After a very long and scenic day yesterday, we decided to take the day off. We added another night's stay in our campground in Redmond, Oregon, and stayed inside most of the day. It was the smokiest day we have seen, and it seemed prudent to get some things done indoors. We also needed to do some travel planning. We've decided to spend a couple more days here in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, and then head for the coast in search of clearer skies and cooler temperatures. So after resting and planning for a day, we put our new plan into action.
Our plan was to head south towards our next campground, making a stop at Newberry Volcano National Monument on the way. We drove the 31 miles to the Visitor Center, and then dropped off the motor home in the parking lot. This national monument's claim to fame is that they have the widest variety of volcanic features of any park in the United States. Well, it looks like we have some exploring to do today to see them all. We found that they have several units in different locations, and the ranger's advice was to head first to Lava River Cave.
That's because the cave tour is a favorite activity among tourists in the summer, and the parking lot usually fills up early in the morning. Then the rangers close the gate to this unit, and a line forms on the road until parking spaces open. One hour waits are not uncommon in the summer. So we headed immediately to the caves parking lot and got one of the last spots. After an orientation lesson about cave etiquette and white nose bat syndrome, we were off on a self-guided tour of the longest continuous lava tube in Oregon.
We were asked to wear masks until we got far enough into the lava tube where the bats don't go. At this point we still have hand rails and stairs to help navigate the ups and downs of the lava tube.
Then we were on our own to make it through the one-mile tube and back. We each had a flashlight, and our phones were our back-up source of light if we ran out of batteries in our other devices. We used those lights to know when to duck our heads, or to find solid footing on an uneven and sometimes slippery floor.
These tubes are formed when a volcano erupts and forces lava through underground passageways. When the supply of lave ends and the eruption is over, it leaves behind the empty lava tube cave. Sometimes this tube was as big as a ballroom, and other times Mark was bumping his head on the top.
We were glad to have our rain jackets in the pickup, because they were good insulation from the cold. The lava tube stays a constant 42 degrees all year long. Denisa even had her gloves on by the middle of the hike.
On the return trip, we made the trip up the 150 stairs to get back to ground level.
After stumbling around in the dark for a mile, we have to say we were glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel as we got back to the entrance of the tube.
As soon as we climbed out of the staircases at the entry we were in the sunshine. You can be sure that we were taking off our jackets very soon!
We had planned to do the lava tube hike during the warmest part of the day, thinking those cool temperatures underground would sure feel good in the afternoon. We were going to spend the cool morning hours hiking outside. But our original plan didn't work when the rangers told us about the lines to see the caves. So here we are in the hotter part of the day, hiking among the black lava rocks at the next unit of the national monument.
We are hiking through another of the volcanic features in Newberry National Volcanic Monument. This volcanic feature is obsidian, and Mark is holding a piece of it.
Unlike the dull gray lava around it, this shiny black obsidian is chemically much like glass. Surgical knives made of obsidian are sharper than those made of steel.
For some reason in this flow of lava, these glassy pockets occur. As we walked the one-mile-loop trail called "The Big Obsidian Flow," it was fun to find the shiny obsidian.
We have wandered into another of God's wonders today!
The obsidian would randomly appear among the lava flow, ready for another picture.
Next, we drove the car up to the top of Paulina's Peak. From here we could look down on the square mile of the Big Obsidian Flow. We can also see Paulina Lake and East Lake that were formed when this massive Newberry Volcano erupted, sending 120 cubic miles of lava over the countryside. It's hard for us to fathom just how big 120 cubic miles is!
There are active volcanoes all around us today, but none were scheduled to erupt while we were visiting.
While we were enjoying the smoky views from the top of Paulina Peak, one of the volunteer rangers had a spotting scope aimed at the newest resident here in the park. Even though this is not in their usual habitat, a male mountain goat showed up here last week. The rangers have been keeping an eye on him, and they were glad to let us try to take a picture through the spotting scope. Our wildlife picture of the day has to be that blurry white dot in the center of the picture below.
Our last stop in the national monument is Paulina Falls. It's actually a double waterfall, as it spills 80 feet over the lowest point of the Newberry Caldera.
It's hard to tell how big those falls are until you see Mark standing at the top of the waterfall. He's always good at finding a way to get to the top of a waterfall.
We didn't visit everything, but we felt like we saw most of the "widest variety of volcanic features" here at Newberry National Volcanic Monument. So we returned to the visitor center parking lot, where the motor home was waiting for us. Newberry was a good moving day stop as we headed on down the road south towards our next campground at Big Pines RV Park, in Crescent, Oregon.
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