For our two days off, Michelle and I headed up to Bend, Oregon, for some climbing. As we got closer, the sagebrush steppe turned to ponderosa pine forest, and we started to see lakes and rivers. Although I have loved living in the desert, I do miss trees. The first night we camped off a forest service road in the ponderosas, and could see the sillouettes of tall pines against the darkening sky and smell the soil and trees and growing things. The desert smells like dust and sagebrush.
We met up with a few local climbers, who showed us volcanic cliffs to toprope along the Deschutes River. They also showed me how to set nuts and hexes in the rock and I practiced setting trad protection on a climb (but while still on a toprope). The friendliness of complete strangers is one of the excellent things about the climbing community. We had called random gear shops the night before asking about where to climb, and found someone who offered to take us climbing. 
The next day we bouldered down by the river - here is Michelle on a traverse.
After climbing on the sun-baked basalt, we jumped in some bouldery pools along a rapid on the river, and had fun with the waterproof feature of my camera. It was tricky to swim against the current - below are my arms frantically grabbing onto a rock so I don't get swept away.
Upper Klamath Lake, seen on the way up.
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For our two day break, Michelle and I headed to Bend, O
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