Sarah and my first destination in central Oregon was Smith Rock State Park.
After crossing the Cascades, the environment gets very desert. The lush forests of evergreens are replaced with tumbleweeds, brush, and rocks aplenty.
Smith Rock is located just north of Redmond, OR. Sarah and I hiked one particularly beautiful path that circled around to a well known rock known as Monkey Face, so named because it looks like a monkey’s face.
There were a few climbers who were working on the Monkey Face column while we were there. A brief look through the rockclimbing.com route listing didn’t immediately reveal the difficulty of this particular route. Most of the place is bolted, so these climbers were going sport style.
Overall, the vistas were beautiful. Again and again we stopped to take pictures, most of which were leaning to the left by about 10 degrees.
Sarah and I hiked sauntered for about two and a half hours around the route.
Afterwards, we continued onward to Bend where I ordered my favorite west coast root beer, Henry Weinhard. It’s a shame we can’t get it on the East Coast.
Henry Weinhard’s! I haven’t had any since May 2009, my thirst grows by the day. And the photos look great!
By far the best of the root beers, in my humble opinion.
The PNW certainly knows how to brew beer, both the root and the alcoholic varieties. I’m really glad to see you enjoying another visit out to our neck of the woods!
You can get Henry Weinhards shipped to the east cost, I can’t remember the name of the company, but I did it once in college.
But you can buy anything on the internets + have it shipped.