Bend

Broken Top from the south

With still more nice fall weather in store, we headed on down to Bend, Oregon (again!).  Why do we keep heading back there?  Sunshine and absolutely perfect (for us) mountain bike trails.  The drive down included some great fall colors in the riparian zones on the east side of the Cascade Mountains.  And of course a lot of big sage-brush country.  We also stopped at Smith Rocks State Park, a rock climbing mecca here in the NW.  And, it being a Sunday afternoon, we got to watch lots of climbing!  It's also quite picturesque in the late afternoon sun.  In Bend, we spent our days hiking and biking, then wandered into town along the Deschutes River for dinner. 

Two of the days were spent revisiting a couple of our favorite mountain bike rides (Phils, Mrazek).  Both gave us a great workout, and were a total blast on the decent ... miles and miles of smooth singletrack!  On the middle day, we hiked to the northern crater of Broken Top (an eroded volcano near the Three Sisters).  After navigating the challenging road to the trailhead, the hike was pretty straight-forward.  There's a seemingly unlikely, but incredibly beautiful lake in this crater.  Deep green water, colorful striated rocks, deep blue sky!  One of the most beautiful spots we've been in the Oregon mountains!  A short climb beyond is a ridge with huge views to the north of numerous Cascade volcanos.  Pretty impressive!  On our last day, we squeezed in a quick mountain-bike ride to Tumalo Falls prior to hitting the road.  Unfortunately, it ended up costing us our planned stop at the Portland Japanese Garden, since we would have arrived shortly before closing.  Oh well, there's always next year!

Crooked River and Smith Rocks

Not sure exactly what or why, but definitely crazy!

Broken Top North Crater

Three Sisters and Beyond, from Broken Top

Tumalo Falls

Simulation of Tom Mountain Biking


Activities

  • Wandering:  Walks along the Deschutes River in Bend
  • Hiking:  Broken Top - North Crater via unmaintained trail from Broken Top Trail
  • Mountain Biking
    • Kents > Phils > Lower Whoops > Phils
    • Shevlin Park Trail > Mrazek (8 mi up)
    • Tumalo Creek Trail

"Oh Wow!" Moments

  • The fall colors along the east slopes of the Cascades!
  • First glimpse of the lake at Broken Top!
  • Flying down Mrazek!

Random Scenes

  • Driving to the Broken Top trailhead, we started up the logging road that we'd read was pretty bad.  Just those reports were enough to scare us away on a previous trip with our old Subaru that had less clearance.  But now we had a nearly empty, high-clearance Outback.  Plus, "bad road" is in the eye of the beholder.  We've gone on many a road that was considered "bad" only to find it just "not so good".  So, we weren't too concerned when we passed the "Road Not Maintained for Passenger Cars" and "Caution Severe Ruts" signs at the beginning of the road.  The road was, in fact, pretty slow going, with pretty big, fairly continuous potholes.  10 mph stuff.  Then we reached one  point with a number of closely-spaced but randomly-located giant potholes on a pretty steep  uphill slope.  We started up, then paused ... at which point Karen declared "We can't go up that!!"  Tom agreed.  But for some reason, he quickly overruled his better judgment, and with only a faint plan to weave through the obstacle course, he crawled forward and somehow kept enough momentum to maintain traction through it all!!  Whew!

Tom's Daily Stress Points

  • Will these giant potholes eat our poor Outback? (stress level = medium high)
  • Now that we're past the giant potholes, can we get back down? (stress level = medium-high)

Sleeps

  • My Place - a budget extended-stay motel.  Hard beds.  A bit spartan.  Donuts-only breakfast.  Other than that, not bad.

Noteable Eats
  • Flatbread Neopolitan Pizzaria - decent, but not as outstanding as suggested by the reviews
  • Spork - great fusion food
  • El Rodeo - standard mexican fare
  • The McCay Cottage Restaurant - pretty good breakfast
  • Nancy P's Cafe & Bakery - good coffee and baked goods

Future Ideas
  • Camp up high at Broken Top (good weather only) ... but is it worth having to drive the road?
  • Go after more intermediate mountain biking trails
  • Ride up Mrazek from road intersection above Shevlin Park
Location: Bend, OR

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