Smith Rock State Park is slated to get a new, wider pedestrian bridge this summer, which means there will be no bridge access for about four weeks during construction in mid to late summer. The exact dates depend on nesting season and streamflow.

The bridge spans the Crooked River in Central Oregon near Bend and connects the front of the park with many but not all of its hiking trails and climbing destinations. There will be no temporary bridge, and…

Skyline Sports Complex in Bend has a groomed cross-country ski area. Find out more here.

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Thanks to recent snowfall and help from volunteers, the Bend Park and Recreation District has a groomed cross-country ski area at Skyline Sports Complex in Bend.

The ski grooming at Skyline Sports Complex is done by community volunteers in partnership with Mount Bachelor Sports Education Foundation and BPRD.

Currently, there is a one-kilometer loop groomed for skiing, no track set. The groomed area is flat and users are asked to do their part to maintain the groomed surfaces by not walking or bringing dogs through the area.

“We need everyone’s cooperation to help keep this in-town skiing opportunity for…

The Summit Storm football team is bringing home the hardware as state champions.

The Storm defeated Wilsonville 35-28 in Hillsboro Friday night to take the Oregon 5A high school football title.

It was a tight game throughout and the teams went back and forth in second half before Summit was able to pull away to a 35-21 lead with just over three minutes to play.

Wilsonville scored in just a few seconds to make it a one score game, but Summit was able to play keep away in the final minutes to secure the title.

Summit finishes 12-1 on the…

The annual Turkey Trot has moved to Nov. 26. Learn more here.

Central Oregon Community College (COCC) is holding its 23nd annual Turkey Trot, a 5K fundraising run/walk, at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 26, at the Bend campus’s track.*Date Changed to Nov. 26 Due to Icy Conditions*

Free to students, the Turkey Trot event is $15 for preregistration entrants and includes a T-shirt, prizes and snacks. Day-of-race registration is $20 and will take place in the Mazama Gym at 9:30 a.m. Register at cocc.edu/departments/sports/races.aspx.

This year’s event introduces the free “Toddler Trot,” which starts at 10 a.m. and involves two race categories: for ages 3 years and younger and 5 years and younger (no online registration).…

Mt. Hood Meadows has announced a November 25th opening! Learn more here.

by KATU Staff

PORTLAND, Ore. — Ski and snowboard lovers are rejoicing today. Mt. Hood Meadows have announced that they plan to open on November 25.

Thanks to an early season storm, Meadows received 17 inches of snow, bringing their base to 23 inches.

The resort says they will supplement the base area by taking the snow from the parking lot and adding it on top of the snow that fell this week.

Officials say more snow fell on the middle part of Mt. Hood, while the upper mountain took the full force of last week’s storm.

Winds were sustained above hurricane-force winds and saw gusts…

Sam Adventure Baker, an 8-year-old, sets out to become the youngest person to summit El Capitan. Check out more here.

If your parents name you “Adventure,” they probably hoped you’d do some adventurous things.

Sam Adventure Baker understood his assignment.

The Colorado 8-year-old sets out Tuesday to become the youngest person to reach the summit of El Capitan in California’s Yosemite National Park.

The journey is expected to take four days “of hanging from your fingers or hanging from your anchors,” Sam’s dad Joe Baker told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Sunday. They’ll camp one night on the top of El Capitan and then hike down eight miles on the fifth day.

Bend resident Rue McKenrick completed his last scouting trip of the 14,400-mile American Perimeter Trail. Find out more about his efforts here.

When Rue McKenrick walked into Bend’s Drake Park this past Saturday, his arrival marked the completion of a dream more than three years in the making.

It was the end of his last scouting trip of the 14,000-mile American Perimeter Trail (APT), a path that circumnavigates the continental United States using a combination of existing trails and undefined routes, and the brainchild of McKenrick.

A welcoming party waited for him in the park, celebrating the completion of “Phase 1” of his mission as the executive director of the Bend-based nonprofit American Perimeter Trail Conference (americanperimetertrail.org).

“It was extremely…

Mt. Bachelor will offer two different season pass pricing levels based on the signing of a liability waiver. Learn more here.

It might be bright and sunny outside, but ski season is just a few months away. 

Mt. Bachelor announced its taking a new approach to season passes this year in an effort to avoid lawsuits. 

This year, Mt. Bachelor season passes will have two pricing options with varied protection offered to guests. Those willing to sign a liability waiver will get a cheaper option, while those who want to skip the signature will have to pay extra, up to $250 for an adult season pass.

The options will be present for all activities including a ‘normal amount of…

Skyliner lift at Mt. Bachelor is closed indefinitely. Read the full story here..

The Skyliner Express chairlift at Mt. Bachelor will be out of commission for “an indefinite period” after crews on Wednesday discovered damage to major components that likely will have to be remanufactured.

President and GM John McLeod provided the update on the ski area’s website, saying when the popular lift went down just before Christmas, they knew it would be a complex fix but believed the damage was limited to standard, available components.

“Had this been the case, we had all the parts necessary to have Skyliner back in action for the upcoming weekend,” he said.

Instead, the quad sustained damage to “major components,” McLeod said that…