Bend has something for every kind of outdoorsy traveller

Skip Portland and head for the mountains, says Sunshine Flint

Mount Bachelor, seen from the calm waters of Todd Lake in Bend (Getty)

The first great breath you scoop into your lungs as you descend from the plane in Bend, Oregon, is the moment you realise what those millions of tree-shaped air fresheners, bathroom cleansers and sprays have been trying to approximate; this is what “pine fresh” actually smells like.

Do we spend enough time talking about what places smell like when we travel? Say, the primeval damp filtered with wood smoke in the jungle north of Chiang Rai, the humid tang of south Florida, or the sunbaked dust of Rome? Well, central Oregon smells like heaven ­– if heaven were surrounded by forests of juniper, great Ponderosa pines, and blinding white snow caps topped with an endless blue sky.

A three-and-a-half-hour drive from Portland, Bend is in Oregon’s high desert, along the eastern flanks of the Cascade Range. It’s the sunniest spot in the state, with close to 300 sunny days a year, and the flip side to Portland’s grey skies – a reminder that the Pacific Northwest is a vast region, one that still hews to its western heritage, with space for everyone from beanie-wearing hipsters to fervid skiers to cattle ranchers.

The former lumber mill town is becoming a year-round destination for tourists, Northern California and Portlander weekenders, and new residents. And pretty much everyone who lives or visits plans on spending a good portion, if not all, of their day outdoors.

The reason is clear when you ascend Pilot Butte, an extinct cinder cone that rises 500 feet above the town, which is itself 3,600 feet above sea level.

A neat grid of streets, punctuated by tall pines and traversed by the Deschutes River, covers the valley floor. To the west, the snow-covered line of Cascade peaks soar into the sky: Mount Bachelor, the Three Sisters, Mount Jefferson, all the way to north to Mount Hood.

Hikers, skiers, kayakers, fly fishermen and outdoorsy types of every kind flock to the glaciers, Alpine meadows, mountain trails, waterfalls and lakes in the Deschutes National Forest, which covers 1.6 million acres of the eastern Cascades.

Bend has something for every kind of outdoorsy traveller (iStock/GaryAlvis)

Mount Bachelor Ski Resort has one of the longest ski seasons on the west coast, with operations through May, and 4,300 acres of trails and brand new terrain parks, and 34 miles of groomed Nordic ski trails.

From the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway, more than a dozen lakes are accessible from June to October. During the day you’ll be surrounded by spruce and fir trees and wildflowers, but at night a starlight canoe with Wanderlust Tours becomes an almost mystical experience. The bright stars’ reflection in the lake’s dark-glass surface is so mirror perfect that it’s disorientingly hard to tell where the night sky and the water meet. And in the blackness, it’s easy to run through a stretch of tangled water lilies or tall reeds, whose stalks reach over your head with a sinister air.

Staying outdoors at night seems to be a priority for Bend residents, judging by the sheer number of people standing around the fire pits outside every craft brewery and pub.

The Avid Cider Company has a round steel one in the shape of an apple, natch, at least eight feet in diameter; a tall fire pit at The Podski, one of Bend’s many food truck collectives (Bend-ers like to eat outside too), has silhouettes of pine trees and mountain peaks welded on. Meanwhile, outside the quirky McMenamins Old St Francis School Hotel, nearly a dozen massive fires burn nightly throughout the courtyard of the property, some approximating Guy Fawkes levels.

In lieu of having your eyebrows singed off, head inside to find the Broom Closet, an L-shaped speakeasy under the roof rafters where the bartenders sport impressive moustaches and lean heavy on the brown liquors.

Typically, Bend passes hipster posturing for earnest craft brewing and farm-to-table fare. Like Jackson’s Corner, on Bend’s west side, which sources from local farms, smokehouses and foragers. Or Eric Rud, one of several San Francisco chefs seeking greener pastures, who makes all of his own pastas and bread at Boxwood Kitchen, in the Old Mill District.

Bend even has a signature pastry – the Ocean Roll, a rolled-up croissant dough flavoured with cardamom and vanilla. Or go your own way with the Salty Queen, Foxtail Bakeshop’s delicious take on the kouign-amann.

The city is large enough to support a thriving performing arts centre, the Tower Theatre, and a monthly First Friday Art Walk, with live music, food carts, vendors, late hours for galleries and boutiques, plus numerous annual festivals and summer concerts. The walkable town centre is also home to Ranch Records, the local record shop, which is next door to Vector Volcano Arcade, filled with classic video games and pinball machines from the Seventies and Eighties. Modern Games, a board game cafe, has a queue of eager gamers waiting outside daily for it to open.

The fashion, when it’s not outright mountain conquering gear, is chic, but sensible. Find it at clothing stores like CC Mckenzie and, taking a page from the town’s food trucks, the shop-in-a-van Wildflower Mobile Boutique, which is stocked with jumpers and long, drapey cardigans. If you do want to put a bird on it, The Feather’s Edge Finery sells white cotton tea towels printed with crisp Pacific Northwest iconography – pine trees, woodland creatures – as well as housewares, candles, and leather notebooks and pouches stamped with, yes, birds.

The Deschutes National Forest covers 1.6 million acres of the eastern Cascades (iStock/Don Miller)

The drive to Sisters, an Old West tourist town about 45 minutes northwest of Bend, is on a two-lane highway that takes you deep into the pines of the Deschutes National Forest. The western-style, false-fronted stores sell antiques, many flavours of fudge, and even the antlers of hoofed animals and fur pelts of small, wild creatures.

Push through the swinging doors at the Sisters Saloon to dine under a wall of mounted animal heads, or sip an Americano made with beans roasted on site in front of a stone fireplace at Sisters Coffee Company. The general store and sandwich shops are great places to stock up before hiking the trails around the Three Sisters peaks.

The three-and-a-half-mile Suttle Lake Loop is an easy, level trail along the shoreline, carpeted with pine needles. Or hop in a kayak or canoe from one of the boat launches and paddle over to Suttle Lodge, where the Skip Lounge and the Boathouse are open to non-guests. Sip one of their cocktails (they’ve imported some mixology wizardry from Portland) on the lawn facing the mountain-ringed lake.

Here, the western sun lingers, until it suddenly disappears behind a stony finger, and the facing peaks take on a pearly hue. Almost like heaven.

Travel essentials

Getting there

British Airways has direct flights from London to Portland, Oregon, from £750 return.

Staying there

The 104-room Huntington Lodge at Pronghorn Resort is Bend’s first boutique hotel, done up in high desert chic decor and surrounded by acres of juniper forests and two world-class golf courses. But the point is the panoramic views of the Cascade peaks, including Mount Bachelor and Three-Fingered Jack, that dominate the horizon. Standard queen rooms start from £202 a night.