After the long drive yesterday, I need time to regroup today and catch up on the blog, laundry, banking, emails. I don’t rush out the door since I know the next week will be busy with Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver before turning eastward through British Columbia.
It is tempting to lounge today and read; after all, I am on vacation! However, I head out to Newberry National Volcanic Monument to visit an area of lava flow since I wasn’t able to incorporate a visit to Lassen Volcanic NP in northern CA on this trip.
There are school buses and children running around when I arrive. Ahhh, I remember those days of chaperoning school field trips. A past season of my life, but good memories.
I am surprised to learn that Central OR is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, and one of the most volatile places on earth. This area was formed by the eruption of Newberry Volcano, the largest volcano in the Cascade Mountains, over 500,000 years ago.
Massive lava flows resulted covering 1,200 square miles, and created cinder cones and lava tubes. The last eruption was 1,300 years ago. This sounds like ancient history, but in geological terms, I suppose it’s recent history. Makes you feel insignificant, doesn’t it!
I spiral 500 ft. up Lava Butte on a narrow road with only a thin rail designating the roadside edge. Beyond that is straight down!
This is a cinder cone created when pieces of magma mixed with large amounts of air and gases trapped inside accumulate in an area after an explosion.
I crunch along the trail at the top and look down on the lava flow below. I’m surprised at the lack of vegetation, but the lava and cinders may be 80 ft deep. We are in the high desert which receive about 10” of rain a year so this landscape doesn’t have much erosion to create soil.
Next stop, Lava River Cave, a mile long lava tube which formed when the top surface of the lava cooled faster than the hot flowing liquid below. I rent a torch and head down the trail which is rated difficult with uneven and slippery surfaces.
This is a rustic cave; the most primitive I’ve been in since spelunking with boy scouts. There are hand rails initially, but the floor is covered with rocks from the roof collapse which revealed the lava tube. I have to watch every step picking my way gingerly through since there is no established path and no guide. It would be a great place to sprain or break an ankle!
I wasn’t allowed to wear my hiking boots into the cave. WNS, White Nose Syndrome, is a fungus killing millions of bats throughout the US. It has not been seen in OR yet, but it is spread by contamination of clothing and shoes from one location to another. We are instructed not to wear anything that has ever been in another cave. The toes of my boots are scraped raw from crawling through caves so they will remain in the car.
I love caves and have visited or crawled through about 15. The commercial caves are my least favorite with the canned lights, but they offer an amazing view of God’s creation below ground. I always wonder, though, when the next rock will fall!
There are no formations here like limestone canes, but a stark dark beauty. Cave kisses, water droplets percolating from above, offer good luck along my journey. I don’t see any bats, but I can see my breath condensation in the light due to the 45 degree temp. Turn off your light in a cave, and you realize what total darkness is like.
It’s a long mile to the end, but I make it! I’m puffing a little, and wonder how long it will take me to get out.
45 minutes later I emerge...ankles intact! My only injury is a hard knock on my head meeting a low spot on the roof.
I stop at Beyond the Ranch Antique shop in Redmond. It is amazing and filled with western wear, saddles, stirrups, chaps, and boots...and more boots...along with a wide variety of vintage items and antiques.
Dinner is a repeat from the previous night and groceries. $30 at the store provided 2 dinners of steaks, baked potatoes and mushrooms, 1 salad lunch, crackers for my cheese, and bananas. One dinner would have cost that. No breakfast buffets to assist me here!
Michael is vacationing in the Philippines by himself planning to scuba dive and enjoy beach time, scenery, and new friends at the hostels. He calls to tell me he is okay but had a motorbike accident with bad road rash on his back and shoulders and a knee injury requiring stitches. He was w/ several other people, hit some gravel maybe going too fast, and down he went.
He is sore, but he won’t show me his back so it is probably worse than he is sharing. I tell him to count his blessings! He is bummed since no more diving or water time. I encourage him to check out tours including some history! He ends up flying to Manila, does some sightseeing and is considering taking a cooking class or food tasting tour. This will make a good story for the future, and a wonderful learning lesson!
Thank you, Lord, for protecting him!
Today I visit the High Desert Museum in Bend. I don’t have time to read everything which my boys use to accuse me of doing then quiz me and laugh when I didn’t know the answers!
I attend lectures and animal presentations and very impressed w/ the sawmill re-creation. Looking at machinery from the 1800’s, I am impressed w/ their ingenuity from moving logs down a ramp on rollers, to locking it into place on a moveable sled, and adjusting levers to control board thickness. We think we are so smart!
The animal presentations are informative and exhibit halls display the settling of the west by the pioneers...explorers, trappers, miners, farmers/ranchers, and the establishment of towns. On the opposite wing is an exhibit of Native American culture before and after Europeans & Americans arrived.
Heading to Mt. Hood tomorrow and the Columbia River Gorge along with projected rain. However, it will be National Donut Day. Wonder if I can find a place to celebrate!
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