Grants Pass Travel Guide

When the bus crosses the border from California into Oregon, the bus driver announces:  "You have just entered God's Country."  And he's right.   The Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon  has some of the most  scenic countryside in the United States.  Through the center of the Valley runs Bear Creek and the Rogue River, parts of which are included in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers designated area.  The largest cities in the Rogue Valley are  Grants Pass at the  western end of the valley;  Medford in the central valley area; and Ashland at the southeastern end.

Grants Pass, whose motto is:  "It's The Climate,"  lies in what is called "the banana belt" of Oregon because of the relatively mild climate of the Rogue Valley.  The city's mascot  at the north end of the city is a statue of a caveman- possibly 20 feet high. A popular annual event includes decorated statutes of bears on many corners of the city.   Memorial Day events include a parade, carnival in the park, and the Boatnik boat races on the Rogue River.  A  major tourist treat  is the jet boats that  carry people down the Rogue River, through the Wild and Scenic River section, through Hell's Canyon where several movies  have been filmed,  to lunch or dinner served  family-style at various restaurants in the wilderness area; and then return back to the Riverside Motel/Restaurant in Grants Pass.  The city sports an active little theater group,  Rogue Communty College campus,  professional  musical stage productions in summer at the outdoor amphitheater stage, historic old town area, a new shopping mall, and many antique stores.  It is a "jump off" point for visits to the wilderness areas,   Applegate Trail Museum ,  the Oregon Caves,  the  redwood forests, and the Oregon and California coasts.