Fossils, Family and Friends

Our view at the Port of Arlington campsite.

When we get ready for our trips, we always set a departure schedule and are almost always on the road within ten minutes of that time. For this trip we did the exact same thing, we developed a departure time of 11:00 AM and actually were on the road by 11:09 AM. It makes me smile that we are so punctual, then again I am married to Linda Bennett, the schedule Queen.

This trip could be divided into three parts. The first part is an exploratory adventure down into central Oregon to visit the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. The second part of our trip is to visit Linda's sister and her family in Eugene. The last part will be a visit to Sunriver, Oregon to connect with Don and Caroline Samuelson again before winter sets in.

Getting some reading done.

On the first day, we drove into the Columbia River Gorge following I-90 to HWY 395 and then to US 84.  We spent the night at our usual spot in Arlington. We were excited to find that as we drove down, the wind was at our back and our diesel mileage was great. Normal driving gives us about 12.5 miles to the gallon, but with the tailwind, we got 17.5 MPG! I was so excited I almost could not sleep. Well, actually I didn't sleep well due to the train noise, but who cares with that MPG!

We got on the road and traveled HWY 19 up out of the gorge through Condon to Fossil, OR. In Fossil, we stopped and looked at a very old large building that is used as the County Seat of this community. From there we drove out HWY 218 to Clarno, where we found the Clarno Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds.

Visiting the fossil beds was my idea. I have heard many people talk about the area and everyone felt that it was worth visiting. We opted to visit the Clarno Unit first. The main area, the Sheep Rock Unit, is located near Dayville. This area holds the main visitor center, but the center was closed so we decided to forego a visit. At the Clarno Unit, we read all the posted information and hiked all the marked trails.  We saw some fossils, we think. Both Linda and I had a hard time picking out the fossils that were described on the info signs.  We really didn't know what we were looking for. Past fossil viewing always presented large leaves or tree branches that were easily distinguished from surrounding rocks, but these fossils were a bit different. A rock enthusiast would enjoy the area, but Linda and I came away a bit perplexed. We were a bit disappointed. Maybe you have to be smarter...

After the Clarno Unit, we drove to the Painted Hills Unit which was well worth the visit.  The colors in the soil were amazing. We hiked the area and took a ton of photos. 

If we were to recommend anything, we would probably say you should visit all three areas. Start at Sheep Rock and visit the visitor center then drive out to Clarno and end in the Painted Hills.  This route will give insight into the beds and how they were formed. It also would give you a good idea of just what to look at when you go searching for fossils.

After viewing the Painted Hills we drove up HWY 26 to the top of Ochoco Pass, elevation 4720. We pulled into Ochoco Divide Campground and spent our second night.

Info from the board at Clarno.

In the morning we packed up and drove to the town of Sisters. We decided to stay at Cold Spring Campground four miles out of town. We drove to the campground, set up some chairs, and registered, then we went into Sisters and spent the afternoon shopping and eating. Everything was great, a bit expensive, but very good. We munched down on two Bear Claw pastries from the Sisters Bakery and bought two other items for breakfast. That cost $20, then we had street tacos. Four tacos were $20 but very good. So Sister's economy got a $40 boost while we were there. The afternoon was enjoyable and relaxing.

The next morning, we drove down HWY 20 along the McKenzie River into Eugene and to Linda's sister's family's driveway.

We visited them for two nights. During the day on Saturday, we all loaded up and drove to the Oregon Garden at Silverton. There are over 80 acres of botanical gardens in this special area. We were able to make it to about 76 acres during our visit.

Back at the Sollinger's homestead, we played Left, Right, Center and ate some very delicious meals. It is always fun to get together with the family.

On Sunday we drove to Sunriver. To make this happen, we drove back up to Sisters and turned south through Bend to the resort. This was a bit longer of a drive, but if we had followed HWY 58 out of Eugene, we may have been stopped by the Cedar Creek fire which had been causing problems the past few weeks.  The drive was very busy. There had been a folk music festival in Sisters and all the attendees were heading back from the weekend. In Sisters, we stopped briefly and again bought a couple of pastries from the Sisters Bakery.

Leaf?

We arrived in Sunriver and settled into the condo with Caroline and Don.  The next few days were filled with walks, bike rides, crawfish trapping, and food.  To make things clear, no crawdads were harmed in the trapping portion of this visit. I caught one little guy and we immediately set it free. 

Each evening after dinner we watched a movie. The first night was "Top Gun, Maverick" a very entertaining flick. 

Monday we loaded up and went sightseeing. Caroline drove us to an unexplored section of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, where we visited two lakes Pauline and East Lake (we had previously visited and explored the area just north of Sunriver). We hiked to the base of Pauline Falls. We cooked dinner - enchilada bake - this evening. Our movie of the evening was called Dog. 

Tuesday was spent relaxing and enjoying the sunshine and beauty of this area. More great food and time with wonderful friends. Evening's movie - Abandoned. 

On Wednesday we headed home. We traveled north through Bend and Madras, dropping down to the Columbia River at Biggs Junction. At that point, we drove upriver to our stopping spot at Arlington, and then in the morning, we drove home.

Happy birthday, Jacquie!

Petrified wood in a rock.

Deer or elk tracks on the hillside.

Our campsite at Ochoco CG.

Al Dee, Alayna, and the best sister-in-law ever!

My Bug sitting with a damselfly.

Caroline checking the crawdad traps.
(look for her blue jacket)

One is the loneliest number.

Paulina Falls near Paulina Lake.

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.

Vista from Lava Butte at
Newberry National Volcanic Monument.

Deschutes River on our hike to Benham Falls. 

Benham Falls.

Newberry National Volcanic Monument

Hiking the Trail of the Molten Land. (dun, tah, tah, daaa) 

Me on the Trail of the Molten Land.  

Here are a few more swan photos I liked.