If you’re into a wintry round of golf, the River’s Edge Golf Course in the heart of Bend is one of the places to do it. And in 2016 and 2017, it’s also the place for world-class cross country runners to show their chops in what’s proved to be a fairly challenging run on the […]
Outside
Natural World: Winter and Wildlife
Winter’s hard on wildlife, just as it is on you and me. But like you and me, wildlife that spend winter with us have tools they can use to stay warm and dry. Birds in particular are well suited to survive winter, with downy feathers close to their little bodies. The down is like warm […]
20/40/60: Fat Biking.
Thanks to an amazing invention called Google Analytics, we here at the Source Weekly know our audience goes way beyond millennials. Our readers are moms, dads, grandparents, teens and youth, in addition to young adults. So when we had the idea to try out some of Central Oregon’s abundant outdoor activities for the first time […]
Bird’s Eye View
Editor’s note: The online version of this story has been updated from the print version. Details regarding “landing near Broken Top” have been removed. If you’re looking for the ultimate marriage proposal, here’s an idea for you: Surprise your future spouse with a helicopter proposal that includes a tour of Central Oregon’s snow-capped mountains. You’ll land […]
Birds of a Feather
First it was, “Hey, where have all my robins gone…?” Then in November the question was changed to, “Where in (expletive) did all the robins come from!?” Where did “our” robins go, you ask? Most scientific research places them in Central California in winter—around Sacramento—but it wouldn’t surprise anyone if some of them ended up […]
Natural World: Watching for Strange Birds and Other Things
Winter is survival and distribution time for many species of wildlife, not only a time for most wildlife that wander and migrate the season to survive, but also the time for seeing new country—some of which may turn out to be their new home. The short-eared owl is a good example. The one seen in […]
Making Waves
Oregon fishermen know the coastal waters better than anyone—and that’s probably why they’ve been tapped to help locate a site ideal for turning ocean waves into electricity. In December, Oregon State University’s National Marine Renewable Energy Center was awarded $40 million by the U.S. Department of Energy to construct a wave energy test facility six […]
Best Outdoor Events of 2016
The year 2016 was a great time to be outside: extreme sport start-ups let Bendites bungee off a bridge or dive into the sky; rare wolves and foxes made brief cameos in the wild; Bachelor debuted a new ski lift; even Pokémon Go helped out, if only fleetingly. To help you start planning your outdoor […]
Natural World: All Whiteโ but Not Quite
It’s tough enough to come up with the correct ID for the varied finches that gang up around my feeder every day, so when you have a leucistic one show up, the whole day gets disrupted. My pal Brent McGregor happened to run into one in his backyard the other day. The first thing that […]
Field Medicine
With so many opportunities to explore the outdoors in Bend come just as many opportunities to get hurt. From a simple sprain to a traumatic injury, getting hurt in the wilderness can elevate the intensity of any medical emergency. That’s where wilderness first aid is key. Specially-trained nurses, paramedics and therapists are prepared to deliver […]

