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Late Night Eats in Bend

Though Bend may often feel like big city living amid the hustle and bustle of the busy summer season, the reality is that when the days get longer and the sun is beaming down late into the evening, you are bound to occasionally lose track of time and the dreadful 9 p.m. hour might unsuspectingly creep up on you. If this happens, you might soon come to realize that Bend’s vast pool of notable cuisine has suddenly and drastically diminished.

We have all been there, planning for hours the exact order we will place at our favorite food cart only to catch a glimpse of a clock and realize that our hours of fantasizing were all in vain. It is 9:30, the pots and pans are sunk in degreaser, the window where you once dreamed you would be ordering your personal repas du jour is latched shut. Fear not, we are here to guide you toward Bend’s best options for late-night eats. Though your favorite restaurant might hold early bird hours, you might be surprised at which Central Oregon classics made the list. This is the complete guide for grabbing some grub long after the sun has set.

The Early-to-Bed-Early-to-Rise Options

For the gal or guy whose Friday night post-ride libations created an untenable time vortex, these spots will get you out of a pickle and into bed before midnight.

Brother Jons Public House offers its full menu right up until closing—11 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Try out the Grilled Wild Salmon Cobb; it’ll help you hit your macros and won’t send you to bed feeling like you’ve got a bowling ball in your belly.

Brown Owl is one of Bend’s most famous food trucks for a reason. Forget about the fact that this place has an excellent menu and a full bar with two stories of seating—it’s open until 11 p.m. every night of the week. This makes it a regular on the late-night circuit. Try the Wilted Kale Bacon Salad—it’s a salad with fries and goat cheese and comes with a bacon vinaigrette. It’s delicious all day but if you order it after 10 p.m., you can even tell yourself it’s healthy.

McMenamins‘ cajun tots work great as a side, app or shared plate, but after midnight they have the ability to change your life. The cigar bar at O’kanes is a fun spot and has the fire pits rip-roaring until 12 a.m. on the weekends. For a later indulgence, the Fireside Bar is serving up steak bites and shuffleboard until 1:30 a.m. every night of the week.

River Pig Saloon is proof that not all Portland transplants have cuffed pants and full sleeves—some of them have scrumptious salads and street tacos. Open until 2 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday, the new Bend location for this iconic bar has got you covered on all fronts and you may even catch some live music with your mac and cheese.

Brother Jons Public House — Brother Jon’s Public House Spicy Buffalo Mac and Cheese. Photo by Alex Jordan

Late Night Fiesta Fix

Taco Salsa is often the first place that comes to mind for getting food after the bars close. If you haven’t graced the salsa bar with your presence after two in the morning, then you haven’t been trying hard enough. Open until 3 a.m. on weeknights and 4 a.m. on weekends, you can’t go wrong with tacos and if you’re feeling adventurous, the burrito also packs a punch and will keep you satiated until tomorrow’s late brunch.

Rigoberto’s Taco Shop is the east-side solution for twelve-in-the-morning tacos. Open until 3 a.m. on the weekends and midnight the rest of the week it might be the only place in town to get super nachos in the early morning hours. There is also one in Redmond which is a good option when coming in from a late inbound flight.

Chomp Chomp is the newest addition to the local late-night scene. This Japanese restaurant, nestled in downtown Bend, is where late-night ramen cravings are satisfied. Chomp Chomp entices hungry souls with its late-night ramen special on Fridays and Saturdays from 11:30 p.m. until 2 a.m. (or until they sell out). Swing by their convenient to-go ramen window to pick up your bowl of Veggie Miso, Spicy Veggie Miso or classic Pork Ramen. We can’t think of a better way to end a night out.

Games and Grub

Duda’s Billiards Bar in Downtown Bend has more pool tables than it does seating but that’s as good a reason as any to go here. Just pack up your custom-made cue and cruise on in for a late-night bite. Open until 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 12 a.m. every other night of the week, try the Classic with Cheese—one of six Aussie Meat Pies that are a specialty here and have a burgeoning cult following in Bend.

The Hideaway, as the name implies, is an off-the-beaten-track gem. Created by the people who brought you The Victorian Café, this sports bar specializes in making food you actually want to eat while watching the big game. With foosball, Golden Tee and a slew of other arcade classics it’s a good thing the kitchen is open until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday—you can let the kids go double or nothing all night while still catching the ninth inning on one of ten big screens.

Cascade West, even if you have never been before, is probably close to what you would envision when you hear “bar with pool.” Don’t be fooled; behind its backwoodsy exterior lies a treasure trove of late-night delights. Open and cooking until 1 a.m. every night of the week, you can’t claim local status until you’ve had the 4-piece fried chicken just before last call.

JC’s Bar + Grill serves up some of the best bar bites in town. Open until 1:30 a.m. on the weekends means you can throw darts, shoot pool, and risk life and limb playing giant Jenga late into the evening. Once you’ve worked up an appetite you can’t go wrong with the Fish N’ Chips—they’re a local favorite.

Late Night chEAT Sheet

Abby’s Legendary Pizza – 11 p.m. every night

Brother Jons Public House – 10 p.m. Sunday and Monday, 11 p.m. every other night

Brown Owl – 11—11 every day

Cascade West – 1 a.m. every night

Chomp Chomp – 11:30 a.m. – 9 p.m. Tuesday – Thursday, 11:30 a.m. – 10 p.m., 11:30 p.m. – 2 a.m. Friday & Saturday

Coreys – 1:30am all nights

D&D – 2 a.m. Monday—Saturday, 12 a.m. Sunday

Deschutes Brewery – 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 p.m. every other night

Duda’s Billiards Bar – 2 a.m. Friday—Saturday, 12 a.m. every other night

JC’s Bar + Grill – 1:30 a.m. on the weekends, 11:30 weeknights

McMenamins Old St. Francis School – 7 a.m.—11 p.m. Sunday—Thursday, 7 a.m.—1 a.m. Friday & Saturday

Rigoberto’s Taco Shop – 12 a.m. Sunday—Thursday, 3 a.m. Friday—Saturday

River Pig Saloon – 2 a.m. all nights

Sharis Café and Pies – 24hrs

Taco Salsa – 3 a.m. weeknights, 4 a.m. weekends

The Hideaway – 9 p.m. Sunday, 10 p.m. Monday—Thursday, 11 p.m. Friday—Saturday

The Stihl Whiskey Bar – 12 a.m. Monday—Thursday, 1 a.m. Friday—Saturday, Sunday until 11 p.m.

Velvet – 1:30am all nights

Food For All: Family Kitchen provides free meals for anyone in need

For more than three decades, Family Kitchen has provided free meals for anyone in need.

Walk through the door of Family Kitchen on the corner of Idaho Avenue and Wall Street in downtown Bend and you will be greeted by fresh loaves of bread, the aroma of home-style cuisine and a friendly staff eager to feed anyone who enters.

Family Kitchen is now in its 33rd year of feeding the community in Downtown Bend. “It was started in 1986 by six women from Trinity Episcopalian Church, though today the organization has no religious affiliation,” explained Donna Burklo, Program Director at Family Kitchen. Her office doubles as a pantry and at the time was filled with dry dog and cat food. “We almost always have food for the diners to take back for their pets.”

According to Burklo, Family Kitchen was started in response to the closing of the Brooks-Scanlon Mill. “The ladies were concerned for families that might be struggling due to the loss of jobs. So they started by making a meal once a week at home. It started growing from there to where we are today, serving 8 meals a week—a little bit over 5,000 plates each month.” There are now approximately 400 volunteers, organized in dinner and lunch teams that represent different companies and organizations from around town. For some, it’s an extension of their workplace. For example, Burklo said that the Dutch Bros. team brings its signature enthusiasm and high-energy to Family Kitchen, which provides a welcomed change of pace for the diners.

While the food for Family Kitchen is provided by many individuals and local businesses, Newport Avenue Market has really been the premier contributor. “Every December, Newport Market runs a program called Food For February. It’s now far beyond the scope that the title implies but the name stuck. Shoppers can donate at the register and Newport Market will match dollar for dollar. Last year Family Kitchen got around $20,000 from the program,” Burklo said. Desserts are provided by Safeway and Costco at no charge.

Family Kitchen is open to anybody and Burklo takes that point very seriously. “I am here because anybody can walk through that door and get a meal. That includes the wealthiest person in town, as well as a person who hasn’t showered in three months.”

Chase Osborne
Nine-year Family Kitchen volunteer

Chase Osborne was looking for some way to fill the void brought on by retirement when he started volunteering at Family Kitchen after learning about it through a notice in his church’s bulletin. A regular on the rotation, Osborne volunteers at Family Kitchen three days a week and makes the soup on Fridays. “It’s very social. It’s like meeting your friends at Starbucks for a cup of coffee. We get plenty of chances to talk to one another in addition to serving food.”

Q&A with Matt Molletta of Boss Rambler Beer Club

If you’ve cruised down Galveston Avenue lately, you probably noticed something bright, shiny and new. That would be Bend’s newest brewery taproom, Boss Rambler Beer Club. Founders Matt Molletta and Jacob Bansmer have been joined by Megaphone Coffee to create a community gathering place that thrives all hours of the day. We talked with Molletta about the new taproom.

Where did the Boss Rambler name originate?

It’s a fun name that actually came to me while I was driving around in my old 1960 Ford F100 truck. We wanted a name that was different and spoke to the spirit of what we’re all about: adventuring, keeping on the go and just having good times along the way.

What kind of brewing experience preceded Boss Rambler?

Jacob brewed at Crux for the past three years prior to starting Boss Rambler. He manned both the pub and production brewhouses. Prior to that, he did an internship at both Corshair Distillery in Nashville and Deschutes Brewery here in Bend while in OSU’s Food Science Program.

Talk about the beers and beer styles we can expect to see from Boss Rambler.

We’re going to keep things fresh and fun, making beers that we want to drink but also beers that we think the public wants to drink. When it comes to style, we have a penchant for the tropical side of things: juicy, dry IPAs and clean, cold lagers. So far the response has been amazing so we’re looking forward to keep brewing beers that are going to keep the people stoked!

How did the partnership with Megaphone Coffee happen?

We’re big coffee fans and couldn’t figure out why Galveston, with all it’s food and drink options, didn’t have a local coffee roaster on the strip. The light went off and we decided we were going to fix that “problem” by opening in the morning for coffee. We were big fans of Megaphone and thought they would be a perfect fit for the space so we approached them with the concept.

A Touch of Glass: Bend Artisan’s Stained Glass Revival

A Bend artisan quietly revives an ancient artform with stained glass installations.

In Jerry Johnson’s Bend home, sunlight, wood and glass commingle in timeless artistry. Past a solarium, light streams through a large stained-glass medallion window situated above French doors that are also fitted with stained and beveled glass. The colors riff on the hues of surrounding woodwork.

The decision to use stained glass, a product that relies on light, as a finishing touch was deliberate. “We wanted the artwork to reflect that our house is a passive solar-powered house,” Johnson said. Johnson, 80, has commissioned several stained glass pieces over the years, but it’s the work of a local stained glass artisan, Bradley Logan, that takes center stage in Johnson’s home. Logan, 60 and a Bend resident, founded High Desert Stained Glass in early 2017.

The two connected after Johnson, who has a lifelong fondness for stained glass, first spied Logan’s work at a local home show. Since then, Johnson has also commissioned Logan to create multiple pieces, including two vineyard-themed stained glass panels. The works are outfitted with adjustable LED light boxes and situated along the cylindrical staircase that leads to Johnson’s wine cellar.

The pieces are the culmination of an almost lifelong interest in glass for Logan, who got his start building stained glass in the 1980s. It took several decades and a career detour to find his way back to stained glass. But Logan, who moved to Bend in 2012 and works days as the operations manager at Bend Broadband, has found a way to transform his hobby into a thriving small business that connects customers like Johnson with an artform that traces its roots back to ancient Egypt and Rome. It was there that glassmakers discovered that adding metals could produce an array of colors in finished glass.

Modern stained glass came into popular use during the Middle Ages when the Catholic Church was one of Europe’s major art patrons. The subsequent proliferation of Christianity across Europe filled newly-constructed churches with stained glass. Stained glass wasn’t limited to Christian nations. Arabic artisans created stained glass, too, by adding elements like manganese, nickel, cobalt and iron oxide to molten glass to achieve desired colors. Various rolling techniques afford distinct textures. Centuries later the process is largely unchanged. Artisans like Logan cut glass pieces and fit them into flexible lead cames, that frame each piece. Then they solder the corners to secure the pieces.

While churches remain the primary showcase for stained glass, Logan had a more secular introduction. After attending Dixie State University in St. George, Utah (he later received a business degree from a different institution), Logan took a job with a small glass company that specialized in commercial storefront windows. Logan said he found the owner tinkering with a small stained glass window one evening. Logan was already cutting and working with glass, but he hadn’t been exposed to glass work as an artform. His former boss, whom Logan describes as a master, took him under his wing. “He taught me the right way,” Logan said.

Logan moved to Southern California in the 1980s where he worked at a stained glass studio for fifteen years. A subsequent career shift to telecommunications relegated Logan’s interest to hobby status, but it also provided him the means to eventually found High Desert Stained Glass. Logan intends to open a storefront location and hire an apprentice in the coming year. He’d also like to offer classes to aspiring stained glass artisans. “Stained glass is what I would like to do for the remaining part of my career,” Logan said. “I want to get back to what’s comfortable and what I’m passionate about. That’s key—if you can make a living doing something you love to do, that’s all that matters.”

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Seven Tips to Get You Eating Like an Elite Athlete

Stephanie Howe Violett offers seven tips for the active Bendite.

Stephanie Howe Violett believes that eating and physical activity should be a beautiful, enjoyable part of everyday life. She is a champion ultra-distance runner—she won the 2014 Western States 100, set a course record for the 2015 Lake Sonoma 50, plus many more achievements—and has a Ph.D. in nutrition and exercise science. She coaches people balancing athletics, nutrition, work, family and play.

Here are Violett’s tips for how to eat like an elite athlete to achieve better health, no matter your fitness level and goals.

Prioritize Planning

Think about all meals ahead of time. For example, pull meat from the freezer for dinner that night, or go to the farmers’ market. “When it’s not last minute, it tends to lead to better choices, and eating real food is the core to healthy nutrition,” said Violett. Get Back to the Land Avoid foods that come in a package or box. Think of food as things that are grown, that come out of ground and are recognizable. “You can recognize a carrot, it’s not processed, unlike a bag of chips, for example,” she said. “But you don’t have to cut out all chips and crackers, just make meals centered around real, unprocessed food.

Eat Breakfast

It’s not necessarily the most important meal of the day, but it kick-starts your metabolism after fasting all night, supplying energy to work out and start the day with a sharp mind. Studies have proven this. “Those who ate breakfast, particularly before a workout, eat less during the day. Your hunger will catch up with you,” Violett said. Include a good quality source of protein from plain, whole milk (full fat), Greek yogurt, or an egg fried in olive oil or poached on toast with avocado slices.

Get Perspective on Carbohydrates

Seek out locally baked, artisan breads, because they have just a few, whole ingredients and no preservatives. A slice is fine, but get most carbohydrates through vegetables, fruit, and cooked, whole grains, such as quinoa, farro, oats and rice. Think about building a plate or bowl, and let the base, the bulk, be nutrient-dense vegetables—leafy greens, such as spinach, or sweet potatoes. Top that with a lesser amount of grains—rice, quinoa, a slice of bread, or a cup of pasta (avoid eating pasta daily, advises Violett) and on top of that, protein such as ⅓ cup of beans or lentils, three or four ounces of turkey, chicken, salmon or any lean protein such as local, high-quality beef.

(Good) Fat Means Flavor

“Fat makes everything taste good,” said Violett. Choose mostly unsaturated olive oil, avocado, or a little butter. Refuel Within 30 Minutes after Working Out “Chocolate milk tastes good, and it’s well formulated to help with recovery,” she said. “A latte is even a decent choice—it’s mostly milk, and dairy is good for muscle repair.” A savory option: tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole replenish sodium.

Drink Water

Carry water with you or keep it handy on your desk. The best way to assess your hydration? Your urine should be pale yellow.

Need more ideas on how to eat for optimum health? Check out Violett’s recipes at stephaniehoweviolett.com

EarthCruiser is Ready to Roll

EarthCruiser founder Lance Gillies builds off-road vehicles for an international market that sees no boundaries to travel.

Tucked into Bend’s southeast side, near auto glass and detailing shops, a small sign announces that you’ve arrived at EarthCruiser, the North American headquarters for a business that manufactures the preeminent off-grid adventure vehicle. Meet the self-sustaining four-wheel drive camper that looks like a marriage of a military troop transport vehicle and Volkswagen Westfalia. The made-to-order vehicles have a top speed of about 70 miles an hour, a range of 900 miles and can make their own clean water. They are the premier survival vehicle for anyone seriously contemplating self-imposed, off-grid exile. We talked with founder Lance Gillies about EarthCruiser.

How was EarthCruiser born?

Coming from Australia, which is essentially a big island, we are very used to long-distance remote travel by vehicle. We started to build out what would become an EarthCruiser, and someone wanted one. We never planned to go into business. Seriously, we didn’t. We thought we might build one or two, but we were going to do it properly. That was ten years and 200 EarthCruisers ago.

How different did that first prototype look from today’s model?

It’s almost identical. There are continual subtle improvements, but if you put them side by side, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

How long did it take to concept the product?

Two years. It was very, very simple. Our design process is always the same—we start with the end in mind. What is the product designed to do? We didn’t design this product to sell it. We designed it to travel. So, it’s very, very different. We didn’t go looking for an easy way to make things. We built something that is above all functional for what we want. And we knew what we wanted from having the experience of travelling. If you look at an EC (EarthCruiser), the angle of the walls is 12.5 degrees. The reason for that is the pressure wave of semi-trailer passing you dissipates at 11 degrees. So, you can hold your finger on the steering wheel of an EarthCruiser and not get blown off the road. None of those things is an accident.

Did you have a lot of market information when you started?

We didn’t really expect there to be as many like-minded people as us. For what we charge for these things—they are normally between $250 and $300 grand—they’re not cheap. But people realize that, yes, they can go and buy a great big motor coach for the same amount of money. Of course, you can and it’s going to have three showers, granite countertops and all that stuff. But people realize that all you can do with them is be with other people just like them[selves].

Given the price, who is your market?

We are finding that the age of our customer is coming down significantly. It was retirees sixty-plus and mid-fifties; now we have customers in their twenties, because [EarthCruisers] are a house, and three hundred grand doesn’t buy you a great house—not anymore. So, they are saying, we want to travel now while we can. And with the changing of how people earn money, you can do that from an EarthCruiser.

Do you feel that the market for off-grid self-guided adventure has always been there, or is it just emerging now?

People have been traveling around the world by camel since the dawn of time. So, is there a travel market out there? Of course. But people have gotten used to things like having a flushing toilet and a nice bed. We don’t want to have to set up a tent. People say, ‘Yes I want to go and do all those things, but I want to be comfortable.’ And that market is growing exponentially. Look at all of the Sprinter [vans] they didn’t exist five years ago, but they are everywhere now.

Given that these are twice the cost of a nicely appointed sprinter van, what is the appeal of the EarthCruiser to the adventure traveler?

The answer is very simple, and it starts at the beginning where we start with the end in mind. Everything about an EarthCruiser was designed with one thing in mind: comfortable travel—off road. The Sprinters and the rest are fabulous vehicles, I love them to death. But they have got to fit so many markets, if you like, that it’s compromise after compromise. We don’t have that limitation. What we do is build a tool for our customers to go and do the things they want to do. And do that faster and more efficiently.

You offer customers options, but you don’t do customization. Why not?

The EarthCruiser is not a custom one-off anything. And this is a really key thing. The reason we are getting younger and younger people buying [EarthCruisers] is because normally they resell for exactly what [customers] pay for them, or they make a small profit. And the reason for that is it’s not a modified truck. They are registered as an EarthCruiser.

What was the biggest challenge of moving the business from Australia to America?

Everything was a challenge from the manufacturing [side] because we are so small. We never said we are going to sell thousands of these things. The first thing suppliers ask you is how many are you going to sell. Well I have no idea. I might sell two. Well [mimics sound of phone hanging up]. So how are you supposed to get started? We bought so much stuff from Europe and Australia because no one wanted to talk to us. But that changes over time.

How did you solve that?

We say that we don’t mind what it costs; charge us whatever you have to. The cost for us is not the issue. What’s important for us is the quality of the product. We will take quality over price every single time. Charge us double what you think you should be charging. Just make sure the product is right. You have no idea how hard that is. Because [their] mission is to make as many as [they] can as cheap as [they] can. Our mission is to do the opposite: to make as few as we can for as much as we can. I have no interest in penny pinching. Zero. Completely the opposite of the RV industry here.

Local Poet Jarold Ramsey Returns to His Roots

Poet Jarold Ramsey’s connection to the land of his youth eventually brought him back home.

Jarold Ramsey grew up on a farm perched at the edge of a canyon that connects two communities and two worlds. His home sat between the tribal town of Warm Springs and the farming community of Madras. This proximity to both cultures has shaped Ramsey’s life and his art ever since.

Recognized as one of Oregon’s literary legends, Ramsey’s poetry is influenced by the land and the people that shaped his earliest memories. He calls canyons “the memory of our landscape,” and has spent his life exploring the layered recesses of a collective cultural memory that is deeply linked to the land. His award-winning poems and short stories tapped into Ramsey’s own deep connection to the land of his youth and his reverence for traditional native culture.

Descended from a family of early homesteaders, Ramsey’s imagination is grounded in this land of juniper and rimrock. As a child, he absorbed the local idiom and lore while listening to his great-aunt Minnie McCoin tell stories about those early pioneer days. Minnie grew up with Ramsey’s maternal grandmother and great-uncle on Gray Butte, some fifteen miles west of Prineville, where their parents arrived in 1886, twenty years before Bend would be incorporated as a city and three decades before Deschutes County was carved out from the sprawling Crook County. It was hard land and hard living, endured by hearty folk like Minnie McCoin, whose father made a living hauling wool and wood products from Prineville to The Dalles. He came back with fruit and seeds that would become an orchard on the family’s homestead where Minnie was raised. “A spellbinding storyteller,” Ramsey wrote of Minnie in his recent book Words Marked by a Place, her recollections “by turns funny, frightening, terribly sad, shocking, earthy.” She lived to be 101.

Ramsey’s grandfather arrived with a second wave of settlers. He moved his family west from Missouri in 1902, planting the Ramseys and the wheat seeds they carried with them from the Great Plains on Agency Plains, northwest of Madras. Mount Jefferson firmly in view, the family flourished in their new home. Friendship with Warm Springs families introduced the Ramseys to native culture, and the land itself offered up tangible influences that would eventually surface in Ramsey’s work.

The farm where his family made their home had once been a way station for bands of Wascos, Warm Springs and eventually Paiutes who lived on the Warm Springs Reservation. As they traveled to and from the Ochoco Mountains to dig camas bulbs and hunt, they left traces of those journeys and clues to a nearly forgotten history.

“Every time my dad would plow the field, my brother and I would be right there to pick up Indian artifacts,” Ramsey said. “That kind of cemented the connection with the Indians. I was aware that there was a dimension here that went way back, long before we were here.”

and their stories that, half-forgotten, nearly dead
for lack of telling, seem still to echo
my own voice along the rimrock . . .

In Ramsey’s youth, Central Oregon remained largely isolated from Portland, cut off by the steep walls of Mill Creek canyon. The Deschutes River had yet to be dammed. Change, though, was coming rapidly. By 1948 the Mill Creek Bridge opened what would become Highway 26 and the North Unit Irrigation project was completed, bringing a reliable source of water to Jefferson County farmers. Irrigation increased the value of the previously drought-prone land. Ramsey’s father, a dry wheat farmer, opted to cash out. He sold the farm, but kept the family home, and purchased an old sheep ranch to the east. They renamed it Sky Ranch, and switched to raising Hereford calves, work that Ramsey enjoyed. Meanwhile, he and his older brother Jim began pioneering climbs at Smith Rock and summiting Mount Jefferson, cutting unique trails in life.

Pulled between a life working Sky Ranch and the pursuit of language, Ramsey finally enrolled at the University of Oregon. His interests began to lead him away from the high desert. Ramsey earned a Ph.D. from the University of Washington, and in 1965 accepted a job teaching his specialty, Shakespeare, at the University of Rochester in upstate New York. He and his wife Dorothy, also from Eastern Oregon, departed for the other side of the continent where they raised three children and remained for thirty-five years.

Absence, however, made the heart grow fonder. Distance ignited a steady longing for the canyons of his youth, and for Sky Ranch. A friend in Rochester introduced Ramsey to the work of Oregon’s premier poet, William Stafford, whose descriptions of areas dear to Ramsey spurred him to capture in verse his own memories. He published his first book of poems, Love in an Earthquake, in 1973.

I close my eyes and there we are, you and I,
next summer maybe, in a humming meadow
by the boulder-rolling creek the Indians called Why-Chus

By now, Ramsey was drifting away from Shakespeare.“Back there in Rochester, with the isolation and homesickness, I began to delve into that part of what I thought was a neglected heritage,” Ramsey said. He recognized that “this was part of the American literary heritage,” one that was almost entirely ignored, “and yet there was wonderful material there to be read and enjoyed and celebrated.”

Traveling back and forth between Oregon and New York, Ramsey began to explore a new region of scholarship and to prepare a new book. He met with Warm Springs women including Alice Florendo, a Warm Springs tribal member who was raised on the reservation and managed to gain an education when few other women did. Florendo shared a few still-untranscribed stories from the Wasco oral tradition that had been handed down from generation to generation but never put to paper. Florendo also introduced Ramsey to Verbena Greene, another tribal member, who Ramsey called “an ambassador for her culture to the Anglo culture that was across the way.” Greene translated her stories as she told them to Ramsey, who included these rare tales in his groundbreaking Coyote Was Going There: Indian Literature of the Oregon Country, first published in 1977.

“My main concern was to bring examples of the original material, as transcribed, into the mainstream. But also to get opportunities for young Indian writers to be read, taught, and understood.” He wasn’t the only one interested in connecting with this history. A revival in Native culture was unfurling around him. “After that, I sensed there was a possibility to help create a new academic field, and that was Native American literature,” said Ramsey.

Warm Springs writer, and previous Oregon Poet Laureate, Elizabeth Woody came across Coyote in her late teens. Her family had heard the Wasco and Wishram stories before, “but nobody was telling them in my family directly,” Woody said. Now she could go to a book and not just read them, but believe them. “Jarold stayed true to the stories, and to their origins and sources. He wanted his scholarship to be part of something that would last.” And it has.

Indian, flat on your back in this cave
you made what I would, a prayer to your gods:
a sign to your people you were here
but left. I follow you into stone.

“Coming back into the canyon after a year’s or even a season’s absence is like rediscovering a fertile part of your mind that you’ve lost touch with,” Ramsey wrote in an essay titled The Canyon, included in his book New Era. In 2000, after retiring, Jarold and Dorothy returned to the same house where Jarold grew up, along the basalt rim of Agency Plains, which Dorothy calls his “other ‘spiritual’ home.”

Collections of historical and anecdotal writings followed. He and Dorothy co-authored a book on the life and poetry of a rebellious Irish priest, and Jarold’s poems of recent and old appeared in his book Thinking Like a Canyon.

Having returned to his sacred canyons and Sky Ranch, Dorothy said “Jerry was ready to give back, thus his interest in helping to preserve the history of the area.” Ramsey today serves as a director of the Jefferson County Historical Society, and publishes their journal, The Agate. His latest book, Words Marked by a Place: Local Histories in Central Oregon, arrived in 2018.

As a scholar, Ramsey devoted decades to collecting and publishing Oregon’s Indian stories. Kim Stafford, Oregon’s newest Poet Laureate, has known Ramsey since his father William befriended Ramsey in the 1970s. “Jerry grew up working with cattle and crops, and wandering, camping, fishing, climbing spires for the long view,” Kim said. “He is placed in Central Oregon, reading the history and living seasons of the land like a book of entrancing mysteries. He is our Shakespeare of that wider view from across the mountains.”

A Century of Sailing at the Elk Lake Yacht Club

Elk Lake Sailing Club is gone, but its legacy endures on the eve of a 100-year anniversary.

Photo courtesy of Deschutes Historical Museum

With the wave of a flag, the twelve sailboats were off. The flatties picked up speed as the mountain winds came rushing down from Mount Bachelor. Searching for the best angle of attack, Ray Peoples steered his sixteen-foot Typhoon toward the buoy on the other side of Elk Lake. The first annual Elk Lake regatta of 1938 was off to a good start.

Peoples is synonymous with sailing on Elk Lake. Born in Chicago in July 1890 to missionary parents, Peoples was brought up in Siam (nowadays, Thailand). At the age of nine, he developed a life-threatening case of malaria, and was sent back to the U.S.

Taken in by foster parents in Minnesota, his adoptive family was part of the Shevlin, Carpenter, Clarke Lumber Company. The family had a house in Minneapolis and a summer home on Lake Minnetonka, a sprawling lake west of the Twin Cities. “My dad was into sailing long before he came to Bend,” said People’s oldest son, Phil, in a 2009 interview. Ray Peoples sailed on a thirty-two-foot, eight-man crewed “Inland Scow” on Lake Minnetonka and won several regattas hosted by the Inland Sailing Association.

Ray Peoples (left) and Myron Symons (right) in Peoples’ home-built sailboat. Photo courtesy of the Hosmer family.

In 1919, Peoples was sent to Bend to learn the lumber trade working for Shevlin-Hixon Lumber Company. He rented a room with the Mahoney family on Delaware Avenue. “He had sailing in his blood when he arrived in Bend,” said Phil Peoples. “The first thing he did was to build a boat in Mahoney’s basement.” The sixteen-foot, a flat-bottomed sailboat was the first to be launched at Elk Lake, the second largest of the natural lakes along Cascade Lakes Highway. Framed by the Cascade mountains, Elk Lake was already a destination for early Bend residents and growing more popular with the completion of Elk Lake Lodge that Allen Wilcoxen broke ground on in 1920. The same year, officials from the Deschutes National Forest staked out thirty-some lots around the lake. The idea was to lease them for a nominal rate so families and local organizations could build summer homes on the lots.

Eventually promoted to supervisor of Shevlin-Hixon’s box factory, Ray and his friend Paul Hosmer, editor of the Brooks-Scanlon newsletter, rented a cabin at Elk Lake. Peoples founded the Elk Lake Yacht Club in 1925. The annual membership fee was $2. “Nobody enjoyed himself more on a sailboat than Ray,” said Hosmer’s son, author Jim Hosmer, in his book Random Recollections of the Elk Lake Yacht Club. “He was always eager to teach and encourage others by giving patient, friendly advice, instruction and encouragement in the finer points of reading winds and trimming sails.”

Saturdays were work days at the mills, so Sunday sailing became a staple at Elk Lake. The sailing season stretched from early June through Labor Day. Perhaps sensing a better economic climate after the worst of the Great Depression had passed, the members of the yacht club instituted the Elk Lake Regatta. The first regatta took place on Sunday, August 28, 1938.

Typical for the annual regatta, the festivities ended with a banquet at the Elk Lake Lodge with Paul Hosmer as toastmaster. Mostly for fun, yacht club members invented the “Rainbow Special,” a drink made from equal parts bourbon and Elk Lake water. The “Special” was said to taste like a drunken rainbow trout, and the winner of the regatta had to down one.

The annual regattas went on from 1938 until 1942. The following year, the event was cancelled due to war restrictions. After the war, sailing returned to Elk Lake.

Orthopedic surgeon Bill Guyer joined the party when he bought a cabin at Elk Lake in 1959. “The cabin came with a twelve-foot long snipe,” said Guyer. Naturally, Guyer decided to learn how to sail. Several of the other cabin owners acted as mentors, among them was Peoples. Guyer’s friend Chuck Cleveland eventually moved to Bend and started North Pacific Products Company on Century Drive, making toy balsawood gliders. “We decided to use the back end of his factory to build two Geary 18 (boats), one for each of us,” said Guyer.

Randall Barna was a pioneering windsurfer in Oregon in the 1980s. He discovered the sailing races at Elk Lake and became hooked. He bought a Geary 18 and sailed in the Sunday races. There was strong camaraderie amongst the sailboat owners on Elk Lake, according to Barna. But that did not mean a squat when a blast from the airhorn started the race. “It is like any other competition—you can be best friends, but once you’re on the starting line, I’m out to beat you,” said Barna. “It was serious, good competition.”

Almost fifty-five years after the founding of the yacht club, sailing fizzled out on Elk Lake. Windsurfing became the next big thing. Eventually, windsurfing races at the lake went the same way as the sailing races, and there was not enough interest to continue. The resort remained, and now a new generation of sailors has returned to Elk Lake, riding the wind.

As the 100-year anniversary of the first sailboat launch at Elk Lake is nearing, Bend custom homebuilder, Greg Welch is planning an Elk Lake regatta at the end of July this year. He is a part owner of Ray Peoples’ cabin at Elk Lake. “We want to celebrate Ray, sailing and Elk Lake,” said Welch.

Apricot Apiaries is Minding Their Beeswax

Apricot Apiaries is a beekeeping operation out of Kimberly, Oregon that uses their bees to pollinate farms and orchards, and produce a variety of honey and beeswax products.

Most people have probably never heard of Kimberly, Oregon. It’s an unincorporated community on the John Day River in Eastern Oregon in between Spray and Monument, tucked in a valley that’s an oasis for orchards and farms. It’s also the home of Apricot Apiaries, a small beekeeping operation that’s responsible for pollinating orchards from the Columbia River Gorge to Northern California, which means that if you’ve eaten fruit or nuts, and you like to know where your food comes from, you should know where Kimberly, Oregon is.

Matt Allen and Liz Lovelock started Apricot Apiaries almost a decade ago. They landed in the region when Lovelock took a job doing research and work in the John Day Fossil Beds. Lovelock is a paleo botanist and Allen is an aquatic biologist—both have a thing for science and bugs. They are married and live on the property of Thomas Orchards with their two young sons, and caught the beekeeping buzz when Allen got two hives for fun. Set on the edge of the John Day River, with the river meandering through, ancient canyon walls surrounding them and wildflowers galore, one can see why they’ve stayed in the area for so long.

Beekeeping quickly went from an interest to a hobby to an obsession to a full-time career. The learning curve was intense. The couple lost entire colonies when they were first starting out. Allen and Lovelock credit their beekeeping mentors who taught them the nuances of caring for bees, producing hives and turning the operation into a business. Each year since 2013 they’ve been able to double the number of hives.

Today, they manage about 500 colonies around the region and Northern California that are used to pollinate orchards and farms—a more than full-time job, especially in the spring. Allen will drive countless miles (often overnight to avoid bees overheating) to set colonies in farms, orchards and ranches. Their income also comes from raising and selling queens as well as the splits of colonies to other beekeepers.

“At our scale, it pays off to have a diverse business profile,” said Allen. One of Allen’s pet peeves is when people (read journalists) start asking about the total numbers of bees in the operation. Instead, he said bees should be thought of as parts of a superorganism, the colony. Colonies are made up of tens of thousands of bees—drones, who Matt refers to as “flying sex bullets” that try to mate with unfertilized queens and female worker bees, who do all the other jobs in the hive—all serving the queen bee. If the hive is managed well, it’ll keep growing and can be used to create a new colony.

“We’re farmers,” Allen explained. “It’s managing biology and taking advantage of what they do naturally.”

The popular narrative of honeybee populations in decline is another pet peeve. Bee populations have held steady and have actually increased since 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Beekeeping has changed since the 1980s, when a parasite arrived contributing to colony collapses. However, in places where colonies are managed well, the bees are thriving. “As long as there are beekeepers, honey bees won’t disappear,” Allen said.

Apricot Apiaries hosts beekeeping education workshops for those interested in starting a colony. Their products can be found online, at their farmstand in Kimberly and at local farmers markets.

On the Rogue Again: A weekend Getaway on the Rogue River

A weekend getaway on the Rogue River delivers a balance of peaceful retreat and whitewater thrill.

We awoke to the high cry of an osprey in search of breakfast. The air was fresh with the scents of pine and eucalyptus, holding the promise of heat as the July day warmed. From the deck of our little cabin on stilts, we took in the sights of a quaint old lodge of bird’s eye pine, an expansive lawn dotted with geese and the majestic Rogue River that cut through a canyon in the near distance.

Morrison’s Wilderness Lodge is twelve miles downstream from Grants Pass, Oregon, on a bend of the famous Wild and Scenic Rogue River as it exits Hellgate Canyon. This place has a long history as a renowned fishing hole, and in 1945 Lloyd Morrison built a lodge to accommodate anglers who braved the rough road into this rugged country to catch young steelhead as they returned from the ocean.

Fishing is still a huge draw here, as is whitewater rafting. The road is better and much has been modernized, but Morrison’s Lodge holds the weight and charm of history, as well as the peace and quiet of a rustic getaway from any era.

We arrived from Bend the afternoon before and checked into a river-view cabin set a story’s height above the ground—a reminder of the famous Oregon flood of 1964, which completely wiped out the first cabins built here. The sun was still high in the sky, and my two daughters cooled off from the long drive and hot day with a dip in the swimming pool. We rendezvoused with our friend, photographer Alex Jordan, and watched from shore as she leveraged a borrowed standup paddleboard into the river eddy for a quick paddle, which she described as an encounter with a stronger current than she bargained for.

A Morrison’s standard is the excellent four-course prix fixe dinner served on the deck each evening. After our watery pursuits, we reported to the outdoor dining area and settled at a table adorned with fresh flowers, overlooking the river. A first course of crab cake stuffed mushrooms was followed by a garden salad with a tangy house dressing, accompanied by a house specialty said to have been made onsite daily for the past fifty years—orange rolls, a savory dinner roll wound up like a small cinnamon roll but not nearly so sweet. Charbroiled halibut with garden veggies followed, and a brownie with homemade chocolate whipped cream ended the meal and delighted the children (and adults) as the sun dipped low on the horizon.

An early bedtime was an easy choice, as we expected to rise for a 7 a.m. breakfast followed by a half-day float on the Rogue River. A few years ago, Morrison’s Lodge merged with Rogue Wilderness Adventures, a longtime local rafting company. Morrison’s Rogue Wilderness Adventures and Lodge offers half-day to multi-day floating adventures. After a hearty breakfast, we were outfitted with a PFD and a dry bag, and hopped into a van for the shuttle to the put-in.

The morning float is the mellowest offered, taking in only the splashy fun of Class I and II rapids, as well as amazing scenery. The Rogue is known for its remote nature, and the lush forest and steep canyon contribute to a feeling of isolation and thrill, even on a short float. We spotted tons of wildlife, including bald eagles, herons, turtles and so many osprey. Black-tailed deer wandered the bank, and the occasional monster-fish swam underneath us. One of the advantages to a guided trip is anecdotes provided by the guide, and we learned that the early Rogue was unpassable by boat until a liberal application of dynamite opened it up. That was before the Wild and Scenic designation, of course—but thousands of rafters a year benefit from the efforts of those early enthusiasts willing to take drastic action for river access.

The last twist and turn of the trip took us through Hellgate Canyon, the deepest canyon on the Rogue, water dipping to darkness under our oars with cliffs towering just as high overhead. The scenery is so dramatic, it was no surprise to hear that Rooster Cogburn and River Wild were filmed here, among other movies. We pulled up to shore right where we’d started, on the Morrison’s Lodge riverfront. The river continued to the sea without us, as we reluctantly headed for home.

Nearby Attractions

Wolf Creek Inn and Tavern

This historic inn has been serving guests since the late 1880s, and today remains a great stop for lunch, a tour, an overnight stay and maybe even a ghost sighting.

The Wineries of the Applegate Valley

The Applegate was one of Oregon’s earliest settlements, and today old farmsteads have been converted to charming wineries and al fresco restaurants.

The Oregon Vortex and House of Mystery

Truth or fiction? You decide after a visit to this strange little valley where lines of sight are off-kilter and unique phenomenon occur.

Wildlife Images Rehabilitation and Education Center

Take a tour through this wildlife rescue facility and see a gray wolf, barn owl, desert tortoise and more up close. Grant’s Pass Historic District Explore the riverfront old town, with a self-guided historic tour and a visit to the Growers Market.

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Float the Deschutes Like a Local

With summer officially underway, here’s a little cheat sheet that can help you get the most out of your urban floating experience. From river safety, floating etiquette, shuttle and rental information, this is a one-stop guide to help you float the Deschutes like a local this summer.

Enjoy Protect Respect

The popularity of floating the river has surpassed what anyone envisioned when Bend’s Park and Recreation District formally opened the river for business. Every summer, boaters, stand-up paddlers, floaters and swimmers flock to the river for activities. The demand for getting on the river in recent years has grown significantly—an estimated 240,000 floaters passed through Bend during the summer of 2017 alone.

The Deschutes River provides an excellent way to get outside, stay active and cool down in the hot summer months and the river is a major attraction for visitors traveling to Bend. However, this influx of river-goers over recent years has produced hundreds of pounds of garbage and unsecured personal belongings that make their way into the river during the summer season.

The amount of trash, from lost clothing to littered cans, has ballooned in proportion to the increased use of the Deschutes. Last year’s annual summer river clean up claimed over 1500 pounds of trash. Yet, rather than curtail floating, the Bend Parks and Recreation District and its partners—including the Old Mill District and Tumalo Creek Kayak & Canoe—are asking locals and visitors to consider their impact when they set sail from Farewell Bend Park.

The product of this collaboration is the Enjoy Protect Respect Movement, which is a call to set a higher standard for behavior on the Deschutes.

Enjoy the river safely by wearing a life jacket and securing your gear properly.
Protect the river by picking up your trash and belongings.
Respect the river by only entering and exiting at approved access points.

These are at the core of long-term river conservation and protection. The Enjoy Protect Respect committee came to life with shared interests in launching a public awareness campaign to encourage locals and visitors to practice river stewardship by enjoying it safely, protecting the habitat and respecting the experience.

Krystal Marie Collins of Tumalo Creek Kayak & Canoe recommends that every floater have a conversation with their group about the core terms of Enjoy Protect Respect so that everyone can learn the proper ways to float the Deschutes. Only when everyone in the party acts responsibly, we can all share a clean and safe river.

Get Out of Town

Tumalo Creek

An easy way to enjoy, protect and respect the Deschutes is to redistribute traffic i.e. just float down in a different area than the Old Mill. If you’re looking for something with a little more adventure, dropping in and taking off from Tumalo State Park to Twin Bridges is perfect. This float is located about 15 minutes outside of Bend and is well worth the effort.

You’ll be able to enjoy a few hours on the water, with some parts acting like a waterpark’s lazy river that gives you a view of some of the amazing homes and architecture built into the scenic cliffsides, while other portions send you through light rapids and tight turns, so be sure to hold on tight! If you’re lucky, you might catch a glimpse of one of the High Desert’s favorite critters, the elusive northern river otter.

The rules of the Enjoy Protect Respect committee still apply outside of the Bend city limits, so be sure to enjoy the river safely with a life jacket and proper floating equipment fit for light rapids. Protect the rivers beauty by holding on to your trash, especially when the water gets choppy, and respect the river by entering at the state park, and exiting right before the bridges. You’ll know to exit when the water gets extremely shallow and the obvious bridge is approaching you. Go ahead and pull your rafts out to the right, and remember to leave one car at this exit in advance so you have a ride back because there won’t be shuttles.

Sunriver

Another great option to get on the river and beat the crowds is about thirty minutes south of town in Sunriver. The Sunriver area is an off-the-beaten-path destination for those who are serious about floating the river. The upper section of the Deschutes River winds through the Sunriver area and offers incredible mountain views and Class 1 rated water with minimal waves and no obstructions. Keep in mind that the Deschutes is spring-fed and, particularly around Sunriver, the water rarely exceeds 60 degrees in temperature.

Here, you can make an entire day of it by putting in at the Harper’s Bridge and floating this section of the river for three and a half hours to the pull-out at Benham Butte. If you’re looking for a shorter ride, or need a place to come ashore and take a break for lunch, hop out at the Sunriver Marina only an hour and a half float from Harper’s Bridge. Here you can rent your canoes, kayaks and rafts and grab a drink and bite to eat all within Sunriver Resort.

Tumalo Creek Kayak & Canoe offers a shuttle service for visitors that don’t have a way to transport their boats. You can take their shuttle to La Pine State Park where they’ll drop you off and will later, pick you up at the Big River Campground. The shuttle costs $15/person in addition to rental costs. Floating this stretch of the river generally takes about two and a half hours at a relaxed pace.