Paddling near Bend, OR

Set at 3,623 feet in Oregon's high desert, Bend sits in Deschutes County with the Deschutes River running straight through downtown and the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway reaching more than a dozen alpine lakes within a short drive. Outside Magazine named the area the world's best place to stand-up paddleboard in 2014, and the Bend Whitewater Park — the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest — anchors a paddling scene that draws over 250,000 river users each summer.