The Pursuit of Singletrack: Family Reunion #2

Swampy Lakes Shelter

This past weekend Kerrie and I headed down to the Metolius River outside Sisters, Or to spend a few day relaxing and exploring the local area. Unfortunately that didn’t happen.

Kerrie and I left the house at 5:09pm and it took us an hour and a half to get through Wilsonville. I-5 South was a parking lot. I was hoping to be able to get to the Metolius area while it was still light out. However, by the time that we pulled off Hwy 20 towards Camp Sherman, the last beams of light faded behind the Cascade Mountain range. So there are I think 8 campgrounds along this stretch of the metolius and only 3-4 require reservations. The rest are first come, first serve. Great, I thought, pretty of time and plenty of room. Wrong. Every single CG in the area was packed to the brim, and I would know because we check every single site!

Okay plan #2: Forest road bivy as it was already 10pm by this time. That idea was quickly rejected by Kerrie so on to…

Option #3: Check every campground from here to Sunriver, OR, but realistically, check Indian Ford CG at the base of Black Butte. Success! 3 unused campsites located a mere 50 yards from the bustling Hwy 20, placed strategically in a large dusty sand pit in the middle of the campground. Decision time…. Hunker down in the dirt parking lot deemed a suitable campsite by the wonderful forest service or continue on to sunriver and join Feldmann family reunion #2 of the summer. Time to make the phone call to sunriver…

“So how’s the evening going…” Me

“Good, everyone just got into the hot tub.” – Grandpa

“You HAVE a hot tub!! We’ll be there in 45 mins” - Kerrie overhearing the conversation

“Make some room we’re inbound. ETA 45 mins” – Me

“I’ll put some more beer in the fridge.” – Grandpa

So just like that we ditched the plans for the weekend and headed to Sunriver, OR. Not a problem for me as there is plenty of mountain biking to be had in Sunriver, and Kerrie had more to do with visiting baby cousins. A consolation Win Win scenario.

View from the back window of the Swede Ridge Shelter

Saturday morning I rode the Swampy Lakes and Swede Ridge trails. Fantastic trails, only wished I had more time to explore the area and ride a little farther. Kerrie and I spent the afternoon lounging in the cold tub, aka turned off hot tub with garden hose fountain. And later that evening we headed into Bend for the, I believe, 2^nd annual Bend Brew Fest. This would make it my 4^th beer festival of the summer! Gotta love the pacific northwest! That evening we did more hot tubbing, played a little corn hole and competed during a few board games.

Local brew and a Potato Tornado!

Sunday morning started slow. We had planned to climb either Tumalo Mountain or Black Butte, but a blister/cut on my Achilles constrained me from anything requiring shoes. Thanks mom! But we ended up visiting Suttle Lake on the way home and took a dip in its cooling waters before enduring the painfully slow and crowded trip back to Portland.

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. But I’m definitely jonesing for a camping trip. Trying to coordinate some plans for this weekend but who knows.

UNT

Bryan