A Geographer's Scrapbook: Another Labor Day Weekend Trip Through Oregon

Reno, Nevada to Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Washington
August 29 to 31, 2008

Another holiday weekend and more places to explore in the Pacific Northwest with my travel partner Karen. Our goal for the weekend was Mount St. Helens with opportunities for other sites along the way.

Day 1 - Reno, Nevada to Bend, Oregon

The plan was to break the drive to Mount St. Helens into two days, and the first day of driving with an early, early start from Reno would take us to Bend, Oregon. As a precursor to the volcanic sites of Mount St. Helens, we explored the volcanic sites of Newberry National Volcanic Monument. We spent the afternoon checking out the monument, which is spread out on the lava lands south of Bend. Although we missed lots of other activities to do in the monument, we:

Checked out East Lake and Paulina Lake and the Newberry Caldera which sits between the two lakes.
Hiked the one-mile Obsidian Flow interpretive trail at the Big (but young at 1,300 years old) Obsidian Flow.
Lunched at the shore of Paulina Lake.
Hiked to and enjoyed the view of Paulina Falls.
Drove to the top of Lava Butte, elevation 5,200 feet, and soaked in the 360-degree view that included the Cascade Mountains, Mount Bachelor, lava flows, and the city of Bend.
Hiked to Benham Falls on the Deschutes River and braving the thickest swarm of mosquitoes I had yet encountered.
Hiked the ¾-mile interpretive trail inside Lava River Cave.

Some daylight remained, and a drive to the top of Pilot Butte in Bend was in order. This afforded us another great 360-degree view but with a closer look of the city and the high desert to the east. This led us to downtown Bend for a stroll to find a unique restaurant to end the day.

East Lake and the Newberry Caldera

Part of the Big Obsidian Flow

Paulina Falls at low water flow

The top of Lava Butte

Benham Falls

Lava River Cave

Web Link

Newberry National Volcanic Monument - Deschutes National Forest website

Day 2 - Bend to Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Washington to Hood River, Oregon

Our goal for this weekend trip was our first priority of this day, and we drove straight to Mount St. Helens with no stops or detours for sightseeing. The western approach from Interstate 5 to the Johnston Ridge Observatory was our route, and after a scenic lunch on the porch of a restaurant overlooking the North Fork Toutle River, we drove State Highway 504 until we came upon the devastation of the May 18, 1980 eruption. The observatory sits on a ridge north of the mountain and affords views of the breach in the summit crater, pyroclastic flow deposits, mudflows, and lots of ash, which created a desolate landscape. However, we did not get to see the top of the volcano. Thick clouds lowered the sky and pushed the summit into the heavens that we could not see.

After a few hours on the volcano, we were back on the road headed for our night stop. There was still some daylight left, and a highway along the north bank of the Columbia River was inviting us for a scenic drive. We crossed the river at Cascade Locks and reached Hood River after sunset, finding a busy brew pub perched on the side of a hill for the day’s last meal.

Clouds obscuring the summit of
Mount St. Helens

Trees snapped by the 1980 eruption
at the Johnston Ridge Observatory

View from Cape Horn Overlook on
Washington Highway 14. You can see
Phoca Rock, Skamania Island, and
Columbia River Gorge

Bridge of the Gods crossing the
Columbia River near
Cascade Locks, Oregon

Web Link

Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument - Gifford Pinchot National Forest website

Day 3 - Hood River to Maryhill, Washington to Reno

Washington's Version of Stonehenge

Today was a day of driving to return to Reno by evening, over 500 miles and over nine hours away. However, I had one side trip planned to discover something you would not expect to find in this part of the country. Stonehenge. Yes, that Stonehenge. Well, at least an accurate representation of the Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, except this one was on a bench overlooking the Columbia River near Maryhill, Washington. Although the structure mirrors Stonehenge in its original size, design, and form, it is actually the first World War I memorial in the United States.

On our drive south on US 97, we did see a couple of touristy things just off the highway. Well, we didn’t see the 45th north parallel of latitude, but we knew it was there because a highway sign told us and that we were halfway between the equator and the north pole. We did see a straight up-and-down canyon carved by the Crooked River. The Peter Skene Ogden State Park has great views of the canyon, the 1911 Oregon Trunk Railroad Bridge, and the 1926 Crooked River Canyon Bridge.

We didn’t want to take the same roads on the way back to Reno, and at Bend we took a left from US 97 onto US 20 to connect with US 395. This would take us to Reno, but we soon came upon an accident around 10 miles outside of Bend. It was the type of accident you don’t see because they close the highway and don’t let traffic through. As the line of vehicles got longer and longer and there was no indication when the highway would be reopened, we returned to Bend and continued south on US 97. Not to be deterred we were soon able to turn left again, this time onto State Highway 31 that would take us southeasterly to US 395.

This part of Oregon in the high desert is sparsely developed and looks just like the innards of Nevada. The sun was setting as were leaving Oregon and re-entering California, but I was able to see Goose Lake, a big blob of blue in the upper northwest corner of the map of California that I always wanted to see. We were soon in Alturas and back on familiar highway, and we made it to Reno by 9:30 p.m. with the next day (a day off from work) to recuperate from our travels.