Bend, Oregon
We left home on September 3, 2022, for two weeks in the two states to our north. We had not done a road trip in this area since 1991.
We drove north towards Bend, Oregon. Because of a large wildfire near Weed in Siskiyou County, we were unable to use the ordinary route, US 97 and had to deviate, which made the day’s driving about an hour or more longer than expected.
After stopping for lunch in Yreka, we took I-5 to Medford and then Oregon 62 along the Rogue River Scenic Byway. We stopped at the Rogue River Gorge in the National Forest. Next, we took Oregon 230, which gave us a nice view of Mount Thielson. Since it was smoky near Shasta, this was our first good view of one of the Cascades.
We linked up with US 97 at Chemult and took the highway to Bend, where we spent three nights.
We drove over 500 miles today!
September 4, 2022
We drove north to the town of Sisters, having good views of the Three Sisters and Mount Jefferson. From Sisters, we drove on the McKenzie Pass-Santiam Pass Scenic Byway. The road passed through lava fields and a burn scar on the way to Dee Wright Observatory. From there, we had a good view of Mount Washington. The Observatory was near McKenzie Pass, elevation 5,325 feet.
From there we went over the pass and turned north or OR126 along the McKenzie River. We took a short hike to two beautifully waterfalls, Sahalie and Koosa Falls, which had a lot of water, even in September.
We returned to the town of Sisters for lunch (turning east on US20), having another view of Mount Washington from the North, below. Sisters boasts food trucks and a bustling farmers’ market.
We returned to Bend and then drove south to the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway. This took us by Mount Bachelor, Broken Top and South Sister. We took a short hike at Spark Lake, with good views of the latter two mountains. Because there was a bad fire to the south, we did not continue on the byway any further, and returned to Bend on the same route, making a detour to look at Sun River.
Beautiful Spark Lake, that was very busy over Labor Day Weekend.
September 5, 2022, Labor Day
We drove south to Newberry Crater National Volcanic Monument which we had not visited on our last trip to Bend. From US97, we turned east as the road climbed to over 6,000 feet, where we took a walk to Paulina Falls and its double waterfall. After that, we took a hike at the Obsidian Flow, where we walked up into a big expanse of lava, much of it shiny black obsidian. There was a view of Paulina Lake.
Paulina Falls
Then we drove up to Paulina Peak, four miles on a dirt road, to elevation 7,984 feet. There was a beautiful view of Paulina Lake, East Lake and the Paulina Caldera. Unfortunately, there was some smoke in the distance.
Smoke in the distance
After a picnic lunch at East Lake, we drove back down to US 97, where the air was pretty smoky. We decided to skip the Lava Lands Visitors center since it appeared the views would be obscured.
East Lake
After a car wash and a short rest, we walked around downtown Bend, strolling along the Deschutes River. The west bank had a nice park and upscale homes. Since today was Labor Day, the river was packed with people swimming, kayaking and tubing.
Because it was warm and we are in Oregon, we went to a brewery with a nice garden for a local beer before dinner.
Tomorrow we will make the long drive to Anacortes, which is the gateway to the San Juan Islands.
