On the next day, we traveled from our campsite at East Lake north on the way to Bend. We were anxious to see the Lava Cast Forest, out in the remote middle of the Newberry Lava Fields, and what amazing mysteries that it held.
First, we drove from East Lake to Sunriver. Our coffee pot managed to brew up some of the worst coffee we’ve had in a while. We figured, since Sunriver was along the way, we might as well stop to get a good cup of coffee! Once we coffeed up, we headed down 20 miles of washboard gravel roads! Through the whole trip, we seemed to have hit these gravel roads for extremely long stretches. We’re both pretty amazed the Stratus didn’t rattle itself apart along the way. Nevertheless, we pressed on, anxious to see the wonders of the Lava Cast Forest.
OK, I really didn’t want to use the term “anti-climactic” in my post, but this is one of the Lava Casts in the Lava Cast Forest. Yeah, we were expecting something more along the lines of “Petrified Forest” with fossilized tree rings and petrified wood, with lots of colors and stuff. And after 20 miles of washboard gravel road, we were expecting something wonderful at the end of the road. Instead, we had gray, rocky holes. Still, they were kind of neat.
Lava Casts are what happens when a lava flow runs through a stand of trees. The Lava goes around the trees and leaves the casts behind once the lava cools and the tree either burns up or rots away. In the picture here, I imagine the lava went over a fallen tree.
The Lava Cast Forest was out in the middle of the Newberry Lava Fields. As usual, the Cascades were scenic as ever! There was a path across some of the rougher terrain.
The Lava Fields stretched on for miles, and the weather was really nice–cooler, in fact, than what we expected. It was also very quiet.
Anyway, after doing the Lava Cast Forest trail around the different Lava Casts, we headed North again toward Bend, and decided to stop at the High Desert Museum. Paula and I went there years ago, so we decided to stop there again.
This guy reminded us of Jasper!
Here’s Paula in a tee pee!
Anyway, after a quick wandering around the High Desert Museum, Paula and I headed up to Bend, where we spent the night at the Riverhouse! We wanted to rest up for the trip to Smith Rock the next day!