Best things to do in Ashland

In the middle of Ashland, Lithia Park houses a forest growing along a stream. The area's high concentration of lithium oxide inspired the name of the park. Duck ponds and a Japanese Zen garden make this place particularly peaceful. There are playgrounds, tennis courts, and an ice skating rink in the winter. The park is fenced and is very dog friendly.

Create memories of Southern Oregon's wilderness that will stay imprinted on your mind forever by whitewater rafting or tubing on the area's scenic rivers. You'll enjoy this activity with an experienced guide, who'll work hard to keep you safe and entertained while rushing through the rapids that'll make your heart beat a little fast. You'll also be able to plunge off the raft into the crystal waters as you come to a calm spot, pick blackberries on the shore, or enjoy an organic meal. You can choose between day trips and multi-day journeys.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. The Festival now offers matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and contemporary plays not limited to Shakespeare. During the Festival, between five and eleven plays are offered in daily rotation six days a week in its three theatres. It welcomed its millionth visitor in 1971, its 10-millionth in 2001, and its 20-millionth visitor in 2015. At any given time between five and eleven plays are offered in daily rotation six days a week in its three theatres.

Known for its deep blue color and clear waters, Crater Lake National Park formed in a collapsed volcano. The lake is more than a protected ecosystem, it is also a sacred place to the Klamath tribe, who researchers think may have witnessed the collapse of the volcano. You'll be able to see another legendary aspect of the lake as well. "Old Man of the Lake," once a tree, now a stump, has bobbed in the lake for centuries. Crater Lake National Park boasts hiking trails and lookout points all around its rim.

ScienceWorks is home to dozens of interactive exhibits that encourage children and adults to learn about more about various scientific principles. The museum currently uses all of the available 17,000 square feet of exhibit space and has created outdoor educational opportunities on its three acres of land including the Climb Through Time geologic climbing wall and a Solar Powered Nursery. The majority of exhibits have been built in-house in a state-of-the-art fabrication studio.

ScienceWorks is a member of the Association of Science and Technology Centers and the Northwest Association of Youth Museums. ScienceWorks is fast becoming a regional resource, serving both the people of Ashland and attracting visitors to the city. Members come from as far away as Roseburg, Klamath Falls, Cave Junction and Mt Shasta. Over 86% of museum visitors come from outside of Ashland.

ScienceWorks exhibits have received national and international attention and have been sold to the Singapore Science Center, Technopolis in Belgium, Miami Museum of Science, Calgary Science Centre and museums in the U.S.

See more than 500 animals roaming freely throughout a 243 hectare (600 acre) park when you visit Wildlife Safari. Drive through the 2.4 km (4.5 mi) stretch to view animals from around the world in open spaces, and see many animals up close. After the drive, wander through the safari village to see even more animals, the White Rhino Event Center, gardens, a playground, gift shop, and cafe. Inside the village, explore the petting zoo and Australia walkabout exhibit, where you can enter with an enclosure with wallaroos. You can sign up for special encounters, such as lion and bear feedings, cheetah walking and petting, camel rides, and camping.

Lava Beds National Monument is a place where you can smell the sage and juniper, listen to birds, and hike miles of lava flows or developed trails. Volcanic eruptions on the Medicine Lake shield volcano have created an incredibly rugged landscape punctuated by cinder cones, lava flows, spatter cones, lava tube caves and pit craters. Explore caves created by the sudden cooling of lava flows, or visit the site of the only Indian war in California at the historic Captain Jack’s Stronghold. The Stronghold, a natural lava fortress, is where a small band of 53 warriors and their families led by Captain Jack held off a force 20 times its size for five months. Just south of the Lava Beds is Medicine Lake ’s volcano, one of the largest shield volcanoes in the world. In actual mass, this volcano is larger than Mt. Shasta . Millions of eruptions over half a million years were gentle rather than explosive, covering more than 750 square miles of landscape with lava. A visit Glass Mountain offers fields of obsidian shining in the sun like black diamonds. At the crest of the mountain, Medicine Lake is a great place for camping, swimming and fishing.

To learn more about Lava Beds please visit our website: www.nps.gov/labe

Seven Feathers Casino Resort is a 298-room, AAA three-star hotel and casino located in Canyonville, Oregon, United States. The casino is owned by the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians. At 232,500 square feet (21,600 m2), with 68,000 square feet (6,300 m2) of gaming space, it is the largest facility of its kind in Southern Oregon. The resort attracts over one million visitors annually.

Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve is a protected area in the northern Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern Oregon in the United States. The 4,554-acre (1,843 ha) park, including the marble cave, is 20 miles (32 km) east of Cave Junction, on Oregon Route 46. The protected area, managed by the National Park Service (NPS), is in southwestern Josephine County, near the Oregon–California border.

Elijah Davidson, a resident of nearby Williams, discovered the cave in 1874. Over the next two decades, private investors failed in efforts to run successful tourist ventures at the publicly owned site. After passage of the Antiquities Act by the United States Congress, in 1909 President William Howard Taft established Oregon Caves National Monument, to be managed by the United States Forest Service (USFS). The growing popularity of the automobile, construction of paved highways, and promotion of tourism by boosters from Grants Pass led to large increases in cave visitation during the late 1920s and thereafter. Among the attractions at the remote monument is the Oregon Caves Chateau, a six-story hotel built in a rustic style in 1934. It is a National Historic Landmark and is part of the Oregon Caves Historic District within the monument. The NPS, which assumed control of the monument in 1933, offers tours of the cave from mid-April through early November. In 2014, the protected area was expanded by about 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) and re-designated a National Monument and Preserve. At the same time, the segment of the creek that flows through the cave was renamed for the mythological Styx and added to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

Oregon Caves is a solutional cave, with passages totaling about 15,000 feet (4,600 m), formed in marble. The parent rock was originally limestone that metamorphosed to marble during the geologic processes that created the Klamath Mountains, including the Siskiyous. Although the limestone formed about 190 million years ago, the cave itself is no older than a few million years. Valued as a tourist cave, the cavern also has scientific value; sections of the cave that are not on tour routes contain fossils of national importance.

Activities at the park include cave touring, hiking, photography, and wildlife viewing. One of the park trails leads through the forest to Big Tree, which at 13 feet (4.0 m) is the widest Douglas fir known in Oregon. Lodging and food are available at The Chateau and in Cave Junction. Camping is available in the preserve at the Cave Creek Campground, at a local USFS campground, and private sites in the area.