April beauty on the Metolius

Here are some images taken during our long late April weekend in Camp Sherman.

Every morning I ride my bike a mile to the Camp Sherman store to buy the Bend Bulletin. It costs me thirty-five cents. The view of Mt. Jefferson over the Metolius is priceless.

I pass this horse corral on one of my late afternoon dog walk routes. Black Butte is framed in the distance. I think this is called Johnson Meadow. It borders the head of the Metolius River, which springs full gush from volcanic fissures.

The dog and I walk back to our cabin along the river. I don’t fish, but I love the rustic fishing platforms along the Metolius. Kind of makes you want to walk the plank, except once you do, you’re in the coldest damn water you’ve ever felt.

Several miles downriver there’s a cluster of non-functioning water wheels. In the old days of Camp Sherman they made electricity, or so I believe. I talked once with the owner of a water wheel equipped cabin but have forgotten most of what he told me.

Some of the cabins on leased forest service land are wonderfully charming, like this one. Ours is of the blander variety. And we don’t have a view of the river. Like I said before, poor us.

Here’s our stick happy dog, Serena, and Laurel on our downriver walk today. Black Butte rises in the background.

A close up of Black Butte from the same location. There’s still a lot of snow on top. Laurel just read me a story about how before the road was built more than halfway to the summit, the people who manned the fire lookout on the top of Black Butte regularly would walk the ten miles round trip from the lookout to the Camp Sherman store (3,400 foot elevation gain), sometimes returning after midnight. One guy made the return trip in a shade over 48 minutes. Wow!

I never get tired of watching the sun dance on the Metolius near the Camp Sherman store. This is one of the most beautiful rivers in the United States. Heck, even more: the world.

Yesterday on a trip into Sisters, about ten miles away, I was struck by how much new construction is going on. Given the view from town, I can understand why. These are two of the Three Sisters rising over Sisters.