October 12, 2021 Drake Park
A gray, cool fall day, brightened up by fall colors reflected in Mirror Pond on the Deschutes River in downtown Bend.
Ominous clouds, but no rain.
October 11, Rocks on the Road
On walks around the ‘hood I sometimes find the cutest things!
The painted rocks were there for only a few days.
October 9, 2021 Fall Colors
On McKenzie Pass at 5,325 feet, the fall colors are vivid!
The vine maple is a rich red.
A beautiful fall day on the McKenzie-Santiam Pass Scenic Byway.
October 8, 2021 McKenzie Pass
Another beautiful day, another day trip. Over McKenzie Pass, following an 1860 wagon road through a 65 square mile lava flow, we stopped at the summit where the Dee Wright Observatory is located. Built during the Great Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps utilizing the local lava rock, it features “lava tube” viewing holes that identify the surrounding Cascade peaks.
All Lava rock, it looks so inhospitable!
I think this is North Sister, framed by the ‘lava tube’ window.
The mountain locator mounted on the top of the observatory is helpful in identifying the multiple peaks surrounding us.
September 26, 2021 Paulina Peak
Another beautiful (now fall) day and another day trip. This time to the top of Paulina Peak, to look down on the lakes Paulina and East, bisected by the Big Obsidian lava flow from the most recent eruption of the Newberry Caldera 1,300 years ago.