Just a few pics from a trail run along the Deschutes River Trail. This river is interesting since it flows south to north. Hmm...  The scenery along this trail is spectacular!! One moment you are running through canyons with beautiful rocks and the next you come to an open meadow and forget that the mountains are on the horizon. The fall colors of yellow, orange, and red were quite vibrant. Especially among the Aspens. Their light colored bark make the fall colors quite vibrant. The trail winds it's way through a forest of pine(mostly Ponderosa) and Aspen trees. Chipmunks seem to be in abundance pretty much everywhere!! And they are not tiny little chipmunks. Ha!!! The river changes from a slow and quiet flow of turquoise water to rapidly moving whitewater as you make your way up stream. On the other side of the river is a never ending island of lava thousands of years old. The lava island is quite fascinating to look at!! Huge piles of jagged black rock reach in all directions with the occasional tree growing. And you find yourself climbing ever closer to the mountains :-)

At the turnaround point of our run was Benham Falls which was quite beautiful. At this point you  realize that you have been running towards the mountains. This waterfall crashes down into a pool of turquoise water with rock walls on both sides. I wondered if anyone had ever attempted to paddle over this waterfall, Hmm... The way back provided a different view and perspective of the forest we had already passed through. Now we were running north and downstream. It was a very rainy afternoon, but we never noticed one bit on this adventure. It appeared that no one was stopped by rain as we passed others hiking, trail running, and mountain biking. That says a lot about this community here in Bend, Oregon. People get out and do what they love regardless of the weather!!!

Still loving this place!!!!