After trying paddle boarding late last week on Elk Lake we decided to go down for an hour and try in to the Deschutes river in the Old Mill district of Bend. It was a bit more challenging for Noah with his own board and the river current, but the weather was beautiful.
On Sunday (Aug 24) my friend and work colleague Matt decided to climb to the summit of Broken Top (9175 ft). Broken top is one of the local volcanoes in the 3 Sisters Wilderness. Broken top is mostly class 2 with a small section of class 4 low class 5 scrambling/climbing near the summit. We did the Northwest Ridge route, that starts from Broken top trail head. The drive to the Broken top trail head is an interesting drive to begin with that you can likely get up with a 2 wheel drive BUT you will need high clearance. Its about 8-9 miles off the cascade lakes highway by Todd Lake and takes you up into some beautiful country with high country meadows and forest.
The hike from the trail head starts with approx 4.5 miles of relatively flat hiking to the Green lakes. It is some great hiking with views of the BT crater, high country meadows and views of Mt. Batchelor and sparks lake.
Just before arriving at Green lakes we headed Northeast cross-country up towards the northwest ridge of BT. The first picture in this set - you can see a view of the northwest ridge (coming up from the left in the picture) taken from the South sister trail (Moraine lake in the foreground) by one of the hikers in our group a couple weeks prior. As you head up to the NW ridge you get great views of South Sister. The last 2 in the set are from the lowest saddle when you ascend onto the NW ridge
Here is a great pano shot I took looking Northwest from the ridge (Matt in the shot)
Here are some shots of the ridge and summit
Some shots of the cross country descent and a great view of the Sisters and Green lakes that most people would not get since its not on the standard trail
If the above video doesn't display for you, click here.
I signed the boys up for an obstacle challenge sponsored by Subaru. The boys were really looking forward to it. Their friend Joe Bercot also joined and they were doing it together. Parents participated 'for free' along with paying for kids to go. The route involved a cross country run ending with the obstacle course. See pics and videos below!
Noah swinging over the mud pit
Noah doing the belly crawl... not really on his belly (Hunter was ahead so I couldn't catch him on video)
All three boys after the event finished
August is the prime month for visiting mountain lakes in the cascades. The weather is still warm and the water has also warmed up! This weekend we decided to try Three Creeks Lake at the base of Tam McAuthor Rim. The last time I was here was for an early season hike in late June of 2012 when there was still a decent amount of snow. To reach the lake turn south on Elm Street in downtown sisters and drive for about 18 miles until the road ends at the lake - pretty easy. There are a couple campgrounds there as well and the lake has some nice open beach areas wth shallow wading areas for the kids.
Here are the kids playing in one of the 'three' creeks that flow into the lake. The water is ice cold!
On the way back through sisters we stopped at the famous sno cap for ice cream.
The Three Sisters are a series of Volcanoes near Bend. South Sister is the highest of the three, closest to Bend and generally the least technical making it idea for those wishing to try a real mountain without technical climbing. It's still a good hike though at almost 5000 vertical feet of climbing and over 12 miles round trip. I was up it in 2011 almost to the day and this time doing it again with a group of eager guys from work. We left the Devils lake trail-head at 7 am. We made summit in about 4 hours. It took just over 2 to descend. Matt brought some ice cold beers for the parking lot when we returned. It was a little smoky on the way up due to the fires but it cleared up by the way down with a change in wind direction. Great time but everyone is going to be sore for the next couple days.
I was driving with the 3 boys through downtown Bend and we drove by Drake park where there was a classic car show going on.so we stopped!
Last friday I took the kids to Paulina Lake inside Newberry Crater. This week after Hunters swim meet we went up to East Lake, which is the sister lake inside of Newberry Crater. (see this picture - the lake on the right side is east lake)
Here is a panorama of the lake from our spot on the beach
We hung out on the beach and also rented a boat for a ride around the lake. Great fun.
A cool old sign by the boathouse
Some pictures from today's final swim meet of the summer for Hunter. He got first in the breaststroke, and second in the freestyle for his age group. The ribbon ceremony is Monday. He loves to swim!
