Explore Oregon Podcast: The state's most beautiful places and biggest issues

In this episode, host Zach Urness talks about the wildfire forecast for the summer of 2024 and the fires burning right now.

Urness lays out what type of wildfire season is expected using interviews with fire weather meteorologists, who explain how drought, fuel moisture and El Nino to La Nina weather patterns could impact wildfires across the state this summer.

Urness breaks down the hot spots for fire danger, and where active wildfires have already had an impact on summer 2024 in the state.

In this episode, Zach talks about the Elkhorn Mountains and Anthony Lakes area of Eastern Oregon.

Urness breaks down the what makes the Elkhorns such a striking range, the best time to visit, where to stay and what to do when visiting. There's no shortage of hikes, alpine lakes, fishing, backpacking and wildlife to enjoy — along with an Old West ghost town with a haunted suction dredge (that you are allowed to visit).

In this episode, host Zach Urness talks about one of Oregon's most beautiful and historic trails that is often overlooked.

The Santiam Wagon Road was once the primary route connecting the Willamette Valley to Central Oregon in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Today, the roadway has been transformed into a beautiful trail best explored on 18 miles and six segments in the Tombstone Pass area east of Sweet Home.

Sweet Home district ranger Nikki Swanson joints the podcast to break down the route's history and the best way to experience it nowadays.

In this episode, host Zach Urness reports on two beloved places — one that is reopening after a major wildfire and another that just closed because of a huge landslide.

Shellburg Falls Recreation Area reopened this past weekend, and Urness talks about how the experience of visiting the 100-foot waterfall and surrounding trails has changed — in some cases dramatically.

Then, Urness reports on how a debris flow has closed access to Valley of the Giants, home to some of Oregons largest and oldest trees in the Coast Range located west of Salem.

In this episode, host Zach Urness talks about the Oregon Outback and Summer Lake area, a land of desert canyons, hot springs, hikes and quite possibly Oregon's best restaurant.

The region was recently established as a dark sky sanctuary, but Urness looks at all the daytime adventures, along with the best time to visit and places to stay.

He talks about Crack in the Ground, Cowboy Tree Diner and Summer Lake, among many other places to fish, bird-watch, hunt, hike and explore.

In this episode, host Zach Urness talks to ultra runner Emily Halnon of Eugene, who back in 2020 set the speed record for the Oregon segment of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Halnon ran the Oregon PCT's 460 miles in 7 days, 19 hours and 23 minutes — an average of 57 miles per day. She set the record for both male and female runners. 

In the podcast — and in a recently published book — Halnon talked about doing the run to honor her mother, who died of a rare form of bone cancer.

Halnon's recently published a book about her experience called "To the Gorge: Running, Grief, and Resilience & 460 Miles on the Pacific Crest Trail." She's currently on a book tour in Oregon and elsewhere. See her page, emilyhalnon.com, for a full list of book tour stops.

In this edition of the Explore Oregon Podcast, host Zach Urness talks about a program that allows harvesting plants from national and state forests and replanting them your own backyard.

With the program, you can transplant ferns, saplings and even wildflowers into your own yard for free. It's called the "forest products free use permit" and we'll tell you how you can use it to go on your own plant hunt.

In this episode, Zach talks about Oregon's wildflower hotspots and the best times to visit with expert Greg Lief.

Lief, who runs the website OregonWildflowers.org and the Facebook group Oregon Wildflowers, talks about some of Oregon's most interesting blooms and the best times to visit places such as the Columbia Gorge, Old Cascades, Coast Range and Eastern Oregon.

In this episode of the Explore Oregon Podcast, host Zach Urness talks about the rebound of one of Oregon's most iconic fish from near extinction.

Urness was interviewed by Think Out Loud host Dave Miller on Oregon Public Broadcasting about why this year's run of winter steelhead in the Upper Willamette Basin was so special. After their population nearly crashing in 2017, the sea-run trout returned their best numbers in two decades this year.

The interview was based on a story Urness wrote on the subject titled: "Once in 'extinction vortex,' Willamette winter steelhead post best returns since 2004."

In this episode, host Zach Urness revisits the Oregon Desert Trail, a challenging but beautiful route designed to open the eyes of hikers to the wonders of the high desert.

Urness talks about why spring is a time to consider hiking or planning a short or long-distance trek along the 750-mile route that travels from just outside of Bend all the way to Lake Owyhee State Park.

Urness get expertise from Renee Patrick, trail coordinator for the Oregon Natural Desert Association about everything hikers need to know about undertaking the route, and just what makes it special.