TORREZ TRAVELS

I’m sitting in a town called Sisters, surrounded by Ponderosa Pines. Even the air is different here. It’s much drier.

We camped at McKenzie Bridge last night. We didn’t have internet, and I couldn’t move the pictures from my phone to my laptop, so I didn’t write anything. I wish I had now, but the mosquitos chased us into our tent. It was really beautiful. I’ve got some pics of the McKenzie River I will show you. We had a great time. There weren’t hardly any other people there. This area is used to having snow later into the spring, but with the drying out of the west, they have been getting milder winters. Unfortunately that has led to more forest fires. A devastating fire burned through the McKenzie River area in 2020.

The beauty of the region is preserved just a few miles up the road.

Today we drove up and over Santiam pass. We were happy not to have to pedal our way over! It was pretty steep! While we didn’t see any snow where we were at, there are several mountains that remain snow capped. They look very dramatic. The Cascades were formed from volcanoes, then carved by glaciers. They are craggy, made of dark rock, and covered with snow.

These are the three Sisters that the town is named after.

Now that we are on the other side of the cascades, everything is dryer. We are headed to Prineville tomorrow. Not sure what we will see there, but I will let you know!