Tag: Oregon State Parks

Best Place to Kayak - Magone Lake in Oregon. Several kayaks sit along the shore of Magone Lake, a natural lake created by a landslide in the early 1800s.

Best Place to Kayak – Magone Lake in Oregon

If you’re looking for the best lake to kayak in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, check out Magone Lake, near Mount Vernon and John Day, Oregon. This roughly 50-acre lake offers calm water, beautiful natural features, and miles of shoreline to explore. Keep reading for kayak access points, directions to Magone Lake, and more.

A wide-angle view of Oregon's Magone Lake, near John Day, Oregon. Enormous pine trees overshadow the walking path that encircles the lake.

Best Camping in Oregon: Clyde Holliday State Park

Some of the best camping in Oregon is a long way away from the coast and the I-5 corridor. You may be surprised to find the high desert oasis of Clyde Holliday State Park, a campground and day-use area near John Day, Mt. Vernon, and Magone Lake.

An interior poster with Chinese script at John Day, Oregon's Kam Wah Chung & Company, the most significant collection of 19th and 20th Century artifacts documenting Chinese immigrants in the American West. The store, boarding house, doctor's office, and home contains documents and objects from the third-largest Chinese settlement or 'Chinatown' in the United States. The building sat undisturbed for decades before being opened and preserved, first by the city of John Day and later by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.

Interesting Oregon Facts: John Day’s Kam Wah Chung & Company

One of the most significant and interesting historical sites in Oregon sits near John Day, Oregon’s Main Street. Chinese immigrants Ing Hay and Lung On bought Kam Wah Chung & Company in 1880. They turned the dry goods store into a successful, 50-year partnership, providing medical care, dried goods, lodging, entertainment, writing and translation services, and other important services to both the Chinese and non-Chinese communities.

A wide-angle view of Oregon's Magone Lake, near John Day, Oregon. Enormous pine trees overshadow the walking path that encircles the lake.

Oregon Road Trip: 3 Day Recommended Itinerary

Thinking of planning your own Oregon Road Trip? Our recommended Oregon road trip itinerary includes full-day activities for each of the three days. Click on any of the days in our itinerary contents list below to jump to that part of the itinerary.