Last Summer: Bend, Bachelor, and Broken Top

I had never been to Bend before since I skipped out on the family reunion that had been there. There’s less threat of golf when visiting solo I think.

I went to a really good Thai place there and had the Kao Soi:

The very next day, I drove up to Mt. Bachelor to see what there was to see and go on another famous day hike. It’s not a bad drive.

Then I went on some hike. It was one I’d studied out. I think it was, like, Green Lakes trail up to the Todd Trail, and then to the Broken Top trail. It was middle of July, but there was snow at the trailhead and, eventually, too much snow to keep going. I did get to hike through a lot of snow before then, though.

It was a much more amazing hike than the pictures might lead you to believe. You get to cross a couple of creeks, it’s not much of a tree prison after the first half mile or so, and you keep coming onto new vistas. The second-to-last photo is where I stopped. I wasn’t going to find where the trail picked up again at the other end of the snowfield I didn’t think. I mean, I tried, but then decided it would be okay to lay out on the rocks like a lizard and enjoy the silence.

I’d like to try this one again some time without all the snow so I can actually get to the cool high alpine lakes. Maybe next year.

I also drove around some “activities loop” or something around Bachelor. There wasn’t a lot going on there, though, in spite of there being a lot of people trying to do something. Just, you know. That was my take-away.

And then I went to Carl’s Jr. in Redmond. To the important details, I hold fast.

bkd