Tag Archives: Central Oregon

Aug18

Scouting some climbs on the surface of the Sun

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Monday, 25-July-2022


Ohhhhh man I made poor life decisions.

I mean, okay. I started our with a poorly informed decision, but then I made a good decision at the time! That’s got to count for something, right?

Right.

I was walking in the desert, it was 106 Deg.F out, and there was no shade. I’d stopped sweating earlier, even though I’d been drinking quite a bit of water… which was worrying me a bit as I walked back to the car. I’d also worn synthetic fabrics, which isn’t quite the optimal choice for desert conditions… but soaking it in some of my water did absolutely help with keeping me cool.

I’d turned around a bit ago, realizing that the uphill portion of my exploration wasn’t a good idea, so I wasn’t particularly worried. I wasn’t light headed, I was well fed, and I had more than enough water in my pack to keep me for the mile or so that I had left.


Back to the beginning.

I left Bend in the morning. Not crazy early, obviously, because I’m me. But still early enough that the sun hadn’t risen too high in the sky. It was hot, but… not hot hot. In the 90s, probably.

I skipped breakfast and coffee, opting instead to make coffee and the rental and have some of the snacks that I’d packed for myself. Keep it simple, quick, and mobile… ya know? Thanks to that, I was parked at Smith within an hour or so of leaving, and started picking my way toward my first goal of the day.

I’d taken Monday off from work. That meant I didn’t have to drive home super late after the concert, but also gave me a chance to do some exploring that I hadn’t ever done before. Climbing at Ozone had inspired me, and I wanted to check out some other crack climbing areas that I’d heard about, but never had a chance to explore.

The goals of the day? The lower gorge at Smith Rock, and the main area of Trout Creek. Both, thankfully, close together and both on the Northern route to Wilsonville from Bend. It’d be a nice outdoor adventure after the urban adventure of the concert the night before… if a concert in Bend can really be considered urban. You know, hippy town and all.

I had a quick bite of breakfast, did the usual clean-up of the AirBnB, and was on the road… early? Early-ish? Not late, I can say that. In retrospect, early morning before the heat of the afternoon may have been a better idea, but… you know. Vacations and rest days and sleeping in, right?

I drove, parked at Smith, and headed in.

It was gorgeous, hot, and clear. It wasn’t oppressively hot just yet, though I did make a point to park in as much shade as I could find, and I brought in my usual “tons of water” for any desert hike. It did take me a bit of time to find the trailhead, but once I tracked down the descent route, my adventuring went nice and easy.

I’ll admit – I was a bit surprised at how easy it was to get to the lower gorge! After years of climbing at Smith, it’d always seemed like a magical and distant land… learning that perfect crack climbing was literally an easier approach than any other area in the park… well, that was a bit rough on the old mindset, let me tell you. Thankfully, the beauty of the cliffs overwhelmed that sadness… mostly.



I had some lunch by the river, in the best patch of shade that I could find. It wasn’t a lot of shade, but… you know what? In the sun, any patch helps.

By the time I got back to the car, the temperature had climbed to a lovely 102 degrees. I put the top down on the car, cranked the AC, and headed onward to Trout Creek!


That drive was rough, man. I didn’t know much about Trout Creek, except that it had good trad routes, but if I can tell you one thing about it… the drive in isn’t easy. It’s rough, and the next days saw me at the tire shop in town getting a nail pulled out of a slowly flattening tire. Frankly, I’m glad that’s the only damage caused… the gravel road wasn’t bad, but something about the ridges and waves… well, the Mustang didn’t appreciate it, tell you what. And the Mustang’s been on roads that look FAR rougher than this one did.

Anyways. I parked, slathered on sunscreen, and headed in.



The hike in was gorgeous.

I mean, look at it. The desert browns, the verdant green by the river, and then the sparkling blue of the river itself. It was stunning, and made me feel like I was in an old western, following the dusty trail along the river to the legendary fort, hidden city, or treasure stash.

The heat really… baked it in… too. (Ed Note: Sorry, readers. I tried to get Ben to avoid puns) But I forged onward, slowly raising dusty footfalls along the trail while staring wistfully at the sun glinting off the cool-looking water. I was never quite close enough to take a dip, and… let’s be honest here. The water at Smith isn’t safe to swim in, thanks to agricultural runoff, so… how much safer could this really be?

Well, that rafters would say that it’s perfectly safe, but… hey. Let’s play it safe, yeah?

Onward and warmer and hotter.


When I reached the climbers trail, I headed up toward the now-visible cliffs. For a short while.

I didn’t go far, though, as I quickly realized just how hot it really was… and just how tired I was becoming. I don’t think I ever actually went into heat stroke, but I will say that I was surprised at how little I was sweating… and in the heat, that’s never a good sign. After maybe 50 or 100ft of elevation, I turned around and headed back to the car.



On the way back, I kept track of my physiology.

It was the desert, the height of the day, the middle of Summer. It was over 100 degrees, and I was in the direct sun. Not a good recipe, I freely admitted to myself.

But as with all events in life, dangers have mitigations. Risk has ways to be tempered. And, thankfully, I’m not going into these wilds unseasoned. As I walked, I kept checking in with myself:

– I wasn’t sweating much… which is an early sign of heat exhaustion.
– I mitigated that by drinking more water… and using some of that water to saturate my shirt. If my body won’t make sweat… I’ll make it for myself.

– I was tired… which is just an early sign of being tired.
– I ate a bit as I walked… but not too much, since digestion warms the body, and lord knows I didn’t need any more of that action.

– The Sun was high, and there wasn’t shade.
– There was nothing to be done about the shade… but sunscreen I had. I reapplied, even stopping to take off my shirt and apply all over my shoulders to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

I kept walking.

I got back to the car, and drank some Gatorade and a protein shake. I kept the top up, this time, and drove out slowly. I turned up the AC… but in stages, so I wouldn’t shock my body.

I got a hot dog from Sonic on the way back.

I was glad to be out of the sun… and glad to know about two new climbing areas!


…


Maybe, in hindsight, two new winter climbing areas.

Aug17

Seeing Rise Against in Bend!!

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Sunday, 24-July-2022

Ohh man… how long has it been since I’ve been to a concert?

Not… huh. Not actually that long, I guess? Looking back at the archives (yay having a searchable diary!), it looks like I went to a punk show back in March. So… four months? That’s not actually that bad, really. Maybe… maybe, just maybe, things are starting to get a little bit better?

We’ll see. But for now, they were excellent. Loud music, beautifully comfortable desert air, and a gorgeous sun setting behind the stage. I could get used to evenings like this, no lie.

I’d driven out to Bend earlier in the day, taking my time to enjoy the drive while listening to music and letting my mind wander. It was great – I’d taken the Southern route to the desert, instead of going North past Mount Hood, so the scenery was a little bit different than normal. The top was down, the AC was on (hey, it was literally 106 degrees, hush), and I had approximately a gallon of sunscreen on.

The drive was lovely.


I arrived at my AirBnB, checked in, took some time to cool off… and headed into town for the show. Easy peasy. Maybe even lemon squeezy, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The concert itself was great – not quite as angry as I was expecting (and hoping for, truth be told) but… we do what we can, you know? The music was great, I had an amazing time, and I’m absolutely ecstatic that I was able to go!



Unfortunately, the show did end a bit earlier than expected… Remember, Rise Against is a political band, sort of like a slightly tamer version of Rage Against the Machine in my mind. Their songs are about issues in the world, and what could be. About respecting people, and breaking down barricades between us.

The mosh pit took that a bit too literally, and broke down the barricade in front of the stage.

Yeah. They took 30min trying to fix it, before giving up and telling us they weren’t allowed to play any more angry songs… not that the previous songs were excessively angry, but… you know. So they played an acoustic song (one of my favorites, actually), and then signed off for the night.

But it was near the end of the set anyways, so not too much music was lost I guess. A bummer, to be sure, but not the worst in the world.



That evening, I lay on the picnic table outside the place I’d rented, and watched the stars. I took a lovely bath in the claw-foot tub, and I took the chance to finish reading my book.

I love the desert.

Nov18

Backpacking to Green Lakes – Visiting the Sisters!

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Friday and Saturday, 22-Oct-2021 and 23-Oct-2021



Friday, 22-Oct-2021


It all started with an epic odyssey in search of coffee and breakfast.

I swear, that wasn’t the plan.


The plan was simple – get going early, pick up coffee and a breakfast sandwich, and stuff some coffee packets into my backpack before getting to the trailhead before 11.

But as we all know, simple isn’t always viable, and sometimes the world wants me to take an epic odyssey all over Bend, searching for a Starbucks that’s actually freaking open.



Yeah, so everyone’s heard of the whole “labor shortage” thing, right? And, I hope, the counter stories about workers applying to dozens of “desperately needed” jobs, only to get a single half-hearted interview?

Well, without passing judgement on which new story is lying, I can say that the Starbucks in Bend are annoying me, and that they’re understaffed… to say the least.

I stopped at four Starbucks before I finally found on that was open… and even then, they didn’t have what I was looking for “due to supply shortages”

Seriously. I didn’t make it to the trailhead ’till almost 1:00!



But you know what?

That’s fine. It’s all fine – I’m not in a rush; the trail to Green Lakes is only 5 or 7 miles each way (I think it’s officially 4.55miles to the lakes area, with a few more spent trying to find a campsite), and I still had quite a bit of daylight left. My bag was packed, I was ready to go, and the trail was waiting for me.



Adequately caffeinated, I started into the woods.

It’s… interesting. Green Lakes was one of those hikes that Sarah and I did regularly when we were still a semi-happy young couple. But I couldn’t tell you the last time I’d been out there… and frankly, I don’t know why we stopped going. It had been a tradition, for a little while, but… as with everything it seemed to have withered and died on the vine.

Going in by myself was interesting, with that context in mind. I enjoyed the familiar views, and appreciated seeing them with new eyes. I took photos, I reflected, and I continued walking until it was time to stop.


In the evening, I set up camp before heading out to explore the large Moraine flowing to the South of South Sister – It’s a very interesting geological feature, full of neat pumice stones and obsidian chunks. I watched the sunset, and appreciated the quiet and solitude of the wilderness.

Dinner was had, my book was read, and sleep came easily.





Saturday, 23-Oct-2021


Saturday dawned bright and cold – my absolute favorite was for a dawn to break.

Instead of cooking breakfast at camp, I was feeling exploratory… so I bundled up the breakfast bits and headed out toward Green Lake itself, aiming to cook up some oatmeal and jerky. With, of course, my hard-earned coffee!

Of interesting note – I got to watch various Instagrammers doing their product-placement photoshoots while I cooked and ate… One lady and her dog posed with beef jerky sticks, while another did handstands in exceptionally well-fitted yoga pants, while her fried photographed the hand lotion balanced on her feet… before saying that they should have brought their sponsored trash bags too.

It was interesting. I’m not hugely against it, mind you, but it’s definitely interesting.



After enjoying a lovely slow breakfast, I re-packed the gear, and took a walk. I’d been to Green Lakes, as I mentioned, but I hadn’t even gone past the Northern border of the camping area… There was no rush to the day, and my legs were feeling good, so I set my sights on a far-off ridgeline, and started walking.

The trail was beautiful, and I’m absolutely thankful that I took the time to explore – Green Lakes has excellent views, but the views of Broken Top from the ridgeline were unique, and the light was just,.. *muah*





After returning to camp, I could have packed up… but again, I wasn’t really in any rush for the day. I wanted to get back to the car before sunset, but… it’s all downhill, man. And I don’t walk too slowly anymore, so I felt confident enough tat I took it easy.

I stretched out in the sun, opened my book, and spent some time trying to understand the book that I’d brought with me… no easy task, since it’s a full-on psychotherapy dialogue, rooted in lessons earned during the authors time in concentration camps during the Holocaust. But worthwhile things take effort, and I feel positive about what I learned in that sun-dappled spot, in the middle of Oregon, surrounded by the peace and quiet of the mountains.




The hike out went even better than I could have hoped. I arrived back at the car with nearly an hour of sunlight left… which gave me easily enough time to quietly pack the car, take a few extra photos… and more importantly, even granted me the chance to revisit a favorite Tex-Mex restaurant in Bend (El Rodeo) that I hadn’t been to since the last time I’d hiked in the area.

A great trip, and a much appreciated chance to overwrite some negative memories with more positive ones… while also doing some significant introspection on that exact subject.