After getting into the darkness where no more sunlight was present, we realized the headlamps weren’t that great. We could see directly in front of us, but were missing out on seeing most of the cave itself. So we ran back to the visitor center and rented a lantern. With the lantern we could see a lot more of the cave, so it was definitely worth the $5. With our lantern, we descended the stairs into the darkness through huge piles of boulders and rocks.
After a short bit, the cave opened up into a huge chamber. Although it was dark, the lantern provided enough light to see the tunnel and ceiling high above. We were even able to get a few pictures in here using the lantern and flash.
Past here, we entered the Two Tube Tunnel, where there are actually two lava channels as the cave goes under US-97 and beyond that was the Sand Garden. This area of the cave is fenced off to protect it from damage. Sand, carried into the cave by water, was dispersed over the ground forming small piles.
Towards the end, the cave gets more narrow and shorter and I needed to duck down a bit to get to the end. At one point, it continued further, but signs indicated we had to stop and turn around. Honestly, I didn’t mind not going any further as it would have required crawling – I’m a little too claustrophobic for that. So we turned around and hiked back out of the cave and returned our lantern to the visitor center.
Definitely a worthwhile investment so we could get the most out of our caving adventure. From there we headed into Bend and stopped for lunch at Baldy’s Barbeque to try and see how the west coast BBQ stacked up and it was really good. We both had pulled pork sandwiches trying their regular and hot & spicy sauces and we both enjoyed them I had mine on a jalapeno cheddar roll and it was very good. When we finished, we drove west out of Bend on Skyliners Drive into Deschutes National Forest to the Tumalo Falls Day Use Area to hit up some more waterfalls.
Tumalo Falls, a beautiful roughly 100-foot waterfall, is right there at the parking area with a overlook just beyond the pay station.
From here, the falls itself is a good distance away, but straight line of sight up the creek provides great view.
It was about a quarter-mile hike up to the overlook at the top of the falls, with some good views on the hike up of the side of the falls.
We continued on the North Fork Trail heading upstream along Tumalo Creek as there are several more waterfalls along this stretch. And the trail itself was very scenic stretch of evergreen forest along a ridge above the creek.
After about a mile, we came to Double Falls, two waterfalls in one.
The upper portion is a 25-foot cascading veil followed by a 30-foot drop with some smaller cascades. There is a rock outcrop, close to a hundred feet above the creek, just off the trail that provided great views of the falls.
Just past Double Falls, we found Upper Tumalo Falls.
There is some discrepancy in the naming of these falls and whether they’re considered two separate waterfalls or just one. But since you can’t see both at the same time, I’m considering it a separate waterfall.
Upper Tumalo Falls is actually a triple waterfall consisting of two 30-foot cascades, both of which split into multiple streams as the water cascades over the rocks, and then a smaller cascade below. Depending on where you viewed the falls from, the lowest section may or may not be visible. In the pool at the base of the middle section, there was a log floating in the water that was caught in a vortex and swirling around and around and around. We stopped here for a bit to take some pictures, and then started hiking back on the North Fork Trail. When we were almost back to the trailhead, we turned onto the Bridge Creek Trail. This trail runs through the municipal watershed for the city of Bend and we needed to fill out a permit to hike in the area. Additionally, dogs, bikes, and camping are prohibited in the area to protect the watershed. The trail runs through a scenic stretch of mixed conifer forest as it follows its namesake creek upstream. Shortly into the hike, there was a small unnamed (as far as I can tell) waterfall along the creek.
But I was certain it was not the main waterfall as it was too small and the hike too short. It was about a mile to Bridge Creek Falls another scenic waterfall, maybe 30 feet in height.
The waterfall is mostly a freefall with a big log across the bottom. It was a little more tricky to get shots of this one though - I had to climb around a bit to find the best angle.
When we were finished, we hiked back to car and made our way to our hotel for the night – Pine Ridge Inn along the Deschutes River in Bend. We were both very impressed with room. It was very clean, well-decorated, and spacious. We had a gas fireplace and nice outside patio. After settling in, we made the short drive across town to Pilot Butte State Scenic Viewpoint in the middle of town. It’s not often you find an active volcano within the city limits, but Pilot Butte is just that. We had planned to hike up the mountain and watch the sunset, but it was getting a little late and we had a bit of trouble finding the parking area for hiking. So, we just drove up the top and got some beautiful pictures of the sun going down over the Three Sisters and Mount Bachelor.
In the distance, we could also see Mount Jefferson and even Mount Hood further off.
That was where we would be heading tomorrow. As the sun went down and it started to get dark, we headed back to the hotel. We were still kind of full from lunch, but wanted to try out one of the breweries that Bend is famous for. And just our luck, Cascade Lakes Brewing Company Lodge is just across the street from our hotel, so we didn’t have to worry about driving. We headed over there and had some drinks along with their crab and artichoke dip. It was very good and I really liked the Cyclops IPA. After a couple drinks, we headed back to the hotel and went to bed.
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