Oregon High Desert and Volcano Country

After exploring the Mt. Hood valley we turned southeast and headed toward Bend, OR.   This also meant that we were leaving the lush, green forest and returning to the High Desert.  Although the High Desert can be punishingly hot during the day, and freezing cold at night, I have always found that type of terrain to be one of beauty.  

One of the big advantages we have when we travel is that since my parents have traveled extensively in the U.S. they are often able to tell us about hidden gems we don't want to miss.  Not only do we get to experience the best locations, but we often are able to avoid the most crowded areas.  I always sit down with my mom about two years before a major trip to quiz her on places we need to go, and to also learn about places we can skip.  There's a lot to see out there, and we want to use our time wisely.

We had already decided to go to Bend because of the High Desert Museum.   We knew we would learn a lot about the High Desert, and we were also eager to go to their raptor show, which promised that the birds would fly right over your heads.  When mom heard that we were headed to Bend, she said that we had to include Newberry National Volcanic Monument in our trip.  We were looking forward to more volcanic geology, and had promised the kids that we could do one more lava tube cave (this time the longest one in Oregon).

We loved the High Desert Museum.  It was filled with not only animals and their habitats, but also contained a lot of cultural history about the area.  We saw many shows and talks - we could have spent another day there.

Burrowing Owl at the Owl show

We decided to camp close by in the Deschutes National Forest at Paulina Lake.  Paulina Lake was created when a volcano errupted.  The remaining crater was then filled with snow melt and created a beautiful mountain lake.  There was only one, HUGE problem with Paulina Lake - skeeters.  They were out to get us.  I seem to get bit less than the rest of the family, so I did everything that needed to be done outside the camper while the rest of them huddled inside.  

This handmade wooden camper was across the road from our site.
It was amazing - solar panels on the roof and a stove pipe on the other side.  Someone was very creative.

After dinner we drove to the overlook above the lake.  It was a ridiculously windy, steep, terrifying, dirt road.  I thought I was going to be sick.  I quickly took a picture and then huddled in the car alternating between dreading the drive down and craning my neck to see if the kids had fallen over the cliff.  The view was gorgeous, but given my fear of heights it was not my favorite part of the trip.

When we got down to safety we drove to the obsidian fields.  This had to have been the prettiest geological sight we saw on this trip.  The obsidian was glossy and mirror like.  The chunks were imense, and the temptation to be a bad land steward and walk off with a souvenier was great, but we remembered the warning of the ranger at Craters of the Moon about the curse of the Hawaiian Goddess Paloiloi, and decided to buy some at the gift shop instead.

Every sunset in the west seems to be beautiful.  

 It was a beautiful evening.  Even though the bloodsucker attacked at the campground we found Newberry to be enchanting, and well worth our time.  Early the next morning we hiked into the Lava River Cave, and explored the Lavalands Visitor center.  We then headed west once more on our way to Crater Lake.

Crater Lake was majestic, but it was also very, very crowded.  We were also found the campground and the concession for the boat tickets (both run by Xanterra) to be completly lacking and frustrating.  I had attempted to get tickets starting in the spring, and had a temporary reservation because they don't issue final reservations until they know when the snow will melt.  However, when we got to Crater Lake we had no tickets.  It took a very long time to check into our campsite as they don't assign sites until you arrive even if you have a reservation.  They had been cutting trees in the campground areas, but had failed to clean up when they were finished creating a big mess and tripping hazards. The showers only ran on tokens, and closed at 9 PM (we got there at 8:45 and they were already closed).  We also found the staff who handled our questions to be rude and unaccomodating.  Finally, because Crater Lake is so popular the price of the camping was some of the most expensive we experienced.

Even though we couldn't ride to the island, the kids decided they still wanted to swim so we hiked the very steep trail (11% grade for 1 1/2) to the lake.  The lake is an unbelievably crystal clear blue, and it is COLD.  The swimming was brief.

It was hard to believe it was possible, but the mosquitoes were even worse here than at Paulina.  You hardly dared to stop and catch your breath on the way up as you were afraid you'd be drained of blood.  Also, it was HOT.

The water was so clear, but those rocks were sharp (volcano remember).

We also discovered while we were there that our car was leaking a strange fluid (at the time we thought possibly brake fluid), which was very scary as it was a holiday weekend and we had major mountains to descend on our way to CA.  So, although it was beautiful, and I'm glad we went, given all of the negative feelings toward Xanterra we were not sorry to depart.

Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Hood and Trillium Lake

When we left Craters of the Moon we did a very long driving day (about 12 hours), but since we had plenty of daylight, good driving weather, two folks who like to drive and happy kids (long drives meant McDonald's for supper and two movies - very unusual for us) we were fine.  We stopped at a campground outside of Pendleton, OR.  The weather was very hot and dry, but there was a pool so we were set.  We took advantage of having internet connections for the first time in weeks and e-mailed, updated and downloaded new books.  We also did laundry!  The next morning we were up and out early, headed for the Columbia River Gorge.  

When you are driving through eastern Oregon it is high desert.  Hot, dry, and brown.  But as you drop down into the Columbia River Gorge suddenly you are in different country.  The landscape turns lush and green.  There is water everywhere, and gloriously, there are cherries, and other fresh fruit stands on every corner.  We loved driving through the gorge and stopped at most of the waterfalls, but since we were hauling the trailer it just wasn't possible to find parking at all of them.

Horsetail Falls

Multnomah Falls

Wakeena Falls

View  of the Columbia from Vista House

After a wonderful day in the Columbia River Gorge, we turned south and headed into the Hood River Valley.  We camped at a National Forest Campground - Trillium Lake.  We love staying at National Forest Campgrounds, and this one proved to have all of the things we like.  Simple camping (so usually very cheap fees), quiet spaces, and beautiful views.  The kids enjoyed swimming in the lake and I enjoyed the leisure of having plenty of time to cook supper.  I even had decent cell phone reception so I called my sister so she would know we were still alive (she worries about these things).

View of Mt. Hood taken from the middle of Trillium Lake

 After supper we took a short drive to see the Timberline Lodge and to see the ski area (still open on July 1st).  The kids were disappointed that we weren't skiing, but that wasn't on the agenda this trip.  The Timberline Lodge was built by the CCC and had gorgeous huge timbers and wonderful carvings.

Snow!

It was kind of a crazy day.  We started in the desert, traveled through temperate rain forest and wound up in snow.  Hello Rain Shadow!  But, as you can tell from those faces, it was a wonderful day!

45.8 - 70

I got to spend the end of the trail with my favorit hiking partner - the woodsman.  The trail was mostly wet (either from rain or from wet ferns and mud created by the previous day's rain).  

We hiked in a half a mile from the parking lot to the Rt. 30 shelters and were blessed to have a shelter far away from everyone else with a beautiful view through the trees of the mountains beyond.  It was nice to reconnect and hear about what had been happening at home.  It was also nice to leave the fire building and water pumping to him.

I was awoken twice - once in the middle of the night when I thought I heard chewing, but then dismissed it as an over active imagination, and then a second time when I realized the light had changed.  I was delighted to see that I was able to see the sun rise from my sleeping bag in the shelter. We only had 11 miles to cover that day, and the morning was pleasant so we slept in and had a slow start to our morning.  When I pulled the food bag down I discovered that I had heard chewing - there was a hole in the bottom of the bag.  Grrr....

After a few small climbs, the majority of the day was a ridge walk through state forest and game lands.  The trail crews have had fun on this section of trail with several great benches, and even a tic tac toe game.  Ferns, and rocky out croppings abounded.

About half way through the day we started seeing giant bear tracks in the mud, but alas, no bear.

We also suprised a junco off of her nest when coming through one of the rock tunnels.  Poor bird - she probably flies off every time a hiker comes through.  What a poor choice for a nesting spot.

We got into camp shortly before it started to rain again, and settled in for another damp night.

I didn't sleep well.  I dreamed all night that the bear would come find our food bag.  I even had a dream about a carniverous deer.  Sleeping on the shelter floor was starting to get to me.

We awoke to rain on the final morning, and hiked the majority of the day in rain or drizzle.  There were a few beautiful sections of rhodedendron in the last few miles, but no views.  After a moderate descent, by about 3 PM, mile post 70 came into view.  I had done it - the end of the trail was here.  The sun came out and the fog cleared away as I neared the end.  It was good to spend the week on the trail, and good to finish my goal.  I was a little sad while cleaning up and putting the gear away when the Woodsman reminded me that the way to fix that sadness was to plan the next trip.  I'll keep you posted.  

18.8 - 46.5

Day three started out misty, and damp.  We hiked to the Rt. 653 parking lot so that I could trade hiking partners.  Dad joined me for the next 26 miles, but two 13 mile days with full packs was more than he wanted to do.  Mom crew to the rescue.  We traded full packs for day packs and headed out.

The section of trail between Rt. 653 and Rt. 31 starts with very typical sandstone rock formations covered with rocks, laurel, moss and rhododendron.  The trail elevation changes are more moderate in this section as well.  We crossed through the highest point on the LHHT in the Seven Springs ski resort area around lunch time.  By that point, the day had turned warm and humid.  Mom met us around 4:00 with hot supper, and we traded out our light day packs for our big packs.  We then headed off to the Rt. 31 shelter.

We were in shelter #5 - which is very far away from the other shelters.  We felt like we were by ourselves in the woods.  After a pleasant game of gin rummy (Dad beat me every hand), we went to sleep by the light of the fire and listening to the rain on the roof of the shelter.  We were up and out very early the next morning knowing that we had a lot of ground to cover before meeting The Woodsman in the evening.

This section of trail is pretty, but somewhat noisy.  When you start walking you can hear Rt. 31.  Then, the trail passes near a shooting range, then you begin to hear traffic noise from the PA turnpike.  Dad had been looking forward to crossing the turnpike bridge for some time and was very pleased to do so.

The trail was extremely wet.  In some places the water was up over our ankles with no way to reroute.  Welcome to day 4 of squishy feet.

We got rained on several times, but the sun was out on the prettiest section of trail near the Beams rocks area.  This section of the trail is by far my favorite.

 The last six miles were wet and long, but we made it through.  We met The Woodsman at the Rt. 30 parking lot, and I traded partners again.  It's always good to be in the woods with my Dad.  We talk, observe, and of course, I get quizzed on plant names and tree types.  Thankful for the time together and the time in the woods.