So many craters

This morning Sarah and I hopped out of bed, had some breakfast then headed out for the first part of our day. We met up with a tour guide that took us to see a nearby ancient volcano. After picking up a couple other folks from a nearby resort we headed south to pay a visit to Oregon's "Other Crater Lake" the Newberry Crater with its awesome obsidian lava flow and beautiful fresh water lakes. Our guide, Kevin, first drove us up the back of a spire overlooking the crater and Paulina Lake to take in the landscape. Another great feature of the spot is that it's home to the highest outhouse in Oregon. Wee! After many a picture we drove down to a nearby 1,300 year old obsidian rich lava flow and did a bit of strolling around on a trail to learn of its history and not take pieces of the shiny black stuff home with us. After this we briefly walked along Paulina Lake, one of two in the caldera, and spied some fish swimming about below the surface. Overall, the Wanderlust guide put on a great and informative tour that I happily give my Geosciences BS stamp of approval.

We came back to Bend kinda' late so couldn't have lunch with Mandy but we instead grabbed some Mongolian BBQ for lunch and hit the local Fred Meyer for camping food and supplies. From there we motored south on Hwy 97 and made it to Oregon's famous Crater Lake with daylight to spare. My first ever view of the lake was from a vantage point at the northwest entrance to the park and it was stunning! The water was bluer than the sky and the cliffs that surround the lake reminded me of a more spectacular version of the inside walls of Mt. St. Helens. After I snapped a few panoramas we drove around to find a campground. Our first choice was full so the second campground with 200 spots would have to do. Fortunately, we got a nice spot just before they completely booked up for the night. We got an RV spot that had room for something like five tents and was private enough to be really relaxing. Sarah and I set up camp, cooked up some hot dogs, and relaxed the night away with a warm fire and a deck of brilliant stars overhead.

Comments (2) | To Top

8/2/2005 @ 8:04pm

Fascinating pictures of the lava flow and the black obsidian.

by Sherry

8/3/2005 @ 11:57am

Great pictures. I love that area of Oregon.
You know those folks in the pictures were
pretty great to.
Love ya,
Dad Champion

by Billy Champion