Saturday 30th - day 11.
Sisters to Smith Rock and Bend.

Woke gently in the beautiful Cold springs camp ground. Our night had bed. Disturbed only by the sound of wind in the treetops and by the occasional fir cone landing on the roof of the van.
Sun was filtering through trees onto the forest floor which was littered with pine needles and fircones.
Breakfast was s big treat today - we had read about the Cottonwood Cafe in our guidebook and it did not disappoint. In fact the whole town of Sisters was lovely, and having to wait 25 minutes for a table for breakfast was a pleasure. We strolled over to the Sisters smokehouse where we sampled smoked meats, admired the on-tap local ales and chose some rib-eye steaks for supper.
- [ ] Back to the Cottonwood cafe - staffed by the most charming people, endless coffee and a unique menu. I loved my Benedict Provençal. Bill had pulled pork with eggs over-easy, kale and fried potatoes. We really wanted to try the Dutch Apple pancakes, but just couldn’t!
- [ ] We drove on to today’s main destination - Smith Rock State Park - as we approached, we could see why Chris had known we would love this place. A dramatic rock formation of vertical cliffs coloured ochre, pink and red, creating a jagged skyline surrounded by desert. The Crooked River winds its way around their base. It’s particularly beautiful today with bright blue sky.
- [ ] Unfortunately, we had not appreciated that our ‘out of season’ visit coincided with the area being very much ‘peak season’ for rock climbers as the rocks are actually too hot to climb in summer and the conditions this weekend were perfect... We drove along the Crooked River Drive to the welcome centre, from where there was access to all the state park trails, to find the entire area overwhelmed by vehicles and people. The welcome rangers could not have been more pleasant or welcoming, but the simple fact was that this beautiful place was loved by too many people - there wasn’t enough space to park a unicycle, let alone a 25foot RV. After circling the various parking areas twice, we drove glumly back down Crooked River Drive, and turned on to the main highway where people were parking on the side of the roads with two wheels in the ditch, for yards wherever they could. The stream of their occupants walking back up Crooked River Drive reminded me of the streams of people you see making their way from car parks into the NEC for a concert.
- [ ] Dreadful.
- [ ] After several hundred yards we found a flattish area where we could pull off the road, and park in a rather precarious fashion up against a wire fence. It was far from ideal. What to do?
- [ ] Then eagle eyes spotted something on the bottom left hand corner of the trail map. The furthest end of the Canyon trail exited the park directly onto the main road a mile or so away from the turn onto Crooked River Drive. The exit point was directly opposite a ranch. We drove there. They were holding a special Pumpkin Patch festival and there was a large field available for parking.
- [ ] We parked in their field promising to return later to look at their pumpkins and hopped 10 meters across the road, through a small gate and we were in the park!
- [ ] This alternative access point made our trip slightly longer planned so we were trail running rather than hiking. It was the perfect thing to do.
- [ ] We ran along the Canyon trail, following the banks of the Crooked River up towards the centre of the park. The path was deserted and quiet - the only sound being the wind in the trees, the chuckling of the river and birdsong. The views of the rocks were breathtaking - the photographs do not do them justice. We were in awe for most of the day! We passed the Horse Ford and the Rope-de-Dope climbing area. At the footbridge we met a ranger displaying a gopher snake which Bill inexplicably allowed to glide up his arm... From there we ran on up the Misery Ridge Trail to the high point at 3075 feet. From here we could see the surrounding high desert plateau and there were distant views to snow covered mountains to the north and west. We ran down the other side, constantly aware of the hordes of climbers scaling the rock faces above us. At one point we heard a scream and looked up to see a girl dangling helplessly from the end of a rope over s ledge in mid air as her climbing partner shouted reassuring words and attempted to climb down to help her.
- [ ] We ran on along the Mesa Verde trail down and south, following river. Finally, we ran back to the bridge and back down the Canyon trail to the little gate.
- [ ] Time to visit the Pumpkin Patch. There were families everywhere wheeling wheelbarrows filled with pumpkins to their cars, there was popcorn, archery, a maize maze, freshly squeezed lemonade and a whole barn full of pumpkins. We admired it all and thanked the organisers for the free parking! Then we retired to our van for a shower and a cup of tea which we enjoyed sitting in the sunshine looking up at Smith Rock.
- [ ] Time to move on south to Bend. We parked by the Deschutes river in the Old Mill area. Although the bike hire shop was closed the Naked Winery made a good second best destination and we enjoyed a glass of Malbec and some Ten Barrels IPA. Thus fortified, we walked along the Deschutes River trail for a while and enjoyed the bustling evening atmosphere. We were intrigued by a series of signboards that gave details of a fly casting course to test your skills with a series of tests along the river bank.
- [ ] We had planned to camp at the State park campsite at Tumalo but arrived to find this full and so returned to Cold Springs Campsite, where we parked in an even lovelier spot with fire pit, picnic bench and banging brook with Small bridge. We enjoyed supper, planned tomorrow and had s hearty but smokey camp fire of pine needles, fir cones and sticks from the forest floor.