Beluga and our yet to be licensed new Jeep in site 90 |
We have a pond across from our site and enjoy visits from the resident ducks and two adult Canada Geese with their brood of adolescent goslings. The grounds people tolerate them and once a day walk around the pond and pick up what the geese and ducks leave behind!
shhhhhh |
We arrived on Sunday afternoon after a relatively short but tiring drive from John Day along rt. 26. The road is in fine shape, but it is narrow and winding. That, coupled with strong winds made Dave very happy to finally shut Beluga down in site 90 and relax for the rest of the evening.
Monday we had dinner at Jesse's sister-in-law's parent's lovely home in nearby Redmond. We really enjoyed getting to know these new members of our extended family.
Sisters is a small town of about 2000 people west of Redmond and north of Bend. It is very picturesque with tall pine forests, the rushing Metolius River and constant and incredible views of the Three Sisters, three volcanic peaks in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. North Sister is extinct, Middle Sister is dormant but South Sister last erupted only 2000 years ago and could erupt yet again.
Today we went out for a late breakfast.....or was it an early lunch.....and then went in search of an easy hike along the river.
We stopped at the headwaters of the Metolius River at Metolius Springs and enjoyed a short walk on a paved trail to the springs that bubble up from a crevice, becoming the beginning of the rushing, tumbling river. We heard many birds in the tops of the tall pines and encountered lots of extremely social chipmunk types along the walk.
We didn't feed them but evidently people do. They would race right up to our shoes then stand on their tiny hind legs and look into our eyes, a ruse that must work because they all did exactly the same thing. We had fun with them for awhile before we continued on.
Later we turned down a Forest Service road that led to the Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery. What a lovely quiet place this was, completely surrounded by the Deschutes National Forest. We took a self guided tour around the beautiful, park like grounds, looking at all the various ages of fish being incubated and reared in this impressive Hatchery. It was built in 1947 and raises Rainbow Trout, Atlantic Salmon, Brook Trout and Kokanee.
As we strolled we were watched by many birds. Some we could see flitting along in the underbrush next to us and some were out in the open. Fish and birds, pine trees and water, sunshine and piney fragrance.....pretty nice.
We walked back out the road to a bridge over the Metolius River, crossed it and followed a soft trail along the river for a couple miles, stopping to enjoy the tiny wild flowers in sunny clearings, mossy tree trunks, listening to bird song and the sounds of the river racing by.
The river was such an incredible shade of blue, it almost looked lit from below |
tender spring growth |
I so cannot wait until we arrive in that area in September! One of my favorite palces in the world.
ReplyDeleteA word of warning...if you venture up to the snow line the mosquitos may be fierce!
A great place to live with all of natures gifts around.
ReplyDeleteIt is actually sad that people feed the Chipmunks because they loose their ability to forage for food in the wilds.
Be Safe and Enjoy!
It's about time.
Oh, the Chipmunks beg for food! but how cute to see interacting with Dave.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful scenery you are enjoying this week, birds, fish and trees. Did Dave sniff the Ponderosa?
We love Sisters! We'll be there for a week in early September for the Sisters Folk Festival, yay! Your photos and words really capture the peaceful beauty of the area. I'm sure you've already explored the cute little downtown area, too. :-))
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great site and surrounding area. Heavenly! We really need to explore more of Oregon. That river water is just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a beautiful location! Love your site! Must be glacial silt making that water so blue...gorgeous! Great photos of the splash:) That photo with the horses and The Sisters is a real keeper. Oh, Dave! Loving the chipmunks:) I don't believe that was a Ponderosa. Their bark has very deep set grooves. But so glad Dave is sniffing:) I know you saw a lot of beauty, but the real beauties were missing from the photos!!! I think we may need to do the Oregon trip next late spring:)
ReplyDelete