We had a great time in Redmond at the FMCA International Rally.  It was five full days jam packed with seminars, vendor shopping, looking at new RV coaches on display and entertainment.

Looking East in our neighborhood of motorhomes

Looking west over the sea of motorhomes with the three sister mountains

Whew, it was exhausting!  While there we had three days of rainy, chilly weather followed by sunny skies.  We managed to get a picture of the Three Sisters as we left the Redmond Expo Center where the Rally was held.  The Three Sisters form a volcano comprised by three volcanic peaks of the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the Cascade Range in Oregon.  Each peak exceeds 10,000 feet and are the third, fourth and fifth highest peaks in Oregon. Together they have 15 named glaciers, nearly half of the 35 named glaciers in Oregon. Interestingly, although they are seen as one unit, the three mountains formed under different geologic situations.  The North Sister is extinct, the Middle Sister is inactive, and the South Sister last erupted about 2,000 years ago and still could erupt.  Satellite imagery in the year 2000 detected uplift in South Sister and the U.S. Geological Survey made plans to improve monitoring in the area.  The mountains were originally named Faith, Hope and Charity by the early settlers but those names did not last and today they are called North Sister, Middle Sister and South Sister. 

We arrived in Bend, population 80,000 and checked into a small private campground. Surprisingly there are not many RV park choices in Bend, and while this park was crowded with tight sites.  While the park wasn’t great, we certainly enjoyed our activities while in the area.

Bend is bordered by the Deschutes National Forest and the Cascade Mountains, with the Deschutes River meandering through the center of the town. We drove around downtown Bend and stopped at lovely Drake Park where people were taking walks, riding their bikes or sitting and reading. Ducks danced across the water and tubers floated downstream. 

Floating in the city of Bend OR on the Deschutes River

One day we drove the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway,

 an 87 mile drive through a volcanic and glacial landscape. Volcanoes built up the land and glaciers tore it down. We saw evidence of this volcanic history along the road.  During the last Ice Age glaciers flowed down both sides of the Cascades and cut deeply into the volcanic cones, gouging out glacial valleys. As we drove through Deschutes National Forest with views of snow-capped mountains and many lakes, we could see why this road is called one of America’s most important scenic byways. We drove on Century Drive, so named in the days of horse and buggy because it was a hundred mile dirt road and at one time was an ancient trading route for Native Americans where they hunted, fished and gathered. Appearing before us was magnificent Mount Bachelor,

Mount Bachelor

at 7,700 feet another volcano and home to the most popular ski resort in the Pacific Northwest.   We were also able to make out the Three Sisters and Broken Top mountains. Those mountains were features in the movies “Homeward Bound” and “Rooster Cogburn”.

Oregon has many beautiful lakes and on this drive we passed Sparks Lake, Devils Lake, Elk Lake, Little Lava Lake and Big Lava Lake to name a few.

Big Lava Lake with Mount Bachelor in the background

Little Lava Lake is the source of the Deschutes River. During the Ice Age, eruptions took place under the glaciers and often melted holes in the ice, forming the more than 100 small and large lakes behind volcano dams and in craters.

We drove to the Pilot Butte State Scenic Viewpoint. Pilot Butte is a cinder cone rising 511 feet above the city. From the viewpoint we had views of Mount Bachelor, the Three Sisters and could just make out Mt Hood. We had a nice view of downtown Bend.

At the Pilot Butte crest was this bronze compass dial that showed the mountains peaks that could be viewed assuming good visibility

 The day was a bit hazy so it was hard to get pictures.

We loved our time in Bend but we were looking forward to getting away from the cramped private park and heading to La Pine State Park just down the road.