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Posted

Headed to Bend for 6 days Thursday. Top restaurants (looks like a ton of great ones), hikes nearby or other day trips recommended?
 
One day planned to crater lake and do the rim drive but that is all that is “scheduled” for now.
 
Thanks.

Posted

Rent some paddle boards and pick a lake on the Cascade Lakes Highway(not the reservoirs, the lakes) most have great sandy beach day use areas.   Beach chairs, some lunch and a few beers is a great relaxing day.

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Posted
3 hours ago, txduck87 said:

Headed to Bend for 6 days Thursday. Top restaurants (looks like a ton of great ones), hikes nearby or other day trips recommended?
 
One day planned to crater lake and do the rim drive but that is all that is “scheduled” for now.
 
Thanks.

Countless good beer options, including 10 Barrell, Bend Brewing, Immersion, and Deschutes. Blissful Spoon is a good meal. 

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Posted

Haven't been there myself, but I recall a friend of a friend raving about the scenery, hiking, and rock climbing in Smith Rock State Park, which is about 30 miles north of Bend.

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Posted
7 hours ago, Incredulity said:

Meth labs got priced out of Bend about a decade ago.

that might be accurate.  My experience with that part of the world ended about 15 years ago.   And I'm happy to never go back.  

Posted
7 hours ago, Carl Spackler said:

Haven't been there myself, but I recall a friend of a friend raving about the scenery, hiking, and rock climbing in Smith Rock State Park, which is about 30 miles north of Bend.

Yes, Smith Rock is great (maybe too hot right now?). My AllTrails notes are not great but we liked Green Lakes and Tumalo Falls hikes. 

Posted

What's it like there weather-wise in late September? Looking for a trip sometime that fall. Was thinking about Tahoe, but was there in late August last year and it actually snowed and was cold all weekend. 

Posted

Keep in mind that parts of the Rim drive at Crater Lake are closed for construction.  NPS websites have sucked since January 2025 so you might want to call the Ranger Station there and find out what i going on.   Plus, you're going to spend 4 hours roundtrip on the drive down and back  

Posted

We go to Bend just about every other summer so here are a few things.

Deschutes river trail, concerts in the old mill amphitheater, floating/padleboarding the river, hike black butte (on a clear day you can see all the major peaks of the cascades from the top), so many breweries (Crux, Boneyard, 10barrel, and Dechutes are the main ones we frequent), drive out to Mt. Bachelor, white water rafting (Big Eddy is pretty easy and kid friendly depending on age), just be outside

Posted (edited)

High is supposed to be 80 on Monday. Sweet, as long as the large fire near Madras doesn’t blow smoke south toward Bend. If Bend does get smoky, I’d head to higher elevations with presumably clearer air like the Cascade Lakes.

Edited by Degenerate Gardner
Posted
On 7/16/2025 at 6:28 AM, ftf82 said:

What's it like there weather-wise in late September? Looking for a trip sometime that fall. Was thinking about Tahoe, but was there in late August last year and it actually snowed and was cold all weekend. 

Late September will probably be shoulder season. Hopefully fires will have died out by then too and smoke abated.

Posted

 

Just got back from a week in Bend yesterday. Book-ended by a few days in Portland. 

Hiked in Three Sisters Wilderness Area: Moraine Lake (out past Mt. Bachelor), Matthieu Lakes (near the town of sisters). Beautiful, sublime, alpine lakes. Hardly anybody around. Lakes were swimmable, but nut-cutting cold. 

Tubed on the river through town. Grew up tubing all over the Hill Country, so that was meh, but daughter and her friend enjoyed it. Lots of fine ass paddleboarding around. Beer is prohibited on the river and the river trail through town, but lots of people were drinking openly while tubing without any hassle. The river trail is a great place to run or walk in the mornings or evenings. 

Everybody has a dog and a tattoo. 

Its fire season, so there will be fires somewhere. We had one day of smoke in Bend. Could of been worse, kind of a crap shot if you have fires large or close enough to fuck up the air. Drove right by fires both coming from and going to Portland that were large enough to call out the helicopters and superscoopers. Those planes are badass: 

 

Highs were in the 80s, but didn't get that hot until later in the day. Lows were in the 50s. 

 

not a foodie, but wife picked out one fancy restaraunt: Bosa (Italian). I thought it was fine. Wife loved it. 

Posted

I’ve only been to Bend once. Had a fantastic halibut sandwich somewhere that someone on this site or shaggy recommended but I can’t remember what it was called. Generally I found the scenery to be beautiful but the people there were the fucking worst. YMMV

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