ABSTRACT
Running west from Bend to Eugene, Oregon State Highway 20 crosses the crest of the Cascade Mountains at perhaps the most magnificent point in the range. To the south, three rugged volcanic peaks of the Sisters, the rounded summit of Mt. Bachelor, and the jagged crags of Broken Top thrust through snowy blankets toward summer skies of cobalt. To the northwest, Mt. Washington’s classic volcanic form slips in and out of view. As the road snakes toward Santiam Pass, the oppressively hot and dry summer air of Oregon’s high eastern desert relents to the cool breezes of the Pacific. Up the eastern slope, stands of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) grow straight in tight clusters, surrounded by magnificent, old-growth ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa), with their corpulent cones and furrowed orange-brown bark. As the road crests and descends toward the fertile Willamette Valley, the landscape quickly changes. Broken canopies and sunny forest floors of the east side give way to brooding, wet, and densely packed forests of the west side. This transition marks a traveler’s entrée into the Douglasfir region.
