Sisters, OR: biking, hiking, birds and quilts

Our trip to Sisters in July was not very different from other years. We returned to favourite places. We had the same shady campsite at Bend/Sisters Garden RV Resort as last year.

Wendy signed up for classes on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, so on Monday she could join Doug on his favourite mountain bike route in Bend at Phil’s trailhead. The trail gradually climbed for about 12 kilometres to the start of the fun downhill section, called “Lower Whoops.” There are no photos of that part, because we didn’t want to stop. This is Doug riding in front of a basalt outcropping farther down the trail.

Here is Wendy on a more gentle downhill section. The whole route was about 24 kilometres and took us just over 2 hours. We filled out the day with lunch at 10 Barrels Brewing, and a trip to a quilt store and Costco.

 

On Tuesday we hiked the Tam McArthur Rim trail. There was more snow than previous years, so we only went a little farther than the overlook. The weather was beautiful though and so were the views.

Here’s a photo of Wendy on the trail near the end of the hike, descending to Three Creeks Lake. You can see a butterfly just to her left. There were hundreds of them along the trail. Apparently they return to this area every year.

On Wednesday and Thursday, while Wendy was in class, Doug fished at Three Creeks Lake. Here’s a view from his “belly boat” looking towards the overlook on Tam McArthur Rim. It’s the cliff in the centre of the photo.

We had fish for dinner both nights!

On Friday Doug rode over 30 kilometres on the Peterson Ridge trail system that he accessed directly from our campsite.

Saturday, the second Saturday in July, was the Outdoor Quilt Show. We got to town early enough to get a good parking spot and were able to see the firemen hanging the quilts on the quilt store wall. The show didn’t officially begin until 9:00, but many people arrived over an hour early.

There are quilts hung all over town. Here’s a view of some bright ones on a side of a house.

Wendy took over 150 photos, which although less than previous years is hard to distill down to reasonable number for a blog post. Doug took fewer pictures and these are his highlights. This quilt is by Rob Appell, of “Man Sewing” YouTube fame, titled “All Geared Up.”

Another one from the teachers’ tent was “Rabbit Brush” by Jean Wells. Wendy has taken three classes by Jean Wells, (including this year) so it’s nice that Doug likes her work.

This one is by June Jaeger, who is Jean Wells’ sister, titled “Going home.”

Before we packed up our campsite on Sunday, we rode the nearby trails through open pine forest.

We drove about 45 minutes to Camp Sherman, where we had a site at Cold Springs Resort. Here’s a view of the bridge over the Metolius River that links the resort and “downtown” Camp Sherman which is really just the general store.

One day we rode our bikes to Suttle Lake, on old roads and single track trails. Then we rode around the lake and enjoyed the gradual downhill back to Camp Sherman.

Doug enjoyed fishing a few days on the Metolius, but no photos. We did get out birding however. Doug took his camera with the long lens and captured some good bird photos. Here’s a young American Dipper, who didn’t seem to want to get his feet wet.

A Cedar Waxwing

We heard plenty of Common Yellowthroats, but they were pretty elusive. Doug was quick enough to catch a photo of this one.

This Rufous Hummingbird was a regular visitor to the feeder that one of the year-long residents had set up.

Song sparrows are common along the riverbank.

This Western Tanager seems to be wondering what we’re doing in his backyard.

White-headed woodpeckers have a very limited range, but you can usually see them at Camp Sherman, especially when suet it set out for them.

This fluffy juvenile Yellow Warbler was getting fed by its mother, so it wasn’t flitting around as much as the adult.

Another trip to Sisters, Oregon and Camp Sherman is over. We did the same activities as previous years, yet we still enjoyed every minute.