Overview
12/10/04 CONDITIONS UPDATE I'll leave this link up fo about a week.
Tumalo Mountain stands next to Broken Top and across the highway from Mt. Bachelor in Central Oregon. It affords excellent views of those two as well as the Three Sisters Complex and is a fairly easy summit. Tumalo Mountain is a fairly recent cinder cone but it probably had a crater in the past that allowed snow to collect and form a glacial cirque from the weight of the snow. The entire northeast part of the mountain is eroded away but this makes for great ski or snowboard descents in the winter. There is a trail to the summit in summer and even in the winter, there seems to be a trail from all the skiers. Watch out for snowmobiles at the base of this mountain in the winter also.
The base of the mountain is a broad gentle cone. The last few hundred feet of elevation are a bit steeper on red cinder. The summit is a long, tilted flat with lots of gnarled pines.
Getting There
From Bend, OR take Cascade Lakes Highway west 21 miles (or just follow the signs to Mt. Bachelor). 14th Street in Bend turns into CLH. The trailhead starts from the Dutchman Flat Sno-Park on the right side of the road between the first and second Mt. Bachelor Ski Area exits (or just after the Sunrise Lodge exit).
Red Tape
You can hike this year-round and many people do as the road to Mt. Bachelor is always open and plowed. Be careful of black ice on the road in winter. In winter you will need a Sno-Park pass to park at the trailhead but an easy way to get around this is to pull in to the Sunrise Lodge, park there and snowshoe or walk a hundred yards or so across the highway to the trailhead.
When To Climb
Year round. It's not that much harder in the winter if you have snowshoes. If you don't have any you can rent them for about $10 a day from any one of the number of Ski and Snowboard Shops in Bend, many of which are located on 14th Street.
Camping
Camping is allowed year-round on the mountain, no fees required. The sign that says "No Camping" in the Sno-Park area applies only in the Sno-Park as they want to keep people from parking their RV's there and monopolizing the parking spaces.
Mountain Conditions
Mt. Bachelor is on the other side of the highway so the Mt. Bachelor webcam is an excellent way to see what conditions are like. It is located
here
Bend/Fort Rock Ranger District
1230 NE 3rd St.
Bend, OR 97701
541-383-4000
SFMountaineer - Jul 31, 2009 1:57 pm - Hasn't voted
AttachThis should be attached to the "Cascade Volcanoes" range.