The last few days have been A-mazing with a capital A! We've been on a pattern of camping it and hoteling it every other night which has been nice for access to showers and just a relaxing break in general, especially after doing physical outdoor things.
Yesterday we sipped coffee and walked around downtown Bend waiting for the Deschutes brew pub to open so we could do some sampling. We strolled along a path that followed the Deschutes River in a very lovely local park. We stopped at Mirror Pond, namesake of the Deschutes Pale Ale. There were families feeding ducks and riding bikes. Overall it was an extremely peaceful morning.
We made it back to the brewery just before the noon time rush so we were able to snag a great outdoor table. We each got a very reasonable tasting sampler that allowed us to sample six beers. Mine got sort of mixed up and out of order and there were a few that we weren't quite sure what they were.
I ended up drinking a magical mystery beer last. It was absolutely delish with just a hint of north woods pine needle scent. We consulted the waitress to try and find out what it was 'cause it didn't seem to match the profiles of anything I ordered. She smelled it and identified it. She brought us another small sampler of that beer to confirm, but it wasn't right. We ended up repeating this process several times and none of the ones she brought matched it. We tipped the waitress heartily for her efforts but were not able to identify it. So, it will always remain the magical mystery beer.
City symbol in an old building's leaded glass window.
View of Mirror Pond from the park.
All smiles outside Deschutes Brewery.
Our tasting samplers side by side.
After lunch we headed out of Bend toward the West hoping to camp near McKenzie Pass, which we planned to bike. We found a great site at a State Forrest campsite called Ice Cap and set up camp. There was hardly anyone there and we had a lot of space, but no running water. We made the best of it brushing our teeth and washing our faces from gallon jugs we bought at the merc down the road.
Our campsite at Ice Cap.
Our little breakfast set up.
By the time we had camp set up it was too late in the afternoon to do our planned bike ride so we decided to visit Proxy Falls instead. Ry had been there before during his high school years on a vacation with his family. It was an easy hike with a couple of tricky climb-down descents to get good close up shots of the falls. For such wonder, it was amazing that there was only one other hiker there with us. I assumed there would be lots of other folks there but it was our lucky day.
Tree hugger #1 on the trail to Proxy Falls.
Tree hugger #2.
Rhododendrons on the trail.
Upper Proxy Falls from the pool at the bottom.
Lower Proxy Falls from a distance.
Mossy rocks at the bottom of Lower Proxy Falls.
Holy amazing! A misty shot standing in the pool beneath the falls.
Our classic self-shot beneath the falls. Also, quite misty.
After our trip to the falls we made sandwiches for dinner and played Scrabble by the campfire until we hit the hay with the sound of a rushing creek to lull us to sleep!
In the morning we broke camp and dressed for a mega bike ride up McKenzie Pass. Ry had heard it was the last day that the road would be closed to cars before it opened for the season, a perfect day for bikers to ride up. It was sunny and cool, just the weather we needed for the 22 mile ride. Ry kept saying that it was going to be the hardest and best bike ride we've ever done. When we reached the point where the road was closed off, we parked and started the ride up.
My first clue that this was going to be extremely hard should have been the fact that there were no other casual riders there. Everyone else had their super road bikes and all their fancy bike gear. That worried me a bit. We started up and it was instant pain after the first hundred yards. We kept going and I reached a certain point where I understood just how hard this was going to be. That's when the expletives started flying out of my mouth and I kept saying to Ry over and over that I couldn't do it. That phase lasted about a mile.
After that mile I just sucked it up and kept going. We rode up for about five miles of switchbacks up the mountain stopping about every tenth of a mile to rest. It was painful and my lungs were screaming out for air at elevation but we made it through the tough ones that way. After those first five we hit some lava fields and things generally leveled off with a few moderate climbs, but nothing like the switchbacks. Every now and then there would be other bikers going by and there were Forest Service people getting the road ready for opening the next day.
We started out in thick tropical forest complete with hanging moss and ferns. Eventually the trees thinned out and there was snow all around. At the very top we were surrounded by lava beds and almost no greenery. It was crazy to see how quickly things can change with a few thousand feet of elevation gain. When we reached the top of the pass we had panoramic views of multiple peaks including the Three Sisters, Mount Washington, Black Butte and others. We climbed the Observatory Tower made of lava rock and took it all in.
At the top I felt kind of out of place hanging with all of those serious riders, especially given the fact that I was on an upright comfort bike that wasn't made for an ascent of that nature. Nonetheless, it was a huge accomplishment and I almost couldn't believe it that I'd made it to the top.
The ride down was a sweet reward. Probably the greatest reward I've ever experienced in my life. What took us something like two and a half hours to ascend took less than a half an hour to descend. We didn't watch the speed too closely, but Ry says he clocked at least 35 miles an hour down one of the switchbacks. Jetting down switchbacks with cold mountain air streaming in my face, I felt like I was the star of a car commercial with no car in site...it was a proud day for me!
McKenzie Pass summit.
The Observatory from below with our bikes.
View of serious bikers down from the observatory.
Forest Service compass pointing out all the peaks visible from the tower.
Middle Sister look out window signage.
Through the Middle Sister look out window.
WPA carving depicting old car and Airstream trailer.
Photo op at the summit.
Sisters.
The ride back down. Yes, that's snow.
Exhausted and happy we drove back to Bend, but had little luck finding a hotel. We traveled down I-97 about a half an hour to the small town of LaPine where we are shacked up in an awesome suite at the Best Western. Tomorrow we head for Crater Lake and then eventually over to the Rogue River valley and up the coast. Yippee!
