Heading to La Pine

Heading to Central Oregon

Different places fit for different phases of life. What is right today may not be right next year.

Spending time at the ocean was a nice treat. But returning to the mountains is like going home.  Mike grew up in Vermont and Deb in Colorado may have something to do with that. Stopping in Oakridge, OR on our way to La Pine State Park, our campsite overlooked the Salmon Creek. We fell asleep to the sound of the rushing water. 

I took a walk along the creek before we prepared to leave the next morning. A tiny Japanese woman joined me and shared with me her story of her journey to the US. She was so impressed that anyone that wanted to work in the US could get a job even if they were a woman or from another country. She seemed lonely and thanked me for our visit as we parted ways. I assured her that I also enjoyed our visit very much.

We are leery of turning on roads while towing the trailer when we don't know if there is a place to turn around once we've committed ourselves. I had picked out a hike to two waterfalls that I really wanted to take and the GPS showed what looked like a loop to turn around easily. So we took a chance that worked out well. Shew! I was sweating that one a little bit.

Salt Creek Falls was a short walk from the parking lot. But Diamond Creek Falls was another 1 1/2 miles. Once we stepped off the paved walkway, we were all alone, except for the mosquitos, for a lovely walk in the woods.

Our home for the next month

Not having a volunteer position booked for July, we jumped at the chance to spend a month at La Pine State Park near Bend, OR in the Cascade Mountain Range due to a cancellation. Expectations for hosts are as different as each park. Our job in the "historic" (old) section of the campground, in our opinions, is the best. The older section has much more space between sites and quieter at night. The roads are so rough, no speed bumps are required to slow down speeders. Once they round the first corner, they suddenly slow down. Great for small kids on bikes.

We turn the reserve signs each morning and picked up any paper (or unused wood) left behind. Then we wrap fire wood bundles to set out for sale. While around our campsite we answer questions but are free to come and go as we pleased.

The Deschutes River runs through La Pine SP making a great place to mountain bike or walk. The 15 miles of mountain bike trails aren't difficult but have plenty of ups and downs, winding through the trees and by waterfalls to keep us on our toes making it easy to get away without the need to drive for an outing. We come home pretty dusty each day because of the dry high desert climate. 

We have been lucky with cooler than usual temps. 

Newberry National Volcanic Monument

Newberry Volcano in Newberry National Volcanic Monument is the largest volcano in the Cascade Range. We had hiked parts of the monument on our visit three years ago and is less than 10 miles from our campsite to Lake Paulina. 

One early morning, we headed to La Pine's grocery store but took a detour to Newberry when we saw the heavy 4th of July holiday traffic on Highway 97. We hiked along the 7 mile lake trail before the weekenders got up. The trail was getting busy as we were finishing up our walk and we made it home in time to do a few of our tasks.

Paulina Falls

Paulina Lake Trail 

The month is flying by and we sleep well at night. A pretty good place for this phase of our lives.

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.