The Central Oregon Highlights

Central Oregon is a great location in Oregon. There is so much to do around Bend. You can either participate in outdoor activities such as skiing, golfing, hiking, camping, boating, and biking or you can go indoors with museums, art galleries, movie theaters, wineries, and pubs.

The highlights of my trips to Bend are remarkably diverse. I've enjoyed strolling the streets of downtown Bend, hiking Black Butte, hanging out in the sun drinking a beer with friends, schussing (I've been waiting to use that word) the slopes at Mt Bachelor, and generally enjoying life.

Bend is a wonderful place to go because everyone there seems to be there for the same reasons...to enjoy life and the outdoors! All of Central Oregon shares that view!

Quick Tips:

Check out the Mt Bachelor website for discounted ski days. There are a few ski days and free ski days throughout the season.

Check out The Source (weekly free newspaper) for weekly events. You'll find listings for music, events, places to eat, etc.

Best Way To Get Around:

To really get around Bend and Central Oregon you're going to have to cover a lot of ground. Granted, you can walk around downtown in 10 minutes if you don't stop to look around, but you can cover hundreds of miles if you want to explore everything.

There are a lot of ways to get around though. You can rent a car at the airport in Redmond if you fly in, there are airport shuttles to hotels, and there are taxis. Once you're in Bend, you can catch taxis, the bicycle cabs downtown, or the Mt Bachelor shuttle up to the mountain if you're skiing. You can also rent bicycles in town.

We had a great campsite right next to the Metolius River. Our campsite was secluded and had a picnic table, a fire ring, and a great sheltered spot to pitch our tent. The campground was $8 per night and had a water source and a pit toilet.

I've always liked their beer, so a trip to the Deschutes Brewery was a must! I like the atmosphere of this brewery in downtown Bend as much as the beer! It's a casual place with patrons wearing everything from damp fleece after a day of skiing, shorts after rafting, jeans, or chinos. The food is pub/bar food, but I had a great burrito for dinner.

Mt. Bachelor is a great place to ski. They definitely have the best snow in the Northwest, best being the driest. The snow pack at the mountain is usually pretty consistent and the season lasts longer than any other mountain except for Mt Hood. You can ski at Mt. Bachelor from November through the end of May.

There's a nice mix of terrain at Mt. Bachelor and something for everyone. Beginners will like the Rainbow and Sunrise lifts the best, intermediate riders will find runs to enjoy on most of the lifts on the mountain, and advanced riders will definitely want to check out Northwest Express lift and the Summit lift.

Mt. Bachelor has been consistently rated one of the best lift systems in the US. The lift lines are usually pretty short and they have lots of high speed lifts to get you up the mountain in a hurry.

Be prepared for severe weather conditions when you visit Mt. Bachelor. From the beginning of the season until about April you can cold weather, a low overcast with low visibility, and high winds. Mt. Bachelor is famous with the locals for reporting "moderate" winds when the wind is blowing 35mph. You'll never ski at an area that is as consistently windy.

It's a great hike! There is an old lookout on top that was closed up when I was there, but I heard it's open sometimes. It was pretty bad weather when I was on the hike, but it cleared when I was near the top and it's a beautiful view! You gain a lot of vertical on this 3 mile hike!

Bend is such a great city!! For the sun lover in all of us, Bend is blessed with 300 days of sunshine every year! For the powder hound, Mt Bachelor is blessed with snow, and excellent terrain! The river runners will love running the Deschutes and other rivers in the area. Climbers can go nuts at Smith Rock. Hikers have the whole Central Cascades to play in. Mountain Bikers can point their wheels down trails too numerous to count in the Bend area. It all boils down to this... What's NOT to love about Bend!!