The central area of Oregon near the Cascade Range has an interesting variety of outdoor
activities for all seasons. Bend, Oregon (where we spent 11 days at Bend/Sun-River Thousand Trails) is an outdoor paradise. There's hiking in the Cascade mountains, biking on the bike trails, kyaking, fishing in the lakes and streams, exploring the lava buttes, (not to mention winter sports) while enjoying the visual beauty of the Ponderosa pines and crystal clear mountain lakes.
We spent some time enjoying one of our favorite hobbies, geo-caching. We actually located four in the Bend area,
one of which was located on the remnants of the ash flow and cinder cones of the Newberry Volcano. The Newberry Crater was the result of a volcanic eruption as late as 1,300 years ago. It covered over 600 square miles and is still believed to be active . (The crater can be viewed from Lava Butte at the Newberry National Volcanic Monument on highway 97. (see photo on left)
Lava Butte
Bachelor Mountain
On our final day, we enjoyed a drive along the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway and Tour Route (roughtly 50 miles) toward Bachelor Mountain just to find the mountain road was unpassable due to a recent snowfall. (last week it received a foot of snow.)
We traveled west through the Cascade mountains to the Pacific coast to keep our June 15th
appointment at the Monaco factory in Junction City, Oregon where hopefully most of our new coach issues would get resolved. We spent two weeks in the "campground" with electric & water hookups, dump station and "free" laundramat use. The large customer service area, with it's comfortable furniture, also had free WiFi. (All the comforts of home.) On our final night we enjoyed a friendly get-together with some new-made friends. Satisfied with most of our repairs and the friendly customer service, we left for our Northwest summer adventure! First stop.... Thousand Trails in Pacific City, Oregon.
Photo taken in Lincoln City, Oregon located 20 miles south of Pacific City.
