It's our last full day in Bend! We've been traipsing around Central Oregon for 5 days now, and have been having such a wonderful time. The scenery in this part of the state is much different than it is around Portland, but its absolutely beautiful in its own way. Today we set out to explore as much of it as we could!
Our first stop was the Lava Lands Visitor Center and Lava Butte. The visitors center had a bunch of really cool exhibits talking about all the volcanic activity in this part of the state, and how those volcanoes have formed many of attractions that we would be visiting today. The first of those was Lava Butte - a cinder cone volcano that stands 500 feet high and erupted 7,000 years ago - covering 9 square miles with lava. There is very limited parking at the top of the volcano, so we had to get a pass at the gift shop and then wait for our designated time before we could drive up. It was worth the wait thought, the view from the top was spectacular! However, that's not the first thing we noticed...Lava Butte has its own adorable welcoming committee, and they were VERY friendly!
We managed to tear ourselves away from the adorable little chipmunks and focus on what we came to see - that amazing view I mentioned earlier! This is what we saw from the top of the trail around the rim of the volcano:
The bowl of the volcano from the highest point on the rim:
The kids heading down across the rim of the volcano:
Matthew and Rowan:
Me and Killian:
The view from the bottom of the rim trail, looking up at the parking area and small visitors center where we started:
There is still a huge area of blackened land surrounding the volcano where the lava flowed out, and even now, thousands of years after the eruption, plants struggle to grow in the that area:
We hiked back along the trail up to the parking lot, and ran into our friendly welcoming committee again. The kids grabbed a couple peanuts from the car, and the chipmunks happily became their new best friends:
Our next stop was the Lava River Caves - a mile long caved carved into the earth by flowing lava from a volcano that was estimated to have erupted 80,000 years ago. The cave tour is self guided, so we rented a lantern at the entrance and made our way down the stairs into the cave. It was cold down there - the cave stays at about 42* year round, so I was glad that we had bundled up beforehand!
Matthew and the kids at the entrance to the cave:
At the entrance to the cave, looking out towards the sunlight:
The end of the road...er...cave!
It was fun exploring the cave and checking out all the cool rock formations for the first 30 minutes or so, but it took nearly an hour to reach the end and by then we were all just kind of wondering when it was going to be over. Plus, we still had to turn around and walk all the way back! Luckily, that seemed to go a lot faster, and we were back in the sunshine in no time.
After all that hiking we had worked up quite an appetite, and after hours in the gloom, we were ready for some sunshine! We drove a short way over to Benham Falls, and picnicked under the pine trees. Recharged, we were ready to head out on the trail! We passed over this calm, meandering river and saw some beautiful rock formations and scenery on the way:
A short ways down the trail, that calm river of water started raging!
You cant help but feel small and insignificant standing next to rapids like these! It was very loud, and the water was extremely fast and powerful, and incredibly beautiful to watch. We stood at the edge of the cliff for a long time just listening to the rushing water and admiring the forest and rocks. I can see now why so many people want to live in this part of the state, the scenery is rugged and absolutely amazing!
It was really hot out, so once we reached this point on the trail, we turned around and drove back to our campsite. There was one last thing we wanted to do in Bend before the sun went down.....
We rented a motor boat and spent the rest of the afternoon on the lake! Our campground has this great little lodge, where you can buy food and camping supplies (Rowan found a tiny stuffed wolf, which she deemed a necessary camping supply - she named it Cookie) and you can also rent boats to take out on Lava Lake. We gathered up our fishing gear, threw some life jackets on the kids and we were on our way!
It was all fun and games.....
Until the kids roasted - it was in the high 90's today and being out on a metal boat with water all around heated us up very quickly. So, t-shirts (and in Rowan's case, shorts) came off, and it was all fun and games again in no time!
While we were cruising around the lake looking for a good fishing spot, we saw this mama deer and her little fawn grazing along the shore. The baby was so cute! Most of the time it stayed about 20 feet behind the mama deer, camouflaged in the bushes, but I managed to snap a picture with the two of them together as they were heading away from the lake and back up the hill. We actually saw quite a few deer on this camping trip, which is always a huge thrill for everyone.
Rowan did a little fishing:
While I did a little relaxing:
When our time on the lake was nearing an end, everyone took a turn steering the motor! Killian was up first:
Then Rowan and I:
And finally I took a turn all by myself! Steering the boat is fun, even if I did almost run us into the reeds :)
Sitting around the campfire, everyone talked about what their favorite part of the day had been. It was hard to choose, because today was so full of great adventures! In fact, this whole trip has been one fun experience after another, and we have all had such an amazing vacation. After 5 days of camping, we are definitely ready to head home again though! It's going to be wonderful to get away from the dust, be able to grab food straight from the fridge, and to shower and have clean clothes again. But I am looking forward to heading back to Bend again at some point for another vacation. We spent all our time in the woods, other than the day we went into town to stock up on food and ice. But in the short time we were back in civilization, we saw a ton of things that we wanted to do. Inner tubing down the river in the middle of the city is number one on my list. So hopefully, we will be "Going around the Bend" again sometime soon!
Our first stop was the Lava Lands Visitor Center and Lava Butte. The visitors center had a bunch of really cool exhibits talking about all the volcanic activity in this part of the state, and how those volcanoes have formed many of attractions that we would be visiting today. The first of those was Lava Butte - a cinder cone volcano that stands 500 feet high and erupted 7,000 years ago - covering 9 square miles with lava. There is very limited parking at the top of the volcano, so we had to get a pass at the gift shop and then wait for our designated time before we could drive up. It was worth the wait thought, the view from the top was spectacular! However, that's not the first thing we noticed...Lava Butte has its own adorable welcoming committee, and they were VERY friendly!
500
foot high volcano, which erupted 7000 years ago and covered 9 square
miles with lava - See more at:
http://www.pdxfamilyadventures.com/2010/08/12/lava-lands-visitor-center#sthash.luEHDBZ0.dpuf
500
foot high volcano, which erupted 7000 years ago and covered 9 square
miles with lava - See more at:
http://www.pdxfamilyadventures.com/2010/08/12/lava-lands-visitor-center#sthash.luEHDBZ0.dpuf
500
foot high volcano, which erupted 7000 years ago and covered 9 square
miles with lava - See more at:
http://www.pdxfamilyadventures.com/2010/08/12/lava-lands-visitor-center#sthash.luEHDBZ0.dpuf
We managed to tear ourselves away from the adorable little chipmunks and focus on what we came to see - that amazing view I mentioned earlier! This is what we saw from the top of the trail around the rim of the volcano:
The bowl of the volcano from the highest point on the rim:
The kids heading down across the rim of the volcano:
Matthew and Rowan:
Me and Killian:
The view from the bottom of the rim trail, looking up at the parking area and small visitors center where we started:
There is still a huge area of blackened land surrounding the volcano where the lava flowed out, and even now, thousands of years after the eruption, plants struggle to grow in the that area:
We hiked back along the trail up to the parking lot, and ran into our friendly welcoming committee again. The kids grabbed a couple peanuts from the car, and the chipmunks happily became their new best friends:
Our next stop was the Lava River Caves - a mile long caved carved into the earth by flowing lava from a volcano that was estimated to have erupted 80,000 years ago. The cave tour is self guided, so we rented a lantern at the entrance and made our way down the stairs into the cave. It was cold down there - the cave stays at about 42* year round, so I was glad that we had bundled up beforehand!
Matthew and the kids at the entrance to the cave:
At the entrance to the cave, looking out towards the sunlight:
The end of the road...er...cave!
It was fun exploring the cave and checking out all the cool rock formations for the first 30 minutes or so, but it took nearly an hour to reach the end and by then we were all just kind of wondering when it was going to be over. Plus, we still had to turn around and walk all the way back! Luckily, that seemed to go a lot faster, and we were back in the sunshine in no time.
After all that hiking we had worked up quite an appetite, and after hours in the gloom, we were ready for some sunshine! We drove a short way over to Benham Falls, and picnicked under the pine trees. Recharged, we were ready to head out on the trail! We passed over this calm, meandering river and saw some beautiful rock formations and scenery on the way:
A short ways down the trail, that calm river of water started raging!
You cant help but feel small and insignificant standing next to rapids like these! It was very loud, and the water was extremely fast and powerful, and incredibly beautiful to watch. We stood at the edge of the cliff for a long time just listening to the rushing water and admiring the forest and rocks. I can see now why so many people want to live in this part of the state, the scenery is rugged and absolutely amazing!
It was really hot out, so once we reached this point on the trail, we turned around and drove back to our campsite. There was one last thing we wanted to do in Bend before the sun went down.....
We rented a motor boat and spent the rest of the afternoon on the lake! Our campground has this great little lodge, where you can buy food and camping supplies (Rowan found a tiny stuffed wolf, which she deemed a necessary camping supply - she named it Cookie) and you can also rent boats to take out on Lava Lake. We gathered up our fishing gear, threw some life jackets on the kids and we were on our way!
It was all fun and games.....
Until the kids roasted - it was in the high 90's today and being out on a metal boat with water all around heated us up very quickly. So, t-shirts (and in Rowan's case, shorts) came off, and it was all fun and games again in no time!
While we were cruising around the lake looking for a good fishing spot, we saw this mama deer and her little fawn grazing along the shore. The baby was so cute! Most of the time it stayed about 20 feet behind the mama deer, camouflaged in the bushes, but I managed to snap a picture with the two of them together as they were heading away from the lake and back up the hill. We actually saw quite a few deer on this camping trip, which is always a huge thrill for everyone.
Rowan did a little fishing:
While I did a little relaxing:
When our time on the lake was nearing an end, everyone took a turn steering the motor! Killian was up first:
Then Rowan and I:
And finally I took a turn all by myself! Steering the boat is fun, even if I did almost run us into the reeds :)
Sitting around the campfire, everyone talked about what their favorite part of the day had been. It was hard to choose, because today was so full of great adventures! In fact, this whole trip has been one fun experience after another, and we have all had such an amazing vacation. After 5 days of camping, we are definitely ready to head home again though! It's going to be wonderful to get away from the dust, be able to grab food straight from the fridge, and to shower and have clean clothes again. But I am looking forward to heading back to Bend again at some point for another vacation. We spent all our time in the woods, other than the day we went into town to stock up on food and ice. But in the short time we were back in civilization, we saw a ton of things that we wanted to do. Inner tubing down the river in the middle of the city is number one on my list. So hopefully, we will be "Going around the Bend" again sometime soon!