Please join me for a brief trip on US Hwy 20 from Newport, Oregon to Bend. I’ll show you how I read the Essential Geography of the USA.
From Newport, Hwy 20 passes through the forested Coast Range to Corvallis. From here to Lebanon, we’re in the flat, open valley of the Willamette River, which we cross at Albany.
East of Sweet Home, Hwy 20 climbs the Cascade Range, passing the Pacific Crest Trail as it traverses the spine of the high country. Descending the east side of the mountains, we reach Sisters, where forest gives way to open terrain. Here we find views of Mt Jefferson and the South Sister, which we passed between as we crested the mountains. Nearing Bend, elevation 3623 ft, our highway crosses the Deschutes River.
Thanks for coming along! Perhaps you’ve learned a few things about the types of information you can glean from this uniquely geographic work of cartography.
