Cascade Lakes Highway: Road Opening

Prepare yourselves ladies and gentlemen, summer is officially on the horizon with the opening of Cascade Lakes Highway from Dutchman Flat to the Lava Lake turnoff! That's good news for those of you who would like to join us for some paddling - whether it be in a canoe or a kayak - out on the lakes in the next couple of weeks.

There is still snow abounding, so please read the update we received from Chris Sabo with the Deschutes National Forest to familiarize yourself with access and availability.

"Hwy 46 is scheduled to fully open this Friday from Dutchman Flat to Lava Lake turnoff. The section from Dutchman Sno-park to Elk Lake will have NO PARKING AVAILABLE OVER THE WEEKEND. Plowing operations along this section only focused on plowing the road open and not the trailheads or other recreation sites. Parking on the Hwy will likely be nonexistent as well. Avoid being a traffic hazard by trying to park between the snow banks and traffic lanes. Elk Lake Resort has plowed out for parking at the Resort and reports the ice is coming off the Lake and should be mostly ice free for the weekend. Limited parking may be found along the Hwy at Elk Lake. Lava Lakes are open and accessible, expect some snow in the campgrounds and around the Lakes.

We continue to get calls about climbing (snowshoes or skis) So. Sister this weekend and warn about not parking along the hwy in a way that will cause traffic hazards; vehicles can be cited. Dutchman Sno-park was already getting weekend campers moving in last night. Yesterday we moved some of the Dutchman Flat motorized closure signs to allow snowmobile access directly from the sno-park. Other than this minor change in the winter motorized closure, ALL REGULAR WINTER MOTORIZED CLOSURES REMAIN IN FULL EFFECT. Sno-park and on the snow patrols will be out this weekend to assist with enforcement."

Have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend!

Paulina Lake Icebreaker

It’s finally springtime in Central Oregon! Part of life around here is dealing with seasonal closures of roads, and to me the most exciting thing about springtime is the annual re-opening of the Cascade Lakes Highway and the road into the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. So that said, less than a week after the road to Newberry was opened I had already strapped a Wanderlust Tours kayak onto the top of the rig and headed up the mountain to the pristine (ice-cold) waters of Paulina Lake, deep in the heart of Newberry Caldera just south of Bend, Oregon. And booooy, was it spectacular!






Once the three feet of snow melts off the rest of the road, Wanderlust Tours will start running volcano tours, kayak tours, and canoe tours into Newberry and onto the opalescent waters of Paulina Lake. We’ll take you for a stroll on a mountain of black volcanic glass called the Big Obsidian Flow. We’ll let you stand atop Paulina Peak at 7,984 feet and gaze at Mt. Adams in Washington and Mt. Shasta in California (that’s right, you can see three different states from up there). We’ll let you soak yourselves in the bubbling natural hot springs on the north shore of Paulina Lake itself.
You won’t soon forget it. Go to www.wanderlusttours.com or call 800.962.2862 to book your next adventure with us.

-jack

Lovin' the Urban GPS

Greetings from the "Office Goddess" as the guides so sweetly call me. I'm back for yet another summer of rad fun here at Wanderlust Tours. Jeff Marcoux of Efiia Consulting in Seattle came to visit us here in Central Oregon to work up the newest addition to our smorgasbord of awesome tours: an Urban GPS course. Jeff and our very own James rigged up a pretty stealth course that begins in the Old Mill District right at the heart of Bend and works around some sweet spots that I'm almost positive you wouldn't get a glimpse of unless you're a local.

The staff here at Wanderlust met up in the Old Mill to complete a test run of this new tour: coats on to keep the rain off in this Central Oregon spring weather, backpacks full of clues and course must-haves, as well as our favorite GPS units made by Garmin. When you take this trip, you won't want to forget your camera, as it could be useful for unlocking some answers or capturing hilarious moments with your team.Stay tuned, if you compete in this course, we are working up a way for you to track how well you do against all of our other visitors during the summer! (Details to come.)

Signing off for now,
Andrea

Youth Programs and Summer Camps

Some of my favorite tours as a guide for Wanderlust Tours are the trips in which we take school groups. Tours with children are so rewarding because our smaller guests have a distinctly different perspective on the natural world, both physically due to stature and mentally due to their amazing imagination and creativity. A recent outing to the lave tube caves with Cascades Academy of Bend, Oregon was one of these experiences. The students on this particular tour had been studying caves, spelunking, and bats for the past few weeks and already had a base of classroom knowledge that was complimented by our interpretive tour of the cave. The kids were so charged up to be underground and exploring the depths of the Central Oregon lava tubes. They were on the edge of their proverbial seats with anticipation for sighting one of the furry denizens of the dark- bats! We were fantastically rewarded on that cold day just before winter and the mass induction of bats into their halls of hibernation with views of Townsend’s Big-Eared Bat and the smaller Brown Bat. I later received some beautiful hand drawn thank you cards from the very creative Cascades Academy students that made up my troop of subterranean explorers that day. Experiences like this where beauty, fun and education are interpreted to youth are what Wanderlust Guides live for.

Bridging the gap between school session and summer camp, we have recently launched our upcoming summer program for children aged 8-14. I will have the honor of co-leading Wanderlust Tours’ Week of Wonder day camp with Kris Bridgeford this summer. This amazing venture leading young adventurers/scientists/future teachers will be filled to the brim with… well… Wonder! This program adds sound educative or pedagogical curriculum with naturalistic and interrelated systemic views of our natural world. Combine this with a heaping serving of downright fun activities that Wanderlust Tours is known for such as canoeing the High Cascade Lakes, trekking the interior of volcanoes and exploring vast underground lava tube systems, and you have the most worthwhile week of your child’s entire summer!

I’m sure that my excitement about this upcoming event is showing a bit, that’s really who I am at heart. It’s in my blood, I grew up in the outdoors with my fellow boy scouts and lead the troop in many wilderness backpacking, canoeing, kayaking, and camping trips until earning the rank of Eagle Scout. For four consecutive years after scouting I worked in children’s summer camp leadership usually in a position directly related to programming, education, and being as goofy as possible. I am stoked to share my enjoyment of the outdoors and my joy for creating fun and meaningful experiential education programming for children this summer, call me at the Wanderlust Tours Office to sign up for one of our four Wanderlust Tours Week of Wonder sessions!

- James, naturalist guide

Week of Wonder Youth Summer Camp

Hey all,

Thought I would jump on the bandwagon and get a piece of this blog action. I have been busy teaching the Little Rippers how to ski up at Mt. Bachelor this winter. Every weekend when I’m not teaching school I am up with the 3-5 year olds in the snow. The fresh powder has been great this last week! It is so fun to share a sport I love with little kids. I am getting really good at skiing backwards too!

As soon as the snow season winds down the summer fun will be close at hand. I am so excited to start teaching and guiding kids in all of the fun activities that Wanderlust Tours has to offer with its Week of Wonder youth summer camp program. Volcanoes are my favorite and every place we visit in Central Oregon has some connection to those volatile beginnings. There is no better way to learn about our natural world then to be out in it. I am sure that James, our other camp leader, has a few tricks up his sleeves to keep us all entertained. O.K. I have to admit, being from rainy Portland- I have licked a slug, but I haven’t been brave enough to eat one of our local ants…yet. But, with James around I think I might cave. Hope to see your kids out on the trails with us this summer.

- Kris, naturalist guide

Desert Rats

I’ve traveled to quite a few places on this little green and blue speck we call Earth, and in my opinion, there are few areas that rival southeastern Oregon.

The crystal clear blue skies over the barren Alvord Desert make the distant horizon seem almost within arm’s reach; the inky night sky, pierced by the brightest stars you’ll ever see, is one of the darkest in the country, affording extravagant, exceptional stargazing; three miles away, the bright white flash of a nervous antelope’s tail strobes like a lighthouse, warning his brothers and sisters of danger.

And what might that danger be? These days, he’s most likely afraid of you and me, but he still has to keep a wary eye out for coyotes and mountain lions, just like he’s been doing for thousands of years.

And what about those strange paintings on the rocks around Petroglyph Lake? Those were left there by the Paiute people, who have also been here for thousands of years.

And what of that column of steam coming out of the ground? That would be the perennial hot waters of one of dozens of hot springs that dot the landscape with boiling pools of sulfuric water, spewing water vapor into the dry desert air. Just like they’ve done for thousands of years.

And it's all in my backyard.

June 5-8 of this year, I'll be sharing that backyard with ten people, all accommodations, food and transportation included.
If you'd like to be one of them, click here or give us a call at 800.962.2862.

Wanderlust Tours Announces New Kayak Tours on Cascade Lakes

Wanderlust Tours will add guided, flat water kayaking tours to its menu of naturalist guided outings beginning in early summer of 2009. Kayak Tours, available June through October and open to all levels of experience, will be offered in half-day trips, daily at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., moonlight tours during the full moon each month, and Brews and Views beer tasting kayak trip options. Groups will remain small, up to 11 people per group. Tour rates will range between $55-$65 per person.

Wanderlust Tours is the only guide company in Central Oregon permitted by the Deschutes National Forest to lead guided kayaking on the Cascade Lakes. Like all of Wanderlust Tours’ offerings, tours will include professional naturalist guides, kayaks, instruction, and transportation in 15-passenger vans.

Wanderlust Tours will continue to offer its half-day Canoe Tours, Moonlight Canoe Tours, Dinner Canoe Under the Stars events and Brews and Views beer tasting canoe trips.

For more information visit the new Wanderlust Tours website