Cascade Mountains

Getting out and about

Blogging with one bar of wifi tests a person's patience taking us back to the days of dial up internet. But blogging has been a good way for us to keep our memories nearby. Looking back at previous posts, we are amazed by all of the things we have been fortunate to do, often having a good laugh at ourselves in the process. 

We have been fortunate that the temperatures in La Pine, OR have been 10 degrees cooler than usual most of July. It is the high desert after all. Waking to temps in the 40s gave us the morning to get outside before turning on the air conditioner for the afternoon.

Hiking the Green Lake Trail

 We hiked 8 miles on the Green Lakes Trail on a previous visit and had a added bonus this time, thick swarms of fat mosquitos. We picked up our backcountry permit before setting out, armed with bug repellent, which I think the mosquitos crave, long sleeves and pants, in no time sweat was running down my face. This was the first time we have had our backcountry permit checked by a ranger as he hiked down the trail in full mosquito combat gear, including face netting. The temperature hit 60 degrees and we were going uphill without a breeze.

The steps were even bigger when we returned from the 8 mile hike requiring sound effects as we lifted our tired legs.

No stopping for pictures on the trail or the mosquitos would overwhelm us.

The Green Lakes Trail runs next to the river with cascades and waterfalls most of the way to Green Lake.

Snow in July?

We made it to Green Lake overlooking the South Sister. Then it was all downhill from there. A breeze started to blow up the mountain. The mosquitos thinned out and millions of butterflies dive bombed us and I quit sweating.

After our hike, we slowly carried our chairs across the parking lot to Sparks Lake to take in the view of the mountain we had been hiking on. It felt good to put our feet in the cold water for a while and have a picnic.

Cycling the Cascade Highway

We rode some routes out of Sun River (uphill) and to La Pine (flat) from the campground that had little traffic on days that we weren't riding the dusty single track in the park.

Bend, Oregon

Bend is experiencing the same growing pains that many tourist communities are. We only visited when we needed to make a Walmart run, planing our driving route to avoid intersections without stoplights to avoid being stuck at a corner for a long wait.

Newberry Volcano National Monument

Exploring the Newberry Crater ( a caldera) is a great way to learn about  the violent, geological history that helped make Central Oregon the beautiful place it is. Newberry National Volcanic Monument has two lakes in its caldera, Paulina and East. Both lakes have hot springs on their shores. 

We heard that the Little Crater Trail has scenic views of two lakes, Paulina Peak and the Big Obsidian Flow but managed to miss the switchback to the rim. As we were walking below the rim, I started thinking that the trail wasn't very well maintained. We turned around and tried our Hiking Project app. Fortunately, we had enough bars on the phone to use the app and found that we were off trail. Once we got back on track, it was a sweet walk around the rim.

We missed the turn to take us to the wall above Mike.

Back on track.

View from top of Paulina Peak. Paulina Lake to the left, east to the right and Obsidian Flow middle.

Top of the Big Obsidian lava flow

Lunch at the grill and fishing camp on East Lake at the end of the road.

The Paulina Lake Hot Springs is a two-mile walk along the east shore of the lake, starting from the  Little Crater Trailhead. After lunch we reached the East Lake Hot Springs from the Hot Spring boat ramp, walking along the beach until we smelled the sulfa aroma. The pools are too small for soaking but we watched the bubbling up of the springs warming the lake. It was a reminder that this volcano is still active and is monitored for earthquake and increased lava pressure underground.

We avoided campground host positions originally because we thought they would be too restrictive.. Having great host partners (Tom and Mary) made it even better. We would cover for each other when we wanted to get away.

Heart of Oregon

Heart of Oregon's campsite along the Deschutes River in the day use area. They provide vocational training to youth ages 16-24 to create pathways out of poverty for youth and encourage self-sufficiency. In addition to teaching job skills, the projects help keep the community beautiful and healthy, while earning wages to stimulate regional economic growth. The park would have a difficult time running without the work of the Corp, volunteers and seasonal rangers. It takes a lot of effort to keep a place running smoothly.

Hannah, one of the seasonal rangers, lead Saturday yoga in La Pine State Park. Pretty nice. Yep those are Mike's knees on the right.

Newberry Volcano National Monument

We were having trouble with the driver's side window that would get stuck in the down position. We have had this problem before and took it to the Ford garage and paid to have it fixed. He wasn't crazy about paying $400 to have it fixed again, went online to youtube and found a fix. If it didn't work, he would take it in. He fixed it. Hurray!

The Big Obsidian Flow formed 1300 years ago is Oregon's youngest lava flow.

Obsidian is very sharp on the edges and was used by the Native Americans for weapons by making arrowheads,spearheads, knives and jewelry.

 

 

There are few places in the continental United States where you can walk in a landscape so utterly foreign. The Big Obsidian Flow is a patch of black and grey volcanic glass covering about 4 square miles of the Newberry Crater floor. We saw everything from the classic jet-black glass suited for Native American tools to frothy grey glass that looks more like a stone sponge than an arrowhead.

It was amazing walking through the lava flow but had to watch where we were putting our feet. The black shiny obsidian was hot from the sun with sharp edges.

As we walked the trail, at the top was a treat with a great view of Lost Lake in the crater and mountains in the background.

Paulina Falls falls 80 feet with twin falls was just a short walk to the overlook but 1/4 mile down to the bottom for a different view.

Paulina Falls spills over the lowest point of Newberry Caldera.

 

After walking around the Big Obsidian Flow and Paulina Falls, we headed over to the lava tube cave for the 1 mile walk into the cave.

The Lava River Cave formed about 80,000 years ago was like entering another world. It is Oregon's longest lava cave extending almost 1 mile.The forest service job did a great job of making the cave very walkable. We walked down 55 steps into darkness requiring our headlamps. Lamps were available at the trailhead for $5 but our headlamps worked just fine keeping our hands free. At times we felt like we were in the belly of a whale with the striations along the walks of the cave.

We made it to the end. It was interesting to spend the time walking a mile underground and listening to the quiet and dark. We took along extra flashlights in case the headlamp's batteries ran out.

There were just a few bats in the cave. With almost 400 caves in Oregon, I bet they found a quieter place tosleep during the day without people walking through.

Oregon has many covered bridges that we will have to return and see. This one is difficult to see though the window as I took the picture.



 

It had been over a month since we had last gotten our mail and had it sent general delivery to the Sunriver post office minus the junk mail. We got a few bills and a Father's Day card with a nice gift card which we promptly used.