Oregon/California
On the Road: The Oregon Coast, California Redwoods & Crater Lake
Program No. 16188RJ
Explore ancient redwood forests, see the clear waters of America’s deepest lake and learn about unique Northwest landscapes alongside experts.
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Participant Reviews
Based on 32 Reviews
SHOWING
This is a great combination of varied terrains and scenery in one trip. Hard to say which were the best - dramatic sea cliffs and beaches, gigantic redwood forests, Crater Lake, Columbia River Gorge or high desert with lava fields - they were all great and quite varied. It was terrific to be able to cover all that ground in 10 days with someone else doing the driving. We enjoyed ideal weather in the beginning of October.
— Review left October 16, 2024
This is a fantastic trip and covers so much of the state. The views are outstanding and everything I had hoped for!
— Review left October 15, 2024
This was a wonderful trip! The itinerary provides a nice variety of experiences - jet boat, dune buggy, a boat trip with whale sitings, magestic redwoods, Crater Lake, lava fields, and more. It was a great way to see a beautiful part of the country. Our group leader, Lesa, was exceptional. She kept things running smoothly the entire trip, handling any bumps along the way with grace. The participants were a great group of people. I would highly recommend this trip!
— Review left October 11, 2024
I have attended seven Road Scholar programs, and each of them has been very well planned and executed, as well as fun and educational. Road Scholar has made it possible for me to see and do things I would not have experienced on my own.
— Review left October 4, 2024
Everyone should take the opportunity to see the coastal redwoods!
— Review left October 2, 2024
Being my first trip with Road Scholar I was a bit nervous. It was a wonderful trip. Lesa did an excellent job with all of our stops and keeping us informed on info in the area. What a beautiful coastal trip we had!! Erik our bus driver was the best getting us around.
— Review left September 27, 2024
What a great trip. So many beautiful places to go. A lot of time traveling to all those places but frequent stops and comfortable transportation make it a worthwhile experience. We particularly enjoyed the variety of activities.
— Review left September 27, 2024
I had a great time on this tour….many new and varied experiences.
Our guide Lesa and expert Roger and driver Erik (best driver ever) were wonderful.
— Review left September 18, 2024
Our group leader, Susan Wolfe, is amazing! Her warmth, empathy, and passion definitely contributed to the cohesion of the group. The sites are simply marvelous on this trip, and the activities were very fun!
— Review left September 2, 2024
I must commend Susan, Natalie, and Erik for their remarkable efforts throughout the trip. Susan truly bore the weight of any challenges that arose with grace, remaining humble in her victories. Natalie, juggling multiple roles, ensured that no one was left out, skillfully attending to everyone's needs. And Erik—what can I say? He maintained his perfect record of no reportable incidents, a feat that places him alone in his group at his company. His dedication to safety and excellence was evident throughout the journey.
Thank you again for this enriching experience. I look forward to the next adventure with Road Scholar!
Best regards,
James
— Review left September 2, 2024
This trip was a perfect blend of learning the science of nature and experiencing the joy of being outdoors. The excellent planning put us in places where we could have the unplanned events such as spotting a bald eagle or walking through the giant redwoods in a misty rain. Who could predict snow at Crater Lake in August or that the snow would stop, the clouds would lift from the lake and reveal the brilliant blue the lake is known for. Hats off to our leader Susan, our naturalist Natalie and our driver Erick.
— Review left August 28, 2024
This was a great trip with beautiful scenery, great walks, interesting places, good museums and kept us moving!
— Review left July 1, 2024
very enjoyable trip excellent leaders who imparted lots of new facts congenial companions,gorgous country which included beaches Redwood forests a land of lava and magnificent falls.
— Review left June 19, 2024
The coast of Oregon is exciting and magnificent. This trip offers a lot of variety and immersion into the natural world. In addition to the gorgeous scenery you get to play on a dune buggy and jet boat. Wow!
— Review left June 19, 2024
Of anyone wanting to learn about Oregon from top to bottom (and beyond) this is the perfect program.
— Review left October 9, 2023
This was a wonderful road trip through Oregon south along the Coastal Hwy. to the California Redwoods, then northward to include beautiful Crater Lake, the Lava Lands, the Native American story in Oregon, and lastly the awesome Multnomah Falls. The pace and meals were good and the weather was sunny and beautiful every single day. Carolyn was our Host and Greg was our Study Leader, and they worked very well together. All participants were timely and courteous; we had a very memorable trip together. Now we are sharing our photos through one person's Google account, so the fun continues. We hated to see our Oregon adventure end.
— Review left October 3, 2023
This Particular Road Scholar Trip is exceptional for learning about Oregon, and it's vast Mountains, Rivers and landscape but the highlight of the program
is the Redwood trees.
— Review left October 2, 2023
It was thrilling to experience walking among the tallest living entities on the planet, hundreds of years old, the Coastal Redwoods. I stood in awe; the sight, scent, and quietness of the Redwood Forest becoming a visceral memory.
— Review left July 10, 2023
This was a wonderful trip - we got to see so much beautiful scenery along the coast of Oregon and into Northern California. I heartily recommend this trip. The tour was well organized and our tour director, Carolyn, was terrific. The bus was comfortable and our driver friendly and a skillful driver. Although we were in some small towns and rural locations, the accomodations and food were very good.
— Review left June 25, 2023
Carolyn Singh was a phenomenal Group Leader, and it was her first time in this role. Amazing leadership!
— Review left June 19, 2023
This trip was awesome! It was everything I had hoped it would be! Just wonderful from beginning to end!
— Review left October 17, 2022
This a an outstanding program. There is so much variety of interesting and beautiful things to see. Coastal Oregon, the California redwood trees, and Crater Lake National Park were all amazing! This was my favorite Road Scholar program of the 9 I have been on. I would recommend it for anyone who likes to be on the go and learn new things!
— Review left September 12, 2022
I loved the trip and was so thankful that in June the weather was in mid-70's to low-80's plus we were there before the Oregon fires & 100+ weather. Hikes, shore line, trees, crater lake, trip leader & info from guide were all fantastic. So happy I went.
— Review left September 4, 2022
Bob was an amazing leader. We saw so much beauty on the Oregon Coast.
— Review left August 29, 2022
Great trip, great leaders. A variety of activities and experiences.
— Review left July 27, 2022
This trip was everything I hoped it would be. We had a great group and fantastic leaders. Roger was an excellent guide with “T” providing local color and fun facts. And bus driver Benny was simply amazing. She can handle that big bus as smoothly as if it were a Prius! I have already signed up for a another trip next summer.
— Review left July 18, 2022
Another great RS program - The Pacific NW is beautiful - Oregon Coast unique and magnificent - Redwoods - Crater Lake amazing. Great guides - wonderful people - and everyone remained healthy. Couldn't ask for anything more.
— Review left July 4, 2022
5 star rating.
I chose the tour for the main attractions, but there was so much more this trip offered. Each day was an adventure. All along the way, Roger and T educated us of all the incredible sights we saw. Both were very knowledgable of the area and complemented one another.
The coast of Oregon is absolutely beautiful. The high cliffs along the ocean, sea stacks jetting out of the sand and water, towering Lighthouses on the hill tops and the beautiful sunsets.
The California Redwoods are so majestic. Walking among these giants was so calming and peaceful. Crater Lake was just as captivating and inspiring as the fog rolled in and out.
The Oregon Sand Dunes tour was a fun ride over mountains of sand that make you feel as if you were in the desert. The jet boat tour through the wilderness on the Rogue River was breathtaking. We saw eagles, deer, a river otter, an abundance of wildlife along the way. As you walk through the lava fields at Newberry Volcanic Nat’l Monument it was like you were on another planet. So many amazing sights to see. I would highly recommend this trip.
Yes there were wrinkles along the way, but everything got ironed out.
I am already booked for 2 more Road Scholar trips!
— Review left June 23, 2022
Overall, I would give this trip 3 stars. While our Group Leader Roger Dammarell was amazing, our Study Leader contributed only tangentially to this program. Our 32 Participants were exposed to COVID by our first coach driver and nearly derailed the entire 10 day program by her failure to wear a mask while experiencing COVID symptoms. Roger quickly arranged for a 2nd coach driver who we had for two days before she left for another committment. In spite of our COVID scare, our 3rd coach driver chose to remove his mask each time we boarded and exited the coach, and was driving our 32 participants using one hand on the wheel while snacking. After 2 requests from our Leader, the bus driver stopped snacking while driving, but continued to pull his mask off at every itinerary stop. The food was sometimes very good, sometimes very disappointing, and the educational quality of some of the stops was low. But many of the itinerary points of interest were amazing, and Roger has a deep and broad expertise of science, nature, history, and human exploration in this geographical area. He is a delightful storyteller. There were frequent bathroom breaks and itinerary stops planned for each long day of driving.
— Review left June 20, 2022
I enjoyed the area. I thought the hotels we stayed at were fine.
The food was not what I expected. the choices for a few of the meals was limited to chicken, pork or greasy looking pasta. I would expect yo have more sea food choices since we were close to the sea. I felt like the cheapest option was chosen for a lot of the meals. I also felt that there were not very many choices for eating healthy since the salad for most suppers was just plain salad with nothing that could be added to to it to make it better. I also felt like have supper at 7 or 730pm was very late.
The leadership was a little lacking also. At one point when the group was laughing and having fun they were asked to be quiet so that the leader could speak. It seems if the group is having fun they should be allowed to.
I also felt that it would have been much more efficient to give the lecture on tectonic plates on the bus ride so we could have may be spent more time on the dunes.
I appreciate that it is difficult to arrange these trips but i would ask for most of all more sea food, better salads, a relaxed time frame that does not include 2 hours in the class room and better more relaxed handling of the crowd.
— Review left September 10, 2019
you will learn about the science, history, and culture of the natural areas and the people who recognized the value of these beautiful places.
— Review left September 3, 2019
A wonderful trip. My husband and I learned so much about Oregon, the California Redwoods, and many other sites along the way. It was well worth taking this adventure.
— Review left June 21, 2019
