SPRING 2009 TRAVELS: 6 19 ON THE WAY TO BEND

Drove to the Fossil Lake, which is an old dried up lake with fossils on it, so they say. We discovered we had no idea how to find a fossil in a sea of sand (which was probably volcanic ash). All we saw was dunes and desert. We had a nice walk, tho. (we do that a lot, walk and not find what we thought we would, well ok, we also do that in the car:) )

So we left and drove toward Crack in the Ground. Along the way we saw several lava flows. These were pretty old ones with much plant growth on them.

We got to Crack in the Ground, which is a "crack in the ground" caused by some huge ground movement that split parts of a huge lava flow. It made cracks in all different directions. Some of the cracks are filled with rock debris but one, about ½ mile long, is passable.

Can you find Arleen in there?

It is very narrow in spots and we had to climb over some rockfall a couple of times, but it was very interesting and beautiful. Some of the walls showed bubble holes from the inside of the lava flow, since that was what we were looking at. How often do you get to go inside a lava flow? Cool.

Bubbles !

We did climb out of the crack. Notice the rocks that have fallen over.

this is what the countryside looked like, other than the crack. Pretty normal, huh? Nature is pretty awsome!

Then we drove on to Derick Cave. We followed a nice gravel road for about 8 or so miles and then the road became a bit more challenging. But that was no problem for us, we had a Ford 500, ATV to ride in. We weren’t worried. We drove on, even tho we hit several rough patches that made us think about reconsidering our decision, but we had come too far to turn back. So we continued on, scraping noises, bouncing and all. But we made it to the lava tube and enjoyed a walk of about ¼ mile, some in light and some by flashlite. Then we had to retrace our ride in, back out. So Duane reorganized the luggage in the trunk into the backseat, to lighten the backend and at the hardest parts Arleen got out to lighten the frontend and direct Duane over some snarley rocks. But, again we made it and it looks like the car made it too.

Here we are, out in the middle of nowhere, and there is a yield sign. Yield to WHO?

Our all-wheel drive ATV

The view from inside the lava tube. We love caves. The longer and darker the better. Actually, there is no such thing as darker.....a real cave, or tube, once you go around a curve, you are in total darkness....the kind where your eyes never can adjust since there is no light at all...so it can not be darker than that. We even make a point of turning out our lights and stand in the darkness. WOW!

Here is Duane climbing some fallen ceiling rocks. Good camera :)

Then after celebratory grapes, instead of wine (we were still driving) we headed toward Bend. On the way we stopped at Fort Rock, a Maar, created when hot magma made its way to the surface, but the surface was a very deep lake. Then the water hit the hot magma a huge explosion occurred, throwing much of the lake bottom up in the air in a circular direction. Then more explosions, and more…and you get the idea. As time passed the circular mud turned to rock. Then the rock got eroded away by the waves of the lake. Fort Rock is what is left of that process.