It's pretty darn nice here watching the sun go down, and the vultures circle above...
Silver Falls to Newberry
Nothing particularly eventful about this drive, except the dramatic change in landscape. From falls, to snowy mountains, and then to the plains, with snowy capped peaks looming in the distance.
Newberry National Volcanic Monument
It's difficult to convey the other-worldliness of the lava beds that surround the butte at the volcanic monument.
Everything looks so barren in contrast to the forest just next to where the lava stopped flowing.
Despite it being thousands of years ago (rather than 30 years ago like the infamous Mt. St. Helens of invisibility) it's still strange to think that all this rock came pouring out of the earth.
The whole thing made me a bit more pissed off that we missed seeing a real live volcano. I'll get over it soon. Really.
We were totally stoked about heading into the mile-long Lava River Cave, only to discover it was.... closed - due to ice allegedly. So we drove up to the top of the butte instead, which was ok I suppose, but not quite the same as going in a cave.
We are both suspicious that the cave is not really closed, but that they are too lazy to open it when it's not peak tourist season.
These little fellas are everywhere. Even in the lava. Bow down to your new chipmunk overlords.
Lava Cast Forest
We had to take the Jeep a little bit offroad to get to the lava cast forest, because believe it or not there was still a foot or so of snow on the road (which was technically closed).
Ignoring the Dodge truck that was too soft to drive up the road, we forged on - to be the only people there. Talk about a desolate landscape again - made all the more eerie by the fact we were alone, and the only sounds were our footsteps and the wind rushing through the pine forest.
The lava casts are actually pretty cool, you can see where the lava surrounded a tree (which got burnt up I suppose) and solidified in the shape of it. Kat tells me that only the old Ponderosa Pine Trees with thick bark were strong enough to withstand the heat for long enough to leave a cast....
We had lunch amongst the strange post-apocalyptic shapes - yet another awesome place to have a sandwich... I should rename the blog "sandwiches around the usa". Newberry Calderra Area
There are a couple of lakes on top of the volcano itself, so we headed down the road to the entrance.... to read a sign that said the road was closed 10 miles further on.
To be honest I'm sick of driving miles and miles around volcanos to find we can't do anything, so... we went home, to the luxurious surrounds of the Newberry RV Park.
Newberry RV Park
These guys have honestly got the best website scam going ever. Their website looks really well put together, and has nice pictures, and conjours up images of a nice hideaway from which to base your operations.
Not so people, it's a freakin' gravel lot which is home to plenty of what looks like permenant fixtures. The owners were nice though, and there was free WiFi and cable (although we were too worried about someone busting into the turd and stealing the TV to set it up).
La Pine State Park
I'd gotten excited when we first arrived because none of the websites said anyting was closed, and there really is a lot to do around here, so we'd booked an extra night at the La Pine State Forest campground.
What a contrast.
This place is REALLY nice. The weather was amazing today (it got to over 30 inside the turd) and the river and forest were superb. I really wished we'd stayed here the whole time, but hey you live and learn.
There's so many squirrels/chipmunks around here that's it not funny. I think people must feed them, cause they're super tame.
They're also very cute....
We saw the "big tree" which is the oldest Ponderosa Pine in Oregon, and is thought to be over 500 years old. It's... freakin' massive and really does look like the granddaddy (or grandma I suppose)of all the other pine trees.
The first mosquitoes of the season are out, and so are the first mosquito bites. I win!
Crater Lake
I think the first words that came out of my mouth were "holy shit". Forget the fact that this used to be a mountain which collapsed under its own weight during a volcanic eruption, and forget all the facts about it - it's just stunning.....
I'm sure there's better pictures of it, and we really did want to stay until sunset (but I didn't fancy another 4-5 hours in the sun) but hey - if you ever get the chance to go there, it's worth it.
Each year they get some phenomenal amount of snow, on average they have to plow about 30 miles of snow, which is about 30ft by 30ft. You can do the math, but it's an absolute shitload. This is one of the beasts they use:
Some more pictures, this time they're mine.
We walked up the road about 0.5 of a mile, and got to see the snow clearing in the flesh:
This is one badass machine.
Crater Lake to California
It all started out well this morning, until we ran out of gas.
Apparently the gas gauge in the turd ain't right.
Alas, there's a swarm of mozzies around me, time to retreat to the turd.
Thanks for staying awake!
