.... in other words... my Bend Oregon trip.

Food, beer in Bend was fantastic. I think there must be a dozen breweries in town, but we just hit two of them. Bend River Brewing and the big one Deschutes. We hit the breweries the first 2 nights then sick of bar fare (sandwiches) we hit some other restaurants but all had great craft beer. We forego hotels and camping instead doing a home rental from VRBO which was a perfect choice for home base. The house was in the foothills with plenty of space, and a huge deck with ponderosa pines and views of the desert hills.

A few of my favorite pics are below... the rest are here:  https://bendoregon2016.shutterfly.com/

The first day on the trails was Saturday, and we had a late start as we had to wait for the running store to open to get some tips and trail maps. We ended up running about 13 miles on the Green Lake trail, uphill along a river with some small falls, and then into the high country with lake and mountain views of South Sister and Broken Top mountain. We did a point to point run down to Todd lake and had great views of Mt. Bachelor down there. The trails were so groomed and easy... no rocks!!

Sunday we headed to Tumalo Falls. We arrived sort of late (9am) but still found a spot to park right at the trail head to the falls. Later in the day when we finished our run cars were parked nearly a mile down the dirt access road. But our run was relatively crowd free which was great. Our route was about 20 miles, and included the north fork, flagline, and south fork trails. The north fork trail ran along a fast flowing river with one water fall after another, including the big Tumalo Falls at the trailhead. After branching off the climb of the north fork trail, it became more of a forest run without many big views, but the trail was smooth and fantastic for running. Rolling for the most part but we had 8 or 9 miles of constant gentle downhill to finish the loop.

Monday we did a quick rafting trip through the Big Eddy rapids on the Deschutes River. These were just outside of town so very convenient and trip was only an hour giving us time to do other things. The other thing was we decided to take the trail up to the summit of South Sister mountains (10,000+ feet). This was a 12 mile roundtrip gaining 5,000 feet of elevation to the top. We did not do too much running going up... only about 1.5 miles in the flatter section after hitting the saddle above the treeline. After that it was a seriously steep climb with loose scree and the final pitch was on loose red volcanic pumice. You take a step, sink, and slide. Repeat a million times. The climb was completely worth it as we had views of the other 2 sister mountains, plus Mount Jefferson and Hood more than a 100 miles away. We had a clear day too which was perfect. Coming down this mountain was like skiing in running shoes until we hit approached the saddle than it was 3+ miles and 2,000 feet of very fun downhill trail to close out the day. The ascent, descent, and goof off time was 4.5 hours for 12 miles. Definitely the most difficult climb I have ever done, including the 14k'r in Colorado a few years ago. The elevation here wasn't a factor like Colorado but the trail/terrain was much more difficult.

Tuesday was our last full day, and we took a drive down to Crater Lake National Park. We sort of lucked out, as we got there just before clouds and rain came in and blocked the full view of the lake. We had planned to do some running and hiking there, but due to the clouds opted for the few photo ops we managed before the rain and clouds settled in, and then lunch at the lodge. This gave us time to drive back to Bend and hit Smith Rocks park out near Redmond. It was sunny and partly cloudy in the desert, as the storm clouds were only in the higher mountains. Smith Rocks was a very cool place... desert running in a canyon like setting with unusual rock formations and cliffs for rock climbers. Our legs were pretty thrashed from the South Sister descent the previous day, but the 8 mile loop we did here was very enjoyable and scenic and so much different than the previous days.

I can't wait to experience some of that smooth West coast singletrack someday.  It sounds heavenly.

Great photos!  My brother is moving to Portland next month, so hopefully a PNW visit is in my future.

Lol, yeah- no rocks?! Whadda you mean no rocks?!

Looks (and sounds) fantastic, man, jealousy is rearing! That last photo is almost surreal, reminds me of Ansel Adams.

That looks great. We went out there on our honeymoon 25 years ago but spent most of our time along the coast. Gotta get back out there again.

Thanks for posting the link to all the pictures, very nice.

Sweet trip!  I have a buddy that lives in Bend, but I've never been out to visit, will have to change that