Over The Rivers And Through The Woods Scenic Byway
Over The Rivers And Through The Woods Scenic Byway is a State Scenic Byway in Oregon. Within Oregon it covers roughly 65 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Over The Rivers And Through The Woods Scenic Byway with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
Over the Rivers and Through the Woods Scenic Byway is a 66-mile Oregon drive from the farmland of the Willamette Valley into the Cascade foothills, following State Route 126 and US Route 20 eastward. The road traces the corridor of the historic Old Santiam Road, a 19th-century route that once took wagon travelers the better part of a week, carrying their own supplies and camping along the way. The byway passes through Brownsville, where a well-preserved historic Main Street still has buildings dating to the late 1800s, and continues through the small former logging towns of Crawfordsville and Holley as the landscape shifts from open farmland to forested foothills. Near its eastern end, Cascadia State Park offers a place to camp and explore Cascadia Cave, home to one of Oregon's larger collections of ancient petroglyphs. It's a drive that layers pioneer-era history onto a gradual climb into the Cascades, making a good half-day loop out of the mid-Willamette Valley.
- Willamette Valley to Cascade foothills
- 66 miles (SR-126 / US-20)
- historic Old Santiam Road
- Brownsville Historic Main Street
- Cascadia State Park
- Cascadia Cave petroglyphs
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What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Over The Rivers And Through The Woods Scenic Byway
11 campgrounds and RV parks sit within about 5 miles of Over The Rivers And Through The Woods Scenic Byway.
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