Carol writes: As we transitioned across the Cascade Mountain Range into central Oregon, we entered vastly different topography. The lush tree-filled landscape of the coast gave way to the high desert of an historically active volcanic region that was less forested, slightly higher and much drier than what we had seen on the other side of the Cascades.
Our next temporary home
was just outside of Sisters, Oregon. We were 10 miles north of Bend, smack dab in the middle of the state. Local tourism propaganda boasted having 300 days of sunshine a year, much like our climate in Colorado Springs, so we felt right at home.
Although heavily touristy, the tiny town of Sisters had a cozy, small-town atmosphere. Sisters skyline was framed by a set of mountain peaks called the Three Sisters, each over 10,000 feet in elevation. Not for the casual hiker, Three Sisters has 16 named glaciers that continue to sculpt its features today.
It is no exaggeration to state that this region of Oregon has a world-class volcanic landscape. Many of our activities over the next two weeks would revolve around exploring the volcanic features of this very special place on Earth.
We like to visit towns near our campgrounds to get a feel for what life is like for its residents. At an elevation of 3600 ft, the moderate-sized city of Bend struck us as extremely livable. Residents were friendly, obvious lovers of the outdoors, and appeared very health conscious.
Bend was established along a “bend” of the Deschutes River in the early 1900s. On this day, the riverfront was more lovely than ever at the “bend.”
Pricey upscale “cottages” lined the shoreline.
A nice hike along the Deschutes River at Tumulo State Park revealed Ponderosa pine forests that were reminiscent of our former home in Colorado Springs.
Driving through miles of Ponderosa pines to the summit of McKenzie Pass led us to volcanic terrain along a road that was literally carved through the lava flow along the same pathway as an historic wagon route.
Of interest at the top was Dee Wright Observatory, an open observation shelter built out of lava stone in the 1930s by the CCC.
Cleverly, the builders positioned the tower’s viewing windows so that they framed nearby surrounding mountain peaks, like this one of Mt. Washington.
By a stroke of fortune for us, McKenzie Pass is along the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), so seizing the chance to hike a few miles along the famous PCT was irresistible.
After a mile or so through a forested trail that was softly carpeted with sand and pine needles, we came to the beginning of an 8-mile section across a lava flow.
At times, the footing was treacherous. A few hundred yards on the trail in the lava flow was all we needed for the experience…
At this spot along the trail,
we met a young woman with a heavily loaded backpack. She said she had just restocked and was carrying a week’s worth of water and food. She was in great spirits and sounded proud to be nearing the end of her hiking adventure along the Pacific Crest Trail—a 2650-mile trek from Mexico to Canada! Just like in the movie The Wild! She said she had started at the southern end in April and predicted an early October arrival at the Canadian border. We were in awe!
We can usually count on the National Park System to preserve some of our country’s most precious geologic landforms, and so it was at Newberry National Volcanic Monument. With a lava flow covering nearly 1200 square miles in central Oregon’s high desert, Newberry Volcano claims to be an undiscovered gem, even though it is one of the largest volcanoes in North America. The most recent eruption was only 1300 years ago, merely the blink of an eye in geologic time. The abrupt border of such a “recent” eruption looked like the lava had stopped flowing only a few days ago…
To us, Newberry Volcano was an absolute geologic marvel! Hiking through a wondrous giant obsidian flow was like visiting another planet.
Tiny magnetite crystals (iron oxide) give obsidian its black color. Obsidian is considered rare and is found in only a few locations throughout the world. At Newberry Volcano obsidian boulders were huge!
There were numerous reachable samples along the trail for visitors to hold for photographs, but no sample-taking was allowed.
There was the occasional artful rock cairn,
along with one astounding obsidian outcrop after another.
From the trail of the obsidian flow, we had a distant view of the caldera at Paulina Peak—our next destination.
From a vantage point at nearly 8000 ft, we anticipated quite a view from the top.
Only a panoramic shot could capture the entirety of the stunning scene that lay below.
We could appreciate the enormity of the Newberry caldera, 5 miles in diameter, with two distinct lakes. The impressive size of the obsidian flow we had just hiked on could be seen in the righthand corner.
A close-up of the obsidian flow was also dramatic.
Turquoise-tinted Paulina Lake appeared cold, clear, and deep.
In any ranking of the best Oregon state parks, certainly Smith Rock State Park has to rank very near the top.
Although it doesn’t appear obvious to the untrained eye, the geology of the park is volcanic. Thirty million years ago, hundreds of feet of volcanic ash and debris filled a giant caldera that was formed by the collapse of rocks overlying an underground chamber of molten rock. Erosion by the Crooked River has exposed sheer cliffs of this compressed volcanic ash, which now attracts rock climbers from all over the globe.
Despite the ominous implications of the name, we elected to try the 4-mile Misery Ridge Trail, with the goal of hiking 500 feet up to the top of Smith Rock Tuff, the park’s dominant rock feature.
The trail began easily enough with a 1-1/2-mile stroll along the Crooked River. So far, we were rockin’ this hike, enjoying the whimsical rock cairns placed in naturally pitted rock walls along the trail…
Eventually, however, some serious elevation gain had to be negotiated by means of a series of very steep switchbacks in the last surge to the top.
Just short of the summit, we had a great vantage point to observe some of the more expert climbers on Monkey Face.
We could appreciate why they named it Monkey Face…
The views from the top were thrilling. Volcanic cones, interspersed with pricey homes, peppered the landscape. The grandness of the eastern Oregon high desert was on full display, and we paused for a long time to take it in.
In many ways the climb down Misery Ridge was more difficult than the trail coming up. Our pace was slow since we had to be mindful of the danger of slipping on gravel as our quads became more fatigued with each step. Speaking for myself, I was glad to see the bridge over the Crooked River that we had crossed 5 hours ago back at the start of the hike.
The joy of our visit to the “fire and ice” Bend/Sisters area was more than we had anticipated. Even though geologic time moves at a very slow pace, in the world-class volcanic landscape of central Oregon, some cataclysmic events appeared as if they had occurred just last week. Other geologic features, like Smith Rock, required a bit more imagination to appreciate its volcanic origin. The glaciation taking place on Three Sisters isn’t discernible in a lifetime. It was all good…
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