Sisters, Oregon

Heading to the high desert

 

The landscape changes dramatically as we traveled towards the Cascades from the green agricultural Willamette Valley to the high dry plains with pines and sagebrush. The air is much drier making our Canasta cards no longer stick together.

Staying at Sisters Creekside County Campground on the edge of Sisters was a great location close enough for us to walk around the town, drive to some nice hiking on the McKenzie River Trail and Smith Rock or just visit Bend. Driving into Bend wasn't as pleasant as the rest but we managed to accomplish our required tasks.

Detroit Lake

Mt Jefferson and its glaciers

Washington state requires fingerprinting before a person can volunteer in WA. We made an appointment at the police station in Bend. Having been fingerprinted several times in the past when I got a nursing license in a new state and it always went smoothly. This time, it took over an hour for both of us. They tore up several cards because they didn't like how they looked and a new fellow was training. I hope the cards we walked out with were ok.

One reason we decided to volunteer in Oregon or Washington is they only require 30 days and are very nice states to visit. Many other states require volunteers to stay the entire season. We are a little too itchy to stay that long. Even when I was a traveling nurse three months was pushing our outer limit of time to stay someplace other than when we were in Alaska and Seattle and we extended a couple of months.

Mike getting fingerprinted

 

 

McKenzie River Trail

We used our hiking project app to find a hike on the McKenzie River Highway. Boy, was it a treat. Three waterfalls and a blue pool. We continually saw the influence of the volcanos from many years ago on this area.

Sahale Falls

The Waterfalls Loop Trail hike along the McKenzie River to Sahalie and Koosah Falls is about 3 miles long for hikers and mountain bikers with foaming white water cascades in between.

Koosah Falls

The 25 mile McKenzie River Trail is a favorite of hikers and extreme mountain bikers. As we walked along, we could see that it must have taken a great deal of effort to build and maintain the trail.

Before reaching Blue Pool, the McKenzie River goes underground a few miles up stream when the flow is lower.  The river only flows over the falls a few times a year, the rest if the time the water emerges from the rocks underwater in the basin of waterfall pool.

 

  The topaz colored water is so clear that is seems to be only about 5 ft deep but in many spots its over 30 ft deep.  The waterfall ledge is a favorite for jumping on a hot summer day.  You can hike over the waterfall ledge and find a trail that leads you down to the side of the pool when the waterfall is dry.



Tamolitch Falls and Blue Pool

The rhododendrons bloom later in the valley. 

The campground on the edge of town was a great location for walking to the farmer's market and breweries.

Music at the farmer's market

 

It can be difficult to find a cycling route when we arrive in a new location. We often checkout the local cycling clubs which are often welcoming to visiting cyclist to join a ride. Usually, they list their rides and cue sheets on their websites. Another resource is the local bike shops. They are often good about giving us information or copies of their ride sheets for a small fee or free. If I feel uncomfortable with the roads and cycle lanes, we take a drive to scope out the roads and traffic conditions ahead of time. It is not worth not enjoying ourselves and feeling like we

might die. We have only called a ride a few times and that was due to poor planning or heavy rain.

 

We had a few nice rides during our ten day stay with many more easy to moderate routes left unridden. 

Smith Rock State Park

 

 Smith Rock State Park's spires rise above the Crooked River and is known for rock climbing with routes for levels from beginner to expert. As we hiked, we had the opportunity to watch not only beginners but the expert climbers. A volunteer was also present at the visitor's center with his spotting scope and let us look at a number of  golden eagle's nests and was very informative. This made our short list of places we would like to volunteer in the future.

The volcanic evidence is all around central Oregon.

You have to love a place where the people in the restaurants have hat hair and look like they have been outside hiking, cycling or rock climbing. Everyone looks tired and happy. The food was fresh  and locally grown. The fresh air from hiking made the food and beer taste even better.

On mile steep hike up Misery Ridge to the top.

 

When my children were small and would wake up in the middle of the night, I would get them settled back to sleep then head to the back deck with a warm blanket to look at the stars for 10-15 minutes before returning to bed my self.  Even now, I still like to go out and listen to the quiet night when we are away from the lights of the cities. Last night at 3 am, we were both awake. (It could have been because I dropped something on the floor that made a crash noise when I got up.) The stars were out after many cloudy nights. We sat in our loungers with a down blanket and listened to

the breeze through the trees. A shooting star or comet with a long tail shot across the sky. Does it get any better than that?

Silver Falls State Park

Trail of Ten Falls

It was a short drive from Eugene to Silver Falls that took a while on the slow and winding roads. Several years ago, we had a day trip to Silver Falls while staying in Portland and knew we would return someday. This time we found a campground reservation for three nights and were pleasantly surprised at the amount of space nestled in the trees that our be ours for a few days.

 

The Trail of 10 Falls connects the waterfalls and consists of Canyon Trail and Rim Trail, for a 7.2 mile loop with a 1000 foot elevation variation.  The decent into the canyon begins within the canopy of Douglas Firs, down to the undergrowth of ferns into the canyon and winding creek.

 South Falls 177 feet

 There are four water falls to walk behind.

 North Falls

 The park offers more than 35 miles of backcountry trails for mountain biking, hiking or horseback riding.  Bears and cougars live in the more remote park areas.

Winter Falls

 

We managed to log 8 miles on our hiking boots our first full day out. Whether we were walking along the creek or in the forest, it was quite enjoyable and kept us moving along. The next day turned into 5 miles and our feet were starting to complain a little. OK, more than a little.

Winter Falls 134 Feet

Drake Falls

You can see the small first fall of Double Falls high and to the right.

Wild flowers

Love the moss on the rocks.

The Great Depression struck in 1929, and timber, Oregon’s most important industry, tanked. The whole state, and Silver Falls along with it, was devastated. One program, the Civilian Conservation Corps, put young unemployed men to work constructing buildings, trails, bridges, retaining walls, and other park infrastructure - most of which are on the National Register of Historic Places. Most of the buildings are still standing and in use. They even had WIFI at the Lodge Café just a mile walk from our campsite.

 

South Falls from the bridge

Lower South Falls

The peaceful sound of Silver Falls was a treat. Every morning just before sunrise, which is quite early this time of year, the birds would sing and chatter for a half hour. There was plenty of time to read while sitting under the trees without TV or internet at our campsite to distract us. A campfire in the evenings was a good end to a darn good day.

 

Heading to Wine Country in McMinnville, OR.

Oregon's Covered Bridges

So many places to ride

Cottage Grove

The Covered Bridges Scenic Bikeway with six covered bridges and a path along the Row River needed to be explored. We had considered staying in this small town before settling 20 miles north in Eugene for our home base. Next time we pass this way, we will be sure to make a longer stop here.

The Row River Trail comes complete with a dam, a lake, a river and two covered bridges to investigate for 16 miles that runs from Cottage Grove, Oregon, up the Row River, climbs to Dorena Dam, and runs along the shores of Dorena Lake. The mornings start with cloudy skies that usually clear in the afternoons. We like to get going in the mornings, which are chilly, but left very few people on the trails.

 The rails to trail follows the route of the former Oregon Pacific & Eastern Railroad line which made for nice easy riding with the 3-4% grade. This was good for my tired legs after riding the steep rolling hills of the vineyards a few days earlier.

Mike had some trailer repair work to do on our "rest" day. A small leak under the hot water heater was getting worse. Things are pretty compact in there and he was having trouble getting to the source of the leak. I got out my flashlight and suggested he knock out the lower section of wall under the sink. I soon heard pounding and crashing noises. He walked out with the culprit and was able to replace it. Now he is working on fixing the wall.

It is good to have my own personal bike mechanic and leak fixer along.

Dogwoods, one of the many trees in bloom.

Howard Buford Recreation Area

The recreation area next to Mt Pisgah Arboretum has 17 miles of hiking trails. We took the shortest (meaning steepest) to the top of Mt Pisgah with a 1100 foot climb in 1.5 miles but chose trails that were less steep on the way back down for a nice 4 miles. Steep down hills can be hard on the toes.

Fortunately, it was cloudy, once again, as we headed out.

Turtles along our walk along the river.

The spring flowers were out for the wildflower festival this weekend at the Mt Pisgah Arboretum.

I am not sure I know why he was pointing but went with it.

 A metal map on a pedestal at the summit that each hiker or runner touches when they reach the top.

I was wondering if two weeks in Eugene might be a bit long but found that this not so large city had plenty to keep us interested without driving too far. It was a lot of bike riding miles.

A giant salad bar down there.

 

Willamette River Trail

We left the campground on our bikes and headed towards downtown to find the river trail. A wide paved path runs along both sides of the river with several bridges for bikes and pedestrians to cross the river through several lovely parks.

We came across this electric derby race going on outside of the high school. The engineering students make their derby cars and race them. They had transponders that count their laps. The winner is the person with the most laps in one hour.

I took us 13 miles, a few u-turns and a couple of helpful people to find the Saturday Farmer's Market. We were getting hungry and found some excellent empanadas and a cookie before heading back home. Well, after Mike went back and got two cookies for the road.

The people of Eugene have been quite welcoming and helpful when we were lost. It was a pleasure to visit.

One last picture from the rose garden in the park where we were supposed to make a left at to get to downtown according to a very nice person on the trail.

 

On to Silver Falls.