An under-the-radar hike with over the top views
One spring evening, soon after we moved to Bend in 2003, we went to a slideshow on local hikes at a little outdoor gear shop down the road. The shop was Pine Mountain Sports, and the speaker was William Sullivan, and we’ve been fans of both ever since. We still use the book we bought that night: 100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades. After 17 years the cover is tattered and the pages full of notes–but we still use it. This past weekend we browsed the pages and hand-drawn maps, hoping to find an under-the-radar hike where we could escape the weekend crowds of tourists (who are trying to escape the crowds in their home cities.) Tidbits mountain, hike #65, seemed just right.
Tidbits Mountain highlights
The trailhead is tucked ten miles up a winding gravel road from the Blue River Reservoir, off the MacKenzie River*. It’s not a long or difficult hike–only four miles out and back. The mossy old growth Douglas firs and huge rhododendrons dripping with dew give way to wild blueberries bordering scree fields (hike this trail in late spring for rhodie blooms galore, or late summer for a blueberry bonanza.) As it climbs, peekaboo glimpses of the tidbits–barren hoodoo-like pinnacles–loom out of the clouds. Add in the craggy rocks and twisted cedars, and the trail gets a fairy tail vibe, like a gnome might be hiding around the next bend.
Along the western slope cloud layers shifted and rolled, heavy with Willamette Valley mist. As we wound up and around to the east, sunny skies prevailed, and we could see the Three Sisters and their Bachelor brother. At the summit of the Tidbits trail, a short-but-steep section plateaus into a 360 degree lookout over the whole Central Oregon Cascades range. An old ladder and concrete pad remain from this summit’s fire watch-tower days–on a clearer day, we could have seen Green Ridge, where the fire lookout is available for camping.
*Find directions and details on the Forest Service site, or more info (especially on hiking this trail with kids) at Hike Oregon.