Adventures in Oregon: Alder Springs

This weekend, we headed out for an afternoon hike at Alder Springs. After driving over the mountains and through the quaint town of Sisters, we turned down a little road that quickly dwindled into a narrow, rocky lane that only the most creative would call an actual road. We slowly and carefully navigated our way over the dips and bumps to the trailhead and set off. We traveled through a landscape vastly different from the rest of our hikes in Oregon thus far. Dry, gravelly soil and scrubby vegetation, high plateaus and rugged canyon walls.

We hiked down to Wychus Creek and while Annie and Andrew were all for crossing the creek and continuing on to see the Deschutes River, Sasha was having none of it.That coupled with the fact that I had led us on a lengthy detour during our drive there meant we’d have to come back another day to follow the trail beyond the creek.

(not to mention that water was c.o.l.d!)

We headed back the way we came and took a short trail called ‘Old Bridge.’ Spoiler: there is no old bridge or really anything to hint that such a structure existed. That was okay though because the scenery was plenty to take in.

We followed along the water for a ways, passing craggy rock face and tall Ponderosa pines. We even passed some bones that had evidently been a snack for some four-legged creature – Wile E. Coyote, perhaps.

As the afternoon gave way to evening, we returned to the car and made our slow and careful exit. Winding along the gravel lane, we admired the beautiful colors playing out across the land with mountains watching in the distance.

The dogs were especially interested in the free range cattle standing feet from our car … and occasionally in the road.

We definitely plan to return to cross the creek and see the Deschutes so stay tuned for take two. I’ll just have to figure out how to turn Sasha’s extreme hatred of water into true love between now and then. Easy peasy, right?