Bend Oregon

We loitered around the Bachelor parking lot when we went up to the sled hill. I've never ridden Bachelor, maybe I'll have time next year. I took a couple runs down the sled hill, but it was all ice and stumps, not fun.

Hey Bill,
Where are you now?
Are you going to be heading through Eugene?

Best regards,
Nolan

These are bizzare posts... if i was a conspiracy theorist i'd say the Bend Chamber of commerece and tourism decided to get extra creative with their non stop tourism advacacy. I live in Bend. The sisters are pretty moutains, yes, but its not like they are 14ers or something. Speaking of 14ers, bend is the kind of town where 9 out of 10 people won't know what your talking about when you say "14er." Mount bachelor ski area....please! Its has a consistant angle of 20 something degrees. Good for retiree aged skiers, tis true. uhhhhh, what else. Mountain biking. don't all sizable towns in the west have mountain biking? why am i typing this....? I'm stuck at a traffic light and am killling time. Or, I don't know, maybe because i'm bored. maybe because bend is boring. i should be on the craigslist rant perhaps.

Then where are you now?

Wow - seriously? Perhaps you need to find somewhere else. Obviously Oregon doesn't grow on you. And yes, CL rant and rave is a much better place, I'm sure you'll fit right in there.

I guess i'm just confused about the Bend self promotion machine, if that is the word for it. It seems to be more than just whatever people talking about how they like living here. Or maybe that is all it is, how the hell would i know. The climate is pretty killer, What more can you ask for i suppose?

jackfish said:

Then where are you now?

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Jackfish! ironically, im just outside of madison right now. Every place has its pros and cons, wisconsin: great cross country skiing, pro. Chunky women packer fans everywhere, con.

Coming from western Maryland, myself, after 13 years of exploring all the best spots in the US, the Bend area is pretty dang fabulous. Perhaps you didn't explore much here. I've just started, having only living here a year now (actually south in La Pine + another awesome property in Fort Rock, edge of the 'outback', each under 100K) but I am continually blown away by this state. The area is so much more than just Bend. It's an outdoors paradise on many levels and dimensions. Bachelor blows away any of the eastern pimples I use to ski and board on. Plus the proximity to the ocean and so many other awesome places...

I grew up in LaPine. The first thing you did in High School when you wanted to do something was go out and see if you had enough gas to get to Bend. Like everyone, I moved away from where I grew up because the grass is always greener. Having been all over the West Coast, I can say that Bend is a very desirable place to live. Of similar areas that offer 4 season adventure; the winters and their bookends are too cold and long in the Rockies (Aspen, Breckenridge, Vail, Alma/Fairplay, Leadville, Frisco/Dillon, etc), Moab is too small and isolated for year round living, Sedona doesn't have much to offer in the winter, Flagstaff is OK but not great snowsports, Missoula is a little isolated and insular.

Access to Bachelor in the winter and mountain biking and trail running right from your door in the summer make Bend a great place. And hunting/fishing is there, too, if that's your thing. Top notch breweries and fair coffee and restaurants. Cost of living is low, but the real estate fluctuates a lot, so buy on a low year.

Living in the Bay Area, I'm always puzzled when people say "it's close to everything, the beach, the redwoods, the mountains...". It takes an hour to get to the beach from the East Bay, and about 3 hours to get to the ski resorts in the Sierra. 3 hours is not CLOSE. less than 1/2 hour is CLOSE. The first groves of decent redwoods are more than 2 hours North (Hendy) and most are 4-6 hours away (Avenue of Giants, Prairie Creek, etc). I have NO IDEA where these people get the idea that these things are close.

surlyoldbill said:

The first groves of decent redwoods are more than 2 hours North (Hendy) and most are 4-6 hours away

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I walk out the back door and in 20 steps can touch a redwood. That pretty close. Ocean is 15 minutes away. Does take 1 3/4 hrs to SF with good traffic. Do not ski.

I first experienced Bend in '65 when it wasn't much more than a wide spot on Hwy 97, actually a small mill town. I was stationed in the USAF not too far away and was a life long skier. Having made a skiing friend whose folks lived on Mt Hood while he attended Bend's Junior College (before they were called Community Colleges), I used to visit and ski Bachelor with him & his buddies....great days. The early morning drive up to Bachelor was literally a road race to get 1st tracks! I've visited it MANY times in the interim 50 years and watched the area "bloom" repeatedly with all of the associated pros & cons of such. For a long time my young family would pilgrimage for Christmas and Spring school vacations and often spring/summer/fall camping trips to surrounding areas (Chain of Lakes etc). For a long time I aspired to figure out how I could make a living AND live there. Had I lived in the Portland or other western OR metro area I'd have undoubtedly bought something...almost did a couple of times anyways! As I neared retirement I dedicated a trip to again investigate a move to Bend. I knew it "had gone off", ie been discovered by the masses. It still has lots of reasons to be there, but is NOT the same as its earlier, funky ski town ambience. Change is inevitable and coping with more & more & more people not only changes the type and flavor of services, but changes the flavor of the people populating (residing or visiting) it. The balance has shifted from a residential town to a vacation destination....a long time ago, like so many other places throughout the mountain west. Its interesting to view the perspective of others who've more recently discovered it....it is yet still better than many other places, but IMHO its peak was in the late 70's-mid '80's. Re the comment about Bachelor's terrain, it never was a particularly challenging ski area although development of the upper area improved that. Like the rest of the area, it isn't so much world class at any single facet but rather a unique collection of so many varied activities, ie flyfishing, white watering, hiking, mtn biking, skiing, etc combined with the dry, sunny weather of eastern OR and ample, dry snow because of Bachelor's unique location relative to the rest of the Cascades. I have fond memories of the place, but no longer is it my 1st instinct of where I want to recreate/live...."its gone off"!

I would love to see the statistic for how often the average Bend home owner checks the value of his house on Zillow per month! Its probably like twice a month or something rediculous. Sitting around waiting for our homes to magically double in value....that's what we do here in town pretty much.

We live a relatively short 4 hr drive from Bend. Love it there, despite the tourist invasion. Our Bend favorites - Smith Rock, biking opportunities, Old Mill Dist REI, smell of juniper on a hot summer day, and Sparrow Bakery Ocean Rolls.

La Pine State Park is a good place to stay for extensive exploration of the area.

http://www.thesparrowbakery.net/recipes/what-is-an-ocean-roll/

I now have a shop in La Pine plus another in the 'outback', Fort Rock. Lots of space to hang and explore should you need cheap camping. The FR place has a huge guest kitchen, dining room and bath - in the shop. I'm living out there full-time and commuting to La Pine when I need to work in the original shop. Peace, quiet, dark skies and endless places to explore and recreate in every direction. Fort Rock is my view from the front porch.

I haven't been out to Fort Rock area in a long time. I grew up in LaPine. We're planning a longer stay for Frontier Days this year, so I might drag the life accomplice and the kids out to Fort Rock and the creatively named Hole In The Ground and Crack In The Ground. My mom recently donated a bunch of stuff to the people working on the Homestead, and the High Desert Museum.

Funny about Bend and Zillow; it wasn't too long ago that all those crappy craftsman-looking subdivisions they built were nearly vacant from foreclosures. Then it boomed again! I wish I would have bought something when it was bust. I prefer the older neighborhoods around downtown and at the base of Pilot Butte.

I'll have to do a little research on the various micro breweries, see which ones we want to check out. Don't really care for any that bottle stuff for sale in Safeway (Deschutes Brewery). Been to the McMenamins a lot, stayed in the cabins a few times. Many years ago when I was in the snowboard industry, some guys I knew started Bend Brewing Company, I doubt they're still involved.

there's a place for everyone. oregon may not be the place for you. stay where you are. thanks.

Bend is a wonderful section of the state of Oregon. I'm born and raised in Oregon, other than some time spent in the southern State of Cal, and time on the European and Asian continents. It's also a once again booming town, fighting some growing pains, like any city. The Nature that surrounds Bend, Maras, Prineville, and La Pine is wonderful. We just spent a great four nights at the La Pine State Park... They have some smooth mountain biking trails, and a get short Deschutes float right in the State park. Remember, leave no trace, and smile and wave at those you cross paths with..

We just got back from a week in north central Oregon.
Bend, Fall River and the upper and lower stretches of the Metolius River. Beautiful part of America. The lower stretch of the Metolius just above Lake Billy Chinook was the best. Had the place to ourselves, more osprey in one place than I have ever seen and otters chasing big fat trout.

Upper Metolious just north of Sisters Oregon. Heavily used area, very popular for fly fishing.


Just 40 miles away as the crow flies but two hours of dirt road away at the lower section of the Metolius. Had the place to ourselves.




Really liked Hood River too, more Sprinters in one place than I have ever seen. Cool town. Worth a visit.

The suspension bridge over Lake Billy Chinook, this is a dam formed lake, three of Oregon's best fishing rivers join here, Deschutes, Crooked and Metolius.

If you're into volcanoes and acres of obsidian, just south of Bend is the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. There's a visitor center and lava field you can wander over just west of US97, but the real attraction is on the east side, where you can drive up the paved road into the mountain's crater ... park and then wander over a massive obsidian (black volcanic glass) flow.
There's a lake and campground in the crater, too.

If you'd like to take some obsidian home, then drive east out of Bend on US20 towards Ripley. About 6 miles east of Hampton, you'll find "Glass Buttes" on the south side of the highway ... it's not very well marked, but it's BLM land and you're allow to take 20 pounds per day (or up to a single 50 pound piece). Gravel roads lead into the area (but it is pretty well picked-over).
20 miles further east on US20 is the Chickahominy Reservoir, with a BLM (or NFS?) campground on the east end.

If you're into fossils, then go north of Bend, and head towards US26 heading east to Dayville and the John Day Fossil Beds.
Oregon 19 going north from Dayville takes you to their visitor center (via an impressive cleft in the rocks) and trails to wander just a couple of miles north of the center.

--dick