With snow falling in the Cascades, it is becoming harder to find places to take a long hike in Central Oregon without snow shoes or cross country skies. Last Saturday we decided to re-hike the 1.4 mile, 500 foot elevation gain Bessie Butte trail located off China Hat and then take the Swamp Wells Trail through the Deschutes National Forest to Kelsey Butte, located roughly 5 miles south of Bessie Butte. The trail, lightly covered with snow, was easy to follow and our research on the hike showed it to be one for mountain bikers as well as hikers.  The Swamp Wells Trail, if followed its entire length, eventually will end at Newberry Crater after 20 plus miles with a lot of elevation gain in that final push.  During our hike through the woods we saw only one other person, a woman with her dog, but did follow one set of mountain bike tracks for much of the way.

If you enjoy walking in the forest, this is a great place to go. It wasn't until we were half way up Kelsey Butte that we came out of the trees and could view the forest we had walked through along with views of all the buttes around us plus vistas of the Cascades. It was a cloudy day, but I am sure on a clear day there would be views all the way to Mt. Hood. After walking around the base of Kelsey Butte, we returned to our car left at the Bessie Butte Trailhead. All in all, with the quick up and back on Bessie Butte, we estimated our hike was between 11 and 12 miles. Although not having the "wow" views we love so much when we hike in the mountains, this walk through the Deschutes National Forest was very fulfilling and gave us some great exercise after our Christmas meal. And for those who enjoy solitude, you can't beat the lack of crowds.

I know many of us feel like 2020 has been full of challenges with the restaurant industry having more than most. We love to support businesses who are making the best of a tough situation and figuring out ways to still serve the community. Our latest taste of the town was the Brown Owl in the Box Factory above the Old Mill. 

Despite a strict order to not allow indoor dining, The Brown Owl has managed to create several intimate outdoor spaces that provide for proper social distancing and spacing around a wonderful center fire pit that keeps the whole space toasty despite temperatures being in the 30's. We were on the hunt for a quick bite and a drink and The Brown Owl absolutely delivered. 

For beverages, we went for the classic Hot Toddy which featured wonderful honey and lemon flavors that were on point for a cold winter day and we also tried their featured "Snow Fall"...

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Chush Falls is a Stunning Central Oregon Waterfall

We have heard about Chush Falls, located off the Three Creeks Lake road outside of Sisters, Oregon, for many years, but had never hiked it until last Saturday. Since it was the middle of December, but snowfall had been somewhat light, we believed we would be fine hiking in the 2 plus miles into the waterfall. We got a late start so that it would be warmer, but experienced a lot of ice on the trail the first mile. Although we had trekking poles, ice spikes for our shoes would have been very helpful and that first mile was walked fairly slowly. 

The first portion of the hike is through the burned trees of the 2017 Milli fire. But despite the burned trees, there has been a lot of regrowth with manzanita and young trees and the views of North and Middle Sister were beautiful. However, one issue which we found throughout the trail was the multiple fallen trees which had to be navigated in order to continue with the hike.

After crossing a couple of small creeks, getting lost due to a large fallen tree blocking the path, we climbed roughly 800 feet in elevation until we reached the overlook for Chush Falls. Trees blocked most of the view from the overlook, so we climbed down the steep hillside, dodging tree limbs and walking around boulders to reach Whychus Creek and walked up the stream until we reached the base of Chush Falls. It was truly a winter wonderland with ice and snow creating a stunning sight. 

Bend Oregon New Home Prices Expected to Rise

The demand for Bend Oregon housing over the past year has broken records. With less than a month supply of single family homes for sale, builders have been working hard to bring new product onto the market. However, the demand has not kept up with the supply and more and more buyers are not able to purchase a home they can afford.

Besides the changes that great demand has made to Bend new home prices, there is another important issue connected with housing affordability - the price of lumber. Since the beginning of the pandemic in March when lumber prices dropped initially, the price of lumber has climbed at a tremendous rate, reaching a high of almost $1000 per thousand board feet in September before prices dropped in October. However, with decent weather and great demand, builders continue to build into the late fall and lumber prices are rising again. Traditionally lumber pri...

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Lake Billy Chinook Area Offers Interesting Things to See

Many Central Oregonians will spend time during the summer at Lake Billy Chinook enjoying the houseboats and recreational opportunities available at The Cove Palisades State Park. However, hiking during the summer can be very uncomfortable with high temperatures in the area the norm. But in mid December, the cool temperatures can make for a nice hiking experience when a lot of exertion is needed.

Balancing Rocks is a Geological Formation to View Overlooking the Metolius Arm of Lake Billy Chinook

Not really a hike (1/2 a mile round trip), the Balancing Rocks (called hoodoos) can be located by driving all the way through the park past the airport toward the Perry South Campground. When forest service road 64 turns into a dirt road, travel just a short distance until you find the parking lot for the short walk to Balancing Rocks. The rocks were formed when a layer of harder volcanic rock flowed over a softer layer of volcanic rock.  Over many thousands of years, the underlying softer rock has eroded at a faster rate than the overlying harder rock, thus forming the balancing rocks we see today. This is worth the extra drive to see such an unusual geological formation.

Tam-a-lau Trailhead is at the Day Use Area of the Cove Palisades State Park 

The trail to the top of the plateau between the Deschutes and Crooked River arms of Lake Billy Chinook has a very steep 800 foot elevation gain the first mile. Wooden stairs are built into some tough sections, but we found other areas to be slippery and later muddy as the frozen ground melted once the temperature rose above freezing later in the day. After reaching the top of the plateau, the level 4.5 mile loop around the hilltop provides for wonderful views of the lake and we were fortunate to see a soaring red-tailed hawk during this trek.  In certain sections, the trail goes very close to the edge of the plateau and we recommend staying a safe distance from the edge as the drop is very steep and dangerous in some areas.

We have read that the Tam-a-lau trail can be very hot and uncomfortable during the summer and is best done either very early or late in the day when the temperatures are cooler. For our hike mid December, layers were best with us getting quite warm in the first mile, but cooling off a lot during the loop hike at the top of the plateau. We saw just a few people during the entire hike.