Ellee Thalheimer

Dec 4, 2024 | bendmagazine.com | Ellee Thalheimer |Libby Marsden

It’s no secret that Bend’s summer and winter tourist seasons are big economic drivers; however, the holiday season (from Thanksgiving through the New Year) is a key period for the local economy. According to Visit Bend, Mastercard charges in Bend during the highest lodging occupancy months–July and August– total $37 million each; whereas December, when lodging occupancy rates are near their lowest, charges surpass the peak tourism season at $38 million.

Aug 23, 2024 | pdxmonthly.com | Ellee Thalheimer

A visit to Long Beach campfield is a bit like stepping into an ad for high-end camping equipment. The luxe campground, located on a coastal sliver of wetland just across the Columbia River from Astoria, is the work of Japanese outdoor gear brand Snow Peak, and it couldn’t be further from your stereotypical American campground. Instead of neon tents and dinged-up Coleman stoves, Campfield is a sea of earth-toned tents, bamboo-topped tables, and classy titanium cookware.

Jun 25, 2024 | pdxmonthly.com | Ellee Thalheimer

Much of Oregon was once blanketed with immense, centuries-old trees. Free from major human interference, these ancient forests nurtured a staggering amount of life, fauna to flora to fungi. Today, less than 10 percent of this old-growth remains. Which makes the Old Salmon River Trail such a gem. Here, about an hour from Portland just off Highway 26 on the way to Mount Hood, a soft path snakes past gargantuan Douglas firs, western red cedars, and western hemlocks.

May 31, 2024 | pdxmonthly.com | Ellee Thalheimer

It is a truth universally acknowledged that moving is terrible. The packing, the schlepping, the expense, the stress over what could befall your great-grandmother’s sewing table—the worst. So last summer, Carla Bartow decided to go about it differently: by recruiting a gaggle of strangers to cart her stuff 6.5 miles, from the Montavilla neighborhood to Vernon, by bike. “I’ve lived car-free for 10 years,” says Bartow, a freelance artist and muralist. “Moving by bike felt like living my values.

Apr 15, 2024 | pdxmonthly.com | Ellee Thalheimer

After trekking on Mount Hood, hikers are passed a bowl of Venezuelan chicken soup. After popping out of the Deschutes, rafts in tow, participants in life jackets dance in the parking lot to reggaeton booming out of a car stereo (think “Gasolina”by Daddy Yankee). The car stereo and soup bowls belong to Maria Teresa Lopes, co-owner of adventure company Loco por la Aventura, which guides hiking, mountaineering, snowshoeing, rafting, camping, mountain biking, and rock climbing trips—all in Spanish.