BEND
Christy
and I were up pretty late Wednesday night after spending a full day climbing
South Sister. Despite this, I got up at
4:30 the next morning. It was our last
day in the area, and I wanted to get some photos of Tumalo
Falls in good light. First up was an
overlook with a clear view of Middle and North Sister. I waited for sunrise there, and enjoyed some
alpenglow on the peaks. From there I
drove into Bend and then on to Tumalo Falls. I was rewarded for my early start with
fantastic light, and I had the place to myself.
An easy, short walk led to an overlook with a great view of the 90’
waterfall. After a few photos I
descended to the creek to get more shots from water level.
Afterwards,
I drove back to the campground and made us breakfast. Christy had enjoyed sleeping in. Afterwards, we broke camp and then drove back
down through Bend. We had a lot of
options for our last day in the area.
One of the more interesting ideas was a hike to a hot spring in a caldera
of a volcano. Ultimately though we
decided to visit a couple of caves.
First up was Boyd Cave, which is located out in the desert southeast of
Bend. We wandered around for a bit
looking for the entrance before we finally found a ladder descending down
through a collapsed section of the lava tube’s roof. This cave features a long, winding
passageway, with mostly easy walking. We
were pretty tired and sore from the previous day, and Christy didn’t go
far. I pushed on a
ways farther, but turned back well before reaching the end.
From
there it was a short drive to the Arnold Ice Cave. This cave used to supply the town of Bend
with its ice. This cave doesn’t have a
ladder, and there is steep descent just beyond the entrance. I descended part of the way, but the slope
was slippery. I was highly concerned
about being able to climb back out.
Also, I didn’t see any ice down below.
I decided to retreat.
We
drove into Bend, picked up some groceries, and then parked and walked down to
the Deschutes River. We had a picnic
lunch and watched hundreds of people pass by in kayaks, canoes, inner tubes,
and paddle boards. It was beautiful day,
but it was still surprising to see so many people out on a Thursday afternoon. Afterward we walked around downtown and got
ice cream.
From
there we started on a long drive to The Gorge Amphitheater in Central
Washington. Phish was playing two
concerts there that weekend, and we had tickets and camping passes. Along the way we enjoyed views of Mount
Jefferson, Mount Hood, and Mount Rainier before we stopped at White River Falls
State Park. Here, a short walk leads to
a view of White River Falls from the developed overlook. It is an impressive waterfall. Unfortunately, the late afternoon light was
terrible for photography. I took a few
for documentation purposes before we resumed the drive north. We reached The Dalles
around dinner time. Believe it or not,
my father was actually born in The Dalles. We crossed a bridge over the Columbia River
into Washington and drove to Horsethief Lake State
Park. We found a picnic area where we
made dinner. We grilled the steaks and
corn on the cob, which was challenging in high winds.
Back to Oregon.
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!