Bend’s Portable Revolution

For too long lovers of Bend’s delicious libations were forced to only enjoy them on bar stools and couches across Central Oregon. When one ventured with rucksack into the high country or spent lazy evening by a riverside campfire, they were left with little choice but to settle on drinking the blandness that is mainstream canned beer. The good news is, recent and upcoming developments in the town with more microbreweries per capita than any other in the nation have made our favorite local adult beverages more portable than ever.

Most of our local breweries have been filling growers and various size “to-go” containers for years, but now that Hydro Flask has exploded on the scene options are nearly unlimited as to where you can easily enjoy your favorite cold pint. A double wall stainless steel design is what’s behind Hydro Flask ability to keep your beverages cold for 24 hours – long enough to pack 64 ounces of deliciousness from one of nearly a dozen breweries anywhere. If a growler is too much of a weight, there are also rumors from some of the breweries in town going to cans over bottles adding to durability and lessening the risk of broken glass in our rivers and forest. Boneyard Beer is looking to be in cans within the year!

If you are that rare Bendite who doesn’t like beer, Scott at Volcano Vineyards has begun putting some of his ridiculously great wines in light and packable plastic bladders. While they pour perfect at home in the locally made reusable pine serving boxes, they also travel well in backpacks and rafts alike.

Of course if you’re looking for an easy way to have an adult beverage in an exotic Central Oregon location, you can always head out on Wanderlust Tours’ Shoes, Brews and Views or Brews and Views trips.!

Stellar Sights!

A late night at the office is something most people try at all cost to avoid. This is not the case for the Naturalist Guides of Wanderlust tours that are fortunate enough to call the vast expanses of the High Cascade Mountains their office. Whether it be winter or summer, we are hard at work sharing our love and knowledge of the heavens and natural world when most folks are snugly tucked away in their beds. The seclusion and serenity that can be found in the high country at night is amplified by some of the best stargazing one can find. The altitude, lack of artificial lights and crisp-pristine mountain air make for ideal conditions to see more of the heavens in one night than most people see in months. 2012 is shaping up to be quite the year for star gazing. In addition to the every day beauty, we have planetary conjunctions (planets appearing close to one another) between Venus and Jupiter and another between Venus and Saturn. We also have two lunar eclipses and a solar one to look forward to along with over half a dozen meteor showers of consequence. I for one am quite excited to put in some late nights in the office this year. Join me on one of our Moonlight or Starlight Tours this winter join in on these truly stellar sights!

A Fall Morning Paddle

In the fall, the mornings began with cooler temperatures as the sleepy sun slowly rose in the east. This type of morning always makes it difficult to get out of bed with tired shoulders complaining of the physical work of the summer past. Then I remembered what mornings are like this time of year on Sparks Lake, and so I rolled out of bed into the shower. I arrived at Sparks with a comfortable number of Wanderlust Tour guests in my van, just as the fog slowly began to slink off of the lake. The water was smooth as glass mirroring the hills full of trees, causing them to walk upside down over the undisturbed lake surface. I unloaded the kayaks quickly- not making any attempts to hide my excitement!

Once all were comfortably situated in kayaks we made our way out to the deeper part of the lake toward the ancient submerged stream channel. Paddling the cool morning water we heard something from above our heads; looking up, I gasped out a quick direction for the others to quickly shift their gaze toward the source of the sound. Large, silky wings followed their elongated necks, the three Sandhill Cranes flap there way far over our heads. They are magnificent birds to behold. Sandhill Cranes, Grus Canadensis, are very large birds averaging 8-10 lbs with an average 6 foot wing span! They are tall gray birds with red crowns, which live in open grasslands, meadows, and wetland areas. Spark’s meadow is a perfect match for these birds. They have been coming to Sparks’s meadow for many years for their summer migratory life. They are rarely seen however, while paddling the Lake. This summer was a treat to see them a number of times in the mornings and late evenings.

The guests I was with were just as excited as I to see these magnificent birds. We watched them fly from the southern basalt crags of Sparks Lake all the way north to the lush meadow where they landed leaving us with smiles and wide eyes. Continuing our paddle on the serene lake, we saw a brace of Common Mergansers run across the water, an Osprey circling above- waiting for the right moment to dive for a fish and an Eagle perched on the branch of a Subalpine Fir tree. Yet, the quiet moment with the Sandhill Cranes was the crown atop that peaceful fall morning on Sparks Lake.

The Armchair Wanderer: A Late-Summer Reading List from the Wanderlust Crew

Whether you find yourself lakeside, nestled in a camping chair with a summer brew in hand, or indoors, camped out by an oscillating fan or an open window, summer is a great time to kick back with a good book. Around here, when we're not having our own adventures, we love stories of exploration, survival and the natural world.

From the classic (Louis L'Amour, The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe) to the obscure (Inuit folklore, a transcendentalist graphic novel), here are some of our favorite summer reads, to be enjoyed indoors or out:

Dave
The Trees In My Forest by Bernd Heinrich
Blending scientific analysis with lyrical memoir, Heinrich explores his forested stomping grounds in western Maine, offering experiences, observations and scientific insights about forests and trees.

Fremont: Explorer for a Restless Nation by Ferol Egan
A biography of the often controversial Western explorer John C. Fremont, who made expeditions through Nevada, California and Oregon in the 1840's.

The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World by Wade Davis
What can different cultures teach us about life? Will globalization shortchange us in the end? Davis explores the worldviews of several indigenous cultures, from Polynesia to Borneo to the Aboriginal Dreamtime.

James
Surviving the Extremes by Dr. Kenneth Kamler
From the doctor who treated Beck Weathers, the climber left for dead at the summit of Mt. Everest, Kamler's book looks at the human body's ability to survive extreme situations.

The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
One of the original survival tales, Robinson Crusoe tells the story of an adventurous Englishman who spends 30 years shipwrecked on a deserted island.

The Snow Walker by Farley Mowat
Delve into the mysterious Arctic world with this folkloric collection of short stories, fables and legends from native Arctic-dwellers and Inuit people.



Chase
Long Way Down by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman
The true account of two actors, two motorcycles, and the people, places and incidents on their 15,000 mile north-to-south adventure from Scotland to South Africa.

Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales
A psychological look at survival and real-life survival situations. What differentiates a survivor from a non-survivor? What steps does a survivor take in life and death situations?

The Man Called Noon by Louis L'Amour
A well-crafted mystery from the bestselling western novelist, The Man Called Noon tells a tale of lost memory and half a million dollars' worth of buried gold (with a healthy dose of saloon brawls, gunfights and romance thrown into the mix).



Megan
Thoreau at Walden by John Porcellino, from the writings of Henry David Thoreau, illustrated by the Center for Cartoon Studies
Thoreau's collection of essays on living simply in the Massachusetts wilderness seems a strange candidate for a graphic novel, but the result is an intriguing mix of transcendentalist wisdom and high-quality illustrations from the folks at the Center for Cartoon Studies. Excerpts from Walden are seemed together into a narrative, and Thoreau emerges as the veritable superhero of the natural world.

Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon
The authors chronicle their 365-day journey of seasonal eating around Vancouver, B.C., exploring the ins and outs of local produce, canning, grinding wheat into flour, and what the heck to eat during a Canadian winter.

Rosing from the Dead by Paul J. Willis
Along with poems about names, lost fingers and family life, Paul Willis writes about the natural world, including a few Central Oregon landmarks.

A brief history of flowers, and where to find them in Central Oregon

So, basically, around 4.5 billion years ago a planet that we like to call "Theia" made a cosmic zig when it should have zagged, and smacked right into our planet. Ever since, Earth has listed a little bit to starboard by about 23.44 degrees.

Fast forward to 2011, and we are still feeling the effects of that inter-planetary chestbump. The evidence? Seasons. And nothing shows off the seasons so much in Central Oregon as the amazing bloom of all of our high desert and alpine flowers.

Flowering plants, or "angiosperms," are the latest and greatest product of the relentless pressure that Mother Nature exerts upon Earth's organisms to adapt and evolve to changing circumstances. They are, if you would, the "spring line" in Kingdom Plantae's wardrobe. And now is the time to enjoy them!

All around our fair city, flowers of every color in the rainbow are unfurling their brightly-festooned sepals as they tempt passing insects and birds with the delectable aroma of their sugary nectars. All, of course, in the interests of propagating themselves.

In fact, when one examines the development of the plant kingdom over the last 475 million years, it becomes obvious that the purpose of nearly EVERY adaptation which plant life has evolved has been to ensure the propagation of the different species. More interesting than that, though, is the direct correlation between the evolution of insects and plants.

Consider, for instance, ferns. Ferns reproduce via spores, or individual cells that contain all of the necessary building blocks to build an entire plant in the image of its parent plant. Those spores, being tiny and lightweight, rely to a large extent upon wind and water to carry them away from the parent plant and into some hospitable growing area. This sort of reproduction is commonly referred to as "asexual," and that is most likely the reason why lovers don't gift each other ferns on Valentine's Day: it sets a bad precedent!

But what happened when insects arrived on the scene 75 million years later? Would that not represent a brand new opportunity for plants to capitalize upon in their perennial quest to reproduce? Of course! And that just happens to coincide with the arrival of the gymnosperms, or "cone-bearing" plants. The same can be said for the evolution of birds and the subsequent appearance of flowers in the fossil record; this phenomenon is called "coevolution."

Perhaps the most readily-recognized example of coevolution would be the symbiotic relationship between a bumblebee and the flower it pollinates. Basically, the bumblebee has evolved to be dependent upon the nectar of the flower, and the flower depends upon the bumblebee to help it pollinate the flower next door.

And that brings me back around to the title of this blog entry: "A brief history of flowers, and where to find them in Central Oregon."

If you'd like to watch coevolution in progress RIGHT NOW, get yourself out into the forest. Over the last few weeks we've watched with delight as, one by one, our flowers come bursting onto the landscape. Here's where to see them...

• Oregon grape spreads its yellow flowers along the banks of the Deschutes and in the shadier areas in the Metolius basin. Look for glossy, holly-like leaves and unmistakable yellow inflorescences about knee-high.
• Arrowleaf balsamroot can already be found blossoming in the Metolius basin, as well as in scattered patches between Sisters and Black Butte along the highway.
• Wild rose has started to blossom along the Deschutes above about 4000 feet. Mind the thorns!
• Manzanita still has some of its pink little bell-shaped flowers upwards of 4200 feet and near water.
• Sand lilies are already blooming on the desert off of China Hat Road as well as along the Deschutes.
• Trilliums are going bonkers around Clear Lake off of the McKenzie Pass.
• Wax currant are unbelievably vibrant around the Sunriver area. Beautiful pink with bright, bright green leaves.

As the spring turns to summer, look for lupine, penstemon, monkey flower, phlox, Indian paintbrush, columbine, bleeding heart, buckwheat, and many others.

Until then, here's to a beautiful spring!

While waiting for the lakes, paddle the Deschutes!

If you're anything like me, you're probably just ITCHING for the Cascade Lakes Highway to open up.

Presently, all of our fantastic lakes like Sparks Lake, Elk Lake, and Hosmer Lake are sequestered like maidens in an ivory tower due to the 637 inches of snow we got this year. Have no fear, though, because the Deschutes River has plenty of wonderful sections of flat water that appeal to the casual paddler. I've tried to provide a couple suggestions, based upon my experience on the Deschutes.

If you're hankering for a secluded paddle, the most convenient and accessible spot would be the section between Dillon Falls and Slough Recreation Area. This area is fantastic bird and elk habitat, with opportunities to pull over and walk around on the Lava Butte lava flow. Keep your eyes peeled for the occasional otter just downstream from the Slough boat ramp.

Another pleasant -though highly developed- section is the 13.25 miles between Big River Boat Ramp and the Sunriver Marina. I paddled this section on Thursday at a leisurely pace and it only took three hours. Don't be deceived, though, because in those three hours we spotted almost 30 species of birds as well as about a dozen deer. This route takes you right by the confluence of the Deschutes and the Little Deschutes, which is well worth exploring. Also, just as you approach Harper's Bridge, take a look to the east at the active Bald Eagle nest in the top of a massive old-growth Ponderosa. About a half mile after the bridge you'll see Spring River on river left. Fantastically clear and cold water, and it's well worth the short paddle upstream to explore its headwaters. Be aware that the Sunriver Marina is only for use by guests of Sunriver Resort and those who live in the Sunriver zip code.

Most importantly, no matter where you decide to paddle on the Deschutes this spring, please, please remember to wash your boat after each use to keep from spreading any more invasive species around our fair state.

Good luck and happy paddling!

Vultures and grapes and spring, oh my!

Spring has sprung in many ways. The sun is shining more, Oregon Grape is blooming, and Turkey Vultures have returned to our skies in an effort to clean up our forest of dead critters. It is nothing less than sweet watching a “flotilla” of Turkey Vultures come lumbering into the Bend area! Typically 10-12 at a time will approach our fertile resting ground, never beating a wing, keeping their olfactory sense piqued for rotting animals. Now, I’ve called a collection of these vultures a “flotilla”, but their true name collectively is a “wake” of vultures. While this name is wholly appropriate, Wanderlust has coined the new term “flotilla”. Just watch them soar around our skies- I think you’ll agree.