Join me as I take a tour up the Cascade Lakes Highway to see some of the sights in the Central Oregon Cascade Mountain Range. Sticking mainly to the main highway you are greeted with up close views of the snow capped peaks and many high alpine lakes and waterways. So follow along and I will share a few of these wonderful sights with you. 🙂
After traveling some 20 miles west out of Bend, Oregon you get your fisrt view of one of the snow capped peaks. During the winter Mt Bachelor is one of Oregon's top ski destinations. During the summer there is mountain biking, zip lining, and even fine dining near the top for dinner. Of course you need to ride a chairlift to get there. 😁
Click images for larger view
A quick video of this portion of the drive.
Here are a couple shots from the parking lot of the ski area that show some of the lower runs. The top of the mountain can be seen looming above the runs. Also the chair lift on the left is the one that takes you to nearly 8,000 feet for your dining experience.
A small cinder cone off to the right of Bachelor.
A little further down the highway a different view of Bachelor across a mountain meadow.
The purple wildflowers in the meadow.
The first view of the South Sister as we continue down the Highway.
The next stop is Sparks Lake Meadow. Here you can see Soda Creek that meanders through the meadow and helps fill Sparks Lake. There are also several other small streams that flow into this high alpine basin and help fill the lake.
Looking back the other way you can see the South Sister on the left and Broken Top on the right.
A little closer look at Broken Top.
The same basic shot taken with two different cameras. My Samsung phone on the left, unedited and my Nikon D330 on the right with minor edits. Any preference?
Next stop Devils Lake.
It's not hard to let my mind wander to a time long ago...
When a foot trail would have been the only way into this area.
What a lovely place to have a summer camp and just be one with nature.
The last lake of the day is Elk Lake. A fairly large lake that comes with a resort and several campgounds around the edge of the lake. The South Sister and Broken Top can be seen here from a day use area at the south end of the lake.
And as we bid farewell to the Cascades Lakes Highway on this adventure. I leave you with a couple shots of Broken Top from a roadside pullover.
Please feel free to make comments or ask me any questions about this post.
Photos taken by me, @oldmans, with a Nikon D3300 and Samsung Galaxy S20 with some Lightroom post processing.
Please visit WorldMapPin to see the locations of some of my other posts.
Thanks for looking and enjoy your day!