Smith Rock State Park is about 35 minutes east of Sisters in the high desert north of Bend, and is one of the most spectacular state parks in Oregon — a sudden uplift of vertical basalt and welded tuff above a meander of the Crooked River. The park is internationally famous among rock climbers as the birthplace of American sport climbing in the early 1980s, and on any sunny weekend the cliffs are dotted with climbers on hundreds of bolted routes.
For non-climbers, the trail network is excellent: the Misery Ridge loop (about 5 km) is the classic hike, climbing steeply to the top of the cliffs for panoramic views of the Cascades to the west and the high desert to the east, then descending the back side along the river. Smith Rock is busy from spring through fall and parking can be tight on weekends — arrive early. It is a day trip from Sisters, easily combined with a stop in Terrebonne or Redmond for lunch.