Today was a travel day. We pulled up stakes at Troutdale’s Sandy Riverfront RV and headed east on I-84 up the Columbia River Gorge. Peggy and I were headed for the Bend/Sunriver area in central Oregon where we anticipated checking in at Thousand Trails Bend/Sunriver.
We have made the drive from Portland to the Bend area before and usually we take I-84 to US-97 south through Madras to Bend. This time, we decided to take a route that appeared to be substantially shorter by taking US-197 through Dufur and Maupin to Madras. It was a poor decision.
US-197 is installed over more difficult terrain than US-97. 197 climbs steeply numerous thousands of feet before descending steeply only to have the process repeated many times. Near Maupin the road takes a precipitous free fall through some challenging curves into squirrely and narrow city streets before crossing the Deschutes River and immediately starting another wall climbing event. Maupin is a very pretty little town but the whole place is mounted on the side of a bluff. Never have we traveled so far vertically without substantial horizontal progress.
Eventually we found US-97 near Madras and the going was good all the way to Bend. Of course it was a Friday afternoon at about 4:00 PM but traffic seems to have increased substantially since our last visit. Progress was slow through downtown but we finally emerged on the south side of town and soon pulled into the Bend/Sunriver campground where we found a great spot with satellite reception. Due to our decision to take US-197, we only were required to travel about an hour longer despite the road actually having a shorter length than going all the way up I-84 to US-97. Never trust a road atlas.
Despite 197 being a tough drive, it is beautiful and we have a few pictures you can see if you click here