Massive Gorge Geology

I think the Columbia Gorge is one of the most fascinating places in the world. I have believed this for close to 50 years, since I started exploring it with my parents as an ankle biter. The gorge, of course, is spectacularly beautiful; a major mountain range, the Cascades, is cut almost to sea level by the mighty Columbia River. It features majestic palisades and graceful waterfalls. The gorge is harsh; as you can tell from the trees in this picture, it's a windy place. The winds usually come from the west, which is the side of these trees with no branches. The winds are strong and frequent, especially in the summer, making the gorge a global windsurfing mecca. But the really hostile weather comes when the winds shift to the east; searing heat in the summer, blizzards and ice storms in the winter. Enormous volcanic forces have been at work here, too. Check out the huge, sloping slab of basalt in the background, on the Washington side of the river. Vast areas of eastern Oregon and Washington were overrun with basalt flows 20-30 million years ago. Here, near The Dalles in the dry end of the gorge, these natural processes are easy to see.

OK, here's a scenario for you. Imagine a day fifteen thousand years ago. You're at this spot, looking east toward The Dalles. First, a cold blast of air hits you. And then, following the icy onslaught, you see a THOUSAND FOOT HIGH WALL OF WATER comin' at y'all's head!!! As high as you're sitting here above the river, you're toast. You have just been caught in one of the first of dozens of Missoula Floods. Far upstream, in the Idaho panhandle, a glacial ice dam has given way, and a lake half the size of Lake Michigan...glacial Lake Missoula...has emptied in two days and is headin' for the ocean wikiwiki. This happened several dozen times at the end of the last ice age, 15 to 12 thousand years ago. (See June 07 posts for more flood talk and pics...good article on Wikipedia too). Before the floods, the Columbia Gorge was a large valley; the floods scoured away the lower slopes of the valley and made it into a chasm. Blow up this picture and check out the gorge walls on the upper left side. Notice how the lower walls are almost sheer cliffs, bare of vegetation, while higher up, the slope is more gentle and the terrain is covered with brown grass. From what I've read, I'm pretty sure that all the bare lower spots were scoured by the Missoula Floods, while the upper slopes...waaaay up there...escaped the water. Simply amazing.

This is Lyle, Washington. The entire town sits on a gravel bar composed of debris left by the Missoula Floods.

Lizards Rule Paulina

Here the lizards have made the arduous climb to the summit of Paulina Peak, far above the lake of the same name. They enjoyed the view and the crisp, dry air. The lizards are almost eight thousand feet above sea level at this spot. Blow up the pic and you can see the Three Sisters and Broken Top in the distance on the left.

Though it was a calm, mild day when I was atop the summit, the Paulina Peak climate is harsh. Here the whitebark pines, hardy survivors at timberline throughout the west, soar into the alpine sky. These are tough, gnarly trees; every one of them has character. They inspire admiration for their strength and adaptability.

Look closely at the top picture and you can see a reddish cliff rising out of Paulina Lake, to the right of the lizards. This picture was taken from just to the left of that cliff, looking toward Paulina Peak; the lookout where the lizards are perched is on the far left side of the peak. Paulina is a fine lake, with a fairly easy trail all the way around it. Of the 7.5 miles, about half passes through wilderness while the other half, mainly on the south and east shores, connects various campgrounds and resorts. I've always liked the scene at Paulina Lake...have gone there off and on for 35 years.

Non-Hawaiian Lava Lands

Like Hawaii, Central Oregon is lava land. Masses of basalt covered this region millions of years ago, and more recent eruptions added lava up to several thousand years before the present. Due to the cold, dry climate, many of these lava flows appear rather fresh...but this one, in Lava Cast Forest, is really about 6 thousand years old. Central Oregon, like Hawaii, has kipukas...islands of vegetation in seas of barren lava. Here the kipukas are ponderosa and jack pines instead of ohia trees, but they're equally dramatic.

The lava flows in this area buried trees and created molds, both vertical and horizontal. In this case a tree, probably a ponderosa, was toppled and buried by lava, but the wood in the trunk did not burn or decompose until after the lava had cooled, leaving a mold.

This is a view of Paulina(l) and East(r) Lakes, about 15-20 miles southeast of Lava Cast Forest. These lakes were created when a large shield volcano erupted, drained its magma chamber, and collapsed; the caldera then filled with water. This process was similar to the creation of Crater Lake. The caldera holding Paulina and East Lakes is known as Newberry Crater. Like Crater Lake, though, volcanic activity here was not over. In Newberry Crater, later eruptions formed an isthmus between the two lakes some 7 thousand years ago. Then, only about 1300 years ago, another eruption brought forth the lava flow in the right foreground of the picture, which cooled very rapidly and became obsidian. For a closer look at the obsidian field, refer to blog posts from September 07. This picture was taken from the summit of Paulina Peak, the highest point on the rim of Newberry Crater. There is a rather rough though wide gravel road leading to the summit. My new Solara navigated it well; I declined to take the old Mustang up last year.

Lava, Water, and Ice

Yesterday I hiked in the Cascades near Sparks Lake, west of Bend. This is gorgeous country, laden with pine and fir forests; snow capped volcanoes; pristine lakes; and lava fields. The contrasts between these elements makes the area beautiful and interesting. This is South Sister, reflected in Sparks Lake.

Volcano country is lizard country, and my saurian friends enjoyed the scene.

The countryside was not always as benign at it appears now. Thousands of years ago, lava flowed through the area from the surrounding volcanoes. There are still large fields of it around the lake, and there are many fissures cutting the landscape, forcing the hiking trails to take zigzag routes.

A bit of New England in the Beaver State

Covered bridges are usually associated with New England, but Oregon has dozens of them too. As in New England, they were built for weather reasons; the wooden roadway is protected from the elements. This is known as the Office bridge, on the North Fork of the Willamette River, near Oakridge. It's relatively new by covered bridge standards, built in 1945.

This is the Gallon House bridge, on a quiet country lane near Silverton. Like the majority of Oregon's covered bridges, this one is in the Willamette valley.

The color of this water is awesome! This is on the McKenzie River near Sahalie Falls.

Annual Crater Lake Visit

I try to spend a little time at Crater Lake every time I visit Oregon. The lake is a power spot with its deep, mesmerizing blue waters; its jagged rock formations; and its natural setting in a huge crater on top of a mountain. It's one of the world's unique places, both for its beauty and its location. This is the Phantom Ship. It looks small but actually rises about 150 feet out of the water.

The lake was created about 7000 years ago when ancient Mount Mazama blew out its guts and collapsed, leaving a huge caldera that filled with water. The jagged remnants of Mazama are visible everywhere around the perimeter of the lake. Here's an outcropping contrasted against the water. To give an idea of scale, the rock is probably about 100 feet below me, and the lake is another 1500 feet or so lower than the rock. This picture was taken from the Cloudcap viewpoint.

It was a sunny, warm day when I visited last Saturday, but of course you're really high up in the mountains at Crater Lake...the rim is over 7000 feet above sea level in most places. And the elements are harsh most of the year. The whitebark pines struggle for survival in the cold, wind, and snow. Here in southern Oregon, they're common at about 7500 feet elevation. Down near Lake Tahoe, you find them around 9000 feet.

Silver Creek Falls

I went to Silver Creek Falls today, east of Salem. It's a state park with about a dozen waterfalls in just a few square miles. As this picture shows, you can hike under some of them. This is North Falls, 136 feet high. It's falling off of a basalt ledge into a lush, verdant forest canyon...really a beautiful setting.

Mister Christian!

Well aarrrrgh, shiver me timbers, matey! Ahoy!

Come aboard and sail the seven seas! Strolling on the beach the other day, I noticed this gallant vessel moored at the pier and checked it out. It turned out to be the HMS Bounty, on a port visit. This replica of the original ship was built in Nova Scotia in 1960 for the movie Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Marlon Brando as Fletcher Christian, who along with most of the crew, took over the ship from the notorious Captain Bligh. At 180 feet long from bowsprit to stern, this version is about one quarter larger than the original Bounty, and has more headroom below decks to accomodate the large 1960 vintage cameras that were used in making the movie. The ship has been used in more recent films as well, one of the latest being Pirates of the Caribbean-Dead Man's Chest, starring Johnny Depp.

Otherwise, with the exception of modern life rafts and auxiliary engines, it's quite authentic, and travels under sail whenever possible. One thing that has always fascinated me about old, large sailing ships is the intricate rigging. Check it out on the mainmast here. The ship is crewed by mostly young sailors who scramble aloft to work the sails...not an easy task, especially in heavy weather. Blow the pic up and notice the uncertain footing on the crows nests, especially the upper one.

The captain's quarters in the stern are rather spacious, but other accomodations on board are spartan and cramped. I saw a couple of staterooms...they are maybe 70-80 square feet max. Back in the crew's quarters bunks are the rule. On the original ship, the crew shared belowdecks with livestock, brought aboard so the officers could have fresh meat. Not a luxury trip by any means! But it was very interesting to tour the ship. You can sail on the Bounty for $150-200 a day, learning seamanship and getting a taste of what seafaring used to be like. The ship is currently working its way down the coast, attending tall ships festivals; then, it will sail from San Diego to Hawaii from mid September to mid October...takes a month to get there! 'Twould be an adventure, aaarrrgh! I'd be tempted if I was about 10 inches shorter, 100 pounds lighter, and 20 years younger.

Hangin' at the bay

Took my usual walk on the beach this morning...part of the Old Sloat's effort to keep from amassing additional blubber. It was a Saturday, with a neat mixture of fog and sun that made for good photographic conditions. As always, there was plenty to see. In addition to the Bounty (posted above) the usual combination of people and critters were enjoying the scene. I liked this pic of the boats riding at anchor in the dissipating fog.

Most days find a bunch of folks out on the water paddling kayaks, canoes, rafts, surfboards, etc.

The pelicans are hangin' out, soakin' up the rays.

Basin Complex Fire

Highway 1 through Big Sur has been open for a couple of weeks after being closed for about that long due to a massive plague of lightning caused wildfires called the Basin Complex. Last Friday I went down to the area for the first time since the fires; had an alfresco breakfast at the River Inn, which had been one of the firefighters' bases, then went another ten miles south and checked out the scene. Here's a view of the Santa Lucia mountains from near the Ventana Inn. Before the fires, these hills were brown, covered with chaparral. Now, gray; virtually everything burned. Most trails inland from highway 1 are closed due to debris, and I reckon simply because it would be rather unpleasant hiking through miles of ashes.

The fire burned right down to highway 1 in many places from Andrew Molera SP down to Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP. The crews used the road as a firebreak, and I didn't see any burned areas on the ocean (makai) side of the highway. The fire crews saved all the major buildings in the area; the Ventana, Post Ranch, and River Inns are all OK. However, about two dozen other buildings burned, mostly private homes in the woods.