Friend's Visit, Stopping a Theft, and Beautiful, Challenging Smith Rock

 July 26 - Aug 4

Our long-time friends, Chris and Deanna, came up from Southern California to visit for a few days. It was wonderful to spend time with them and explore the area some more. We went to all the Monument highpoints, planned to have dinner at East Lake, but a gnarly thunderstorm took out the electricity so plan B was cooking at our place, explored Bend, including a late lunch at the famed McMenamins, followed by yet another mixed berry cobbler at East Lake. It was a wonderful, if too short, visit.

Love the patterns in the obsidian

Big Obsidian Flow

The Bend McMenamins is in a former Catholic school that was transofrmed into a brewery, hotel, and movie theater, with surprises around every corner, like this broom closet.

The left panel with one broom is actually a secret door into a sweet little bar area.

The McMenamin's
soaking pool

Walked down to the river after lunch and was amused by this duck display.

With the Barnes' gone, our work days have switched to Th - Sun.

The store portion of our visitor center

SO fortunate to have access to an oven here so Matthew a can make his sourdough bread and gift it to people we work with.

While it's unfortunate that people don't follow the rules, usually the issue is dogs off leash issues that we have to address, but this was a first for me. Pulled into the Big Obsidian Flow (BoF) and immediately came across an ATV coming out of the woods. I stopped thed and let them know that motorized vehicles are not allowed on any of the monument trails. He was polite and said he was going straight to his campsite. As he was heading out I saw in my mirror his cooler fall off the back of his vehicle, but he stopped so I went on to check the sign I was updating. As I came back around he was putting the cooler into the back of his ATV and I asked if it broke, and he said yes, but that it was still fine. It wasn't until he actually pt it in the back that I saw this enormous hunk of obsidian in his ATV. It is a federal offense to remove anything from the Monument, althogh I know people take small pieces of obsidian all the time, buut this was over the top. After informing him of the law, I had him put the rock in my car so he couldn't come back for it. He siad it didn't weigh much, so that's what I told Matthew as I asked him to put it in the Visitors Center later. Actually it weighed probably close to 150lbs or more. It took both of us, a smashed finger and several cuts on our hands, just to get it in the door.

On Monday we drove up to Smith Rock to explore that area. We decided to do the 4 mile Misery Ridge Loop, and it was a beautiful but miserable hike. The first mile may have been the slowest mile we have ever walked as all we did was climb. All told we gained 1255 ft of elevation, which was a challenge for this old lady, especially in the heat. But the views!

Yeah, that's the trail we took

Cool rocks embedded in the ash - rhyolite tuff

Supposedly Smith Rock is the birthplace of modern rock climbing

Basalt ridge

Made it to the top

This was the last section to the top

Fortunately we didn't need this

Nor these

The famous Monkey Face Rock 

Evidently Matthew got lot of photos of me as I tried to catch my breath

Probably the most beautiful hike we've ever done, and the hardest.

Ice Cave, "The Factory", Nature Beauty, and Goodbyes

 July 17 - 25

Thursdays are the day that Emily, the lone ranger for the 54,822 acres of the Monument, is available to come up to the caldera, the busier Lava Lands and the Lava River Cave tieing her up the other days. There is also the ridiculous rule that (local) volunteers can not be up here unless the ranger is - although we are up here every day and are living here without adult supervision. All that to say that Thursdays are busy with activities - and the only day that is, since we also did not hire the 12 seasonal employees for the summer. 

The 17th was a tough day for Emily, and she arrived in tears; her boss had told her to dismiss another volunteer couple based on the complaint of a single visitor and without investigation or speaking to the couple about their side. Activity was the balm she needed, so while I went off with Stephne to measure the lake levels, temps and gas levels of the hot springs, she and Matthew led the guided hike on the Big Obsidian Flow. After the hike she took him off-trail to an obsidian ice cave.

Cool layers

We ended the day with a nice paddle on East Lake to the pumice beach, which we shared with the mergansers. 

Sunday, Matthew and I hiked alongside an old obsidian flow to see a spot colloquially called "the factory".  This area has been occupied for at least 11,000 years, and there are large quantities of chipped stone waste  alongside this obsidian flow, evidence of "work stations" where the obsidian would be rough-knapped into managable pieces that could be carried out and refined later as the need arose.

Obsidian chip waste from ancient people's knapping

Blooming moss

The pumice field behind the obsidian flow - the birds were so numerous and beautiful sounding here - mountain chickadees, red crossbills, yellow rumped wabblers, red-breasted nuthatch, white-breasted nuthatch, evening grosbeak, and clark's nutcrackers.

The top of the flow

Climbed to the top of other side for a view of the central pumice cone and East Lake

Love this piece of obsidian

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to our co-workers, Britton and Stephne Barnes, who were returning to Southern California to start the new school year.  They will be greatly missed!