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Just_Some_Hiker Member
Joined: 02 Jan 2013 Posts: 691 | TRs | Pics Location: Snoqualmie, WA |
I spent the spring and summer of 2016 living and working down in the Bend/Sisters area. I hiked and climbed there previously and loved it, so it was a real treat to be able to live there and enjoy those mountains full-time.
At the time I had hoped to churn out a bunch of trip reports, but I was living in a rural patch of desert with an internet connection so unreliable that it made me long for the days of 56K.
There's some fantastic on-trail hiking to be had in the summertime, but in my opinion, ski touring is where this area really shines. The thin forests and wide-open areas just beg to be skied.
When I first arrived, the access roads were still closed and gated, so most of my early trips started from the Dutchman Flat Sno-Park just across the road from Mt. Bachelor. Tumalo Mountain is immediately next to the parking area, and it's a short snowshoe/skin to the summit (less than 2 miles IIRC). This is a great mountain if you just want to get some quick, easy turns in. One side is steep, but the other is gentle and timbered, which makes it great for bad avy days.
Broken Top is the next closest mountain, at about 14 miles RT from the sno-park (shooting from the hip here, memory-wise). I wasn't really familiar with Broken Top's "bowl" and its popularity as a ski objective at the time, but a friend and I randomly discovered it one day while out exploring. Being inside the bowl, and skiing out of it, is what I imagine it would be like if you could ski out of the breach on Mt. St. Helens. Really spectacular.
Before the roads opened, I skied from one side of the wilderness to the other, made two failed attempts on Broken Top's summit, and successfully summited and skied South Sister. As access improved and things opened up, I went after Middle, North, Jack and finally revisited Broken Top. In between the major summits, I visited a ton of beautiful lakes, lava fields and unnamed buttes.
I think the Three Sisters Wilderness is one of the crown jewels of the Pacific Northwest. If you've never been there before, you should go. If you have skis, take them along! Oh yeah, and Smith is pretty darn awesome, too.
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olderthanIusedtobe Member
Joined: 05 Sep 2011 Posts: 7687 | TRs | Pics Location: Shoreline |
Been to Central Oregon a handful of times, really like that area. Broken Top and 3 Fingered Jack are my favorite peaks. The cragginess and the technicolor rocks are really cool. Thanks for sharing all those nice pictures. I've been inside the remains of Broken Top's crater once, that was a unique experience. Did you make it to No Name Lake on the east shoulder of Broken Top? Another primo destination. Or how about exploring around Newberry Crater with it's beautiful lakes and obsidian flows?
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Eric Hansen Member
Joined: 23 Mar 2015 Posts: 860 | TRs | Pics Location: Wisconsin |
Thanks, I had forgotten how fine the spring skiing is there.
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Just_Some_Hiker Member
Joined: 02 Jan 2013 Posts: 691 | TRs | Pics Location: Snoqualmie, WA |
olderthanIusedtobe wrote: | Did you make it to No Name Lake on the east shoulder of Broken Top? Another primo destination. |
Yep, but it was frozen over so I didn't really get to fully appreciate it.
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boot up Old Not Bold Hiker
Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 4745 | TRs | Pics Location: Bend Oregon |
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boot up
Old Not Bold Hiker
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Sun Jan 22, 2017 6:25 pm
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Thanks for the reminder of why I recently moved here for retirement!
I moved here permanently last August and I am just scratching the surface of cool places to explore here, even as an Old Geezer.
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