More Oregon Beauty!

Hello! We are on the move again!

Our next stop was Sisters, Oregon – it is part of the Bend, Oregon metropolitan area.  Our  campground was great! We stayed at Bend/Sisters Garden RV Resort – the people were great and the facilities were wonderful!

We were there for two days, and had several fun things planned – most of it hiking again!

Our first day took us to Smith Rock State Park – wow!  I didn’t realize the size of Smith Rock – it is HUGE!  It gives scenic views of deep river canyons and also rock climbing! There are several THOUSAND climbs in the park!  We were told to hike down to the river and walk the river trail, and we might just get lucky enough to see people climbing the rock… here are some photos of the beauty of Smith Rock!  The hike to the river was straight DOWN – and we knew what that meant – we would have to come back UP!!!!!!!!!!!

As we walked along the river in the rain (our first real rain since we left a month ago) we looked up and guess what!?!?!?!

We saw rock climbers!!!

But even more amazing in my mind was what we saw right at the part of the trail where they went up to the rock to start climbing…

This shocked us all and it was clear what this was for – a stretcher and crutches!! I have never seen such a thing!

We watched the climbers for a few minutes and then continued on the trail – even in the rain it was a beautiful walk!  God’s creation is AMAZING!

After our VERY STEEP WALK back up to the parking lot, we had lunch there in the park, and while we were eating, the rock climbers came up – we were able to tell them how amazing they were, and that we had taken photos and videos and watched them in awe!

After hiking in the rain, we went to the town of Sisters and walked around – checking out the shops and, of course, a coffee shop!

 

We were chilled from our walk in the rain and wanted something hot to drink – around the corner came SISTERS COFFEE SHOP!  We walked in not knowing what to expect and we were so excited when we saw it!

  

We all got something warm and yummy to drink! I had a pumpkin spice latte because it IS September after all!

What a full and fun day we had!  Believe it or not, the next day was ALL about hiking – again!

After another great night’s sleep (we sleep even BETTER after hiking a lot!), we woke up to cold and rain! It was in the 30s overnight!  This day was all about hiking to see beautiful water!! And we were going – rain or shine! No shine when we started!

First stop – TAMOLITCH BLUE POOL – as you head into the Willamette National Forest, the journey leads to the famous Tamolitch Blue Pool, walking along the McKenzie River.  It’s beautiful from the very first steps!  The path starts under a canopy of ancient, moss-covered trees, and there are ferns everywhere!  (We all said that it looked like something from Lord of the Rings and that we wouldn’t be surprised if a hobbit jumped out!)

After about a mile of this terrain, the path becomes littered with lava rock – amazing (but a little hard to walk on!).  The grand prize at the end of this trail is a crystal-clear turquoise pool that is breathtaking!  When we arrived at the pool, we all just stood there not saying anything!  (It COULD also have been that we were tired after hiking 2.2 miles to the pool – haha)

It was the beauty of the pool for sure!  The water is a freezing 37 degrees!!  I will stop writing and just let you SEE the beauty of this forest and then the pool!

     

Here are some videos!

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When we finished the hike back to the car, we were all so amazed at what we had seen!  And we were proud of ourselves for another difficult hike – 4.4 miles!  BUT…we weren’t done!

There was one more place we wanted to see – Sahalie and Koosah Falls!  This was a much shorter hike, although it was steep getting down to the falls!  A total of only a mile to see two of the most beautiful waterfalls I have seen!  Again, I will stop “talking” and show you the majesty of this!!!

 

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AMAZING, RIGHT?!?!?  EVEN PRETTIER IN PERSON!

Well…we were TIRED!  And hungry – we had eaten a protein bar for breakfast at around 8 am and we finished these hikes at 3:00!!! It was an hour drive back into town to eat, so off we went! We had lunch/dinner at a place called the Sisters Saloon and it was delicious!!!! We all felt like we deserved this yummy meal after walking over 5 miles today!

Well, it was a GREAT two days, and we are tired but happy!  Having almost another month of this trip, we know that there are so many more things we will see, places we will go, hikes we will take, coffee we will drink, and great food we will eat!  We have two more nights in Oregon and then we head to Washington State! And I can’t wait to share it with you!

UNTIL NEXT TIME…