Of Hot Rocks and Birds

When driving a back road near Mt. Bachelor we passed what looked like a slag pile left over from strip mining.  This is common in some parts of south eastern Ohio where Larry grew up.  But not something to be expected in an Oregon national forest.

Not only was this not expected here, but it went on for miles.  We had noticed that we had passed a campground entrance just before the piles began, so we did a U-turn and headed down a narrow gravel road.  Of course, we found friendly campers by a secluded lake who explained that we were looking at a lava flow that had blocked off a stream and created this lake.

Had I known what we would learn over the next couple of days, spending time investigating lava flows would have been high on my "bucket" list.  Fortunately we found resources to enlighten us.  At a nearby national park we found a lava butte that was the source of another field of lava covering 6 square miles.  Looking down into the ash cone we could see the crater that was left after the volcano cooled:

The field of lava is immense and has very little vegetation even after 6000 years.  Yet the boundaries between the lava flow and the original terrain are quite crisp.

A photo cannot do justice to the concept of six square miles of Lava...

Oops, Larry's shading hat strap got in the photo, but you get the idea.  We were able to hike over this lava field (the astronauts used it to train for the moon landing) and another that I'll mention in a minute.

Dotti and I have seldom missed an opportunity to explore caves open to the public around the country.  But every cave we have entered has been carved by water.  As a part of this park there is a mile long "cave" that is a lava river tube.  It was really formed by a hot, molten lava flow that emptied out of the tube as it cooled.  We hiked about 3/4 of the length of the cave with a propane lantern.  Obviously we could not get pictures in such faint light, but we did snap one as we approached the entrance on the way back.

About 25 miles from the Lava Lands Visitor Center is another Lava flow that was produced at much higher temperatures, so the silicone actually turned into obsidian.  The native Americans living is this area used obsidian to fashion tools and to trade with others because it was valued for its hardness and its ability to be formed into sharp strong edges.

Lava flows were not on our agenda, but have proved to be a fascinating study we welcomed.  As we travel roads we never know what we will find.  Like the eagle nest on top of an electric pole (with two chicks in the nest).

Or the High Dessert Museum that had an open air raptor display.  We were within five feet of raptors who flew in for bits of meat.

Tomorrow we pack up and head for Eugene, OR for a couple of days.  I'm sure we will have more stories to tell.