SPORTS PULLOUT & CLASSIFIEDS INSIDE
• B SECTION • FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021
THE REGION’S HUB FOR
OUTDOOR ADVENTURES
Each week in this section, you will find the area’s
most complete guide of what’s open and closed;
outdoor activities and events; top picks of places to
explore; conditions of hiking and biking trails,
fishing holes, water flows, camping spots, parks
and more — as well as features from outdoor
writers and field experts.
Green Lakes
TOP
summertime
HIKES
in Central Oregon
T
Canyon Creek Meadows
BY MARK MORICAL • The Bulletin
he snow continues to melt
at high elevations, and
more and more trails in
Central Oregon are opening up to
hikers.
As you make plans for alpine
treks this season, below is a top-
five list of summertime hikes in the
Central Oregon Cascades range
that should become relatively snow-
free in the coming weeks.
Keep in mind that all of these
hikes now will require a Central
Cascades wilderness permit, pur-
chased within seven days before
the start of a trip if not already pur-
chased in advance of the season.
(See information box). While the
permit system means hikers must
now plan ahead more, it should
help alleviate overcrowding and
overuse in these spectacular wilder-
ness areas.
Obsidian
1. Green Lakes
Features: The
9.1-mile out-and-
back trail to Green
Lakes is one of the
TRAILS
most popular hik-
ing paths in Oregon. The trail in the
Three Sisters Wilderness follows bab-
bling Fall Creek through a dense for-
est and leads hikers to the clear alpine
lakes between South Sister and Bro-
ken Top. The trail only gains about
1,200 feet in elevation along the way,
but it connects with the summit hikes
to both South Sister and Broken
Top. For alpine vistas, Green Lakes is
about as good as it gets. And there is
nothing quite like taking a dip in one
of the lakes on a hot day as South Sis-
ter towers above you.
Directions: The Green Lake/Soda
Creek Trailhead is about 25 miles
southwest of Bend off Cascade
Lakes Highway.
2. Canyon Creek Meadows
Features: Diverse wildlife (moun-
tain goats!), incredible mountain
views and abundant, colorful wild-
flowers make the Canyon Creek
Meadows loop one of the most pop-
ular hikes in the Mount Jefferson
Wilderness. The hike to the lower
meadow is just 4.5 miles with only
400 feet of elevation gain, making it
ideal for families and kids. The option
to hike to the upper meadow and the
viewpoint saddle make the trek much
harder: a 7 .5-mile hike with 1,400 feet
of elevation gain, including the steep,
rock-strewn path up a glacial wash-
out plain to the shoulder of Three
Fingered Jack at 6,500 feet.
No Name Lake
See Hikes / B10
Bulletin file photos
South Sister Summit
’Tis the season: Outdoors organizations work on new trails
BY EMMY ANDREWS
For The Bulletin
Central Oregon is blessed
with hundreds of miles of
trails, but why stop there? With
our population growing, more
trails are needed to continue to
provide the recreational trail
experience our region is fa-
mous for.
Hundreds of people —
mostly volunteers — are work-
ing behind the scenes to plan
for the future of our trail sys-
tem and build new trails once
they are approved by
land managers in-
land managers. These
cluding the U.S. For-
people work diligently
est Service, Bureau of
(and often for free )
Land Management,
for a variety of local
state, counties and cit-
nonprofits and coa-
ies, to navigate the of-
TRAILS
litions including the
ten-lengthy planning,
environmental review and ap-
Deschutes Trails Coalition,
proval process for new trails.
Central Oregon Trail Alliance,
Thanks to their hard work,
Central Oregon Nordic Club,
Central Oregon Running Klub , multiple new trails in Central
Oregon are newly completed
Oregon Equestrian Trails,
Ochoco Trails, Sisters Trail Al- or under construction. Here’s
a roundup of some of my fa-
liance and many more.
vorites.
These groups work with
Afternoon Delight
This approximately 4.5-mile
trail is the newest trail in the
Sunriver trail system that has
been under construction for
the last few years. Afternoon
Delight can be accessed from
either Bend or Sunriver. It
connects Tyler’s Trail, a pop-
ular mountain biking trail lo-
cated off Forest Road 41 (also
known as Conklin Road), to
the Roundabout Trail, a loop
trail near the Cardinal Landing
Bridge in Sunriver.
Afternoon Delight is an easy
to intermediate trail on land
managed by the U.S. Forest
Service. It will be most popular
with mountain bikers; however,
it is also open to users on foot.
Stinger and Jackrabbit
These new trails are located
on Cline Butte on land man-
aged by the Bureau of Land
Management. They are ac-
cessed from the Cascade View
Trailhead via the Blue-Belly
Stem and Loop. Stinger (East
and West) and Jackrabbit form
an approximately 2-mile loop
and are rated blue (interme-
diate). Since they are new, the
trails are soft and loose, but the
tread should firm up after a
season of use.
An outer loop past the Jack-
rabbit intersection is still under
construction and will be rated
intermediate or advanced.
Once built, this trail will offer
amazing mountain views and
technical rocky sections.
See Trails / B9