Every Mile a Memory: LaPine State Park

May 7-13, 2017

LaPine State Park is located near Bend, Oregon

in a subalpine pine forest along the Deschutes River

Our campsite was huge!

Our outdoor living room with the Deschutes River right out the back door

The beautiful, twisting, cold Deschutes River.

The River is a major tributary of the Columbia River.

The stretch of river behind our campsite

Hiking

Hiked the Deschutes Loop Trail & the McGregor Loop Trail

Dave checking out the current to see if the river looks floatable. Some workers at the LaPine Visitor's Center said they hadn't done the "snag" cleanup yet so we might come across blockages in the river depending on where we put in and took out.

View of the Deschutes River from a section of the McGregor Loop Trail

This picture has a snow covered mountain in the background. Hard to see unless you zoom in.

Later in the day, we hopped on our bikes and rode to see this
500-year-old Ponderosa Pine in the park.

The tree has a circumference of 326" and stands 191' tall.

The trunk of the "Big Tree"

Kayaking

Today's kayaking day! Dave drove the jeep about 11 miles downstream and rode his bike back to the RV for our float. We carried the kayaks down the short trail to the river behind our campsite.

Off we go! Yeehaw!

The bridge that leads into LaPine State Park

Our first stop along the river made a nice place to eat lunch

A view of the "big tree" from the river

One of the interesting sites along the way was this log cabin

that was apparently built too close to the water.

Another stop along the river to stretch our legs

Beautiful homes along some sections of our float

This was a beautiful, fun, 11-mile, 6-hour river float!

Cycling

Cruising along the dusty singletrack of the Fall River Loop trail

The tricky part was dodging the pine cones

At the far north end of the trail, we arrived at Fall River Falls.

The short waterfall was pretty but somewhat underwhelming

after some of the falls we've seen on this trip.

We ended our ride upriver from our campsite.
This is the "snag" section of the Deschutes that we avoided on our float.

And it's Snowing Again!

Not sure when the snow season ends in these parts, but...ugh!

It was really coming down!

Made everything look sugar-coated...and then quickly melted.

Newberry National Volcanic Monument

The area includes more than 110 miles of trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding, and just celebrated the 25th anniversary of its designation in 2015. What is now Lava Lands was created about 7,000 years ago after a volcanic explosion left behind a miles-wide sea of jagged lava rock, creating a unique geological landscape.

Entering the Lava River Cave -- a 1-mile-long cave formed by molten lava that left an underground lava tube — the longest in Oregon. At 42-degrees Fahrenheit year-round, the cave is a cool underworld and home to a colony of bats.

The cave is dark and does not have any park-provided lighting. You have to carry your own light source. We rented a flashlight from the park for $5, much more powerful than our headlamps.

So dark!

People coming in the opposite direction. All you can see is their flashlights.

Got really tight toward the end of the tube trail!

The End!

Lava Butte - We drove up to the fire lookout on top of the cinder cone and walked

the .25-mile rim trail for panoramic views of the North Cascades and the entire Newberry National Volcanic Monument.

View of the fire lookout from the rim trail, the crater is down to the left.

View from the rim trail

The fire lookout from across the cone

A view into the cone. It's COLD and WINDY up here!!!

Lava Butte Lava Flow, a 9.5-square mile mass of volcanic rock that poured out of Lava Butte around 7,000 years ago shapes the river.

The lava flow runs all along the east side of the river,

clearly having shaped the course of the river.

This collection of cascades is called Benham Falls, Category 5+ rapids for you more serious kayakers.

A more tame section of the river. Still more than our kayaks could handle.

Birds of Newberry National Volcanic Monument

Evening Grosbeak

Red Crossbill

Red-winged Blackbird

Red-winged Blackbill (female)

Townsend's Solitaire

Western Tanager

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audobon form)

The Lava Cast Forest had a 1-mile, interpretive trail through the ghostly landscape and its basalt casts of trees, logs and lakes that the lava flow left in its wake 7,000 years ago.