Newberry National Volcanic Monument

One of the places I wanted to explore in OR was Newberry National Monument -- home to 400 cinder cones, lava tubes, hot springs, numerous waterfalls, and Paulina Peak with its lake-filled caldera and 360 degree views to the other Cascade volcanoes.  What's not to like?

Plus it had the excellent sign above, which is funny to those of us with teenagers.

We drove up to the summit and took a short hike to enjoy the views

Mt Bachelor and Three Sisters

Not one, but two lakes in the caldera.  Apparently there is a beach on one of them that has hot springs burbling up through the sand, but we chose to go to a waterfall instead given that it was about 95 degrees out that day.

The Big Obsidian Flow.  A most impressive deposit -- it really is all obsidian.

So impressive that we had to go explore it up close.

Kid had fun.  Or maybe she was laughing at the two kids we had just seen on the trail acting like little baby birds with their beaks wide open while their mom doled out water from a Nalgene.  (One of said kids was about Nim's age; he cracked up when I made a comment to the mom about baby birds.)

We could even see the other volcanoes peeking above the caldera wall down at lake level.

There was a nice short hike through the woods from the visitors' center to Paulina Falls.

And numerous small cinder cones to explore.  We ran out of time and didn't explore the many caves in the area, but there is always next time!  (Clearly we need to go back to the Bend area.)