A Birthday, Visitors, and Paulina Peak

 June 22 - 27

Sunday we invited Steph and Brittain for dinner cooked over the fire, only our wood burned so quickly there were embers to cook the paella over, so it took longer than planned. In the meantime, a friend from game nights at the church came by with his son. They were meeting friends in Bend for dinner so didn't stay. Before we left for the summer, I had told them they could borrow our kayaks to explore the lake when they came up, but our attire indicates that this was not a welcome offer when they arrived. 

Mikkel and his son visiting on a chilly evening

Monday it was back to work at the visitor center. We are becoming more familiar with the building, resources, store inventory, and answering visitor questions. Made a lovely discovery as I put my name tag on my uniform. The company that made the ID is from Attleboro, my childhood hometown. Once know as the Jewelry Capital, most of my family worked in the jewelry industry at some point. I used to think that Balfours was the family shop, since so many members worked there and we went to their family picnics every year. 

On Wednesday, I went roving, which involves going out to sites or on trails and interacting with visitors who have questions in the field. I decided to hike the Paulina Lake Loop from Little Crater Day Use area to the hot springs, and back, an easy 5 miles. 

Wolf lichen on stump

The flowers were bloomimg everywhere and the wildlife was delightful

Thursday was Matthew's birthday and Steph and Brittain Barnes made a sweet banner and a paper hat for him to wear. On Thursdays Emily, our lone ranger, comes up for the day and up to 4 other volunteers can come up that day to rove, do maintenance chores, and offer programs for visitors. The Barnes bought pies to celebrate the birthday boy and Emily made delicious scones.

The birthday boy

Although the road to Paulina Peak isn't yet open to the public we all drove up there to see the view and get oriented to the site. The peak is about 8000 ft, about 1600 ft above where we are staying.

The Three Sisters and Mount Jefferson

Some of the 400+ cinder cones of Newberry Volcanic Monument

Paulina lake on the left, the Central Pumice Cone with Little Crater in front in the middle, and East Lake to the right

The Big Obsidian Flow,the youngest land in Oregon, flowed 1300 years ago

After our Peak experience, Matthew went to the East Lake hot springs to learn the measuring process. This spot is 130 degrees F at it's source output

A new horror unearthed - Thatching Ants that are highly territorial and aggressive.

Pussypaws 

Our former boss at Yaquina Head, Andrew, came up with his wife Tina to visit. We had a lovely dinner at the East Lake Resort, with an incredibly huge and yummy berry cobbler with ice cream for dessert.

Paulina Peak heading "home" from East Lake

Friday morning we met up with Andrew and Tina for a hike around Little Crater before they headed home.

The Big Obsidian Flow

 We ended the day with a lovely sunset reflecting off Paulina Peak

Paulina Visitor Center in the Caldera of Newberry Volcanic Monument

 June 7 - June 21

Wednesday, we drove to Paulina Visitor Center, about 30 minutes from the main visitor center and activities, and about 40 minutes from Bend Oregon. Matthew drove the camper up while I stopped at the post office box before heading up. At one point, while I was driving 70mph, a foam block supporting our kayaks flew off, precipitating a nerve-wracking hike along the side of the busy highway to retrieve it.

Arrived at our home for the next 3 months, a lovely shaded spot next to the visitor center, so we won't need to drive to work each time. The site's electricity was working and the water was on, although the testing hadn't been completed on that to give us the go-ahead to use it yet. 

We spent the bulk of the day setting up the store and getting cursory instructions about selling items, although the internet isn't working so how sales will proceed is a big question. After the store manager, Gail, her helper, and our Ranger left, Matthew and I drove down every road in the caldera to familiarize ourselves with the site. 

 

Paulina Creek

Paulina Peak

We stopped at the Big Obsidian Flow, the youngest lava flow in Oregon at ~1300 years. 

The Lost Lake isn't so lost right now - evidently it was a good snow year. It will be a mere puddle by the end of the summer

The tenacious Newberry's Penstemon 

A determined pine

Looking at Paulina Lake

Paulina Falls

Paulina Lake, conveniently right across the street from where we are camped

Thursday some of the volunteers come up for a work day and we cleaned the entire visitor center (the back rooms were quarters for staff in the past), got some more training, had a patchwork internet solution that was only intermittently successful, and prepared as best we could for being solo on opening day. 

Friday we donned our uniforms and officially opened the visitor center at 9 am. We were hopping til closing at 4, as folks were eager to be up here. The internet was a headache but we stumbled through. After closing, we hiked the trail to the other side of Paulina Falls.

Another view of Paulina Peak

Someone was industrious

The cute ranger

The other ranger

On Saturday Steph and Britt Barnes, our co-host volunteers, arrived.  This is their 4th year here, and we were so glad to see them - they have so much more knowledge and experience! Fortunately we all get along great and have similar world views. It'll make for a fun summer. Britt took us on his tour of the Big Obsidian Flow, sharing the important talking points for when we are interpreting up there.

Nate, Rux, and their friend Meg stopped by for a brief visit on Sunday after we were done with work.

Monday Britt took us on a hike up the Little Crater and shared more of his interpretive points

The Clark's Nutcracker has a mutualistic relationship with the Whitebark Pine tree. The trees need the bird to open its cone for seed dispersal, the seeds are highly nutritious for the birds, who bury the seeds in caches for later consumption, and some caches are not retrieved, resulting in clusters of new tree growth

A fissure in the crater with the cinder cone behind it

View of the Big Obsidian Flow from the edge of the crater. 

Tuesday we had the day off so we did laundry, drove into town to pick up some groceries, and met Ranger Emily and Lava Land host volunteers Walter and Carla, and Millie for dinner. Wednesday Matthew staffed the store and I roved, hiking the trail down to the base of the Paulina Falls

It always amazes me how life will cling to the most precarious places

Drove into town Wednesday eve to meet up with Sarah and Alan at Crux Fermentation - always good to see them. Thursdays Ranger Emily comes up with restock for the store and brings volunteers who spend the day roving to various points. I went with Steph to the hot springs at East Lake to learn to take the weekly measurements. 

This spring measured at 130 degrees at the source 

Friday, our regularly scheduled day off, was a slump day for both of us. We never left the camper, since a cold front had moved in. We spent a lovely, lazy day reading, cooking, and playing mindless games on our phones. 

Woke in the morning to this - thank goodness for a space heater in the camper

No real plans for the weekend, just hitting the Bend farmers' market, picking up some odds and ends, and sitting in the library to catch up on all things internet related.