Sandy, Oregon

 I am a bit on the mend now.....still a bit croupy....and still a little tired.

Time to check out of our AirBnB in Bend and head north towards Mt. Hood.

First little thing I wanted to explore was the Redmond Caves.  It didn't sound like a huge undertaking but it was closeby and easy access. As this was an unguided and unsupervised spelunking episode, we were on our own.  We were told we'd need to have flashlights, so we stopped by the Dollar Store and spent $5 on two small flashlights.  The caves are on BLM land just north of the airport/industrial area.  Surprisingly close to town but here was no one else around when we arrived.

There are several caves and the first couple had entrances that involved gloves, long pants and hardhats.  We opted for the easiest entrance.  

 

A very dry cave compared to many we've been in.

 

We wandered inside a bit...turns out, this is not a very large cave!  I guess I should pause here to say....I win some, lose some on activity planning.   I guess I over-rated the reviews on this one.  No worries, more things to pursue.

 

Back on the road, we stopped by Peter Skene Ogden viewpoint - this was actually better than a normal roadside viewpoint.  The photos don't really show how enormous the gorge is.

 

The 1911 bridge still in use for trains crossing the Crooked River Gorge.

 

The terrain is dry and varied.

 Soon heading into the evergreen mountains toward Mt. Hood.

We stopped by the Wildwood Recreation area.  You can see the salmon running here during the fall....

And they have this cool underground room where you can see the little various salmon/steelhead fry viewed thru glass to the nearby creek.

More views of Salmon River

They also had a really nice 1/2 mile boardwalk in the adjoining marsh/wetlands.

Really nice walk on a hot day.

And last thing on the list was to drive into Sandy to the Jonsrud viewpoint.  Beautiful view back to Mt. Hood.

 Checked into our next AirBnB a bit early as I was a little tired again!!

Bend, Oregon

 I was feeling a bit better in the morning so we set off for the day's exploration.

Driving north out of Bend, the views outside the car were incredible.  Definitely in more arid climate.  This is the town of Prineville viewed from an overlook high above the city.

 

 

We spotted a pronghorn out in a field beside the road.

 

 First real activity of the day was to visit the Painted Hills area - just awe inspiring!

 

Driving on west the terrain was consistently beautiful.  The next stop was Smith Rock State Park.

 

The park is very popular and has dozens of interesting looking hiking trails.  And they do rock climbing as well.  No thanks!

 

We did a short hike down into the ravine.  

 But I was feeling a bit tuckered out by this point so we did not do any further exploring.  Best for me to get a bit of rest....we'll leave Bend tomorrow to go north a bit.

 

 

 

Bend, Oregon

 I'm still feeling pretty poorly!  I don't get sick much and this is rather irritating!  I have activities planned for every day and being under the weather is putting a damper on the plan!  (Duane is on the mend with just an occasional hacking cough - I think I got the worse end of this bug).

We set out driving north a bit - beautiful snow capped mountains - the Sisters, I believe.

 

The plan for the day was to take a few short hikes to see waterfalls and lakes....first up was Sahalie Falls.  It didn't come out in the photo, but there is a lovely rainbow showing thru the mist at the bottom of the waterfall.

 

The river feeding the two waterfalls was beautiful all by itself rushing thru the forest.

 

Not too far away was the lovely Koosah falls.  At this point I was pretty tuckered although I hated to admit it.  

Back to the rental car and a drive to see Clear Lake.  This was supposed to be a 5 mile hike around the lake but I opted for a couple of quick photos from the shoreline.

 

It was a really clear lake, haha!
 

  We drove in a 10 mile windy road (haha) to hike to Proxy falls.  We got about 1/2 mile into the hike on a very sunny up-slope....and I just decided I couldn't do it comfortably.  I was getting a bit nauseous so we turned around and head back to Bend where I slept the afternoon away.  Hope to be on the mend tomorrow!

Bend, Oregon

I meant to mention, we've both got a bit of a flu-bug.  Duane came down with it shortly after we arrived, taking DayQuil to keep the coughing under control.  I was fine until a few days ago when I started having the same symptoms.  Duane is on the mend but I'm hacking and not feeling too great.  Oh well, the show must go on!  We have places to see and waterfalls to find!

 Nearby our little cabin was Tokette Lake and falls.  The lake is part of a hydroelectric power plant.

Calm morning!

 

This is the 12' diameter pipeline feeding the power plant - it dates to the 1950's and is still in use although it maybe needs a bit of attention!

 

Pretty walk to the falls.

Lovely falls but it was early in the day and the sun angle wasn't the best.

Next up was Watson falls....misty and green.

 

We climbed up over the mossy rocks to the waterfall pool for a lovely view.

 

And a quick selfie.

 

 Along the drive was Diamond Lake.  Just another pretty mountain lake.

 

Views in the distance.

 

Getting closer to Bend, we stopped by the Newberry Volcanic National Monument.  We drove up the windy crazy road to the "caldera" with the twin lakes.

After a good while taking-in all the beauty at the top of the caldera, we drove down to the visitor center for some lava views.

 

The volcano last erupted about 7000 years ago.

 

Nice mile long walk thru the lava field.

 

View of the devastation.

Another long day and I was feeling a bit yucky.  A short drive to a rather nice AirBnB in residential Bend, Oregon for a few days this time.