Our hike adventures took us to the base of Three Fingered Jack Mountain west of Sisters today. We did a really cool 9-mile loop that went through a bunch of different terrain - ponderosa pine forest, a ghost forest with new trees springing up, snow covered meadows, overflowing creek beds and wildflower-covered meadows. It was a really beautiful and rewarding hike. The coolest part was definitely the snow-covered Upper Meadow area under Three Fingered Jack. We scrambled up the snow as far as we could and I got to peak down through a gap to the base of the mountain where Cirque Lake will develop soon, but is still snow-covered for now. After leaving that area and heading out through the lower meadows filled with wildflowers and lots of snow melt, we came to Wasco Lake and had a very nice rest on the banks of the lake before hiking back to the car through a burned out ghost forest that looks to be recovering nicely with lots of little evergreens growing.
We drove through Camp Sherman the back way and got to see a brown bear crossing the road! Camp Sherman itself is a darling collection of vacation cabins on the banks of the Metolius River. Its claim to fame is amazing fly fishing. We had a picnic just outside the general store and then hiked to try to find the headwaters (it comes up out of the ground as springs) but got deterred by barbed wire fencing.
After resting a bit and cleaning up, we went out for dinner in Bend at Dogwood - an art-deco themed cocktail bar and community space that has seven food trucks and lots of great outdoor space on its property. It was a really awesome and we'd love to return. Afterwards we scouted out the river tube float situation in downtown Bend for next time - we ran out of time for this on this trip, unfortunately. It was fun to see so many surfers and kayakers playing on the waves at Whitewater Park as the sun was setting. Finally, we popped into the beautifully appointed Dear Irene for dessert to cap off the day and found it charming.
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