The Gem Hunt
America decides what makes the map.
Every state has a spot the algorithms miss — the one locals send strangers to. Name it. Vote on the finalists. The winners get built into Roamward, the scenic road-trip app that proves you actually went. No download required to play.
Nominate
What does Oregon do better than anywhere?
One hidden gem — a place a chatbot would never know. The most-named spots become finalists, and the crowd votes the winner into Roamward.
Vote
Oregon gems, most-loved first
- 1Prehistoric GardensTwenty-three life-size hand-built dinosaurs hiding among giant ferns and old-growth redwoods in the coastal rainforest near Port Orford — a shady, all-ages walk off Highway 101.
- 2Thor's WellA churning basalt "hole in the ocean" that seems to swallow the Pacific at Cape Perpetua near Yachats, best caught around high tide from the overlook just off the coast highway.
- 3Peterson Rock GardenA folk-art wonderland of tiny castles, towers, and bridges built from local stone by a Danish homesteader, between Bend and Redmond in central Oregon.
- 4Toketee FallsA jaw-dropping two-tiered waterfall plunging over columnar basalt cliffs, reached by a short forest trail off the Umpqua Highway in the southern Cascades.
- 5Metolius Balancing RocksSlender rock spires capped with boulders that perch like hats, in the Deschutes National Forest northeast of Sisters — a quiet, otherworldly central-Oregon detour.
- 6Painted HillsAbout 90 minutes east of Bend in remote Wheeler County, banded gold, red, and black hillsides of 35-million-year-old fossil soils that glow at low light — a John Day Fossil Beds unit that still feels secret.
- 7Lava River CaveTwelve miles south of Bend, a mile-long lava tube lets you walk underground through a tunnel molten rock carved roughly 80,000 years ago — a self-guided descent; rent a lantern and bring a jacket.
- 8Sea Lion CavesEleven miles north of Florence on Highway 101, an elevator drops you 200 feet into America's largest sea cave, a booming basalt cathedral that's the year-round home of wild Steller sea lions.
- 9Wallowa Lake TramwayIn the alpine corner of far northeast Oregon near Joseph, North America's steepest gondola climbs 3,700 feet to the summit of Mount Howard, opening onto views over the Eagle Cap Wilderness.
- 10Fort Rock State Natural AreaRising 200 feet straight out of the flat high desert near Christmas Valley, a crescent-shaped volcanic tuff ring formed when an eruption met a shallow lake — hike the wave-cut walls in near-solitude.
Not your state’s turn yet?
Want Roamward to map Oregon next?
Add your vote — the loudest state gets mapped first.
How it works
Nominate
Drop the most underrated spot in your state — the gem an itinerary generator would never surface.
The crowd ranks it
Name a place someone already nominated and it rises. The most-loved gems become the state’s finalists.
Vote the winner in
Finalists go to a public vote. Winners get built into Roamward — credited to the people who found them.
Go verify it
Drive it, GPS-verify the stop, earn the badge, and share the map that proves you were first.
Don’t miss the winners
Be the first to find what the crowd picks.
Join early access and we’ll tell you when your state’s gem wins — and when Roamward opens for iOS testing.
Get early access