Anemone             Seal Rock

Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway

Since there are more lakes on the northern portion of the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway, we decided to take the loop starting in a southerly direction on Highway 42 from Sunriver. We passed a number of mountainous campgrounds before we hit our first lakes. They were the small Twin Lakes. We did not linger long because there were a whole lot more lakes to see. The first large lake we stopped at was Crane Prairie Reservoir. The lake sits in a broad valley and is filled with resorts. We moved on to a quieter place (hopefully). We passed slowly by the Cultus lakes and went on to the Lava Lakes. Like many of the other lakes around here. they provide fishing (trolling speed boats), campgrounds, and a resort. By this time, our orientation is towards the north and Mt Bachelor dominates the background. It provides a very pleasant background.

Elk Lake comes up next. It is another big lake that follows the pattern of, as you go farther north, larger lakes are more developed. There is camping, a resort, and docks for launching small fishing boats. But with the Mt Bachelor background, it is still a pleasant place to be. Sparks Lake is much the same. There are two campgrounds here, and the views are likewise quite pleasant. Devils Lake is next, after Devils Garden, a steep climb through a lava field. We did not explore the lava tubes here because we were going to the bigger tubes nearer to Sunriver later in our trip. Big Lake, in this area, was a misnomer. It is not very big. The last lake we stopped at on this drive was Todd Lake. It has a campground and fishing, but is less developed than nearby lakes, making it more desirable a place to be in my mind. From here, we pass the ski area and then returned to Sunriver.

Fort Rock Area

There are two major sites to the southeast of Bend that can be called geologic curiosities. One is Fort Rock and the other is Hole in the Ground. We went to see them. Both are clearly in the Great Basin. The ground is more barren and dry. The plants that do exist are more desert like than those found to the west. There were a number of fall Great Basin wildflowers blooming. There was also plenty of sagebrush. Fort Rock is a formation where three quarters of the tuff ring of an old volcano is almost eroded out. Basaltic rocks stand as loosely connected spires, except to the southeast, where the rock is mostly eroded out. You can hike into the rocks, which we did. It is more of a walk than a hike. The erosion continues as you see lichen growing on the basalt.

The hike into Fort Rock was uphill. The hike into Hole in the Ground is downhill. It and Big Hole, about 10 miles west, were formed by volcanic explosions. You take the trail down into the crater, which is really just a big hole in the ground. It is smooth sided, covered mostly with grasses and sagebrush with a few small trees growing in it. It is a contrast to the above ground spires at Fort Rock. Both are well worth seeing.

Crater Lake

We chose the perfect day to go to Crater Lake. The last time we went there was late in June a few years earlier. There was plenty of snow that year. The park opened at its normal time but the Rim Road was still covered wit 10 feet of snow. They had bulldozed some of the snow away, but the Rim Road was still closed. So we went back, hoping to complete the Rim Road Drive this time. It was a bright day with a few clouds. By the time we got to Diamond Lake it was windy and it started raining. We did not stop at Diamond Lake because of the winds, but continued on to Crater Lake. It was snowing when we entered the park. By the time we got to the lodge and the Visitors Center it was a blizzard. We went through the visitors center, wondering if we should continue on. We decided to drive up to the rim and have lunch. The blizzard got worse and the road got slippery. We could not see the lake from the rim. So we took our lunch into the visitor center, ate, and went home.

Sunriver Hikes

We took two fairly major hikes drug our stay in the Bend/Sunriver area. Both were relatively level. The first hike was on a trail along the river to Benham Falls. The trail is relatively wide and can be ridden on a bicycle. The views of the river are generally serene through here. You cross a footbridge and then walk along an area where the woods come right down to the trail. There are some open areas on the other side of the river, yielding expansive views into the Great Basin. The part of the trail that we took was about 4 miles in and then out. The falls are right by the river. They are really more like a rapids feeding directly into the Deschutes River.

The biggest problem with hiking inside a lava tue is that you can only see as far as your flashlight will illuminate. That is not very far. The tube is a mile long. It takes about an hour to go in and out because of the rubble on the ground that you can't see. The rubble is the main feature. The others were more impressed than I was.

Another hike we took in this area was the Lava Cast Forest Trail. It is only a one mile paved loop, with little elevation change. Lava flowed into a forest, surrounding the trunks of trees before they had a chance to burn up. So the structure of the tree's trunks are preserved in the lava. There are too many lava cast trees to count. You can see Mt Bachelor in the distance, so the views are nice. The eruption was long enough ago that new trees are growing in the area. They have not reached their full growth yet. The hike was pleasant and easy. It was windy in the open at that elevation, and it threatened to rain, but this did not detract from the hike.

This really does not qualify as a hike, but we also took the nature trail at the High Desert Museum. We have been there before, but I always enjoy going to the museum. The zoo type area always proves to be interesting in that the animals are usually active. The exhibits inside are also outstanding. The forestry, geology and natural history exhibits always teach me something new. And the bookstore also has very interesting things, both in the area of books and of art and artifacts.

Rafting the Deschutes River

One of the highlights of the trip was a raft trip down the Deschutes River. Eastern Oregon is in the Great Basin. This means that there are block fault mountains alternating with basins where the blocks of rock tipped up. However, in the area just east of the Cascades, there is a great plain that extends down from where the ground cracked and vast flows of lava created a flat plain. Rivers, particularly the Deschutes, carved steep canyons into the plains. The river drops steeply as it heads toward the Columbia River. The drop off is steep enough that there are occasional rapids. Some of them get as high as class III.

and then on to US 26 to our put in point along the river. We went through several rapids and several flat areas over the next 3 hours. We had a lot of fun, and the cold river water cooled us down on the hottest, sunniest day of the trip. When we took out, we loaded into the bus and returned down the road to a resort where we had a great lunch of deli sandwiches. We leaded onto the bus after lunch and most of us were pent and slept on the bus ride back to Bend.

Volcanos

We visited several sites that were a part of Newberry National Volcanic Monument. The Lava Lands Visitor Center is just south of Bend. There is a large cinder cone there. You can hike up to the top of the cone and get a good view of the area on the Crater Rim Trail. The area immediately around the cone is a rocky wasteland. Beyond that, the forest starts to grow to the west. The east shows how close to Bend the Great Basin starts. The interpretive center is also very informative. We took the trail to the top and enjoyed the view. The trail was steep but it was wide and well maintained. It took us a couple of hours to finish what we wanted to do on the trail and an hour in the visitors center to see it all.

Obsidian Trail

A one mile trail inside the Newberry Crater area is the Big Obsidian Flow interpretive trail. This up and down trail takes you through an area where the flow was hot enough and the lava contained the right ingredients for the lava to harden and crystallize into obsidian. Much of the "flow" was ash, but some of it turned into obsidian. there are signs along the route that tell you what you are seeing. They are very helpful and informative. This was one of the roughest trails that we took. But careful planning of where you step will keep you safe.

The lakes are another attraction in the Newberry Crater area. Both lakes are developed with campgrounds and lodges. We walked around a bit at Paulina Lake. It looks like it would be a pleasant place to stay. There were enough trees in the area to shield you from the heat and the sun. You can swim or fish in the lake. There were boats to rent too. But we left and took the Paulina Peak road. I don't remember much about the dome at the end of the road. What I do remember is the view of the lakes below. It was great in the lowering sun. But we didn't want to get caught out in the dark on twisty mountain roads, so we went back to our vacation rental and made dinner.

Lamoille Canyon

It was time to leave Bend, But it was a multi day drive back to Las Vegas. We took a route that would take us to Elko, NV, where we would spend a couple of days. We drove through Carlin along the way and stopped along the Humboldt River for lunch. The river was quiet and pleasant. Then we were back on the road for the short drive to Elko.

One of the things we would do there was get a good Basque dinner. We ate at the Star Hotel and were very pleased. It was family style. We have been to Basque restaurants before and have never really been disappointed with the food, especially the quantity of food! The other thing we did in Elko was to visit the Northeast Nevada Museum. This fits in with our tradition of visiting relatively small county museums. You never know what you will find and are usually pleasantly surprised. This museum houses the Wanamaker Wildlife Exhibit, where we spent the least amount of time. Essentially, we did a walkthrough of all of the animals that Wanamaker had personally killed and had stuffed. We were more interested in the historical, geological and natural history exhibits. We spent most of the afternoon going through these exhibits.

But the real reason for our trip to Elko was to visit the town of Lamoille and, particularly, Lamoille Canyon. The town was supposed to be pretty arty, hosting a number of arts and crafts fairs during the year. But there are few permanent galleries. We found lunch at the one restaurant and then headed up the canyon. The canyon drive is a 12 mile road that goes in one direction--up. The road starts out in pasture land, passes through scrub brush, pinyon and juniper, and pine forests until you are above tree level. Then it is mostly granite. The Ruby Crest Trail leaves from the end of the road and goes for about 65 miles south along the crest of the Ruby Mountains until you reach a road at Harrison Pass. But when we were there in July there was still snow on the ground at the start of the trail. Because of this, we did not take the start of the trail.

Humboldt River           Thomas Creek           Thomas Canyon

After getting our fill of the view and exploring the rocks, we retreated down to Thomas Canyon, a side canyon to Lamoille Canyon, with its own campground. We had to cross a stream that was overflowing onto the road to get to the trailhead. While the trail goes generally up for the first two miles, you start out in thick forest. But you clear into meadows that follow a stream after the first mile. Form there you follow the stream for the next mile and then leave it at mile 3. But it is never far away. And you can wander back to it cross country. You want to do this to see the small falls along the stream. The trail is very pleasant and never steep enough to be difficult. The trail continues on to a series of lakes in about 6 miles, but we stopped after 3 and a half miles. We sat and enjoyed the stream and the view of the mountains before we returned.

Our next day was a mad dash back to Las Vegas. We had never been on US 95 north of Ely, so we wanted to explore that route. Not wanting to go all of the way east to Wells, we took highway 229 across to US 95. This took us up and over a low pass in the Ruby Mountains and into remote ranching land across to US 95. US 95 took us on a straight shot to Ely. Nothing looked much different than the parts of the highway south of Ely.

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