Bend and South Sister

We left Idaho and traveled southwest to Bend, in central Oregon. It was a pretty drive through southeast Washington wine country, then along the Columbia River for a while until turning south to head into the high dessert of Oregon. Bend is at about 3,500 feet and is right at the edge of the Cascade mountains. We arranged to couchsurf in Bend, and being that it was going to be our first time "surfing" we had no idea what to expect. We felt we hit the jackpot when we pulled up to our host's house. It was right on a golf course and we had our own room and bathroom in a section of the house. Our host had two cute dogs and we had a great time staying with her.

While in Bend, we did a day hike of South Sister, third tallest mountain in Oregon at 10,358 feet, and the tallest of the "Three Sisters" mountains right outside of Bend. It can't believe how close Mt. Bachelor and the Sisters mountains are to Bend. After a thirty minute drive we were at the trailhead ready for our hike. The hike was pretty tough, 12.5 miles roundtrip with 5,000 feet of elevation gain. We made it to the top in just over 4 hours, and were back to our car in exactly eight hours total.




We made dinner at our couchsurfer host's house and went to bed satisfied and tired after a long day outside. Bend is a pretty nice town and with all the outdoor stuff so close to town I would love to visit another time.

Now we're off to Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon and then San Francisco later in the week.