Tagged With: Lava

Lava Lands

Lava Lands

Lava Lands

Lisa’s car is back from the shop and we picked it up this morning. After dropping Lisa off at home, Cathy and I drove down to the Lava Lands Visitor Center in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument and walked the Trail of the Molten Land. It’s a mile long loop out into the lava flow. The paved trail is fairly easy to walk and worth the effort, getting you out into the flow. It is estimated that the eruption that created this flow was about 7,000 years ago, which in geological terms is pretty recent. It’s hard to get a photograph that captures it, but this one isn’t too bad.

Categories: Travel | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off on Lava Lands

Big Obsidian Flow

Big Obsidian Flow

Big Obsidian Flow

Big Obsidian Flow

Big Obsidian Flow

We visited the Big Obsidian Flow today. It is in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument in the Deschutes National Forest of central Oregon and about 25 miles south of Bend. This, in my opinion, is a must-visit site. My pictures really don’t do the site justice. In fact, the trail up into the flow doesn’t do the site justice, although it’s definitely worth the walk. It’s about seven tenths of a mile, with part of that being a loop up on the flow but you only really get less than 300 yards into the flow, which is close to a mile and a half long. If we return to the area, I’d love to plan a full day hike around the flow, which should be doable.

The Big Obsidian Flow was formed in the volcano’s most recent eruption, about 1,300 years ago. It’s amazing that there are actually trees growing in the flow, although not many. It’s a pretty brutal landscape. Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. Not all of the flow is obsidian, but there are large boulders, some broken into smaller pieces, others still mostly intact. It’s quite remarkable and eerily beautiful.

Categories: Travel | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on Big Obsidian Flow

Sparks Lake

Sparks Lake, Oregon

Sparks Lake, Oregon

Sparks Lake, Oregon

Sparks Lake, Oregon

Sparks Lake, Oregon

Sparks Lake, Oregon

Cathy and I drove up into the mountains west of Bend today. We drove the 25 miles or so to the Dutchman Sno-Park Trailhead, which is also the trailhead for the Tumalo Mountain trail. It is on Southwest Century Drive (OR 372), basically across the road from the Mt. Bachelor ski area. We weren’t sure about hiking that, because Cathy’s hip was bothering her a little and she didn’t want to overdo it and take a risk of making it worse.

As we came back down to the car, Cathy happened to ask me how much gas we had. I hadn’t noticed so I’m glad she asked. We checked and we were well under a quarter of a tank. The nearest gas station was back in Bend so we drove the 20 miles to that, coasting as often as possible, which was not too hard as we were coming down out of the mountains. We made it without incident, filled the tank, and then drove all the way back up and past where we had parked the first time up.

We continued to the four miles to the turnoff for the Sparks Lake Day Use Area. The gravel road going in is very rough, but we were able to avoid the worst of it and made our way to the parking area near the beginning of the Ray Atkeson trail. If you’re in the area, I’d highly recommend this trail. It’s a fairly easy walk with a little bit of it actually paved so it is very accessible. Even after the paving ends, it’s not a difficult hike. We did have some rain, which was a little worrying since I had my camera and long lens, but I was able to keep it mostly dry.

Categories: Travel | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on Sparks Lake