3/26, Saturday. Cloudy with sun breaks as well as rain drops. 8 of us met near Milikan Way MAX station at 7am. Otter Bench is a ledge high above the Crooked River Canyon (just south of Cove Palisades). I enjoyed both short (0.9 mile Lone Pine Trail and 0.4 mile Pink Trail, one-way) spurs of the main trail, as you walk down the canyon to the river. This provides much better view than the trails on the "bench": sage brushes and juniper trees. Lots of fairy stars. Patches of phlox, deep pink. Total 10 miles. 1600'. 11am-4pm, including many breaks. Saw some mining operation and a small dam down close to the river. Here is a good map.
We set up our camp at Steelhead Falls Campground, next to Deschutes River (but requires a steep scramble to get down to water). BLM, vault (clean) toilet, spacious, no water, last half mile is flat wide gravel road. A few cars here. We then hiked to Steelhead Falls, a wide rushing falls, close to which I washed and filtered water. 1 mile RT. Remnant of a fish ladder.
For dinner, half of us went to Terrebonne, I walked to the end of the road (road continues, but gated), past the gate, turn right at the sign for Foley Waters. 3/4 miles from the parking lot, reached the best camping area right by water. I cooked and ate at one nice grassy campsite, watching 1 goose and a couple of mallards. This is a great place to relax and try to fish. No one else in sight. 0.5 mile walking is a small price to pay for water access and privacy.My phone registered 35k steps today, including walking from MAX station to our meeting spot.
3/27, Sunday. Cloudy. Packed up at 8am. Forgot to stop by at Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint. Went straight to Smith Rock State Park, my fourth time now. Today we are doing Smith Rock to Gray Butte one-way hike. 
Took 45 minutes to arrange car shuttle. 4 passengers took the advantage walking along Crooked River admiring the rocks in the morning sun.
About 2000' and 9 miles. Another 5 hours, including numerous photo breaks. The first half is the usual Misery Ridge trail, which gain elevation quickly. Great view. Then hike down to the river, on the route, checked out Monkey Face. 2 climbers there, one inside Monkey's mouth. 
From then on, we turned north along Summit Trail. Great views agin, until Gray Butte Trail, sage brush hillside. We could see the communication towers on the butte, but our end point is near Skull Hollow campground. While waiting for the car shuttle, I checked out the campground. A bit windy. Very clean toilet. No running water. My phone registered over 30K steps today.
