For some, tech gadgets may seem antithetical to an authentic back-to-nature experience. After all, isn’t the point of hitting the trails, slopes, and peaks to unplug and enjoy the natural world? Perhaps. But even the backpacker who revels in starting a fire with friction or creating a shelter out of twigs and buckskin understands the […]
Outside
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The Eyes Have It!
My friend, Owl, made me realize the importance of eyesight
Owl came into my life when I was living at what is now Hollinshead Park on Jones Road. Late one afternoon, the phone rang. “Is this Jim Anderson who knows about birds?,” the caller asked. I said I knew a little about birds, why? “I’m a logger, and got this bird that fell out of […]
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‘Cross Crazy
Local junior cyclocross racer to cut his teeth in Europe
With temperatures in the single digits and snow in the forecast, it'd be easy to assume Oregon’s cycling season has ended. It hasn’t. In fact, cyclocross was invented for such conditions, and this weekend two of the biggest ‘cross races of the year will be staged in Bend’s Old Mill District on the hilly and […]
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Winter Mornings Just Got Better
Chicka chicka yeah! Meissner Nordic’s new groomer is radical.
As recently as five years ago, during the beginning of, oh, say Obama’s presidency, nordic skiing at Virginia Meissner Sno-Park—home to Bend’s community ski trails—was hit or miss. Let’s be honest: Mostly, it was the grooming that was a miss. To tame the 40-plus kilometers of ski trails, the local ski club (formerly known as […]
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Western Juniper
A weed or what?
What would our wintering robins do without Western juniper? All day long they’re out feeding on juniper berries (cones actually), guzzling water to help digest the berries and leaving the remains on tops of cars, sidewalks and other flat surfaces. What would the Juniper hairstreak butterfly do with the tree that bears its name? How […]
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Fall is Fun
Junior ‘cross, crack climbing improvements and the best trails of the year
First thing’s first: Bend’s junior cyclocross racers are absolutely. Killing. It. Cameron Beard, Colin Dunlap, Javier Colton and Lance Haidet—none older than 18—have raced near or inside the top 10 in a number of the northwest’s ultra-competitive Cross Crusade series races which, participation wise, are the largest cyclocross races in the world. To put their […]
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Dreams of Sochi
A handful of elite Bendites are hoping to throw down at the upcoming Winter Olympics
If all goes according to plan, at least three Bend athletes will make the trip to Sochi, Russia in early February to compete in the 22nd Olympic Winter Games. Dakota Blackhorse-von jess, Nordic skiing Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess is well known for racing in a backward-facing trucker hat, perhaps the better for his competitors to read […]
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Breaking into the Big League
Freshly home from Europe, Ian Boswell explains racing with world’s best cycling team
Last week, Ian Boswell was, by his own admission, “dying.” At 6 feet tall and 155 pounds, the lanky 22-year-old Bend native is one of America’s best road cyclists. Last month, Boswell wrapped up his first professional race season with Team Sky, a British cycling squad widely regarded as the best in the world (the […]
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Cool Runnings
How to stay fit during the darkest days of the year
With the end of Daylight Savings Time on Sunday, gone are the evening daylight hours, and the leisurely post-work evening workouts they allow. What to do? Adapt! Below are a number of clever options for bolstering both motivation and fitness levels during the shorter days. Also note that all suggestions here rely on groups; that’s […]
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Jane Stevens: Wildlife Rehabber
OK, Jane Stevens—licensed wildlife reahabber—get ready to blush…I ask you, dear reader, have you ever given a thought to what it would be like to save a baby bat's life? I mean really tiny babies, eyes still closed and wet with placental fluids. What to feed it—or, how to feed it? Yeah, I’d have thrown […]