Bend Self-Guided (GPS) Audio Driving Tour, Oregon - Where to live near Redmond or Powell Butte, Parks and Nature Preserves

Our tour begins on Yeoman road at Pine Nursery Park. Like the 1980 hit song by Journey, Pine Nursery Park in northeast Bend is— Any Way You Want It!
It’s a park that is many things to many people, created, as it was, out of U.S. Forest Service surplus property. An honest to goodness multi-use park, it is fun just seeing what all it has to offer. There’s both a paved and dirt trail circling the park, offering a glimpse of its many features.
Go ahead, try something new. Or, if you know what you want, then dive right in. Take a left on NE Purcell Blvd and then bear right onto NE Empire Ave.
Pine Nursery Park is one of the largest parks in Bend. It’s considered the sports Mecca of Central Oregon, with some of the facilities being year-round and all-weather.
There are well-kept baseball, softball, and soccer fields, making for a great time, be one a spectator or a player.
The disc golf course is considered the best in the state as well as one of the best in the nation. Try and backhand a birdie, or even flick an ace among the juniper trees, lava rocks, and sagebrush of this pristine high desert landscape. At 3600 feet in elevation, maybe you’ll surprise yourself on the added distance.
There’s a fishing pond, near the playground. Teach your children how to cast for bluegill, bass, and rainbow trout in this small, but fully stocked body of water. There are kid’s fishing events throughout the year.
What you’ll hear about the most, with Pine Nursery Park…well…there’s two things, one being the pickleball courts…16 of them as a matter of fact. It’s one of the fastest growing sports in the nation, and Pine Nursery Park is considered to have the region’s best courts… good enough to host the annual Pacific Northwest Classic, a sanctioned tournament with a cash purse.
The second most talked about aspect of Pine Nursery Park is its dog park.
Tucked away in the northeast corner of the 159-acre Pine Nursery Park is the Pine Nursery Dog Park. Many visitors to Pine Nursery Dog Park say it’s the best doggie park in the city of Bend, paws down. Others go so far as to call it the best park of its kind in the world.
What dog owners love the most are the trails and open field, where four-legged friends can run free. There are a couple of large, enclosed dog walking areas, separated for large or small dogs who love the freedom to run and play in Central Oregon’s great outdoors.
Head right on O.B Riley Road as we approach the second destination on our tour.

Visitors to Riley Ranch Nature Reserve love the amazing river views, and scenic mountain peaks. Locals consider it an outdoor adventure area right in their own backyard. Opened in 2017, visitors also enjoy the fact that it’s dog-free and bike-free.
With stooped and twisted juniper trees and wide-open vistas Riley Ranch Nature Reserve sits along the northwest corner of Bend. It’s 184 acres in size, 35 of which consists of canyon floor alongside the Deschutes River.
Above this canyon there’s over a mile and a half of soft trail, and another 1.25 miles of rugged trail along The Canyon Loop. Perhaps best of all, these trails connect with those of Tumalo State Park and its year-round hiking, swimming, fishing, picnicking, and camping opportunities.
Parts of Riley Ranch Nature Reserve appear untouched. Though rocky in many places, with imposing cliffs, and full of distinctive lava flows, the Reserve also contains open meadows. The park is host to many native plant species, migratory birds, and wildlife.
Once known as Gopher Gulch, much of the Reserve was irrigated agricultural field. Some of this equipment can still be seen. Today these fields are being restored to its original, perennial bunchgrass and wheatgrass.
There are also traces of collapsed cabins, found after a short but craggy descent to the bottom of the canyon and the ponderosa pine that line the riverbank. The reserve was named after O.B. Riley, a lumber mill worker and early homesteader in Central Oregon, who owned some of the land that became the reserve now bearing his name.
On the Juniper Loop trail, one walks through sagebrush, alongside an ancient lava flow, before coming to an overlook of the river canyon below as well as the stately and sophisticated homes of the upscale Awbrey Butte neighborhood. Continuing along the trail, past another volcanic outcropping, one arrives at a short trail leading to Sage Flat Overlook where there’s an interpretive sign summarizing the restoration efforts of Riley Ranch Nature Reserve.
Yet another spur trail takes you to the Canyon Overlook, where signs explain how the Deschutes River had changed its course when dammed by lava flows 75,000 years ago. If it’s a sunny day, as it may well be given the average of 300 days of sunshine each year in Bend, you’ll be happy to discover that the viewing platform is shaded by ponderosa pines.
Be sure to snap a photo of the gray squirrels and chipmunks as they scurry beneath the trees.
Continue on O.B Riley Road as we arrive at Tumalo State Park.