Tumalo Creek Kayak & Canoe is the best! Located right next to the Old Mill District in Bend, it's…read morethe perfect place to start an outdoor adventure and then enjoy lunch or dinner nearby afterward. The staff was incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful in choosing the right paddleboard for us. We rented stand-up paddleboards for one hour for $30, with the option to extend to two hours for $40, which is a great value. The river is beautiful, peaceful, and full of interesting scenery. There is always something to see along the way, making the experience fun and relaxing at the same time. And don't be shy about jumping into the water if the conditions allow--it can be part of the fun! Just be sure to follow the safety instructions provided before your adventure begins. We had a wonderful time and would highly recommend Tumalo Creek Kayak & Canoe to anyone visiting Bend.

On a Sunday morning, after exploring Bend and attending a concert the night before, my husband and…read moreI decided that we wanted to float the Deschutes River. Luckily, we managed to do a walk-up appointment and get our tubes for floating. They do offer online reservations, more than 24 hours in advance, but they had plenty of inner tubes so a reservation was not needed that particular day. From start to finish, they made the entire process extremely easy and seamless. From being able to park your car and get a ride with your inner tube to the drop off point and then being picked back up by the shuttle and returned to the parking lot, and everything in between. They provided us with a good safety briefing as well as the opportunity to leave our car keys since I had not thought about bringing a waterproof pouch. For just about $30 per person, it was well worth the experience and took us about two hours, but we did stop after the rapids and spend some time just swimming before continuing on. If you are a local or just visiting the Bend area, I cannot recommend floating the river enough.

Definitely one of the best highlights of our trip to Bend, Oregon over the weekend…read more Shay (maybe spelled Che) was A fantastic tour guide! Very knowledgeable, whimsical, lighthearted, and free spirited. The perfect person to lead an adventure into the Oregon wilderness. Our trip started with a short van ride from the Fred Meyer parking lot. She shared lots of knowledge about various trees in the area, wildlife, things the local government was doing to help clean up some of the territory we're gonna be going to explore the cave. She seemed like somebody who genuinely enjoys her job, likes to explore, and is just a genuine, good person all around. Going into the cave was surreal, almost like stepping into a different climate. It definitely felt like it was 45° all year round down there. Once we lost the natural lighting too it became very spooky, but everybody had headlamps so it was pretty easy to see where we were going. My wife and I saw a few baby brown bats hanging out on the walls while we were there. They were so tiny and cute! I'm glad they're able to survive down there. I really like that her tour guy gave us a choice between one of two directions into the cave. I have really bad knees, and thankfully, our tour guide, and our group was able to respect that. We had a very good lighthearted adventure down in the dark. My favorite part was when we all got to turn off our headlamps for a little bit, and stay silent, and just enjoy utter blackness. Deathly felt like a good way to de-stress a little. Shay was a fantastic tour guide and we are definitely going to be using this to our group again in the near future. Thanks for the memories!

As a local for nearly 40 years, I wasn't sure about using a tour, but every detail of our starlight…read moresnowshoe adventure went so well. The online res system was easy to use. A change to our party 1 week prior was dealt with quickly and kindly, including a follow up call just to be sure we were taken care of. Our tour leader was super friendly and knowledgeable about local ecology. I learned so much! The snowshoes had great bindings-- no one had them come loose. (Poles would have been helpful. I would bring my own next time) The bonfire was amazing and the goodies were tasty. Nature did her part with a sparkling clear night, brilliant moon and meteor. I will definitely do another tour with Wanderlust!

Woo-hoo! What a hoot! Spent a weekend in Bend with friends, g/f suggested that we take a ride…read morewith Outriders. Although a bit cautious, it sounded like fun and we signed up. Interestingly, our friends had tried to sign up the next morning but were told that "they'd see what they could do" because apparently Outriders only runs a limited number of 4x4's per trip. But, we found out later that day that they'd added one vehicle to the run and we were all good to go. Launch point was about a 15 minute drive from our friends in S. Bend. Just a turnoff on a forest trail off of the road, we spotted our guide and vehicles and got situated. Helmets were fitted, and we were given a clean set of instructions from Jason, our guide. And off we went. We'd signed up for the two-hour run and honestly, about 15 minutes in, I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it. It was a bit of a ride, even given the soft suspension of the 4x4's. However, it's hard to deny the beauty of the surroundings and the smiles on our faces. We got up to the top of a bluff whose same I don't recall - Sugar Bluff, maybe? - and stopped for a bit. Jason gave us a status check and a bit of history and geography info. He's very informative, and easy to talk to, very willing to answer questions. From there we headed through the forest to our next stop, some lava fields. Again, a bit of history, very informational about the age of the rocks, and some interesting facts about plant growth in relating to the lava rocks age. All in all, this was a heck of a ride. Up and down, bouncing all around, noisy, only a bit of dust (we were lucky that day so be forewarned if you do this during a dry spell). There are other options available, we're seriously considering one of them for our next trip to Bend. Don't forget to tip your guide!

Super fun! Definitely recommend! Great way to spend 2 hours! The ATVs were 1000cc 2022 models and…read moreworked great. There are quite a few different terrain types including a volcanic rock field and cave. Super cool

Five stars for Mount Bachelor…read more Yeah, you've thrown wind and whiteouts at us before fog so thick it felt like skiing inside a smoke machine. But yesterday? Total main-stage energy. Sun blazing. Groomers crisp. Fresh pow still soft enough to slash. Edges biting clean, skis humming, every carve smooth like a disco groove. Spring warmth, winter snow the perfect crossover mix. Mount Bachelor, when you shine like that, it's not just skiing... it's a headlining performance. Five stars. Click in. Drop in. Dance it out.

Zip line was awesome! Beautiful and fun. Did a quick downhill mountain bike run also. Great gear,…read morethough a new downhill on a rented bike was a bit more challenging, but the trails were well laid out and marked, the only issue was the bike operator (me!) 10/10 would do again

Tumalo Falls was an amazing adventure and one of the highlights of our trip. We chose the loop…read moretrail so we could see all of the waterfalls, and it was absolutely worth it. One of the most exciting parts was crossing the river several times. In some places there were bridges, and at one point we had to carefully balance across a log, which made the hike even more fun and memorable. We visited in April, and there was still a little snow on the trail. The weather was beautiful, but I would recommend bringing traction spikes if conditions are slippery and hiking poles for extra stability. The waterfalls were spectacular, and the scenery along the trail was breathtaking. It was a perfect mix of adventure and natural beauty. I'm sure I'll return one day with my kids to experience it all again.

It's been awhile since my last stay here. We love the yurts here. Easy access, they have heat, a…read morecouple of tables and beds, and it's comfortable. The fire pits are nice to but they cemented the bottom of them. They need to have more holes for air flow. Still I'm grateful to have those. Love the river trail as well. So beautiful! It's been awhile since we've been here. No snow this time but that's ok. Still peaceful and beautiful and not far at all from Bend.

I sent the following email to Brasda Ranch regarding my experience. I received NO response. Very…read moredisappointed in their lack of good customer service - especially since I had to pay the "gratuity" ($90) when I schedule our trail ride. Wed, Jul 23, 1:58PM "I'm reaching out to let you know what a disappointment my ride was on Sunday. I was partnered with Medicine Bow for the ride. I'm an experienced rider and own two horses myself. I didn't find out until after the ride that he is only four years old - which may explain his green behavior. I really don't find it enjoyable to constantly be pulling on a horse's mouth while they are trying to go their own way or getting too close to other horses. He's already got a hard mouth and I'm sure it's going to get worse. Putting experienced riders on this horse for an hour at a time is a poor excuse for proper training. I sincerely hope you do the right thing for this young horse before he's ruined.

We decided on Brasada Trails for our horseback riding this trip. We stayed in Bend and enjoyed the…read morelovely drive out to to Pilot Butte. Our trail master Piper and her amazing guide horse Pepper took us on a beautiful ride up to a lookout where we enjoyed the best cinnamon marshmallow s'mores and a little break. On our way back we got the same wonderful views, and we had an overall amazing time. Super relaxing, the horses were great, and Piper made the experience super fun. Will definitely be returning!

Nice good sized lake. Today the local fires were affecting visibility and it was smokey smelling…read more They picnic benches located throughout the area. Nice resort store to get the necessities. Also offer paddle board rentals. Not many boats on the lake, definitely not a busy lake. Very laid back comfortable vibe here. We stopped here and enjoyed our lunch.

Date camped: 1 night 7/1-7/2 Site: #17 tent only…read more I booked Lava Lake Campground on recreation.gov months in advance for 1 night. It was July 4th weekend, so all campgrounds in the area were full. Check-in online states 4 pm and checkout is 2 pm. We checked in with the camp host first, and bought a bundle of logs for $6. Then we headed over to our campsite and set up camp. Our site was right next to the lake boat launch area so it was nice to walk over there and enjoy the waters. There are women/men pit toilets. They were pretty clean and didn't smell bad, I even thought they smelled liked cinnamon apple when we got there lol. But then it got stinky as the weekend went on from the usage. Overall, I would come back and camp here again. It has awesome views of South Sister and Mt Batchelor!

The Lava lands visitor center has a small gift shop, staff out front with times for a guided tour,…read morethey have souvineer penny smasher and a small museum about the volcano and fossils. It also had the trail heads for the trail of the Molten lands, the trail of the whispering pines, the roadway up to lava butte, as well as information on the lava river tunnels, and other things in this portion of the park.

Lava Lands is part of small cinder cones on the northwest side of Newberry Volcano, a massive…read moreshield volcano rises to the southeast. This region is characterized by extensive lava flows, including the 7,000-year-old flow from Lava Butte, a prominent cinder cone. How I like to see as much as possible is by mountain bike. From Lava Lands parking lot pick up the 4 mile fast flow furious fun single track for 4 miles curving through Ponderosa Pines following lava fields. Ride through the lava rock featuring panoramic views of snow capped mountains. At the end of Black Rock single track connect with the Deschutes River and ride along at least a mile to Benham Falls - so magnificent! Continue riding 5-10-XX more miles filling up your passion bucket in the natural wonders following and flowing with the Deschutes River. I fulled up my bucket for 20 miles - at time rivers flows with power and times as still as a lake. Let's go! Wherever the powerful river flows! Wherever the peaceful river goes! Many feel the pace only the river knows - as I did flow along by mountain bike!