THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021 B9
TOP PICKS
Central
Oregon
reservoir
levels
WHERE TO EXPLORE
Top picks south of Bend
Big Tree — The short and easy trail in La Pine State
Park is a great stretch of the legs and leads to the
largest (in circumference) ponderosa pine in the
world measuring in at 28 feet, 11 inches in girth.
Known as Big Red, the tree used to be taller but at
162 feet tall, it still towers over its neighbors. The
trail is less than a half-mile out and back so if you
are still in need of exploring, the State Park has
other trails to check out too.
Salt Creek Sno-park — The sno-park located
along U.S. Highway 58 on the way to Oakridge of-
fers cross country ski and snowshoe trails as well
as a snow play area. The Diamond Creek Falls loops
for two miles to the west the park’s namesake wa-
terfall — which is also the second tallest in the
state — with the viewing area above still open for
an icy view of it.
Madras
83%
15%
Haystack
Prineville Ochoco
Redmond
Sisters
Bend
82%
Sunriver
Crane Prairie
34%
Prineville
44%
At one point, Big Tree was also the tallest pon-
derosa, but lightning strikes throughout the
years have cut the top of it down to 162 feet tall.
Wickiup
La Pine
Crescent
27%
Crescent Lake
Source: Bureau of Reclamation
Clarinda Simpson/Bulletin graphic
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
A snowmobiler returns from riding the trails at Kapka Sno-park on Jan. 23.
Kapka
Continued from B1
The area’s newest sno-park,
Kapka does have a roughly
2-mile out -and -back trail to
snowshoe to climb Kapka
Butte, although this is consid-
ered backcountry snowshoeing
because there is no designated
trail, according to AllTrails.
com. But more trails are just a
short 10-minute walk across
the Cascade Lakes Highway to
the cross-country skiing and
snowshoeing trails at Vista
Butte Sno-park.
The main attraction at both
parks, however, is snowmobil-
ing. Even in the middle of the
week, there are dozens of trail-
ers in the parking lot and the
faint sound of engines in the
distance.
From Kapka’s parking lot,
riders can easily get to the
Dutchman Flat trail system,
Upper Three Creeks Sno-Park
in Sisters, Wanoga Sno-Park,
Elk Lake Lodge, Lava Lake and
Edison Sno-Park to the south
— or just about anywhere
there is powder.
“There is no limitation of
trails that people can use in
that area because we have a
high concentration of sno-
parks in the area,” said Nel-
son-Dean.
While the trails for differ-
ent activities and access to the
trails are a nice perk, the con-
venience of the parking lot at
Kapka cannot be understated.
Unlike Dutchman Flat Sno-
Park, just a few miles west of
Kapka on the Cascade Lakes
Highway, there is enough room
to park large trailers for snow-
mobiles without the lot being
over crowded. That’s handy on
busy weekends in the winter.
“You get up the Dutchman,
usually that one is packed,”
Clute said. “This spot is the
only place where you can park
a trailer, usually you have to
deal with skiers and everyone
else (at Dutchman). These big
trailers you can only get into
here.”
Vista Butte, can be easy to
miss while driving up to Bach-
elor. Less than a mile from
the Cascade Lakes-Forest Ser-
vice Road 45 junction, Vista
Butte has a small parking area,
enough for roughly 10 cars,
along the Cascade Lake High-
way — which the forest ser-
vice says is typically full on the
weekend. However, Kapka and
Swampy Lakes Sno-park are
close by for extra parking.
While Vista Butte has 6
miles of ski and snowshoe
trails, the trails in the park
also connect to the Dutch-
man Flats and Swampy Lakes
trails, which are much more
expansive with groomed and
ungroomed ski and snowshoe
trails.
FEATHERWEIGHT
DOWN JACKET
Available in Mens
& Womens
How to get there
KAPKA SNO-PARK
From Bend: Travel west on
Highway46 (Cascade Lakes
Highway) for approximately
18 miles until you reach the
hunction of Highway 45 and
Highway 46. Turn left and
travel roughly 1/4 mile until
you reach the turnoff to the
sno-park on your left.
VISTA BUTTE SNO-PARK
LES NEWMAN’S
QUALITY OUTDOOR WEAR
On NE Franklin Avenue across from Les Schwab
541-318-4868
From Bend: Travel west on
Cascade Lakes Highway (46)
approx. 19 miles.
After a snow dry spell for
most of January, the several
feet of fresh snow in the sno-
parks has been a welcome sign.
“It was awesome,” said Clute,
packing up his snowmobile af-
ter a day of riding.
2021
SHOP LOCAL CHALLENGE
Reporter: 541-383-0307,
brathbone@bendbulletin.com
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