100hikes.com

The first of many hikes during a 9-day stay in Central Oregon

Hiking with the parents!

A new chapter of 100hikes.com begins with this post. In July, I traveled to Oregon, my home state, to visit my parents. They were excited about my 100 hikes resolution and wanted to take part, so my Dad and I worked for weeks on planning different hiking options. I wasn’t off the plane for more than a few hours before we hit the trail.

Shevlin Regional Park is located a few miles outside of the high desert town of Bend, Oregon. I can’t say I knew anything about the park until i got out of the car at the trailhead. Immediately, I was snapping photos of all the

My family on an Oregon camping trip (1981)

wondrous plants, flowers, and birds. It somehow surprised me that if you travel far enough, the flora and fauna change drastically. The chaparral plants I’ve come familiar with in Southern California aren’t anywhere to be seen here in Oregon. They’re replaced by odoriferous ponderosa pines, fields of waist-high bear grass, trails lined with wild roses, hardhack, yarrow and quaking aspen. And the birds! Just the names of the types of birds found in this area brought a smile: red-naped sapsucker, MacGillivray’s warbler, the pileated woodpecker, the grey catbird… All of this visual stimuli stopped me on the trail countless times. There was just so much to see!

We hiked along a well defined trail called the Shevlin Park Loop Trail, which hugs the Tumalo Creek. My dad, who grew up in Bend and recently moved back with Mom, told “I remember when…” stories about the area, giving a personal and historical touch to the hike.

Thoughts about the hike:

1. I was so happy to be in Oregon and hiking with my parents!
2. The US Forest Service added logs into Tumalo Creek which either creates sanctuaries for fish or makes for better fishing, depending on how you look at it.

Resources:

1. Deschutes & Ochoco National Forests – Crooked River National Grassland – Shevlin Park
2. Bend Parks and Recreation

Hike #30 Trip GPS Stats:

• Date of hike: July 19th, 2009
• Location: Shevlin Regional Park – Bend, Oregon
• Length: 2.0 miles
• Duration: 2 hour, 13 minutes
• Average speed: ±0.9 mph
• Altitude at start: 3,512 feet
• Altitude min.max: 3,512/3,664 feet

This map was made with the data my GPS captured on the hike.
For a more detailed trip report map, check this out.

Photos:

While Mom prepares lunch, I read over the material my parents collected on Central Oregon hiking.

And a way we go! The Shevlin Park Loop trailhead.

Fields of bear grass.

Red clover (Trifolium pratense)

Wood rose (Rosa gymnocarpa)

Logs were placed into the Tumalo Creek to either create sanctuaries for fish or make for better fishing, depending on how you look at it.

Reflections of the past

Dad lost Mom.

Hardhack (Spiraea douglasii)

Tumalo Creek

Hixon Crossing Covered Bridge

Black-headed grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus)

This photo might look funny, but they're smelling a ponderosa pine. The scent is very similar to butterscotch and is one of my favorite natural smells.

Pinedrops (Pterospora andromedea)

"Peace & Geese" - this would be the only graffiti I would see on all the trails I hiked in Oregon on this trip.