We drove over to Bend, Oregon for a long-overdue High Desert weekend. Here's a snapshot from the Volvo of the impending sunset between Sisters and Bend, about 65 mph.

I managed to be up early enough to snap this pic from the hotel room balcony.

A Saturday hike up Tumalo Mountain next to Mt. Bachelor...or is this Ithilien?

The road goes ever on and on...

We ran into Treebeard along the way. He's looking a bit weathered these days...

Treebeard warned us about some strange huorns.

And "Firry" isn't looking quite himself these days!

Finally, the top of Tumalo Mtn.! Only 1200' elevation gain--but over a short 1.5 miles, a fairly steep, if short, hike. (Fun to play with the timer on the camera, but volcanic scree doesn't make a great tri-pod.)

Now for some panoramas. This is Mt. Bachelor (~9000' elev) from near the top of Mt. Tumalo.
(Here's a larger version.)

South Sister (~10500' elev), Middle Sister, North Sister, and Broken Top from near the top of Mt. Tumalo.
(Here's a larger version w/o the labels.)

Mirrormere?!? Nah, just a little lake SW of Mt. Bachelor.
(Here's a larger version.)

Mirror Pond along a bend of the Deschutes River in Bend.

Sadly, the weekend was all too short. Here's the view from the highway between Bend and Sisters, on Sunday afternoon.