Spa and Award-Winning Golf Amid Cascade Mountain Range

Ponderosa pine and white-fir trees tower like statues along sweeping stretches of natural forest as elk and bobcats stalk beneath boughs. The Cascade Mountain range lords over this natural kingdom, and reverence for the surrounding splendor is a recurring theme at the Running Y Ranch: its golf course—designed by Arnold Palmer and picked by Golf Digest as a top course for women—comes scattered with ponds, evergreens, and sandy pockets and features stunning vistas. Nearby, the on-site Sandhill Spa similarly harnesses earthly elements, from river stones to floral aromatics, to soothe and subdue strain.

Rising above the valley of Payne Canyon, the resort’s timber-framed lodge welcomes sojourners into common areas arrayed with flagstone floors and leather furnishings. Within standard rooms, rustic wood furnishings flirt with lilac and peach bed dressings. Should lodgers upgrade to a golf-course view (free, based on availability), they'll be able gaze out at the fairways to map out their swing trajectory and the site of their morning cartwheels as smoky blue slopes jut into the horizon.

Elsewhere, the forest borders a view of the resort's town center, an alpine hamlet in miniature, complete with a market to help stock in-room mini fridges. Ranch Espresso perks up tired taste buds with locally roasted Mellelo coffee, and Wyatt's American Eatery unites local produce with house-cured bacon, homemade breads, soups, and sauces. Rounding out the resort's map is the fitness center, where swimmers splash in the pool and wading pool or marinate in the hot tub.

Klamath Falls: Forested Splendor and Avian Paradise

Tucked away near the Northern California border, the city of Klamath Falls rests as the centerpiece civilization amid vast woodlands, including Umpqua, Fremont-Winema, Shasta-Trinity, and Klamath National Forests. The Cascade Mountain Range to the west melds with lava formations, lakes, and evergreens, and its photogenic landscape drew in noted naturalists John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt in the early 1900s. A drive along the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway traces tectonic activity and unparalleled spectacle around Upper Klamath Lake, a popular layover for birds on the major migratory route of the Pacific Flyway. About a million ducks and geese flock to draw arrows and search algorithms across the sky every fall, and winter brings bald eagles home to roost in the basin's wetlands.