The trail to the top of Black Butte starts part way up the butte after a drive on a fairly well maintained dirt and gravel road followed by a poorly maintained dirt and rock road. Once you reach the trailhead (complete with stocked toilets), the two mile hike to the top of the butte can be accomplished fairly quickly. Hikers gain over 1500 feet in the two miles, but the Cascade views from Broken Top to Mt Adams can be spectacular on a clear day.
There is limited parking at the Black Butte Trailhead (forest pass required) so hikers are recommended to arrive early to get a spot and to avoid crowds. The hike is very popular with visitors to Black Butte Ranch and and Camp Sherman as well as local year-round residents.
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The Central Oregon real estate market trends for the major urban areas continue to reflect a seller's market, although residential inventory levels have risen in most locations. The desperate lack of inventory experienced during Covid has changed, and while home prices overall continue to rise, in some smaller markets price reductions can be noted. With more inventory, days on market have also generally gone up, but well priced homes are still selling quickly and multiple offers can happen. Bend, Redmond and Sunriver are showing strong upward trends in all categories with home prices, listings, inventory levels and days on market all rising. Whether or not this trend continues in 2nd quarter with mortgage interest rates well about 7% remains to be seen.