Bend

It’s a roughly eight hour drive from our home in Geyserville to Bend, a little too much for a single day with the kids in tow so we broke up the drive with a night on some BLM land just west of Klamath Falls. The five hours from Geyserville to our first campsite seemed to fly by quickly, likely a mix of beginning-of-the-trip-excitement and the beautiful vistas as we drove north through the Shasta National Forest and farmland south of Klamath Falls. Sleep (for the adults) on night one was a little mixed: we didn’t realize the BLM land where we’d camped was a mile or two from an unincorporated shooting range, and one of the locals thought it would be fun to peel off a few hundred AR-15 rounds between 12:30AM and 1:00AM that night. ‘Merika. We also had a raccoon or possum exploring the underside of the truck during the night, which had Lisa imagining rodents crawling in her sleeping bag and generally freaking out. It took some work from me the next morning to convince her that the entire truck didn’t need to be emptied to search for said rodents.

The genesis of this entire mountain biking tour of Oregon actually came from Lisa a few years ago when she saw on Instagram a kid-suitable organized tour in southern Oregon that involved mountain biking to natural waterslides and waterfall plunge pools. The ride is called The Paulina Plunge and is operated by a tour company in Sunriver. We weren’t too keen on shelling out $70 a head to explore what is essentially all national forest land, and with all the riding the kids had been doing during COVID lockdown we figured they had the legs to tackle the roughly 11 mile roundtrip route by themselves (the organized tour is just the downhill portion).

We spent our first night in the Bend area camped at McKay Crossing south of Sunriver, a beautiful spot alongside Paulina Creek with a waterfall nearby and bubbling creek at our doorstep. Our friends Cheryl and Chris live in Portland and have started mountain biking recently, so when we floated the idea of joining us for part of our Oregon travels they jumped at the idea and met us at McKay to explore the biking trails of Bend.

The uphill portion of the Paulina route began at our campsite at McKay, it was a moderate six mile climb with 1650 feet of vertical, a pretty solid day on the bikes for the kids (and Cheryl and Chris!). The route isn’t an official ride so I had to manually draw it into Trail Forks, but if you’re ever in the area and want to try it yourself, here is the path we took: Paulina Plunge.

The natural waterslides and plethora of waterfalls in which to swim along the way broke up the climb nicely, and fortunately almost the entire route was in the dappled shade of the forest. Paulina Lake at the crest of our climb was a sight to behold, and the kids absolutely loved bombing down the six miles of fire road back to the campsite. Some awesome views of Mount Bachelor as we finished the descent.

We all enjoyed some well-earned beers and Kettle Chips coupled with a cool off in the creek when we returned to the campsite. I think Cheryl and Chris were a little worried at what they’d gotten themselves into with the Valtenbergs after that first ride! That first night we really felt like we were in Oregon proper as it didn’t get dark until close to 10:00PM. Was great to sit around the campfire and catch up with Cheryl and Chris, The Boss even pulled out a late harvest riesling to enjoy around the flames, a great start to the trip…

Anyone I know who rides and has been to Bend has nothing but good things to say: countless breweries, the Deschutes River running through town, hundreds of miles of manicured singletrack, and trail pitches that suit riders from beginner to expert… A good friend of mine was kind enough to give me the skinny on some trails we should hit with the kids whilst in the area. At his suggestion, on our first day in Bend proper we rode in the Wanoga area, hitting a route incorporating a super popular trail called Lower Tiddlywinks: Bend Day One. The kids (especially Max, in spite of a solid spill) were instantly sold: 4.1 miles over 1180 feet of descent down smooth, bermed singletrack with countless whoops , doubles and kickers mixed into the trail. It is some of the most fun riding I’ve ever done. At one point during a section of fast, bermed switchbacks I found myself laughing out loud, I’d never ridden anything like it. I stopped to take some pics partway down the trail and as Max passed me he yelled, “Dad, I feel like I’m in a dream!” Nothing super technical and only one or two very short rock gardens, a ton of fun for all. The Following was in its element for sure.

The trails were pretty dusty, so after a few hours on the bikes we headed back down to Bend for a cool off in the Deschutes River at Riverbend Park before a few beers for us and ice cream for the kids in the Old Mill District. We enjoyed dinner at the Deschutes Brewery Bend Public House (Cheryl was wearing jeans and a headband), both Lisa and I are big fans of Deschutes beers, so a visit to the pub and brewery were high on our list whilst in town.

Even during COVID Bend was pretty busy with travelers on summer trips, there aren’t a ton of campgrounds in the area and all the designated areas were jammed. Fortunately the area to the west of Bend in the shadow of Mount Bachelor is all Deschutes National Forest, so after some bushwhacking in the truck along forest service roads (sorry about the scratches, Chris!) we eventually landed ourselves a great spot amongst the pines a few miles above the Wanoga trail system. Cheryl and Chris suppled a very nice bottle of local gin replete with ice for the evening and we all kicked back and enjoyed a night under the stars. A bit of a rarity, but I was actually the first in bed that night, the girls got stuck into the G&T and almost polished off the bottle into the wee hours!

We stuck to the Wanoga trail system on day two, starting a route with the same climb to begin with then hitting Upper Tiddlywinks and the aptly named Funner on the way down: Bend Day Two.

Upper Tiddly was a beautiful traverse through the pines with majestic views of Bachelor to the west, couldn’t have asked for a better start to Father’s Day! Funner was an absolute hoot, a little less pitchy than Lower Tiddly the day prior, but some amazingly fun sections of what seemed to be endless bermed switchbacks that we all flew through at top speed. Max was in his element and pushed the comfort level of his mum a few times, the two of them stayed pretty tight together during the entire downhill while Lilia hung back to keep Cheryl and Chris company. I think Funner is about the most fun one can have on two wheels!

Supposedly a visit to Bend isn’t complete without a float down the Deschutes River on a tube. Sadly all the tubing rentals were closed down due to COVID, but we did make a stop at the Bend Whitewater Park for a ride down the rapids. We didn’t have a tube with us, so I asked a dad sitting on the grass with his son if I could borrow his for Max and I to ride. When I asked him he saw my Stonestreet cap and asked me about my association with the winery. Turns out he was the brother-in-law of Gina Harley and we’d actually been at a Giants ball game together 15-or-so years ago. Small, small world… Anyway, the whitewater park was another highlight for the kids, Max had a hoot riding the rapids with me (looked a little too daredevil for Lilia to try!) and both kids were enamored with the standing wave. Dinner at Jackson’s Corner – another spot you should definitely hit if you ever find yourself in Bend – and back to our forest campsite under the stars.

We bid Cheryl and Chris adieu after our third night in the Bend area – they both had to return to Portland for work – and spent our last day enjoying the Deschutes on stand-up paddleboards. The mellow summer flow of the Deschutes makes paddling upstream relatively easy, so we paddled upstream two bridges from Riverbend Park and then the kids paddled downstream four bridges all the way to the whitewater park. A great way to spend a couple of hours in the sun…

What a fun four days: swimming, mountain biking, rafting, camping, waterfalls, natural waterslides and the excellent company of the Lambs! I feel like we only scratched the surface of one area of the Bend trail system, could definitely kill some more time in this part of the world.