Best Western Ponderosa Lodge Sisters

We drive alongside the Clackamas River, so beautiful we run out of adjectives as we point out to each other the views we want to share. Driving up towards the Cascades we see Mt. Hood in the distance, alone and majestic. At 4800 feet we drive through Santiam Pass and start the long road down, final destination Bend. We set up camp in Tumalo State Park. It is the weekend, there are so many people in the state parks we pass, we decide to stay two nights right here.

We decided to spend the night in Bend and found a place to stay online before we left our Hampton Inn. Stopped by Costco (again!) to gas up before we left town, then took highway 84 West past the Columbia River, Mt. Hood, and a huge re-planted forest from the Patterson exit. On 97 South we were on the Scenic Byway Journey Through Time. We passed the Moro State High Football Champs notice, then in Grass Valley (a tiny ...

We stopped in La Pine and walked.

We stopped in the Volcanic Monument.

We walked on the Lava Fields.

We drove through Bend, Redmond & Madras.

Past Warm Springs, the car overheated and we pulled over.

We waited for the car to cool down.

We, slowly, drove up the mountain to Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood.

We drove to Bend.

We drove up Pilot Butte.

We walked around Drake Park and Bend downtown.

We went to a comic shop.

We had tea at Townshend's.

We met my old friends and walked to Old Mill district.

We ate American Chinese food.

We watched a cinema.

We drove back to Prineville.

... to view this video of Ride of the Lightening The scene in the Smith Rock Gorge Lindsey working the amazing basalt arete climb - Child Abuse (12a/b) Lynn and Scott are the world's best cooks and they made some amazing meals that we go to part-take in (our friend, Sarah on the left). This photo is of locally-raised lamb they ...

... off. Avis and Andy (see the Tahoe entry) had been kind enough to put us in touch with friends of theirs who live in Bend, Oregon. Late in the afternoon we made it to Bend and to the home of Shane and Julie. Drinks and dinner ensued, and we learned about life in Bend. It's a tough life. A 20 minute drive to the nearest ski slope for downhill and cross country ...

... Not completely convinced the road will be closed, I head up anyways. As I climb up and up the road switches to a much older and narrower asphalted surface. Finally, eleven miles up, the snow gates are closed and I can go no further. There is no explanation as to why the road is closed, other than to make life really inconvenient for me. Oh well, just below the closed gates is a trail that leads around ...

... of Oregon. My original route had us taking a more southern route but we switch to this route straight west after a conversation with a guy in Minnesota. This guy did some surveying in the Sisters region a few years ago and told us that the region is very beautiful and the route that we planned was mostly desert. He was right - the drive out of Ontario was very pretty with terrain that was not tree covered but sagebrush covered. The big difference in the look of this ...

... the right amount of people. But it is a touristy town, so there was about 15 restaurants. Some of them selling pizza and pasta! I guess there were some Italian immigrants who moved there generations ago. This town is a piece of heaven!!! I cannot imphasize enough the beauty, magic, peace, comfort, and down to earth friendliness of this place. It was like a hippy coastal town in the 60's southern California. Like the center of the world. It also smelled like Marijuana ...

... quit the trail. The weather was getting us all down and for the first time I had real doubts I'd finish the trail. Day after day of wet and cold makes anyone miserable. Rabbit and I made ourselves hike out the next day and push on. In all we road-walked 47 miles, mostly on forest service roads, to regain the PCT. A couple wet days later near Carson we ran into two nice hunters. One offered to feed us home-brewed beer and a place to stay for the night ...