Day Trip: 4/24/14 and 4/25/14

On April 24, 2014, BB, Henri and me drove a short loop drive from Sisters to Redmond, up to Terrebonne, over to Oregon 26, on to Madras, then back along US 97 to Terrebonne and then onto Sisters.

Near Terrebonne, we drove by Smith Rocks State Park, an interesting geological formation which is a favorite of rock climbers and hikers.  BB, Henri and I may well go back hiking there, but don't bet on any of us doing any rock climbing.

Another stunning geological site we saw on that trip is the "Crooked River Gorge" bridges, located north of Terrebonne on US97.  Here are some pictures of the bridges and the gorge:

On April 25, 2014, BB, Henri and me left Bend/Sisters Garden RV Resort and took a 400-mile loop drive in central Oregon.

A map of our 4/25/14 trip is available HERE (link).  

From the RV park, we drove south to Bend on Oregon 20 and stopped for an expresso.  While stopped, began to sleet and snow.  Pretty interesting for us Texas folks!  Continuing on 20, we headed east through Brothers and onto Burns, OR.  This area is high desert with long vistas and few trees.  The road seems to stretch on forever in some areas.

At some point along our drive, a group of Antelope ran across the road in front of us.  This Pronghorn came pretty close to our Ranch Hand Bumper!

At Horse Ridge Summit, elevation 4291, we stopped to view some interesting geology created by an ancient sea.

We made a short stop at the Chickahominy Reservoir to let Henri stretch his legs and chase a few ground squirrels.

From there, we traveled onto Burns, then up US195 through the Malheur National Forest and the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness toward the small town of John Day.

Just west of John Day, we found a great rest area and RV overnight stop called the Clyde Holiday State Recreational Site.  (Click Here for a Link to the Park.)  This is a beautiful site and worth another trip.  The John Day River provides a great backdrop of rushing, clean, clear snowmelt.  It sleeted and snowed on us while we stopped at this park as well.

West of John Day, we traveled into the John Day Fossil beds National Monument.  We didn't visit the monument this trip, but saw some outstanding geology in this area.

In this area, we also saw something we really couldn't explain.  Perhaps you could:

Shoe Tree?

We drove through some very lush agricultural area as we traveled down from the Ochoco National Forest and along Ochoco Creek.

From there, we drove into Prineville, and had a very nice meal at Barney Prine's Steakhouse and Saloon.  Great food, nice ambiance and cold beer.  Highly recommended.

It was getting dark and raining on us when we drove back toward our RV park.  In the evening light, we could see the Sisters mountains in the background.

More day trips to come.  Stay tuned!