Canyonwren Travels: Visit to Sunriver

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Visit to Sunriver

Breaking away from the daily grind of retirement at home, Linda and I hopped in the camper and drove west and south heading for Sunriver, Oregon to visit with our friends Don and Caroline. The Samuelsons had rented a condo for a week-long fall getaway and invited us along.

Crooked River at The Cove Palisades State Park.

We left Post Falls late morning and drove Hwy. 90 west. As we passed Ritzville the truck blinked a brake/ABS warning followed by an audio ding. This caught our attention and we started monitoring the gauges as we scurried towards the Tri-Cities.

The warning sounded again and again but there was no change in the trucks demeanor so we continued on. As we neared the city, Linda called Perfection Tire and they said for us to come on in, they were not busy.

Waterfalls at the state park.

At Perfection, they checked out the brake warning and found that it was either a bad sensor or a short in one of the wires for the sensor. It was not a serious need-to-repair item and could wait until we returned home from our trip. We agreed that if they dug into the repair and were not able to get the parts right away then we would be stuck. It was best that we moved on and repaired the annoyance later.

We drove on and decided to not stay on the Columbia River as we had planned. We would turn off at Biggs Junction and drive on to a campground outside of Madras, OR.

Riding bikes along the Deschutes River at Sunriver.

We pulled into The Cove Palisades State Park and found a spot at the Crooked River campground. It was a bit expensive to stay there, $30, but I was tired of driving and the sun was setting.

The next morning we explored the park, took some photos and drove on to Sunriver.

We drove into the resort and met up with Don and Caroline. Settling in was easy and we were able to take a bike ride and a hike before we ate dinner. It was a fun afternoon and the evening ended with a rousing game of Skip-Bo.

The next morning Linda and I borrowed the Samuelson's truck and went exploring. First stop was the Lava River Cave, a mile-long lava tube that was discovered in 1889. This is a self-guided tour so we rented a very nice flashlight and dropped into the total darkness. Linda carried the big flashlight and I carried two little lights as my luminaries.

Sunset over the Deschutes River.

The tube was incredible! We walked down and into total darkness. This tube had a ceiling that was probably 60 feet above our heads most of the way. In two short stretches, we had to duck down a bit, but that was not a problem. The darkness engulfs you and you can only see where the flashlights let you.

Linda with the flashlight
at the entrance to Lava River Cave.

At one spot, probably 100 yds from the turn around point, I stepped on a rock that was smooth and slanting away from me. It was covered with a thin layer of sand and my foot slipped and I went down. In the dark, I put my arms out to make sure I didn’t hit anything. My flashlight went flying as I sprawled in the sand. When I stood up and shook off, I found that I was OK, but my camera had swung and hit the rock cracking the lens. It was too dark to assess the damage, but I figured it was bad from what I observed when I quickly inspected it with my flashlight. I was so upset and felt that I had ruined my camera. We continued on, but the fun level had gone way down.

Entering the Cave.

We came to the end of the cave, turned around and quickly headed out for the mile trip back. After we emerged and turned in the big flashlight, I went to the car and examined my camera. The lens that had broken was a protective lens that I had bought and placed over the camera's working lens. I removed the cracked lens, dusted the camera’s main lens and examined everything else; the camera was OK! I had gotten very lucky and the protective lens had done its job. As you can imagine, I was a much happier person to be around.

We then drove to Newberry National Volcanic Monument where we were able to drive to the top of the cinder cone, Lava Butte. Hiking the cone rim gave us a beautiful 360˚ panorama of the lava flow and the surrounding mountains.

Exiting the cave.

Next, we went in search of another hike we had read about. Benham Falls is an easy mile hike along the Deschutes River. The falls are very rugged, but it reminded us of a very large rapid, rather than a falls. I stopped a Forest Service guy and asked him if they run this falls via kayaks and he said that they do. It would be quite the hairball run if you ask me.

Back on the road, we drove to the Lava Lands Visitor Center where we bought a sticker for our camper and drank about a gallon of water. Once we were hydrated again we walked the Trail of the Molten Land and returned to our car. (Note to Linda and Dean: Take water and food when you go on a day-long adventure.)

Once we returned to the condo, we rushed in and ate everything in sight. Don and Caroline were interested in our exploration, but that had to wait until we were fed. Once we had filled up, we were much friendlier people.

The rest of the visit was spent relaxing and exploring the areas around the condo. Linda rested in the sun beside the pool and I sat in the shade and read. We ate and enjoyed chatting with Don and Caroline.

The morning we left Sunriver, I rode my bike over to visit a former student and good friend at his retreat home in the Sunriver complex. Chris Cushman was a NIC student way back when I first started working at NIC. We have kept in touch for over 30 years. I had a cup of coffee with Chris and his wife Carmen as we caught up on all our recent adventures. Chris just recently retired and Carmen is set to retire in the next three months or so. It was fun to chat and reconnect. It added another special layer to our visit to Sunriver.

Broken lens from the camera caused by fall in the cave.

I peddled back to the condo and we said goodbye to Don and Caroline. In the truck, we pointed northwest and headed to our next destination; Hillsboro, Oregon and Champoeg State Park.