Newberry National Volcanic Monument

After sleeping well at the Whittingtons. we awoke and had breakfast before driving east toward Newberry National Volcanic Monument. We planned to hike into the caldera of the ancient volcano that collapsed and now holds beautiful high desert lakes.

Acres of obsidion

Mark and Cindy drove ahead of us in her new Audi, and we parked in the lot of the La Pine Best Western where we would be spending the night. All four of us got in Cindy’s nice car and headed up US 97 to the National Park.

Obsidian glass

The lava caves were closed for the winter to allow the resident bat population to hibernate. We decided that our first hike of the day would be the Big Obsidian Flow Trail, which is a one-mile loop through a 700-acre field of volcanic glass that is over 1600 years old. The black volcanic obsidian looked just like the waste glass at Blenko and was very sharp. Part of the trail went through a field of pumice formed from more slowly cooled lava. The very soft and lightweight pumice was very different from the obsidian of the same lava flow.

View from Little Crater Trail

We walked from the Big Obsidian Flow trail to the 1.8-mile-long Little Crater Trail that took us on a loop with great lake views as well as a good look onto the obsidian field. The trail was a gentle up and down slope that made for a nice walk. There were only a few other hikers on any of the trails and most were masked up. A little haze from the fires in California as well as some closer fires made the view hazy.

River otter at the High Desert Museum

We got back to the car around 1:30 and had our usual travel lunch of peanut butter and crackers. We had some of Mark’s jerky and chocolate covered almonds too.

From the Newberry Volcanic Park we drive to the High Desert Museum. We were glad to get a 10% AAA discount for our group. The museum had displays on the plants and animals of the area, as well as the native people and the influence of European exploration and settlement. There were also odd displays on daredevils such as Evel Knievel, who performed many of his better-known stunts in the high desert, and on the Burning Man Festival, which takes place at the end of summer in the Nevada high dessert. The outside portion of the museum had river otters, fish and local birds of prey. There was also a recreation of an early 1900s ranch that would have been typical in the area. We all thought that the museum was very enjoyable. Mark and Cindy come here fairly regularly.

Since everyone was starting to get hungry, we drove into Bend to look for a place to get dinner. We settled on a food truck in a small food court area in a hip part of town not far from the Oregon State campus. Alebrije Oaxaca turned out to be a very good choice. Mary got a torta with roasted beef, tomato and avocado on a bolillo, and I had chicken mole enchiladas with beans and rice. Mark and Cindy split a burrito Mexican pizza with retried black beans, avocado, tomato, roast pork and cheese. We all shared some of each other’s meals and were very happy with our orders.

After the meal we drove back to the La Pine Best Western and checked in. Our rooms were comfortable, and the area was very quiet. We were looking forward to Crater Lake National Park tomorrow then on the California on Saturday.