141 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in Oregon - Atlas Obscura

Unusual
Attractions
in Oregon

Yachats, Oregon

Thor's Well

On the Oregon coast there is a natural hole that seems to be draining the sea.

Portland, Oregon

The Witch's Castle

These old stone ruins in the Oregon wilderness were once bathrooms and are steeped in legends of murder.

Corbett, Oregon

Multnomah Falls

A roaring, awe-inspiring double cascade of icy water flows through woodland Oregon like something out of a Tolkien novel.

Portland, Oregon

Portland's Shanghai Tunnels

The seamy, underground secrets of Portland's criminal past.

Portland, Oregon

The Freakybuttrue Peculiarium

An emporium for the weird, creepy, rare, and just plain gross.

Portland, Oregon

The Grotto

A beautiful 62-acre Catholic shrine and botanical garden.

Crater Lake, Oregon

Crater Lake

The deepest lake in the United States, and once the site of epic destruction that lives on in myth.

Clackamas County, Oregon

Bagby Hot Springs

Hollowed out cedar log tubs set in an ancient towering forest.

See All 141 Things to Do in Oregon See All 141 Places

Unique
Food & Drink
in Oregon

Potato Doughnuts

The first American doughnut chain used spuds.

Strawberry Tree Fruit

The lychee-looking fruit appears in everything from jam and liqueur to the Aeneid and Madrid's flag.

Chili and Cinnamon Rolls

This savory-sweet pairing is a classic school lunch.

Lobster Mushroom

This mushroom isn't a mushroom at all.

See all 8 things to eat in Oregon See all 8 things to eat in Oregon

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Beaverton, Oregon

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Stories
About Oregon

Taylor's checkerspot butterfly.

A Butterfly Conservation Lab Takes Flight in a Women's Prison

It's also helping incarcerated women reconnect with nature.

by Sabrina Imbler

Posy Busby in a cottonwood garden in Corvallis, Oregon.

There Is a Whole World Inside Every Plant

Plants have microbiomes, too, and they're full of untapped secrets.

by Sarah Laskow

Two large fossilized mammoth tracks.

The Stories Hidden in Fossilized Mammoth Footprints

What researchers uncovered when they analyzed 43,000-year-old tracks.

by Christina Ayele Djossa

February 14, 2018

Fourth Avenue in Anchorage, Alaska, after a magnitude-9.2 earthquake in 1964. The earthquake was caused by the Aleutian Megathrust, a subduction zone.

Simulating What Could Happen When the 'Really Big One' Hits the Pacific Northwest

When the Cascadia subduction zone slips, the effects will vary based on where and how.

by Kelsey Kennedy

October 23, 2017

Palouse Falls in eastern Washington.

Volcanic Eruptions That Shaped Oregon May Have Had a Chilling Effect

A massive amount of sulfur gas probably impacted climate around the world.

by Kelsey Kennedy

October 11, 2017

Dungeness crabs are popular among commercial and recreational fishers in Oregon. About 8.3 million pounds were harvested in 2014–15.

The Ocean's Low-Oxygen Dead Zones Are Getting Worse, Just Like Wildfires

So scientists are starting to track them that way.

by Kelsey Kennedy

October 6, 2017

Fran Baxter stands outside her seasonal antiques shop in Christmas Valley, which was once the location of Phillips's office.

The 1960s Real Estate Mirage of Christmas Valley

Developer M. Penn Phillips had a vision for the Oregon high desert. But there was a reason the area had yet to be developed.

by Hannah Steinkopf-Frank

August 18, 2017

Total Eclipse: It's coming.

Atlas Obscura's Total Eclipse Festival Is Officially Sold Out

For those of you joining us, stay tuned for more details on the final lineup.

by Sommer Mathis and Megan Roberts

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