Ziplining at Mt. Bachelor

Ann: "I booked us to zipline at Bachelor!"

Ed: "I'm terrified!"

I have a real and at times debilitating fear of heights and sight unseen, the idea of ziplining at Mt. Bachelor was almost triggering. I managed to put it out of my mind for a few weeks, but as the date crept up on us, I started fretting again and I didn't sleep much the night before, not that I ever do, perhaps in response to my fear. Recently, I am not sleeping well because we have had to keep our windows closed and I am used to having them open.

Earlier in the week, I honestly expected our zip tour to be postponed. Mt. Bachelor stands not more than 15 miles northeast of the raging Cedar Creek Fire. With the prevailing wind out of the west and southwest, the smoke from that fire had been thick and terrible enough to close down most outdoor activities in our entire area. Sunday was horrendous and Monday was only slightly better. We stayed indoors on Tuesday but were able to get out for a little while on Wednesday in spite of the pervasive smell of smoke.

Each morning over the past couple of weeks, we have awakened to read the morning briefing on the fire which is destroying gorgeous country near and dear to us. We have been shocked to watch it grow from 4000 acres to over 90,000 acres in just a few days, jumping all control boundaries and wreaking havoc. Despite this, by Thursday morning, we still had not received a call from Mt. Bachelor to reschedule our zip tour. Quite to the contrary, Ann received a confirmation/reminder email. Our timing was fortunate: our guide at Bachelor told us that all zip tours were cancelled on the weekend.

We just had time to get our coffee on board before we had to leave for the mountain. My stomach was in minor turmoil all during coffee and I kept telling myself to man up and enjoy the experience.

Our trip out of town on Century Blvd was, in a word, surreal. Just starting to head out of town towards Tetherow stands a big sign with mileage to the principal sights along Cascade Lakes Highway. Although I knew that the highway was closed on the back side of Bachelor to let the more than 1800 firefighters do what they could do to contain the fire, I really wasn't expecting there also to be a large portable message board reading "Hwy Closed at Hosmer Lake."

Usually, Cascade Lakes Highway is a busy road, busy with people coming and going to Bachelor and the lakes in pursuit of the fantastic recreation opportunities that this part of Central Oregon offers. Our vehicle was one of the very few (less than five) private vehicles on the road. Out towards Bachelor, we would encounter other vehicles, each from agencies involved in fighting the massive fire.

I really felt guilty about going out to play at a time when and at a location where all these awesome firefighters were struggling to keep the rest of us safe. If we had not booked our tickets long in advance, we would not have gone out to Bachelor, one of whose parking lots is the incident command post and staging area for the eastern side of the fire.

Each of the snow parks on the way to Bachelor now serves as a staging area for firefighters and the sheer amount of tents, vehicles, and construction equipment that we saw as we passed the parks was stunning. And yet, counterintuitively and wholly differently from each day in the recent past, the sky was bright blue and we could see the sun for the first time in more than a week.

In short order, we arrived at the nearly deserted West Village parking lot and, in a vast change from the recent temperatures pushing into the upper 90s, when we got out of the car, we were struck by the temperature near 40 coupled with a brisk wind. I quickly put on my down vest and a beanie, the first time I've been bundled up against the cold in months.

Bundled Up Against the Wind

We went inside to check in and the woman checking us in told us that the temperature up on the hill at the start of the course was 41 degrees. Good thing I brought a pair of thin gloves to ward off the added wind chill from screaming down the hill. After a quick restroom break, impossible once you're fitted into a harness, we headed out back for our briefing held near the bottom landing pad for the course.

Standing behind West Village Lodge between the Pine Marten and Little Pine lifts, we got our first view of the mountains in a couple weeks. And even with a little smoke haze and low cloud cover, they were picturesque to the point I regretted that I couldn't bring the big camera. And despite being limited to taking photos between runs, we managed to get some decent enough pictures between our two phones.

Our group of eight riders and three guides gradually assembled over fifteen minutes or so and we all waited for the group before us, the first of the day, to finish their safety briefing and head over to the pint-sized introductory zip line which drops a whole 10 feet over 125 feet. As we watched the group ahead of us get hooked, two by two, onto the test line, we could see the dual zip lines for the final stage of the three-stage tour running overhead to the landing platform by the Little Pine Lift. Nobody was yet on the course, so we had no clue how fast we would be screaming over this section of the tour.

Test Run Landing Platform
with Final Stage Zip Line Overhead

We got to see one pair of riders putter down the test run before it was our time to head inside and receive our safety briefing and get fitted with a harness, a backpack, and a helmet. And then, after a dozen reminders to keep our hands away from the cables, we headed over to the test platform to have our uneventful test rides, perhaps four or five feet off the ground. We had to stop halfway down the course to check out the brakes and then we continued on to the landing platform. I couldn't get enough momentum with that little drop in the cable and could barely reach the landing platform. I would overcompensate on the next run!

Gear Laid out for Each Rider,
Sized According to Information Supplied When Registering

Ann All Kitted Out and Ready for Test Run

Ann and I were in the second of four groups to go down the test platform and we would stay in that position until the last stage when we went first, the first idiots down the craziest stage of the course. Nothing so far had triggered my fear and I was pretty relaxed as we waited at the end of the platform for the guides to remove our trollies from the cable and stow them in our backpacks for the trip up the hill. In a sign of things to come, we had to wait for a few minutes for everyone to finish their test run. Up on the course, the action takes mere seconds, punctuated by long waits between stages.

Riding the Ski Lift to the Top

With everyone finished, we would take the Pine Marten lift up to about 7800 feet and the platform for the first stage. Compared to the fast quad lifts that I have been on in the past, this lift creeps up the hill taking 12 minutes to reach the top. For whatever reason, ski lifts have never triggered my fear of heights and I enjoyed looking at the glorious scenery around us. Once up top, we made the very short walk over to the base of the first platform.

Gulp! The First Platform

After a few minutes of waiting at the base of the first platform for the group ahead of us to go while trying to ignore the churning in my stomach, it was suddenly our turn and I had my first "Oh shit!" moment as I stepped onto the platform to be hooked to the real zip line, not the toy line we had experienced earlier. Up on top of the platform, I could really hear the screaming of the trollies of the first group as they raced down the course. The high pitch scream did nothing to settle my stomach.

I only had a brief moment of terror on the platform before it was on and I was flying down the course with Ann. And within seconds we were at the Slow Down flag near the landing and I applied the brakes much more gently than on the test course where I almost failed to reach the platform. Naturally, I rammed into the bumper springs at the end of the cable faster than the tour guides and I wanted to, but no harm, no foul. The ride was over so quickly that I had no time to get scared while dropping 255 feet over about a third of a mile. In fact, I was amped and ready to go again. This zip line thing was turning out to be a blast!

Looking Back Where We Started, 550 Yards Distant

Waiting to Go on the Second Stage

Clouds Over South Sister

We Played Cornhole Waiting on the Second Run

Looking at the Stage 2 Landing, 550 Yards Distant
Todd Lake in Background

The second stage was pretty much identical in drop and length to the first and was over just as quickly. On this run, I experienced a little twisting on the cable and figured out how to correct it by moving my legs a bit. I came into the platform very slowly as a result of my semi-crash landing on the prior run. Ann screamed by me as I slowed for a landing. I was disappointed with the lack of speed as I crawled into the landing. At this point, I was really looking forward to the last pitch which drops 866 feet over two-thirds of a mile. 

Selfie Queen Waiting for Final Run

The Resulting Selfie

South Sister and Broken Top Looking Splendid

Looking at the Stage 3 Landing, Broken Top, and Dutchman Flats

Our group decided to shuffle things up and Ann and I ended up leading the parade down the final pitch. I am not going to lie: looking down the course from the platform is a real gut check. From our position at the top of the steps, Ann and I could see the final guide from the previous group make his solo run down the cable, screaming down the hill in a blur. At the top, he was talking about going for the speed record and once he hit the bottom, we heard the call over the radio, "86.8!" Yeah, that's nearly 90 miles per hour screaming down the hill.

Next thing you know, Ann and I are flying down the hill way in excess of any highway speed limit and the feeling of acceleration is totally exhilarating. I got a bit twisted at a couple of points thanks to some big gusts of wind and that really slowed my run down, my body acting like a big sail. As I corrected the spins, I saw Ann flying past me and I was jealous as I accelerated for all I was worth to catch her. That only lasted a second or two before I had to jam on the brakes, a bit too late. I managed to ram the springs at the end of the cable pretty well.

After returning our gear to the start, it was beer o'clock so we grabbed the lift back to the Pine Marten Lodge to see what they had on tap and to grab some lunch, neither of us having eaten breakfast.

Riding the Lift to Get a Beer

Going Up: the Red Cinder Cone on the North Flank

The lodge was pretty much deserted given that it was mid-week and off-season with sketchy smoke conditions keeping people away. The café had a very slim selection of draft beer. The menu looked overpriced and uninspired, so we drank our beer, walked on the deck outside for a few minutes and then headed back down the hill to get lunch and a real fresh hop beer somewhere in town, it being the beginning of fresh hop season.

At Pine Martin Lodge Looking North

Rare White Bark Pines at 7800 Feet

Flag Trees in the Very Brisk Wind

One Final Look at The Sisters and Broken Top

Tumalo Mountain

Now that I have experienced it, the zip lines were not long enough or fast enough! I had a blast and cannot wait to do it again!

Labor Day 2022

Labor Day means less to me now than when I was actively working, even though I never really had the chance to celebrate it when I was working. At the restaurant, Monday was a workday for me and at the winery, Labor Day was a decent retail sales day, so no day off for me. But now, it is a chance to celebrate the end of summer. Ann and I both thought that we should do something a little out of the ordinary. Out of the ordinary means meat, which doesn't figure frequently in our diet.

And what better way to celebrate Labor Day than by hitting the grill? Silly me, I forgot we were out of propane, but that comes in a few sentences. We both love great sausages on the grill and recently we have found Bangers and Brews, a local eatery that makes (and retails!) great dogs. Up until now, we have been disappointed in the local sausages. A few trips to Bangers and Brews has solidified for us that their andouille is one of our favorites and so last week, we visited, had a choripan and an andouille, and bought a pound of andouille to bring home with us.

Andouille, Smoked and Spicy

We both love peppers and onions on our sausages, so I picked up extra onions and poblanos at the grocery store, poblano being the only mild green pepper I use (aside from a random Anaheim). I really do not care for the assertive flavor of green bell peppers. When I went to hit the grill on the afternoon of Labor Day, I realized that we were out of propane. Like duh, the empty propane tank is in the house sitting by the back door!

Poblanos and Yellow Onions

So plan B: hit the stove. We decided to eat late afternoon because we had plans to hear a band that evening, doors open at six. We were watching a movie on TV, Casablanca maybe?, and while watching that, I started the onions and peppers cooking. It takes a half an hour or so to get them meltingly tender. Meanwhile, I put the andouille in a dry pan over low heat and let them take their time in browning and getting warm and crispy.

Because our dogs were bunless and we wanted to eat them on the sofa while watching the movie, I sliced them, put the slices in a bowl, topped them with a big pile of peppers and onions, and then slathered on a gracious plenty of chimichurri from a batch I made last week to eat on carne asada.

Andouille, Onions and Peppers, Chimichurri

Recipe: Chimichurri

Folks, chimichurri is not a constant thing that can be captured in a one-size-fits-all recipe. It is a loose sauce that everyone wings based on an inexact formula and everyone's version is no doubt slightly different. I am sure people measure ingredients, but I've never seen it. Following is an idea of how I made mine this time. In looking back at my recipe from 2008 on the restaurant blog, I see that even I am not consistent in how I make it. Whatever! It's all good!

1 bunch cilantro, stemmed and finely chopped

1 bunch parsley, stemmed and finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 large shallot, finely minced

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon Greek (not Mexican) oregano

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Mix all ingredients well. Taste for acid and oil balance. I like my sauce fairly tart, but tartness depends on the acidity in the vinegar and all vinegar is different. Here, I have specified one part vinegar to three parts oil. I generally make it closer to 1:2 or sometimes 1:1. If your chimi is too tart, add more oil. Too oily, add more vinegar. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, spice, and oregano as you desire.

Some people like a more fluid sauce, some people like more solids. This version is more solid heavy. If you want closer to a vinaigrette, double the amount of liquids in the sauce. It's easy! Go nuts!

Labor Day Concert

On Monday afternoons, our recent habit is to go to Silver Moon Brewing to partake of half-price beers on locals day. But we skipped it on Labor Day in favor of going later in the day to see a band. They have an outdoor concert space that they call the Moon Room and they book small acts to play there from time to time. It really is a fun place to watch decent bands.

For Labor Day, Silver Moon had booked a group from the Bay Area called Proud Mary, a four woman group self-billed as the gayest CCR tribute band. Even if our kids have never heard of CCR, who in our age bracket doesn't love CCR?

Proud Mary on Stage

Gonzo Girl!

A Horse Great Dane

We had a wonderful time and the band really was a lot of fun and pretty talented too. Moreover, we met a lot of people who aren't the usual crowd that we see on Monday, including a couple of guys who just moved to Bend from New Mexico just seven days prior. We made plans later in the week to show them a couple of our favorite breweries and food trucks. But most of all, we enjoyed the huge and young brindled Great Dane pictured above. He towered above the table at which we were seated and every now and then, I would get a big old slobbery muzzle in my face. We really miss our two dogs Grace and Charlie who we have lost in the past year.

Green Lakes

As relative newcomers to Bend, Oregon, we are not yet super familiar with all the areas there are in which to hike. And so we scour the web for ideas of places to go. One of the ones that we bookmarked long ago was the Green Lakes hike, which is an out-and-back hike between the trailhead on Cascade Lakes Highway and the Green Lakes. The Green Lakes are a set of three small lakes in the Three Sisters Wilderness Area nestled between South Sister and Broken Top. This is a super popular hike and as a result the trail is in danger of being loved to death. To combat this, the Forest Service requires a Central Cascades entry permit to limit traffic.

Green Lake and South Sister

I tried many, many times over the course of late July and August (still snow into early July this year) to get us tickets, but I always missed the window in which tickets were still available. These tickets open up in two-day windows, 48 hours beforehand, starting at 7am. Finally, I awoke at quarter to 7 on Monday and was able to book tickets for Wednesday, with a mad dash downstairs to find my wallet at 7:01. I did not count on recreation.gov not storing credit card numbers with accounts. Unlike Ann, I am not a person who can or does memorize credit card numbers.

Unfortunately, and despite our hopes for cooler temperatures at the end of August, Wednesday corresponded with another heat spike, so we got up early and headed out for the half-hour drive out Cascade Lakes Highway to the trailhead. As we neared Mt. Bachelor, we could see an ominous pinkish grey mass of clouds on the southwestern horizon.

These clouds, for those of us who live in the West, are unfortunately all too recognizable as smoke, this being smoke from the Cedar Creek fire just southwest of us. Lightning started this fire on August 1 and it was burning slowly without endangering anything while being monitored by the Forest Service. Suddenly, last evening it exploded once again. It would prove to be a fairly bad fire.

We arrived at the Green Lakes Trailhead on the north side of Cascade Lakes Highway just opposite Sparks Lake about 8:25 in the morning and after getting our gear together, were at the trailhead at 8:30. Two Forest Service trail hosts were at the trailhead checking entry permits and about a mile or so up the trail, we also encountered a back country ranger who checked our permits again. The permit process takes all the spontaneity out of back country adventures, totally eliminating the "Where shall we hike today?" option, but has really done its job of limiting the hordes of people trampling to death our most popular trails.

The Popular Trails into the Three Sisters Wilderness
Require Central Cascades Entry Permits

After chatting with the trail hosts for a couple minutes while giving the foursome in front of us some time to get down the trail, Ann and I set off north up Falls Creek in the direction of the Green Lakes. Falls Creek originates at Green Lakes, roughly 1500 feet above, and empties into Sparks Lake, delivering snowmelt from both South Sister to the west and Broken Top to the east into Sparks Lake, where it ultimately filters through the porous volcanic soil into the Deschutes River.

Initial Creek Crossing

Dressed as we were for temperatures in the 90s, the initial part of the walk in the creek bottom was very chilly (in the upper 50s), the creek being a natural trough that funnels cold air off the surrounding hillsides. As we crossed the creek on a log bridge and ascended the hillside up above the creek, we warmed fairly quickly. As we headed upstream, we encountered small waterfall after waterfall, reminding us very much of following Tumalo Creek up into the hills.

Lewis' Monkeyflower, Erythranthe lewisii, Growing on Logs in Creek

Arrowleaf Groundsel, Senecio triangularis, Growing Creekside

Andesite, Looking Similar to Shale

We ran across the stone formation above that for years I thought was shale. In thinking it through though, there is not really any shale in the volcanic Cascades. This rock is andesite, a volcanic rock with a high silica content, very different from the low silica basalt that we see near our house.

 

The initial part of the hike along the lower part of the creek found us in a mixed forest of mostly smaller Lodgepole Pines, with a few true firs and hemlocks interspersed. As we climbed though, the woods became almost entirely old-growth Mountain Hemlock. I am always impressed by these giant conifers whose bark reminds me of hardwood trees and not at all of conifers.

Mature Mountain Hemlock Bark

And unfortunately as we climbed, we climbed right into the path of the smoke that we had seen earlier. The smoke was really the only damper on a delightful day, although it was never really horrible. And fortunately, it had mainly blown off on our return trip in the afternoon. It would be much worse on Thursday and in that sense, being at the mercy of the permit system, we lucked out on a relatively smoke-free day.

As we climbed, similar to following Tumalo Creek, we found the creek flowing gently through upland meadows as Tumalo Creek does through Happy Valley. After walking through a few delightful meadows, we went back into the woods and started to climb much more seriously.

Falls Creek Widens in Upland Meadow

Cooling off in the Creek

Fireweed, Chamaenerion angustifolium

Showy Monkeyflower, Erythranthe decora

Lewis' Monkeyflower on a Gravel Bar
Amazingly Clear Water and Colorful Stones

First Glimpse of South Sister

Rare Water Parsley, Oenanthe sarmentosa, Bloom
Most Has Already Gone to Seed

Hoverfly on Glaucous Penstemon, Penstemon euglaucus

Glorious Red Elderberry, Sambucus racemosa

First Harbinger of Fall
Davis' Knotweed, Aconogonon davisiae, Turning Red

A Paintbrush, Castilleja sp.

A Spring Plant in Bloom at the End of August
A Buckwheat, Eriogonum sp.

Gorgeous Patch of Asters

Every now and again as we climbed, we got peeks through the trees of a large lava dome to our west. As we would see when we climbed nearly to the lakes, the steep face of the lava dome was littered with obsidian, gleaming in the bright sun, vehicle-sized chunks having fallen into the creek whose east bank we were following. The vast lava field lacks any vegetation, opening the creek bottom to sun from late morning on. As a result, the banks are lined with short willows to the point of obscuring the water at times.

Lava Dome to Left, Creek Bottom Lined with Willows

Looking Back Downstream at a Cinder Cone (The Wife?)
Notice Lava Flow on the Right (west) Side

Car-Sized Obsidian Fallen to Creek Bottom

Vast Chunks of Obsidian Gleaming in Sun

Nearing the Lakes, South Sister Peeking out Above Lava Dome

Small Waterfall in Rill Coming Down from Broken Top

Senecio triangularis Detail from Previous Picture

Although the trail passes directly between South Sister to the west and Broken Top to the east, views of neither peak do not occur until near the end of the climb to the lakes. Early in the hike, South Sister is obscured by the trees and then later on, by the huge lava flow running alongside the trail. Broken Top stays hidden behind the trees pretty much all the way to the lakes.

South Sister Coming into View over Lava Field

Just at the lakes (there are three collectively known as the Green Lakes), we climbed a last short hill and topped out above the lakes, with South Sister coming into view on our left and a little farther down the trail, Broken Top to our right. The open ground surrounding the lakes is mainly gravel, no doubt glacial remains, inhabited by grasses and short alpine plants accustomed to arid conditions. This is in stark contrast to the deep hemlock forest and damp creek bottom that we walked through to get to the lakes.

Snow Remaining on South Sister

Open Gravel Surrounding the Lakes

Cobwebby Paintbrush, Castilleja arachnoidea

Alpine Buckwheat, Eriogonum pyrolifolium

Conferring with our map, we decided to walk down to the largest of the three lakes, then walk to a point opposite South Sister. From there, we would trace along the south side of the lake shore to the far side where we would head briefly south and pick up the north shore of the southernmost lake, a tiny thing really, with Broken Top sitting directly behind it, partially obscured by the ubiquitous wildfire smoke.

Largest of the Three Green Lakes

Amazingly Clear Water

Diving Ducks, Common Goldeneyes, I Think
Why is This Called Green Lake?

Broken Top Behind Southernmost Lake, Obscured by Smoke

More Ducks, Dabblers and Most Likely Mallards

Along the Lake Shore, Thousands of Dime-Sized Western Toads

A Very Large 6-7cm Black Tadpole

As we were walking along the shore of the largest lake, we spied two flowers that we had not yet seen, growing in the moist lakeside soil. The first was a yellow monkeyflower. While the pink Lewis' Monkeyflowers were pretty common, yellow ones were rare save for a few Showy Monkeyflowers growing further down the hill.

But up here at 6500 feet, this yellow one stood out. Monkeyflowers are terribly hard to identify at the species level, many looking for all the world like Common Monkeyflowers. This one stood out for having blooms in slightly different locations from the common ones, but they are known to interbreed, so who really knows? Or really cares, even? They are beautiful flowers as is the other flower that we found, the stunning Magenta Paintbrush. Although at this altitude and time of year, I expected to see a lot of these, we only saw the one plant.

Monkeyflower, Erythranthe sp.
Exhibits Axial Blooms Like Tiling's, E. tilingii

Stunning Magenta Paintbrush, Castilleja parviflora

An Unusually Wary Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel

The scenery at the lake being somewhat anticlimactic after the gorgeous creek-side walk through the forest and the heat getting up on the gravelly plains around the lakes, we decided to start back for the truck after perhaps 20-30 minutes at the lakes. In the warmer temperatures of the early afternoon, we saw a lot of butterflies, where we saw only very few in the morning.

Orange Sulfur on Aster

Hydaspe Fritillary on an Aster

We noticed a lot of horse apples and pony tracks in the dust all along the trail. Also, at each of the stream crossings, if there is a log bridge for people, there is a horse ford right next to it. This is one of the few trails we have been on to have been heavily trafficked on horseback. On our trip back down to the trailhead, we stood off to the side of the trail while three riders came up past us on their smallish horses.

Heading Back, Mount Bachelor Comes into View

A Final Look at the Largest Waterfall on the Creek

On the way back down, we had in mind to take the short side trail over to Moraine Lake at the south base of South Sister, but Ann's feet were bothering her a bit, so we continued on to the truck at the trailhead where it was 78 degrees, a delightful temperature. This temperature would hold all the way up to Mt. Bachelor. As we descended back towards town, the temperature would go up with every little bit of descent, reaching 92 as we entered Bend.

Over a couple of sours in the shade of the trees at Crux, we tried to rank where this hike falls in the list of the hikes we have taken here in our short duration in Bend. Clearly, it ranks right up at the top with our hikes at Jack Lake/Canyon Creek/Three-Fingered Jack and the North Fork Trail up to Happy Valley along Tumalo Creek. There is no doubt that we will continue to do this hike in the future and perhaps combine it into a loop hike using the Broken Top and Soda Creek Trails.