Washington State and Oregon - week 1

Back on the road again and a few hiccups with Badger. No doubt Mark will blog soon with the list of breakages that need to be fixed, both small and large.

In Washington state, we visited a friend we met in November 2013 when we were down in California who now lives in Washington. It was great catching up with her (thanks again Stephanie for letting us park on your drive)

Down to Mt St Helens to see the mighty volcano that erupted 35 years ago (18^th May 1980). It started to rain as we arrived, but we were so lucky as the clouds cleared and then we had a wonderful view of the mountain and surrounding plain

From Washington we headed down to Oregon and stopped at IKEA in Portland to buy a new mattress. Badger took up a few parking bays to one side, away from the front of the store :-) 

We stayed a few days in Troutland, the gateway to the Columbia Gorge. We took Toad down the winding historic Highway 30 and the scenery was magnificent, once the mist lifted

Along the way, we visited many waterfalls

Latourell Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Wahkeena Falls

Horsetail Falls

And the best of them all, at 620 feet and the second highest waterfall in the US, Multnomah Falls

We paid a visit to Bonneville Lock and Dam and the original power house dates back to the Great Depression. The powerhouse originally housed 2 generators, now it has 8

We are now staying with our friends Pris and Bill, a lovely retired couple we met in California in December 2013. They live on a butte in Terrebonne (central Oregon). Badger behaved himself on the way up their steep driveway,

And the view from the top is amazing

From here we’ve had a couple of day trips so far.

The first one was to Newberry National Volcanic Monument. Newberry Volcano last erupted 1,300 years ago and is the largest volcano in the Cascade Range. Lava Butte, at 5,020 feet, is one of Newberry’s many cinder cones and rises 500 feet above its 9 square mile lava flow

From here, we journeyed down to the caldera and hiked around the Big Obsidian Flow, the entire surface being glass, rough in most parts and very smooth in others

(proof that life still goes on and some plants are now starting to grow here after all this time)

There are two lakes in the caldera, East Lake and Paulina Lake both of which are above 6,300 feet. No wonder I was a little breathless after the walk!

Yesterday we went down to Crater Lake, 125 miles to the south. It’s a caldera lake and the remnant of the destroyed volcano, Mount Mazama. The caldera rim ranges between 7,000 and 8,000 feet high, so there was still snow around on the ground and surrounding peaks – lovely. We did get a few strange looks as we were in shorts and t-shirts, but the air was so fresh and we didn't find it particularly cold. Part of the lake was still frozen as the reflection of the peaks was not clear in places, but the views were absolutely stunning.

We sat on the wall and had our lunch (I think Pris has adopted us as she baked us some cookies to take in our packed lunch J ) and this was the view. Nothing could top that.