I just found out about this place a couple months ago and have been meaning to got out there for a little look see. The The Riley Ranch Nature Reserve is 184 acres of protected land along the Deschutes River near Bend Oregon. Join me as I share some photographs on my walk of the upper portion of the reserve.
A six shot panorama I stitched together in Lightroom showing the Cascade Mountain Range in Central Oregon looming in the distance. Mt Bachelor on the left, Broken Top and the South Sister in the center, Middle and North Sister on the right. In front of me is the part of the reserve we are about to explore. 🙂
A couple of information boards at the entrance to the trail
This Juniper tree was teeming with berries. They don't really show up in this photo...
so here is a cropped shot that shows them a little better. Enlarge and zoom in for the best effect.
The upper portion of the reserve has some really nice trails. Since there is no bikes, horses, or dogs allowed this mega highway is for the sole use of humans. 😀
Since it is a nature reserve it is only fitting we get to see some wildlife. This guy darted across the trail and luckily stopped here for a moment so I could capture a picture of him.
Our first of four overlooks, this one gives us views of the Deschutes River down below.
As you will see going forward there are some pretty amazing houses on the other side of the river.
A couple views of the next overlook, Sage Flat. We will walk around the back and out on the small cliff face.
Here are a few views looking back at the sage area we just crossed from the overlook.
An old twisted Juniper.
The third overlook is the Canyon Overlook. It is a platform built on the edge of an ancient lava flow. After the eruption of the "Basalt of Bend", the river was forced to find this new course around the lava flow.
The river down below the overlook.
A pano of the view...
And a telephoto shot of Mt Jefferson....
And Mt Bachelor in the distance.
A look back at the Canyon Overlook platform.
Some more of the wildlife. Two lizards scurring around on the ground.
The trail down to the canyon and some more of the reserve. This will be a trip for another time though. 😀
Another twisted Juniper.
The last overlook. Aptly named the Mountain View overlook and the last view on our journey.
Please feel free to make comments or ask me any questions about this post.
Photos taken by me, @oldmans, with a Nikon D3300 and some Lightroom post processing.
Please visit Pinmapple to see the locations of some of my other posts.
Thanks for looking and enjoy your day!
That overlooking view of the river and the twisted Juniper are my favorite photos from this post. Have you been to the surrounding mountains as well?
I was surprised at the number of fantastic views there were on this walk. The twisted Junipers are always a pleasant thing to run across. Kind of ancient looking. 😀
If you check out my Pinmapple map you can see some older posts of some treks I took up near the mountains. Still a lot to explore though!
All those Juniper berries!
What a wonderful tour you took us on. I do love all the signs and the fact that the trail was only for humans!
A very nice trail with loads to see and lots of information. It was also nice to walk without having to worry about any bikes flying up behind you. 😀
Thanks for stopping by!
Hiya, @livinguktaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2003.
Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!
Become part of our travel community:
Thank you!
Hello @oldmans
I'm part of the Silver Bloggers’ Community Team.
Thank you for sharing your excellent post in the Silver Bloggers community! As a special "token" of appreciation for this contribution to our community, it has been upvoted, reblogged and curated.
Thank you!
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
@sagarkothari88 reward 0.1 hp
💐 🎁 Gift 🎁 💐
Empowering Silver Bloggers
Upvote This Comment
Please 🙇♂️ Support Me Back 🙏 - Vote for me
Thank you!
Hey @oldmans
I send HivePower ➡️ to many Hive ♦️ users (just like I've sent you 🎉) to motivate content-creators 😇
By supporting many communities 🤝 by upvotes 👍 & distributing Hive Power as Gift 🎁, I help them to grow 💝 on Hive.
I request you please support me back by clicking here & vote me as witness