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| Southern Oregon Coast |
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| Bob in Oregon Cave Ntl Monument |
Our
first stop was Cave Junction to see Oregon Caves in the Coastal Range, the
mountains between the coast and the central valley. (The volcanic Cascades are further east of
the central valley.) This was an unusual marble cave (most caves are made of
much softer and faster dissolving limestone) which takes a very long time to
form. Interestingly, they have found an insect in this cave that is presently found
elsewhere only in very cold caves in Alaska. It is believed the species got
into the cave during the last ice age when the insect was common in the glacial
ice throughout the northern hemisphere, but it has survived isolated in this
single cave since then.
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| Crater Lake |
Our
next stop was Crater Lake and we were excited to be going there since we had
heard so much about it. We have finally found our “most beautiful lake” in all
our travels (Tahoe Lake is a close second for Bob). The pure deep water reflects the blue sky and
the lake looks like a sapphire. The
inflow of “pure” water is only from rain and snow on the steep cliffs surrounding
it so there is no sediment to cloud the water.
The surrounding cliffs of rock are very steep and 1000 to 2000 feet over
the water; they were covered in snow when we arrived. The first view of this lake literally
takes your breath away. Crater Lake was formed 7700 years ago when a
huge 12,000+ foot mountain, Mt Mazama, erupted with a massive explosion. The
entire mountain collapsed forming a caldera which over time filled to become
Crater Lake.
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| Camped at Crater Lake Campground |
We
were limited in the places we could see beyond the beautiful lake; the
extraordinary snowy winter meant that the park was almost 6 weeks behind their
usual opening schedule. Even our Crater
Lake Campground site was still surrounded by snow. Except for a small section of the South Rim
Road near the Lodge and Visitor Center, the park was snowbound. Most trails and roads were still under snow
and closed. The boat ride (departs from
the north rim) for the lake and to Wizard Island, usually open mid-June, will
not even be open until mid-to-late July.
Even so, the limited areas we could visit were spectacular; one of the
best view points over the lake also had the best phone service for miles
around. So, our car
“office” enjoyed an
incredible view while checking email. The
only negative was that in order to see sunset over the lake, we had to stay in
the car at dusk; with the long snowmelt, the mosquitos were swarming at sunset! We were able to enjoy a wonderful sunset dinner
in the beautiful historic lodge, with a view of the lake, and after a hike on
another afternoon, enjoy a glass of wine and great conversations on the lodge
veranda overlooking the lake.
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| Wizard Island, Crater Lake |
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| High Cascades from Volcanic Lava Field |
Because
of the limitations due to the snow at the Lake, we finished our visit to the
Lake a few days early. We used the extra
time for day trips to explore more of the southern Oregon Cascades. The drive through the lush green treed
mountains with snow on the high Cascades was beautiful. The entire area is
volcanic; volcanoes in the Cascades have been erupting for tens of millions of
years. The scenic Rogue River is nearby.
Interestingly, at one point, the Rogue River disappears into a lava tube
and travels underground. The natural “land
bridge” allowed Indians and early settlers to easily cross the Rogue River, not
easily passable elsewhere.
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| Linda and Bob at Crater Lake Lodge |
Fortunately,
as we were driving to the Crater Lake North Park Entrance, we realized that the
North Rim Road had been opened overnight. We parked our motorhome and took the
Jeep Cherokee to see the newly cleared 9 miles along the north/northwest rim of
the lake. The view back to the west rim
is just as spectacular as the view of the east rim we had been seeing all
week.
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| So Oregon Coast - Headlands and Bay Beach |
We
left the “cold” of the high Cascades and Crater Lake and headed back to the
southern Oregon coast. Our base was
Sunset Bay State Park in Charleston, just south of Coos Bay. From there we did day trips and easily
explored the coast all the way from the California border to Depoe Bay, about
half way up the state. The Oregon coast
is varied having three distinctly different shorelines. In the southern portion, the coast consists
of headlands and cliffs with crashing waves, interspaced with small beach bays
between the headlands – similar to northern California (with a continuation of
California geology). The trees march all
the way to the shore.
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| Sand Dunes Encroaching on Forest, Oregon Coast |
In
the middle portion of the coast to the north of Coos Bay, there are about 40
miles of huge sand dunes; here the sand is encroaching on the trees, engulfing
everything in the way as the sands march inland. In the northern portion of the Oregon coast the
headlands and small bays reappear due to the basalt flows of the Columbia River
Basalt Group. We visited all the
dramatic lighthouses along the way as far north as Depot Bay.
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| Cape Arago Lighthouse |
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| Fog and Oregon Coast |
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| West Coast Painted Rocks Project |
In
addition to enjoying a great Elvis impersonator (he was really good and honestly,
it was fun) at the Coos Bay Elks Lodge we had a great July 4th with
the Coos Bay American Legion Post. We
were invited by the Post Commander (met him at Elks Lodge – Coos Bay is not a
large town) to join the Legion Post for a July 4th picnic, which we
did. The picnic food and sunny weather was
great, and we won a grommet Coffee basket at the auction (coffee is a big thing
in Oregon – drive thru shops are as common as gas stations). Linda found several painted rocks at the
picnic. There is an interesting “project”
called West Coast Painted Rocks (#WCPR on FaceBook). People paint unusual designs on small rocks
and then leave them in unusual places (on trails, in parks, etc.) for someone
to find and to either keep or re-hide for someone else to find. Linda kept two of her “finds” as mementos (Linda found another one a few days
after the picnic in a Japanese garden).
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| Heceta Head Light in Fog |
The
weather on the coast had some fog and mostly cold (highs during day mid 60s and
low 50s at night) the entire time we were there (not unusual for the
coast). There were rare sunny days (or
partial days), but it was windy and still cold.
This is the usual summer weather pattern at the coast….way too cold for us
Floridians. Beautiful to look at, but we
were glad to head back to the interior and warmer climates. We were surprised at how much colder the
weather and water along the Oregon coast were compared to the northern
California weather and water…they are not that far apart. Even the kids would not go into the water in
Oregon at the beach, but only run and splash a little in the shallow water.
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| Toketee Falls |
Our
next stop was Bend Oregon, on the east side of the Cascades, in the high
desert. It was still in the mid-50s at night, but it got up to a comfortable
mid-80s during the day, with lots of sun! Here, you can really see the volcanic nature
of central and eastern Oregon. We
enjoyed a road trip into the mountains around Mt Bachelor (a ski mountain),
with the beautiful green forests, green/blue alpine lakes, and LOTS of
waterfalls…the snow is still melting in the high Cascades and there is water
flowing everywhere.
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| Lakes and Obsidian Flow Inside Newberry Caldera |
From
Bend we made two day trip visits: the John Day Fossil Beds and Newberry Volcano;
both are Volcanic National Monuments and are very interesting. Newberry Volcano, a currently active shield
volcano the size of Rhode Island, is the largest volcano in the Cascades Volcanic
arc. It last erupted 1300 years ago.
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| Lava Cast of Tree, Newberry Volcanic NM |
Within
the Newberry Volcanic National Monument, in addition to the lava tubes, cinder
cones, caldera, and other usual volcanic features, we saw lots of “Lava Casts”
at the Lava Cast Forest. These occurred
when hot lava flowed through a forest and the lava surrounded a tree. The lava against the tree immediately cooled
and formed a “cool lava skin” that prevented the tree from being burned by the
flowing lava. The trees are now long
dead, but the mold of the tree, a “Cast”, remains.
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| Fossil Bearing Cliffs, Blue Basin, John Day Fossil Beds NM |
In
John Day Fossil Beds Volcanic National Monument, we first visited the
paleontology center, where the fossil exhibits were quite good, with lots of
example fossils from the park, consisting of various geologic formations from 7
to 44 million years ago. We hiked the
Painted Hills and Blue Basin to see the fossil origins. Blue Basin is a deep canyon with unusual
rock/cliff formations that have high concentrations of fossils. The basin has
blue/grey clay walls; we have seen similar types of clay-rich paleosols/formations
in other places where they also yielded high concentrations of fossils
(paleosols are soils formed long ago that have no relationship to the present
day climate or vegetation).
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| Painted Hills, John Day Fossil Beds NM |
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| Painted Cove Trail, Painted Hills |
The
Painted Hills are another unusual clay formations where the various colors
reflect the climate found when the original volcanic ash was deposited. Yellows, brilliant reds, white and even an
unusual lavender are found mixed in the popcorn textured clay paleosols. There
are no fossils in the Painted Hills; however, in the hills there was one different
type of fossil location - a small hill where thousands of fossils have been
excavated, all from about 33 million years ago. This hill was composed of shale, but the
fossils were only plants and some early fish forms since mammals had not yet
evolved.
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| Few Remaining Fishing Boats on Port Orford Dry Dock "Harbor" |
Many
of the towns in southern Oregon are recovering financially. With the loss of the logging industry in the
mountains and fishing restrictions from reduced fish populations along the
coast, each town is trying to find its next “successful industry”. Many have resorted to tourism and/or catering
to retirees, but they are competing with each other, and only a few have been very
successful in that (Bend has!!!).
Prinville, a small pristine former agricultural and lumbering town north
of Bend, has been very successful in becoming a high tech center. Three large tech companies (including Amazon)
are building and expanding large data centers there bringing a mix of new to
the well-kept old. Other than too much snow, this small town appears like an
interesting place to live (if someone is inclined toward Oregon).
We
are heading to Portland, the Columbia River Gorge, Astoria and the northern coast to complete our
visit to Oregon. Again and with each
blog we write, we remind ourselves how blessed and fortunate we are to be
healthy and able to make this wonderful trip.
We are grateful!
Feel free to pass the blog link on
to anyone who might be interested.
Best to all,
Linda and Bob
