The towering Cascade Mountains provide the backdrop for this scenic drive and offer fabulous hiking and challenging rock climbing. Wind your way along the Byway as it climbs into the Deschutes National Forest where fishing, hiking, rafting, and other outdoor sports are plentiful.
Central Oregon
Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway
Deschutes Brewery
Located in beautiful Bend, Oregon, Deschutes Brewery overlooks the wild and scenic Deschutes River. It’s home base to their adventurous, award-winning lineup of pioneering beers.
Deschutes National Forest
At a base elevation of 6,300 feet, Mt. Bachelor, located just outside of Bend in Central Oregon, offers a 3,365 vertical foot drop, 3,683 skiable acres, 71 runs and averages 370 inches of its famous dry snow each year. It has a beginner program and several fun runs for those just starting out as well as lots of really fun activities like tubing and snowshoeing.
Elkins Gem Stones
Elkins Gem store, which has been there since 1958, offers everything from finished bookends made of petrified wood, to earrings, to free advice and maps of the area.
Goody's
Goody's is a family run tradition of handmade chocolates, candies and ice cream. First created by Marne and Marion Palmateer in Sunriver, in 1984, Goody's Candy Store very quickly became a legendary and loved Central Oregon tradition selling assorted candies purchased for resale.
Hike Black Butte
Plunked in the midst of the Central Oregon plateau, Black Butte looks like a misplaced mountain. A steep but view-packed trail climbs 1.9 miles to the panoramic summit, gaining 1,600 feet of elevation. The last portion of this route is difficult enough that it is not generally recommended for hikers with children.
Hike Canyon Creek Meadows
An easy loop visits Canyon Creek's lower meadow, full of wildflowers. For even better views, energetic hikers can continue to an upper meadow and a viewpoint beneath Three Fingered Jack's summit pinnacles.
Hike Jefferson Park
Oregon's second tallest mountain rises like a wall from the lake-dotted wildflower meadows of Jefferson Park. The view of Mount Jefferson is so impressive and the meadows are so delightful to explore that the area is crowded in summer - so why not wait to go until September?
Hike Metolius River
The Metolius, most magical of all Oregon rivers, emerges fully grown at 50,000 gallons a minute from the arid base of Black Butte. Sample the river's wizardry with this easy hike along a section of the oasis-like riverbank. The trail passes sudden springs, reveals colorful bird life and leads to a wonderfully visitable fish hatchery.
Hike Smith Rock
Smith Rock juts from the Central Oregon lava plains like an orange-sailed ship in the desert. Oregon's most popular rock-climbing area, this state park challenges mountaineers with 3 miles of rhyolite cliffs and Monkey Face, a 350-foot-tall natural sculpture.