We hike Three Fingered Jack yearly and always enjoy our experience. Our 2023 hike was no exception and the air was clear, a challenge this summer with the smoke from the Bedrock fire near Eugene coming and going for weeks. 

The Canyon Meadow/Three Fingered Jack hike is one of our less strenuous summer hikes, the entire route taking less than 8 miles with roughly 1700 feet of elevation gain. Traveling through the forest recovering from the 2003 B&B fire, it is nice to see the growth of new vegetation and young trees, and it was easy to sample huckleberries growing along the path. Once you enter unburned forest, it isn't far until hikers reach Canyon Meadow with its green grass, wildflowers, and views of Three Fingered Jack. The "unmaintained" spur path to the mountain had a number of fallen trees to traverse, but past that it was easy to reach the base of the moraine which holds the blue glacial lake. 

It is harder to scramble up the loose rock of the moraine (going down you have to be careful), but we always do this and reach the saddle between Three Fingered Jack and a nearby peak which we have nicknamed "Dragon Mountain". From there, stunning views of the Three Sisters, Broken Top and Mt Bachelor can be seen. Looking the other way, views of Mt Jefferson can't be missed. During this trip, we also saw a nearby mountain goat; these goats were reintroduced to the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness around Three Fingered Jack in 2010 and have grown in number.

What's in the August 2023 Bend Premier Real Estate Newsletter?

• Bend Home Sales Average Over $1,000,000 in July
• Mt. Hood's Clear Lake Hike Worth the Trip
• Four Ways You Can Use Your Home's Equity
• There's Only Half the Inventory of a Normal Market
• Housing Market Forecast

Bend Homes Sales Price Over Million Dollars

We never thought this would happen, but the average Bend single family home sold for over a million dollars in July, 2023. Despite mortgage interest rates hovering around 7%, high end Bend homes are selling. When demand exceeds supply, home prices rise. When mortgage rates jumped from 3.5% to 7% in the space of a few months, there was a drop in home sales. However, it appears that home buyers have become used to higher rates, and there are still a large number of Bend home buyers who are purchasing with cash. Lack of inventory continues to be a big problem and lack of affordability for Bend first time homeowners has pushed many to alternative cities.

When figures for Bend single family home sales are compared between July 2023 and July 2022, the following changes can be noted:

• Average sales price is up 8.8% to $1,012,215*
• Median sales price up 4.2% to $797,450
• New listings down 28.6% to...

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Mt Hood's Clear Lake a Popular Destination

With the recent heavy smoke Central Oregon has been experiencing from the Bedrock Fire, we expanded our hiking locations to include the Mt. Hood area. Last Saturday we enjoyed the hike to Clear Lake, a popular hike located just off Hwy 26 by Skibowl in the Mt Hood National Forest. We started our hike just after 9:00 am after our two hour drive from Bend, and found the parking lot practically full. The hike to Clear Lake was well marked and typically is an easy to moderate in and out loop trail around the lake with roughly 300 feet of elevation gain. However, past the lake, which has lovely views of Mt. Hood on a clear day, there is an option to hike up Tom, Dick and Harry Mountain in the Salmon - Huckleberry Wilderness, a trip that provides for over 1700 feet of elevation gain and lengthens the total hike to over 8 miles.

Upon reaching the rock filled overlook, we continued on another 1/2 mile to the actual summit on Tom Dick Peak, which we discovered is part of SkiBowl recreation area, clearly not part of the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness. Our GPS showed an option to hike down through the ski area, which we did. This involved traversing several diamond runs and connecting with the unused mountain bike trail. Our hike down to the Skibowl buildings by the parking lot was extremely steep and what took over 4.5 miles to gain in elevation we lost in just over 1 mile. We do not recommend this route for most people. However, it was a beautiful day with wonderful views of Mt Hood and a pleasure to be out of smokey Central Oregon.

Balloons Over Bend Starts Friday

There is a fascination with watching colorful hot air balloons rising at sunrise in the Central Oregon sky with the backdrop of the Cascades and the high desert landscape. Starting this Friday, the annual Balloons Over Bend festival will run through Sunday offering daily sunrise launchings of the hot air balloons, Night Glow Friday evening in Bend and Saturday evening in Redmond, plus many fun activities for the whole family during the day. The planned schedule is as follows:

Friday July 28, 2023

• Balloon launches at Sunrise at RE Jewell Elementary School
• Balloon blast kids race at COCC
• Bend Night Glow at COCC

Saturday July 29, 2023

• Balloon launches at Sunrise at RE Jewell Elementary School
• Redmond Night Glow and Brewfest at the...

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