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 8 - Newberry National Volcanic Monument - Lava Butte

As a child who grew up in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, one of the annual types of trips we did was to always head east to explore and camp around the regions south of Bend, Oregon. The lava lands. Having a full day left in this area once I completed my multi-day tour of the John Day Fossil Beds I was excited to bring back memories and finally see some of those places again some 20-25 years later! Lava Butte, Newberry Crater, High Desert Museum, the list went on!

I headed south of Bend early from the Prineville area and got to the first intended stop - Lava Butte just 10 miles south of town. Ah, the memories I have of driving up to the cinder cone top of the butte! Wait - sign upon entry "Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.". ARG! But this played to my advantage in a way...while everyone else I saw turned around, I knew it was OK to park by the gate as long as you didn't block the gate or road. I hiked in and had the entire 2+ hours I spent hiking the Trail of Molten Lava through the lava flow below Lava Butte all to myself on a sunny warm muggy morning. It was wonderful!

The trail is a weaving paved path taking you through many wonderful formations in the lava geologic history of this area, all well marked with very timely nice interpretive signs. A side trail takes you up to a high point below Lava Butte to view the massive size of the lava flow heading westward towards the forests of the Cascades, all serving as views at Mount Bachelor, Broken Top, and the Three Sisters.

While it was unfortunate that I wasn't able to visit the visitors center here, having this entire area to myself was strange - and rather wonderful!

Central Oregon roamings, part 7 - Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds-Blue Basin roamings

OK, so I've talked about how much there is in the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument to see. Now for the part that required a bit of effort, some hot day hiking, some moments looking for buzzing rattlesnakes, and a lot of appreciation for a beautiful geologic area!

There are two trails that make up the Blue Basin area - the Island of Time shorter 1 mile trail that stays low and goes into the canyons that make up the Blue Basin. I did that one, but not until first hiking the 3+ mile loop trail that climbs fairly steeply to the hillsides above the basin to offer long views in many directions up and down the John Day River Valley, down into the Blue Basin, and complete with a canyon hike to get up there.

This first stretch was where I was most aware looking for rattlesnakes as it was so hot at 3:00pm as I passed through here, gaining elevation, sage, a few junipers...never saw one but was buzzed by them twice! Rascals...the nerve to get me all jumpy but then cower and hide so I can't photograph them? Next time I'll spot you first, THEN you can show me how tough you are!

After thoroughly enjoying the hot hike above, I came down very steeply to join the Island of Time trail and hiked up into the basin as well. Wow. What color, what a landscape! Previous days thunderstorms had the wash that flowed out of the basin showing signs of having really been roaring with water, but now was dry again which I found fascinating on this hot day!

Upon leaving in early evening I reflected on my two long days enjoying every part of the national monument throughout these regions. I was so pleased to have been here as I drove back toward Prineville. And I was so pleased to know I had a long full day ahead of me still to explore areas sound of Bend, Oregon in lava lands! Onward to that shortly!

Central Oregon roamings, part 4 - Painted Hills Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds-Painted Cove

After I had spent almost two hours just in and around the Painted Hills Overlook area of the monument, I had some extra time before it would be getting really close to sunset time. Man, this time of year sunset comes late! So before returning to the overlook area and also doing the Carroll Rim hike I headed further into this unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument and visited the Painted Cove area.

Yet again I was stunned with the geology of this area and what a better way to see it up close than in Painted Cove!

A boardwalk path leads you up close and personal through the hills with very detailed interpretive signs to offer a wealth of learning about the geology of the hills. And most amazing yet again, here I was....and all alone. Not a single other person came back this far into the monument during the hour of lovely light I had here. Not one. Seems only tourists doing drive-by sightings at the overlook visit on Sunday evenings!

I did find one small plant growing near the edge of one hill - otherwise they are void of vegetation in this clay hard "soil" that holds/absorbs no water.

After this short loop hike and an hour of photography it was time to head back for another hike before sunset - that comes up next!

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!?!

A day on the beach

The quiet of being away for a few days at the beach, a beach on Puget Sound in this case and not "the ocean". But it brings all the joys of a restful break from the schedule of feeling like too many things need to be attended to. What better way to show the pace of how our days went than with an image showing the frantic pace of....agate hunting. Slow, slow wandering during low tides on the rocky beach, for hours. That is a pace we all need to appreciate life sometimes! And, when you get the sun to come out just after the rocks were wet? Agates can be spotted 30' away - just ask my son, the family professional agate finder.

Oh, and there were plenty of frantic moments to photograph birds as usual also :)

Back to normal schedule for the week hoping spring might actually bring blooming cherry trees and blooming bulbs FINALLY soon!

(photos top-to-bottom: agate in hand of a child; agate popping out of the scene of rocks on beach; Barrow's Goldeneye couple swimming by; Bald Eagle fly-overs captured by pure luck...and paying attention to what was passing by me!)