Cascade Mountains

Getting out and about

Blogging with one bar of wifi tests a person's patience taking us back to the days of dial up internet. But blogging has been a good way for us to keep our memories nearby. Looking back at previous posts, we are amazed by all of the things we have been fortunate to do, often having a good laugh at ourselves in the process. 

We have been fortunate that the temperatures in La Pine, OR have been 10 degrees cooler than usual most of July. It is the high desert after all. Waking to temps in the 40s gave us the morning to get outside before turning on the air conditioner for the afternoon.

Hiking the Green Lake Trail

 We hiked 8 miles on the Green Lakes Trail on a previous visit and had a added bonus this time, thick swarms of fat mosquitos. We picked up our backcountry permit before setting out, armed with bug repellent, which I think the mosquitos crave, long sleeves and pants, in no time sweat was running down my face. This was the first time we have had our backcountry permit checked by a ranger as he hiked down the trail in full mosquito combat gear, including face netting. The temperature hit 60 degrees and we were going uphill without a breeze.

The steps were even bigger when we returned from the 8 mile hike requiring sound effects as we lifted our tired legs.

No stopping for pictures on the trail or the mosquitos would overwhelm us.

The Green Lakes Trail runs next to the river with cascades and waterfalls most of the way to Green Lake.

Snow in July?

We made it to Green Lake overlooking the South Sister. Then it was all downhill from there. A breeze started to blow up the mountain. The mosquitos thinned out and millions of butterflies dive bombed us and I quit sweating.

After our hike, we slowly carried our chairs across the parking lot to Sparks Lake to take in the view of the mountain we had been hiking on. It felt good to put our feet in the cold water for a while and have a picnic.

Cycling the Cascade Highway

We rode some routes out of Sun River (uphill) and to La Pine (flat) from the campground that had little traffic on days that we weren't riding the dusty single track in the park.

Bend, Oregon

Bend is experiencing the same growing pains that many tourist communities are. We only visited when we needed to make a Walmart run, planing our driving route to avoid intersections without stoplights to avoid being stuck at a corner for a long wait.

Newberry Volcano National Monument

Exploring the Newberry Crater ( a caldera) is a great way to learn about  the violent, geological history that helped make Central Oregon the beautiful place it is. Newberry National Volcanic Monument has two lakes in its caldera, Paulina and East. Both lakes have hot springs on their shores. 

We heard that the Little Crater Trail has scenic views of two lakes, Paulina Peak and the Big Obsidian Flow but managed to miss the switchback to the rim. As we were walking below the rim, I started thinking that the trail wasn't very well maintained. We turned around and tried our Hiking Project app. Fortunately, we had enough bars on the phone to use the app and found that we were off trail. Once we got back on track, it was a sweet walk around the rim.

We missed the turn to take us to the wall above Mike.

Back on track.

View from top of Paulina Peak. Paulina Lake to the left, east to the right and Obsidian Flow middle.

Top of the Big Obsidian lava flow

Lunch at the grill and fishing camp on East Lake at the end of the road.

The Paulina Lake Hot Springs is a two-mile walk along the east shore of the lake, starting from the  Little Crater Trailhead. After lunch we reached the East Lake Hot Springs from the Hot Spring boat ramp, walking along the beach until we smelled the sulfa aroma. The pools are too small for soaking but we watched the bubbling up of the springs warming the lake. It was a reminder that this volcano is still active and is monitored for earthquake and increased lava pressure underground.

We avoided campground host positions originally because we thought they would be too restrictive.. Having great host partners (Tom and Mary) made it even better. We would cover for each other when we wanted to get away.

Heart of Oregon

Heart of Oregon's campsite along the Deschutes River in the day use area. They provide vocational training to youth ages 16-24 to create pathways out of poverty for youth and encourage self-sufficiency. In addition to teaching job skills, the projects help keep the community beautiful and healthy, while earning wages to stimulate regional economic growth. The park would have a difficult time running without the work of the Corp, volunteers and seasonal rangers. It takes a lot of effort to keep a place running smoothly.

Hannah, one of the seasonal rangers, lead Saturday yoga in La Pine State Park. Pretty nice. Yep those are Mike's knees on the right.

Deschutes River

We had ridden our mountain bikes on the Deschutes River Trail while visiting Bend a few years ago and thought it would be fun to try it again. It was beautiful and peaceful with very few people along the way.

A series of three parallel trails winds through pine forests, lava flows and riparian zones along the various placid and tumultuous waters of the Deschutes River.

 

The Benham Falls are more cascades than actual falls but still quite impressive with the sound of water rolling over the rocks.

We could see the lava flow area across the river which had it's own appeal.

 

Going into Bend to take care of shopping and getting the oil changed started out as a nice idea but turned into work upon hitting the traffic. We turned around in Costco deciding to skip it when we saw the lines at the checkout and tried back in a few days which was much better. I am not sure if it is because of tourist season or just this many people living here now. Maybe we have been in the woods too long. 
 

Sunriver is a quieter touristy area but the kayakers on the river were out in full force in the mornings. There was more than enough to keep us happy over the two weeks here.

Not a bad place for lunch and a rest.

A trip later in our stay to Bend was much more pleasant with a stop at the Northwest Farmer's Market and a stop at Drake's Park in the middle of Bend. I was not hiking or biking today.

A little Tejano music. A person can find music playing everyday somewhere in this area.

The Deschutes River along Drake Park

A bubble machine in the park for little kids.

Something for the big kids

 

Sparks Lake was closed for construction so we took our kayaks down the road to Hosmer Lake. It must be the go to place. I have never seen so many kayakers in one place. We parked on the road above the boat launch and got the kayak on it's wheel and took it down. Most of the people were leaving as we paddled out and were soon alone among the ducks, birds and fish. It isn't very deep and we could see some nice sized trout right under us. Little Lava Lake down the road was much quieter and would be our choice next time we want to paddle.

There are 30 Cascade Lakes

We heard the warning sound of the baby ducks in the lily pads before we saw them. We backed up to avoid bothering them anymore.

 

It looks strange with the wheels on top of the kayak but I wasn't going to carry them back up the hill to put them in the truck when there were perfectly good bungees in front of us. Our kayak is inflatable and is not any lighter than the hard sided. The wheels were a good addition.

A couple parked by a trailhead looked like something was bothering them so I asked where they were going to hike. They were from Britain and said they had forgotten their wallet to pay for their pass. Mike handed them $5 and you would have thought it was $100 as happy as they were. We know the feeling of getting somewhere and have forgotten something important. We once road our mountain bikes in hiking boots after driving an hour to get to the trail and forgetting our bike shoes. We weren't leaving without a ride if we could help it even if it was clumsy riding.