Here is my review of clear lake for row boat use!…read more We got here at 930 am. Found the pay box at the entrance $9, no cash. There is an option to pay at the bottom which we should have done because they take the national park passes there (see picture). We were able to find parking in the main lot and there were a few people there. We weren't sure how the process of renting the boats or availability of life jackets. There is a shop that sells food, snacks, drinks, ice cream , and desserts. They also have a selection of fishing items, shirts, jackets. We paid for the boat - $60 for the large boat all day. The life jackets were plentiful and available. My husband rowed most of the time because I am not a good rower. We made it from the dock to the start of the river that you can't go past which is good since you could hear the rapids. The way to the left was a lot calmer and clear. We had a blast out on the lake. You could see down near the shallows but not in the middle of the lake. Make sure to bring sunscreen because there isn't much shade. The facilities are great!! Two bathrooms in the shop. Large tables to sit and enjoy a hot cooked meal or ice cream. I am so glad we were able to make a morning on the lake super easy and stress free! Next time I'm thinking of renting a kayak or a stand up paddle board. That would be fun! If you are in the area make sure to stop by early. As we were leaving, the parking lot was filled up so make sure to get there early! I hope my review and pictures help you plan for a successful visit to Clear Lake!

A beautiful setting for the perfect romantic getaway or family weekend escape. The cabins are…read morecozy with gas stoves and heaters and the boat rentals are very affordable is you want to connect with the water. We enjoyed a wonderful hike around the lake which took us through forests, lava fields, and springs with wooden bridges. The views were amazing!

Really nice little park especially on those hot afternoons for kids and adults! Splash away!read more

Nice park! New bathrooms and clean facility with artistic flair. Splash pad is a nice edition. You…read morehave to step on the large raised blue disc to get the splash pad going, this can be tricky to figure out if it's not pointed out to you. Great stag with a rotating array of artists. Good / easy parking.

Sisters is a perfect little city, in my humble opinion. And one of the best things to do is just to…read morestroll... through art galleries, then grabbing a cup of coffee at Sisters Coffee House or an ice cream cone from BJ's True Old Fashioned Batch Ice Cream, then kicking back in this park. When the days are hot, and that is often in Central Oregon, this is always a nice shady spot. It connects Cascade Avenue and Ash Street and has a few wood carved benches, a public restroom and a small water feature with a glorious sculpture. As a nod to one of Sisters' biggest tourist attractions, the annual Quilt Show, there is a large mural on one wall with a series of colorful quilts blowing in the wind. The park is tiny but still manages to pack a punch. It is the location of the Sisters Farmer's Market on Friday nights in the summer, which has a good selection of vendors and usually some musical entertainment on the lawn. But, it is just a great place to take a moment and enjoy the area any day of the week. Essentially in the middle of it all, just the perfect place to catch your breath. The full name of the park is Harold & Dorothy Barclay Park, who were early residents and mill owners. I can't think of a nicer way to be remembered by my community.

My partner is a hot springs enthusiast and always seems to have this on his list for how he wants…read moreto celebrate his birthday. The drive out from Portland is long, but after you get here the trip is really enjoyable, we often try to plan a night somewhere closer. It's 12$ for a 2 hour visit, they do take credit cards. We tend to be here mid week mid day so we have not had any issue with parking. There are always other people present, but it has never seemed overly busy. The staff we interact with are always very pleasant. There is a bathroom in the parking lot. It's a short walk up to the hot springs, I'm confident mostly anyone could do this. It's nice to feel like you are in nature. I imagine this was a much more beautiful area before the fires, but I am thankful that it did reopen and is usable. Do make sure you bring some water to stay hydrated while hot springing. Do be aware that sometimes people are unclothed at hot springs. Also know that hot springs are hot and this may not be how you want to spend a hot day. There are multiple pools of multiple sizes which do vary in heat. There is a small stream with cold water running nearby. There are places to sit where you can be partially in the water. If you are planning to walk around a lot you may want water shoes as these rocks can be hot on your feet. We always have a nice time and leave feeling rejuvenated. I keep meaning to look into camping options nearby. I'd love to experience this with some friends on my next visit.

A friend and I went to Cougar a couple of hours before dawn. Encountered a group of maybe 10-12…read morevery intoxicated people all over the place, seemed to have been there overnight. Pools cluttered with floaties, booze bottles, and beer cans. Female called True in small stream by top pool spinning around with a toy light-saber while some male she called Travis filmed her. They then came tumbling into pool and kept splashing and bumping into me and my friend. We tell them several times to respect some space, but to them it's all sport. This goes on for a while, then True for some reason decides my friend and I are gay (we're both female). So she and Trav go full-tilt bonkers and start screaming homophobic, misogynist slurs so hateful and obscene I can't type them here, going on and on about everything from our appearances to our perceived low income economic status. Then Travis gets inches from our faces ordering us out of the pool while True keeps shrieking, including some really weird pseudo-religious stuff. Several others in the group joined in, the rest watched. By now both seemed to be in some full-blown mental illness freak-out, especially True. We kept repeating to back off, but all this did was cause first True and then Trav to take their arms and start vooshing water all over us. When they finally wore out, my bigger friend stood up and vooshed back at them, at which point True cried out, "How dare you splash me!" and they both started screaming at us how they're going to eff us up, etc. Finally True and Trav and trio of followers went down to second pool and the rest of the group gathered up and left, maybe they came to some sense or decency, but we took the chance to get out, with True in particular still screaming slurs all the way up the stairs until we left. Luckily my friend got almost everything from start to finish crystal clear on camera. Waited in parking lot, sunrise long gone and still no official hot springs human around (and no cell phone service either). So we left, discovering two vans (probably but not provable theirs) parked along the road above the parking lot. Everyone in the group was Anglo/American; late twenties to late thirties, all ordinary looking with no stand out features or tats that I could see. A nice spot overall, but please be aware of groups like this, as Trav slurred several times that he'd been to Cougar before, though hopefully he and the other bigoted sociopaths get some mental health services before returning.

The Deschutes National Forest is one of the twelve national forests in Oregon (Oregon is in a three…read moreway tie for second place with the most national forests in the US & Puerto Rico) and covers over a million and a half acres. They are all beautiful, but Deschutes is special. It spans the area between the McKenzie River area to the high desert in eastern Oregon. You start in the warm(er) area and by the time you hit the summit there's snow on the ground. And as you're reaching higher elevation, you find yourself passing through the lava beds. One of the volcanos in the forest was used by the Apollo astronauts in the 60s. It's a really peaceful drive, and a breathtaking one. Suttle Lake is near Sisters, and it's really beautiful. There are several pull-out areas along the highway to take in the view. Bend is the big town in the area, and Sisters is a popular tourist stop as well.

National Parks have always been at the top of my list of great things: America's Best Idea…read more National Monuments are not far behind. But National Forests really hadn't registered with me until lately - they've just been large undeveloped places with lots of trees that I drove through to get to a park. Not anymore. I love Deschutes National Forest. What with the Cascade Volcanoes, the river, the creeks, the lakes, the many hiking trails, the dirt roads for my 4WD, this forest is like a huge national park. And so close to Bend. You literally are in the forest as you drive out of town. It will take many years to explore even a small fraction of the forest, but I'm up for the challenge.

Beautiful little park tucked away near Obsidian and MA Lynch Elementary. There is beautiful new…read moreplayground equipment with a variety of fun and accessible activities for kids. Love the City of Redmond history themed items. There's also a large grassy area to play, a covered area with tables, and I believe a little charcoal bbq station. There is also a circuit of exercise activities around the perimeter of the park. Nice touch

It's been awhile since my last stay here. We love the yurts here. Easy access, they have heat, a…read morecouple of tables and beds, and it's comfortable. The fire pits are nice to but they cemented the bottom of them. They need to have more holes for air flow. Still I'm grateful to have those. Love the river trail as well. So beautiful! It's been awhile since we've been here. No snow this time but that's ok. Still peaceful and beautiful and not far at all from Bend.

Nice little state park. Well maintained. Crowded but quiet. Didn't have a lot of time to walk the…read moretrails but the ones that I did were nice.

Really nice, well-maintained park with a lot of different options. There's a play structure for…read morelittle kids, a baseball diamond, a volleyball net, and a big grassy area to hang out or play. Plenty of picnic tables if you want to stay awhile. I liked that there's a water station for both people and dogs, which is super handy. A good amount of parking in the connected lot.

This is a cool playground we found at Sunriver. I'm surprised it wasn't listed on Yelp. My kids had…read morea blast and my husband and I even took our turns on the teeter totter and had an intense game of tetherball that took me back to the 6th grade. Good find! No public restroom, just two porta-potties. This is along one of the biking trails but there is also a parking lot.

August 26-29, 2025 - La Pine, OR…read more We've stayed at La Pine Campground a few times over the years, and each visit reminds us why we keep coming back. The campground is divided into three loops, each with its own character. The North Loop offers water and electric hookups, with sites that are more widely spaced than the others--something I really appreciate. That extra room makes it feel quieter and more private, and it's probably where we'll book our next stay. The Middle Loop has full hookups, while the South Loop is the busiest, featuring full hookups as well as some cabins. . There are many hiking/cycling trails (dog-friendly), and the Deschutes River runs through the campground. There is a short hike to a waterfall, and a large dog park. Unfortunately, we were a bit restricted in our outdoor activities because of the smoke from the two fires in the area. There was actually ash falling on one of the days. Also, there had been several sightings of a mountain lion in the area, so that added a bit of caution to our activities. Nevertheless, we will definitely come back.

We just stayed one night, right before the campgrounds closed for the year. The grounds were nicely…read moremaintained, and we enjoyed a very peaceful and quiet stay. Some sites are fairly tight, while others had some nice room. The trails here were very enjoyable. Serene surroundings around the river and through the trees. We saw lots of deer, birds, and other critters scrambling about. I'm sure it would've had a slightly different feel during peak season, but we very much enjoyed our night and day of off season.

We did the 1.1 mile Trail of the Molten Lands while in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. The…read moretrail paved and in good condition. It is uphill and some spots are steep. There are informational signs in different sections of the trail. It was incredible to see how far the lava rock stretched. We stopped in the visitor center as well as the lava river caves and lava butte. We werent able to do the Pauline falls or Obsidian parts as the storms came in quick and hard. It is definitely a sight to see though. Its a milder trail than some others we've done this week and is an easier walk for most of the trail. There is also a half way point to loop around and you dont have to do the steep uphill portion to the look out area.

driving access, cost, parking, amenities, shade, trail/mileage/time, difficulty, crowded, route,…read morecell service Newberry is a big park stretching across a large swathe of land south of Bend. Unlike other parks with one visitor center and one central entrance, it has 4 different main attractions you can drive to and visit: 1. Lava Butte - 15 minutes south of Bend. Has the Lava Lands Visitor Center and the shuttle that goes to the rim of Lava Butte during summer months. At the Lava Butte, we took the bus to the top of the cinder cone and hiked the rim, 0.25 miles, took us 15 minutes with a 4 and a 6 year old: https://www.hikingproject.com/trail/7074103/lava-butte-rim-trail Cost: $5 a car for day entry to the park, $3 per person for round trip shuttle ride. The bus driver was very nice and didn't charge us for kids. Shade: Maybe 20-30% shaded, there are some trees on the rim. Difficulty: Easy, and you have nice views. The rim is slanted so there is a little bit of an up and down climb. Crowdedness: Most of the people who take the shuttle up end up hiking around the rim, there isn't much else to do once you've looked at lookout tower. Cell service: We had cell service throughout; it's actually really close to a highway. The visitor's center area right by the main parking lot is also nice, it's a small museum, and they also have a couple talks a day. There are tables in the area, we had a picnic lunch at one of them with the lava butte in the background. 2. Lava River Cave - 15 minutes south of Bend (a few minutes down the road from Lava Butte). I didn't visit, but apparently it's cold there and you need your own flashlights to explore. When we passed by, signs said you need reservations ahead of time to enter. 3. Lava Cast Forest - 40 minutes south of Bend. I did not visit this. 4. Newberry Caldera - 45 minutes south of Bend. Has the Big Obsidian Flow (obsidian fields, as they are often called in other reviews), Paulina Peak, Paulina and East Lakes. At Newberry Caldera, we did this hike, 0.8 miles, in 1 hour 11 minutes with a 4 and a 6 year old: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/oregon/big-obsidian-flow Parking: Plenty between 10-11am on a Tuesday in July. It's a huge parking lot. Cost: $5 a car (you can use the same daily pass you got at another part of this park if you went on the same day). Amenities: A non-flush bathroom at the parking lot. I don't remember seeing water. Shade: The first 0.1 miles is shaded, then once you're on the obsidian flow you're completely exposed. Difficulty: Very easy hike, maybe only 100 ft elevation change, just the stairs to get to the edge of the obsidian flow. Crowdedness: There were a decent amount of people on this hike, and with the parking lot mostly empty, I can see this hike being pretty packed on a weekend. Cell service: We had cell service throughout this hike (T-mobile).