Just moved to Corvallis OR

[QUOTE user='rexryman'] I've just moved down to Corvallis oregon for school, and naturally i have loaded a backpack good for at max 3 days of back packing but i'd prefer 2 day trips. I am totally out of my element, down here. I'm from Washington where i can basicaly take a city bus to trail heads (yes ive done it many times, adds a few miles to any hike though)

 

Im just wondering if anyone know of a website like Wta.org....except for oregon. 

and also curious if anyone know some sweet hikes for the fall that are with in an hour drive.

cheers,
Rex[/QUOTE]

I'm also in corvallis (north albany actually) as a student at OSU.  marys peak is a good day hike and pretty close to town. 

Three sisters wilderness (although not very close) is a great area to explore, i have backpacked through parts of it and I really enjoy the obsidian trail area.

for a good weekend (or longer) trip you will have to drive at least 2 hours.

I'll be looking for someone to do eagle cap with me later in the spring maybe early summer, let me know if you are interested...I'll drive

Hi rexyman,

welcome to the valley, where you can get to anything in a few hours' drive, provided you don't mind driving a few hours...

I'm about to move out of Corvallis or I'd offer a meet and greet, but there is a problem that it's hard to find good mountainous stuff nearby.

I haven't tried this but it ought to be possible to Greyhound down to Eugene and take a regular bus that I've heard about that heads out to some hot springs in the Willamette National Forest (Cougar springs, perhaps?). I think that round trip would run about $40 in bus fares. There's some good shorter backpacking trips in that region, but as Forrest said, it's not really wild.

The classic area hike for Corvallis is Mary's Peak, out in the coastal range. It's about a half hour drive whether you go to the east ridge (~4 mi. round trip) or the north ride (~8 mi. round trip). Either way the views from the top are great, and it's a popular spot with astronomy clubs and the like. It does unfortunately have road access almost all the way to the top, so it's not exactly remote, but I've enjoyed making it a regular trip.

The Mt. Jefferson area is perfect for Corvallis, again a bit of a drive but totally worth it.

If you find yourself with free time you might get involved with the Corvallis to Coast group (http://www.c2ctrail.org/ ); they're working on developing a backpacking trail from here to Newport, although it'll probably be another year at least before anything can get done with that.

Fall is a great time to go mushroom hunting in the coastal mountains.

Sorry I can't help more. If you're here for school, check out OSU's Outdoor Rec program (I forget exactly what it's called, just ask at the Dixon rec center). There's a ton of classes and there are clubs that do trips out to ski areas and the like, probably a good place to find people to carpool with for longer trips.

Hey rexyman,
The mountains down here take a little longer to get to (I'm currently in Eugene), since the higher, wilder cascades are a bit further east, and most of the western Cascades aren't exactly wild.  I think most good backpacks take one to two hours to drive to.  I've been exploring the Three Sisters a bit -- Husband Lake is pretty nice and there is quite a bit of territory to discover over there (I'm normally for Portland, so even though I spent several years in Eugene for school, I didn't get to do too much exploring of the Cascades this far south).  Mt. Jefferson offers several good options (Jefferson Park is great), and the Bull of the Woods probably has some good options for you -- not super mountainous, but probably a good getaway option.