A great place to visit to see all this volcanic action is Newberry National Volcanic Monument in Deschutes National Forest, about 30 miles south of Bend.

PAULINA PEAK

A drive up a curvy, steep road to Paulina Peak rewards you with a 360° panoramic view of the Cascade Range. It is beautiful!

For sure a focal point is the view of the Newberry Caldera, with Paulina Lake, East Lake, Little Crater & the Big Obsidian Flow.

Paulina Lake is the deeper of the two lakes, at a maximum depth of 250 feet. Neither lake have streams flowing into them, so they are filled with water by rain, snow melt & hot springs.

The Big Obsidian Flow is the youngest lava flow in Oregon and consists of pumice and obsidian.

Ground level with Paulina Lake

PAULINA CREEK FALLS

Paulina Lake has one outlet: Paulina Creek. Not far from the outlet is 80 foot Paulina Creek Falls.

It’s a fairly short hike to the falls.

LAVA RIVER CAVE

Lava River Cave was formed by molten lava & is over 5000 feet long. It is a cave, therefore it is dark and cold.

One time I went there were people outside telling us about White-nose syndrome that is killing bats. They are trying to stop the spread of the disease. So, we had to tell them we weren’t wearing clothes or shoes that we had worn into other caves before entering the cave.

Path to the cave

Lanterns or flashlights are a must when entering the cave.

LAVA LANDS VISITOR CENTER & LAVA BUTTE

Another place to visit is the Lava Lands Visitor Center. From there you can see Lava Butte, which has great views from the top.

Lava Butte is a 500 foot cinder cone.

Bottom Right Photo: Mount Bachelor

Inside the Visitor Center
Left: I really enjoyed this representation of the area.
Right: The boys touching a piece of obsidian

A spectacular view from the summit of Lava Butte.

You can view all these sites in one day or spend many days exploring the area more intently.

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On a fairly sunny day in May, the kids and I spent the day exploring sites in the Columbia Gorge.

COLUMBIA GORGE INTERPRETIVE CENTER

Although I wanted to see other things, my main reason for going to The Gorge that day was to visit the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center. So, we went there first.

The Interpretive Center is on the Washington side of the Columbia River, but I had planned to drive most of the way on the Oregon side, up I-84. Even though, for the most part, I knew where to go I still turned on Google navigation. When I got closer to Portland, Google Maps changed my route. I don’t know why, but I followed it. It now had me crossing the Columbia River in Portland and driving the rest of the way on the Washington side, on SR-14, part of the Lewis & Clark Highway. This was my first time driving up The Gorge via Washington.

BRIDGE OF THE GODS

After touring the Interpretive Center, we drove over the Bridge of the Gods to get back to Oregon. As well as being a cool looking bridge, it is also part of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Cheryl Strayed ended her PCT travels here, as she tells in her book Wild. She was a nut & probably never should have hiked that trail as inexperienced as she was. But, it is a great story about not only her journey on the PCT, but also her journey through life getting her where she is now. It’s inspiring. I can’t wait until the movie comes out.

PACIFIC CREST TRAIL

Just over the bridge, in Oregon, is the little town of Cascade Locks. Here, we hiked a short way on the Pacific Crest Trail in search of a letterbox. Which, we found. Yay! One day we will hike more of this trail.

CASCADE LOCKS

We found another letterbox not far from the sign.

I’ve only been to Cascade Locks once or twice before, and I remember getting ice cream cones from this place. So in adding to that memory, I treated the kids. It was a warm day, perfect for licking ice cream.

BONNEVILLE DAM

BONNEVILLE FISH HATCHERY

From the dam, we went to the Bonneville Fish Hatchery.

MULTNOMAH FALLS

Our last stop of the day was a quick visit to Multnomah Falls.

Multnomah Falls is the highest year round waterfall in Oregon. Second largest in the US. The Upper Fall plummets 542 feet. The Lower Fall is 69 feet.

A few months prior a boulder fell through the Benson Bridge. This bridge allows you to continue your hike across the Falls and up to the top. The bridge was being repaired, so it and the trail were closed. It is now open, though.
The furthest we could go up the trail was to this observation point, which was fine since I didn’t want to spend a long time at the Falls anyway.

Excerpt from the journals of Lewis & Clark, April 9, 1806
“we passed several beautifull cascades which fell from a great hight over the stupendious rocks & the most remarkable of these casscades falls about 300 feet perpendicularly over a solid rock into a narrow bottom of the river on the south side. . . . several small streams fall from a much greater hight, and in their decent become a perfect mist which collecting on the rocks below again become visible and decend a second time in the same manner before they reach the base of the rocks.”

It was a long, fabulous day. I don’t even remember the kids arguing much.

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