7 Best Sights in Central Oregon, Oregon

For 66 miles, this nationally designated Scenic Byway meanders past a series of high mountain lakes and is good for fishing, hiking, and camping in the summer months. (Much of the road beyond Mt. Bachelor is closed by snow during the colder months.)

Central Oregon’s first and most famous brewery produces and bottles its beer in this facility separate from the popular brewpub. Join one of the four daily tours and learn from the beer-obsessed staff; be sure to make reservations online or by phone, as tours fill quickly. The tour ends in the tasting room and gift shop, where participants get to try samples of the fresh beer; stick around for an extra pint in the adjacent outdoor beer garden.

The West is actually quite wild, and this combo museum-zoo proves it. Kids will love the up-close-and-personal encounters with Gila monsters, snakes, porcupines, birds of prey, and otters. Characters in costume take part in the summertime Living History series, where you can chat with stagecoach drivers, boomtown widows, pioneers, homesteaders, and sawmill operators. Peruse the 110,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor exhibits, such as Spirit of the West and a historic family ranch, to experience how the past can truly come alive.

Twenty-five miles east of the flat, juniper-dotted countryside around Prineville, the landscape changes to forested ridges covered with tall ponderosa pines and Douglas firs. Sheltered by the diminutive Ochoco Mountains and with only about a foot of rain each year, the national forest, established in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt, manages to lay a blanket of green across the dry, high desert of central Oregon. This arid landscape—marked by deep canyons, towering volcanic plugs, and sharp ridges—goes largely unnoticed except for the annual influx of hunters during the fall. The Ochoco, part of the old Blue Mountain Forest Reserve, is a great place for camping, hiking, biking, and fishing in relative solitude. In its three wilderness areas—Mill Creek, Bridge Creek, and Black Canyon—it's possible to see elk, wild horses, eagles, and even cougars.

Eight miles north of Redmond, this park is world famous for rock climbing, with hundreds of routes of all levels of difficulty. A network of hiking trails serves both climbers and families dropping in for the scenery. In addition to the stunning rock formations, the Crooked River, which helped shape these features, loops through the park. You might spot golden eagles, prairie falcons, mule deer, river otters, and beavers. Due to the environmental sensitivity of the region, the animal leash law is strongly enforced. It can get quite hot in midsummer, so most prefer to climb in the spring and fall.

Learn about life on earth and in the heavens above at this hybrid nature center and observatory. The nature center focuses on exhibiting creatures found in Central Oregon, including owls and hawks, while the observatory allows visitors to turn their attention upwards to the great beyond. Come in the daytime to peep at the sun through one of the dozen-odd telescopes on-site, or sign up for one of the special evening programs, which offer visitors the opportunity to get a closer view of our solar system's stars and planets.

Many people who drive through this part of north-central Oregon are more intent on their distant destinations than on the arid landscape they're passing through. But venture down the two-lane roads to this mini Grand Canyon of red-rock cliffs and gorges 14 miles west of small-town Madras. On a clear day a column of snowcapped Cascades peaks lines the horizon during the drive from town. Lake Billy Chinook, a glittering oasis amid the rocks, snakes through the park, formed by the Deschutes, Metolius, and Crooked Rivers.

The park is accessible year-round, but high season is summertime when families camp on the lakeshore and houseboats drift unhurriedly from cliff to cleft. The lake is renowned for its wildlife, from the lake's bull trout to turkey vultures that fill the sky with their cries. Nature lovers also flock to the park in February for the annual eagle watch. The Crooked River Day Use Area is the most immediately accessible part of the park, a great place to cast a line into the water, launch a boat, or raid your picnic basket. Nearby is the Cove Palisades Marina, where you can rent fishing and houseboats, clean fish, and buy sandwiches and boat supplies, including kids' water toys.

In addition to nearly 10 miles of hiking trails, The Cove Palisades has a driving loop around its craggy rim. Near the Ship Rock formation, you may see petroglyphs carved into a boulder by indigenous people centuries ago.

A full-service campgrounds has full hookups, electrical sites with water, and tent sites, boat slips, and cabins.