Central Oregon roamings, part 9 - Newberry National Volcanic Monument - Big Obsidian Flow

Finally, I'm back in town and actually might be leading somewhat a normal schedule for a few weeks! Moving further south from where I left off talking about the Newberry National Volcanic Monument at Lava Butte, I headed south toward quickly building clouds and just before reaching the LaPine area on US 97 south of Bend went east and up into the main Newberry Crater area. I could spend a full week just exploring up in this region alone! Paulina Lake is of course a landmark to this, a massive lake in the old caldera of the volcano. Short on time due to knowing I'd be dodging lightning storms by early afternoon I opted to explore the Big Obsidian Flow at the base of Paulina Peak (wish I could have gone up there but snow still blocked the road and no way I was hiking to the high point in the region with scattered thunderstorms brewing!).

The Big Obsidian Flow is that, a massive lava flow that in many parts is almost entirely made up of obsidian - a hike on glass! Being someone who grew up fascinated with arrowheads carved from obsidian found at Native American camp areas, seeing SO much obsidian was just heavenly to me!

There are great views straight up at Paulina Peak, to the north overlooking Paulina Lake, and the snout of the flow is truly amazing to see the thickness of the flow. Wow.

I even hiked it twice. Not by design - but because when I was 1/2 way done with it I realized I had no spare CF cards in my backpack as they were back in the truck! So I completed the loop, got my gear, and did the hike again! Worth every moment....

Central Oregon roamings, part 6 - Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds-John Day River areas near roads

There is a lot to see in the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. So much in fact that I'll save the stuff that included the spectacular hiking into and around the rim of the Blue Basin area for later to give special attention to just that part of it! For starters I began by roaming all of the sights that are essentially accessed from driving around on the road or short 1/4 mile walks from a parking area. Even if you only do this simple approach you'll still enjoy seeing great geologic formations and history of the area!

Cathedral Rock is the in-your-face stunning formation of rock by a sharp bend along SR 19. After a stop here I headed north to enjoy the short nature trails in the Foree Picnic Area. The Flood of Fire trail started off with a great view back down the wonderful winding roadway that brought me here - I loved it!

Then a short 5-10 minute walk (keeping eyes open for cool lizards and being careful for snakes which never materialized here) to a great overlook at wonderful geologic eroded hillsides of this volcanic region. Wow.

Another short 15 minute loop walk on the other side of the picnic area, the Story in Stone Trail, was just as enjoyable but yet very different in what you learned along the interpretive trail, which was set up excellently!

Later in the day, long after having sweated out a hot hike on all 4+ miles of trails in Blue Basin (coming later!) I stopped at the James Cant Ranch site, a historic homestead of a settling rancher in the John Day Valley here just below Sheep Rock.

While I didn't see sheep on the cliffs above me, a

nice ram skeleton on a roof of an outbuilding was humor enough! I loved touring the old farm - the barn was open and the old farm implements always warm my heart to view and photograph. Lastly before closing I rushed in to the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center to tour the museum and fossils shown there. WOW!!

It was a very long, very hot day, and one I used every minute that I could to enjoy this unit of the monument - one I highly recommend and do allow a full day if you can! Coming next? My hike into Blue Basin, around it, dancing with buzzing rattlesnakes, and sweating in a lot of hot sun!

Central Oregon roamings, part 2 - Clarno Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

Upon leaving the White River Falls area the road took me winding down into the town of Maupin along the Deschutes River. From here I took grand sets of backroads to work my way to SR 218 and the Clarno Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. There are three separate areas that make up this national monument and the Clarno unit is in the region between Antelope and Fossil along SR 218, the most northerly area of these highlands.

The drive down from US 97 at Shaniko to bisect SR 218 at Antelope was spectacular in its own right - what a winding road of fun!

Then after a long climb up, SR 218 does another fascinating drop on winding roads through a mix of juniper forests and sage lands, all the way down to crossing the John Day River and then in just a few more miles reaching the Clarno Unit along the highway. The Palisades are the main attraction here, huge cliffs that were formed from the result of massive lahar outflows from ancient volcanic times. That's the necessary requirement to preserve what today are some wonderful fossils to view - a very rapid burial of debris under pressure. Indeed, this is the best location to easily see many fossils of leaves, many areas of petrified logs in the cliffs, and the interpretive part of the trail does an excellent job of helping you find the easy ones!

Another nice trail takes you up a couple hundred feet elevation to below the cliffs of the Palisades to get a closer look at the Clarno Arch, a small natural arch in the cliffs from the years of erosion.

I was humored too by the "cute" signs around the region to remind you to watch for rattlesnakes. I only saw lizards here but saw many rattlesnakes along the roads nearby that I drove around. Just as I came down from the Clarno Arch I did get buzzed by a rattlesnake which I was never able to locate. The rascal - spook me but not let me photograph it!?!