled with a stunningly blue, 6-mile-wide lake.

This gold mining town is more than just a living museum; it's an active cultural center with art galleries, a first-rate summer music festival, and miles of hiking trails through recently-acquired parklands.

Once a sanctuary for Takelma Indians, today these cliff-edged mesas near Medford are a haven for hikers and endangered wildflowers. Views from the cliffs extend across the Rogue River to the Siskiyous and the Cascades. Visit in spring to catch the best flower displays and to avoid summer's merciless heat.

High on Crater Lake's western rim, the Watchman's lookout tower commands an eagle's-eye view across the amazingly blue lake to Wizard Island. The steep little climb up the Watchman is one of the most popular paths in the national park. It's also short enough that you might want to extend the hike by taking an adjacent 2-mile path around Hillman Peak to a viewpoint above the Devils Backbone. Pets are banned on all park trails.

During the early 1850s hundreds of miners and settlers poured into southwest Oregon and onto Indian lands staking claims and establishing farms. The clash of cultural attitudes toward the ownership and use of natural resources led to the Rogue River Indian Wars of 1853-56. War came to the coast in March of 1856, when the "Tu-tu-tuni" attacked Ellensburg, a settlement at the mouth of the Rogue River (present-day Gold Beach). A party of 34 armed civilians, led by vigilante George H.