Another peak in the central Oregon Cascades, Mt Washington is the "nipple-shaped" mountain to the…read moresouth (to the left, if you're looking at the mountains from Bend) of Three Fingered Jack. (review here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/three-fingered-jack-sisters) Like TFJ, this is one of the very few alpine rock climbs in Oregon that take you to a mountain summit. Also like TFJ, this is a pile of rotting kitty litter. The rock ain't good here folks. If Mt Jefferson eroded for another couple million years, you might end up with something looking like this here mountain. Unlike TFJ, I will say that the routes (yep, there is more than one way to climb this fossilized fecal plug) here make a bit more sense. Or, as they say in the bolt-clipping world: "less contrived". Despite 3-star'ing a mountain, like an A-hol, I have actually climbed this mountain twice, by two different routes: North Ridge: A couple pitches of ~5.2ish rock. Very straight-forward approach and rappels. This is the line 99% (made up that number) of parties take. Probably your best bet if you just want to peak-bag. West Ridge: 5.7R? 5.7X? Not sure what the grade on this ridge of broken china plates and chandeliers is. The protection was often not good. The holds could be slotted right out if you pulled outward on them. I may or may not have been belayed up by someone on a single rusty piton that was poorly "equalized" to a single rattlely hex. I was not impressed. To get to this chossy beauty, you do the North Ridge approach and then side-hill about a quarter around the mountain to access this line. If you do this route, take double ropes, and know how to use them to reduce rope-drag. Some of us didn't. A funny story about this mountain. The most thrilling route was always supposed to be the West *Face* but, it fell off. That's right. It doesn't exist anymore. An entire face of this mountain decided to call it quits one day. Access is via the PCT and pretty easy. Worth bagging the summit, once.

I've done this hike several times over the decades. It used to be a very well kept secret and I…read moreonly found out about it by talking to a Ranger at the Ranger station in Detroit. Seems like the word has gotten out in recent years so the chances of you being alone on the trail or at the summit are now pretty slim. This is not a difficult hike but you do need to be in shape to do it. Pretty much impossible to get lost as you are always hiking on a ridge line but it's always wise to carry a map and compass (or GPS) all the same. It's a somewhat steep, 3 mile, several thousand feet of elevation gain stroll and no drinkable water along the trail most of the year. So bring sufficient water and also a headlamp if you're starting out late in the day. Figure three hours to do the round trip and you will be under a thick forest canopy so it does get dark on the trail early. The trail is narrow and you are on a ridge so there is some exposure. Poles can be helpful although I've never needed them here. This trail is not ADA accessible. The final 100' scramble to the summit reveals a concrete slab where a fire watch station once sat. Great views of Mount Jefferson and Detroit. There has always been a few big downed trees blocking the narrow trail. But since the fire you'll start seeing felled trees about a mile up the trail. In one location you'll have to bushwhack around a half dozen or so massive fallen trees. The trailhead is easy enough to find although there are several roads to the the left before you get there that are NOT trailheads. The true trailhead parking area is marked and has space for about four cars. The left turn into the parking area is about 5+ miles from Highway 22. Turn right at the Pacific Pride filling station and follow the road for about 5 miles. Maybe a bit more.

OK, it can be crowded on weekends. Go anyway…read more It can be hot in summer. Go anyway. The mile spur up to the overlook on top is steep. Go anyway. You can make this a very very short hike if you drive up a back road to an alternate trailhead. Like a little over a mile each way; maybe less. You can make it a hike about a mile longer by hiking up from the trailhead on Deer Creek Road. You can make a seven mile loop by adding the Cone Peak Loop Trail. If you're feeling spry, you can scramble up to Cone Peak a few hundred feet higher than Iron Mountain. There is no real trail to Cone Peak, and you need to be sure to know how to get back down so you don't wander off into the wrong watershed or off a cliff. Actually you probably should skip Cone Peak! But if you want to see amazing wildflowers, go hike the Cone Peak Iron Mountain Loop trail a few times between mid-June to mid-July.

Late December 2023, visiting Bend, OR, the lack of snow on the mountains had us decide that we…read moreshould check out the ocean so off to the Pacific we went. Driving along Hwy 20* or the Santiam Highway as this section is known, we came upon a sign about the "Hackleman Old Growth Grove". I've got a thing about big old trees so I pulled over to take a look. I saw that there were some relatively easy hiking trails/loops (less then a mile?) so we decided to stretch our legs. These sort of forests always amaze me for the following reasons: 1) No one ever checks these places out in December. 2) It is sooooo green!!!! 3) The silence/sounds of the forest is just....there. The moss growing on the trees. The size of the trees. The thickness of the bark on some of these. Wow. I was blown away. Honestly, I wanted to sit, not move, and just breathe it all in. And I'm not gonna lie, I was hoping to see some squatch tracks in the old snow but nada. I'm also guessing in a normal season you're going to need some snow shoes but we didn't on this trip. If you are on this drive and need a quick stretch of your legs, this is a good of spot as any. FYI: The parking lot has a "honey pot" so if need a bathroom cause nature is calling, you got a spot. * Fun fact about Highway 20 is that it is one of those old original highways that goes across the country more or less (some of it is now blended with other Highways). You can start in either Newport, OR, or in Boston, MA and you can make your way across the country. Perusing Google maps, I see I've been on sections of this road coming out of West Yellowstone, Eastern Oregon, Wyoming, and I've driven across it countless times where it crosses in Iowa and Hwy 35 and even on it in Dubuque. Either way, pretty cool.

One summer weekend, in 2018, the forecast called for west south west winds which blew the forest…read morefire smoke away from Sisters, so I decided to do a hike at Three Finger Jack. It's about a 13 to 14 mile round trip. The first three miles the dirt in several spots is very soft, like sand. For me that was the bummer part of this hike. Especially if your pack is 30 lbs, plus your body weight. Your striding along all of a sudden the soft dirt breaks your stride. :-| I was hoping to pick fresh wild berries. Unfortunately, other hikers beat me to them. I was lucky to find two berries; which I took a photo of before I picked them. This berry is part of the blueberry family (see photo). I took a break and found a great spot with a fantastic view. This area would be an awesome future camping spot. I setup my hammock and had a late lunch. A mild wind kept this area cool, and I felt so comfortable I took a short nap. When I awoke the view hadn't changed. As one of my friends would say, "it's a million dollar view!" I continued on the trail and finally came to view Three Finger Jack. I sat down looking at the details of Three Finger Jack. My objective was to view Three Finger Jack and plan another time to camp and conquer Jack. I'm hoping to find a hiking buddy to join me. Jack's a brittle kind of a guy. One false move, you'll have a quick way down. :-0 While hiking back down, I again came across the view of Black Butte. To the left, wild fire smoke was returning (see the before and after photos). As I arrive back to the trail head I saw a cool scene of a deer looking for dinner.

See that craggy, busted, pinnacle of friable rock on your right as you're driving into Bend from…read morePortland? The one just north of that nipple-looking one*? That's Three Fingered Jack. If you happen to live in Oregon and also happen to want to do some *alpine* rock climbing in Oregon, this is one of your only choices. (that nipple I describe above is your other) The rock quality on both is horrendous. If this rock were in Washington or California, no one would climb it. It breaks, it sheds, it's hard to protect. It reminds me of the Chugach up here in Alaska. At least the approach is short. Take the PCT north for about 3-4 miles. Eventually, you'll see TFJ (if you want to be seen as kewl by other peak baggers, this is how you should represent this mountain in text). You really, truly, cannot miss it. Once you see it, pick the least horrible way to hoof it up the loose dirt/gravel/scree/choss and up onto the higher parts of the peak. Eventually, you'll come to an awkward traverse. This is "The Crawl**". Some folks protect TC, some folks don't. I climbed it protected because I was new to all things alpine and someone else rigged up all the ropes for me. I didn't find it to be that bad. Would I climb it unprotected? Maybe. Should you? I don't know dude, risk management is a personal thing. Maybe you should think about it for a while. After negotiating TC, you'll reach the summit block. This pillar of petrified poo is rated at 5.0-5.2 depending on which crusty, old-timey mountaineer you ask. The climbing is easy, but it doesn't protect all that well. People usually plug some small cams. I'm very comfortable taking a fall on small cams when compared to my peer-group. I don't think the placements here are very good. Remember rule 000001 of climbing: don't fall. If you're just a hiker, I would NOT recommend YOLO-ing up this fucker in your Keens! This is easy rock climbing, but it is absolutely rock climbing. This ain't no scramble, go back to Chow if you're looking for one of those! There's usually a whole mess of tat on the summit, so you can rappel back down the small face of portable-chickenhead-hand-holds. Despite the abysmal rock quality, TFJ is still worth tagging. Once. Why? The approach is short and the views of Mt Jefferson are stunning. (FYI cool kid: if you want to sound hip when talking about Mt Jefferson, call it "Jeffy". Also: talk constantly about how the only route worth doing is Jeff Park Glacier. But *never* call it that, just shorten it to "Jeff Park") If you're feeling really freaky, you can also easily attempt TFJ in the winter. The road is plowed. The summit block? It's often coated in beautiful-but-impossible-to-protect rhyme ice. Good luck, friend. *The nipple is Mt Washington. **When I lived in Oregon, I found that TC was a good benchmark for gauging the mental toughness of prospective climbing partners. If you want to do this too, it could go like this: "Hey, you ever climb TFJ?" "Yeah bro." "So...whudja think of 'The Crawl'?" "Fawk brah, that shit was easy! I could've sprinted through it in my Crocs!" That guy could be someone you want to climb with. He could be a confident, sure-footed climber and a natural leader. Or he could just be a loose-cannon with a deathwish. Use your own judgment. Pay attention to body language.

Ah, Mt Jefferson…read more "Jeffy". A true mountain-man's mountain. How do I mean? Well, how many people do you think can name the 2nd-tallest mountain in Oregon? Probably not many. I know very few (non-climber) Oregonians that even know this factoid. It doesn't have a ski resort on it. It's not clearly visible from any major metro. It's hard to climb in the winter. A rope is must for most people. Jeffy is quite a bit harder to summit than Wy'east (Hood) to the north. The first time I attempted Jeffy, I failed. We tried to climb it via the Whitewater Glacier route (not recommended, what a slog) and some folks got gun-shy about 700 vertical feet from the summit. The call was made to turn everyone around. I came back a year later with a much stronger team and climbed the excellent Jeff Park Glacier route. It's got a little bit of everything: backpackin', glacier sloggin', ice climbin', rock climbin', and hours and hours of crampon scrapin' (seriously, on summit day we had our crampons on for like 20 hrs...closest I've gotten to what I imagine it's like to wear high heels all day) Our biggest mistake was the descent. We rappelled the East Face. Look at me: DO NOT do that. It seems like it would save time but the rap-stations are never-ending and the rock fall is horrendous. One of our ropes nearly split in two from a rock impact. The best descent route for Jeff Park is the crappy Whitewater Glacier route I ridiculed above. I know, I know. Sorry, being safe isn't always the same as being fun.

I've been here a couple of times and while it is not my favorite skiing area it does have some…read moreredeeming qualities. It has an extremely large parking lot. It also oddly enough has cell phone service, at least on AT&T,Which is nice when you're skiing by yourself and want to let somebody know where you are. Which I like to do because every time I've been there I've been the only person there - another good thing about it. The downsides are that it definitely is well traveled ,and often people have thoughtlessly trumped and hiked and snowshoed or let their dogs or children run through all the ski tracks which can make a really crappy skiing experience. At one point most of the trail markers were gone and it was pretty dodgy being out there, but it seems they have replaced a lot of trails and removed many of the downed trees that also made slow going, so I'm looking forward to checking it out this season.

Most of our group opted for river boards -- kind of like boogie boarding, but with thicker boards…read morethat have handles, and you gear up in wetsuits and fins and zip along through the rapids. Want an intense experience of the Deschutes? Try the river boarding. I kept to the raft, which was fantastic. Owner/Guide Randy Nathan is very knowledgeable of each set of rapids, local history, and just a very friendly and fun guy to chill with on the river. Solid equipment, helpful people, very friendly and flexible. Great guide.

Randy the Owner is the Man!…read more Boarding down the Deschutes is quite different from rafting down. It's even more fun! I went with a group of ten friends and we had a blast! Equipment was in good shape and on a warm day it makes for the perfect outdoor activity! N8TV Adventures is legit!