Cascade Lakes Highway - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 115

As you travel the Cascade Lakes Highway from Bend, the first of the high lakes that become visible is a shallow trout
lake known as Sparks Lake.
2. Mt. Bachelor
Heading westward from central Oregon's high desert, Cascade Lakes Highway climbs
through airy stands of pine, fir, and mountain hemlock to the base of 9,065-foot-tall Mt.
Bachelor. Home of a first-rate ski resort, the mountain has long served as a training site for
the U.S. Ski Team. The Summit chairlift rewards passengers with a panorama that encom-
passes parts of California, Washington, and Oregon.
Far below, you can spot evidence of the fierce volcanic activity that shaped this land-
scapethousandsofyearsago:darklavaflowsandpalepumicefields,loftydomesanddeep
chasms. Gleaming snowfields now cap the summits of four dormant volcanoes: Broken
Top and the Three Sisters.
Continuingwest,theroadcutsacrossDutchmanFlat,asmalldesertofvolcanicpumice
brightened by pink pussy-paws, sulfur flowers, and other hardy plants. A few miles ahead,
richer soil nourishes such wildflowers as Indian paintbrush, columbine, elephanthead, and
alpine stars, all of which ring picturesque Todd Lake. At nearby Sparks Lake, listen for the
boisterous calls of yellow-headed blackbirds.