Wednesday, May 31, 2017

All Roads Lead To Oregon

I can't beleive we have been in Oregon for over a month now living in our RV. There sure are adjustments to be made living is such a small space with three large dogs but we are doing it. We took 4 days to drive all the way up here and stopped at Arches National Monument enroute. Below is Double Arch. It is gigantic. There are some people in the photo but they are dots.


Arches has amazing sandstone formations in every direction. I really love this twisted dead juniper.


One of the first sights we saw here in Central Oregon is Lava Butte. You wind around the lava cone twice and get an amazing 360 degree view. The day we went there was not a cloud in the sky and we saw the Cascade range in all itsGlory. The grey stuff on the right side is a huge lava flow.

Mount Bachelor on the left and the Sisters on the right.





Mother's Day we took a little drive after an amazing breakfast. This is the Deschutes River. I hope to do a float trip later this summer. Right now it is still a bit chilly.



The Lava Cast Forest is pretty unique. As the lava flowed 7000 years ago it was cool enough that it did not incinerate the trees but flowed around them. All that remains today is holes where the trees used to stand.


Fort Rock to the Southeast of where we are is one of the little visited places. This was made 10,000 years ago when lava shot straight up in a large glacial lake. It formed a ring 500 feet high. Today it is missing one side and is only 300 something feet high. It is a very interesting place to walk around. You can see all sorts different shapes and movement of flow in the lava. The lake is long gone and this can bee seen for miles out in the flat desert which was the lake bottom.






After the desert we too a detour on the way home to Newberry Crater and had lunch by East Paulina Lake. There was still plenty of snow and I bet the water was freezing.

The top of the mountain and heading home. We will be back to this crater for sure. There is so much to do up there, mountain biking, hiking and boating.