• Duane Richards
  • Duane Richards

Oregon in August ’26

Last vacation before the new school year kicks off - trying something new! Weiterlesen
  • Winter Falls Trail

    4. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    Our next stop was at the Winter Falls trailhead where we were supposed to hike in and see another six or so waterfalls. Unfortunately, the first fall was not even more than a dribble, but luckily the rest were just fine. It was starting to get hot though and we were all getting tired, so it was nice to find one that we could splash some cool water on our faces and necks before we headed back out the way we came.
    Our final stop was something called North Falls, but we were a bit too beat to hike to the falls, so a distance shot had to suffice. from the trailhead though, we were able to find a nice forested shady picnic area to enjoy lunch and take off our shoes!
    Weiterlesen

  • Salt Creek Falls - wow!

    4. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    Leaving Silver Falls State Park, we prepared for our last three hours driving south towards Klamath Falls. However, after cruising through the forested canyons for a while, we stopped at a "sidetrack" that we found on the map - a National Monument that we hadn't even listed on our "must see". Walking just a few yards from the parking lot, we were met with an amazing viewpoint overlooking this beautiful falls. Turns out, it is the second highest single-drop waterfall in Oregon at 286 feet. It was formed when the hardened basalt lava flows cracked and washed away down the canyon. The top edge of the falls was so straight, it appeared to have been man-made, cut with a sharp knife. We wandered the forest where the peaceful creek could be misleading, in fact there is a sign warning you of the falls, just in case you decided to go tubing or something. We eventually tried to hike to the bottom, but it was a bit too steep (old steps had been eroded away), so we headed back up.Weiterlesen

  • Lake Odell and Diamond Peak

    4. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    Apparently there is no such thing as a long, boring drive in Oregon (at least not yet). We saw a giant mountain lake off the road as we continued through the canyons, and made a quick stop at this viewpoint, near the highest point in the canyon. Eric decided to even try out the water! The beauty here in this part of the country never ceased to amaze us!Weiterlesen

  • Taqueria! Our last possible food stop

    4. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    After driving south along a very long, straight road, where off in the distance in the sunset we were able to see Mount Scott (part of the volcanic formation around Crater Lake), we got a bit worried about finding civilization, as it was getting late and we were hungry! Luckily, in a little town called Chemult, we found a highly rated Taqueria where we enjoyed some street tacos and dice (while we waited) before heading on to the last leg of our drive. When we finally reached Upper Klamath Lake, at one point it sounded like it was raining, but we realized it was just the number of bugs hitting our car - eww!Weiterlesen

  • Our first glimpse

    5. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    As we crested the top of the rim from the approach drive, we were so excited to see the amazing sight that is Crater Lake. We had spent some time in the lower visitor center learning about the lake and how the volcano had collapsed and eventually filled with water. It’s a pretty amazing geological discovery and we were very happy that they have preserved it so well for us to enjoy.Weiterlesen

  • The Pinnacles

    5. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    These we actually got a glimpse of at the beginning when we entered the park, but it was pretty neat to see them up close. These hollow formations were made by all of the steam and pressure shooting up during the pyroclastic flow. As a result, the walls were hardened, and as the soft material eroded away, these things were left behind. It was way too hot to take the hike to go see more of them, but we got to see enough of them from the stop.Weiterlesen

  • Plaikni Falls

    5. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    Temperatures were getting high, but we figured we could squeeze in a 2 mile round-trip hike to see one more waterfall. It was definitely worth it. Tall trees sheltered us from the sun, and we got to dip our heads in the cool water as it flowed out of the natural springs at around 7000 feet above sea level near the crater (formed from water seeping into the porous volcanic soil and being forced back up).Weiterlesen

  • A few shots on our way out

    5. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    As we came back up from the pinnacles and the waterfall hike, we noticed the air around the lake was a little bit clearer. We decided to stop and grab a few more pictures, hoping to get a little bit better shots. But it turned out that the wind was causing the surface of the lake to not reflect like it did in the morning. So I guess a little less haze in the air, but a little less reflection on the water. Either way it was worth it to take a few more pictures of this amazing place.Weiterlesen

  • Finally Dinner!

    5. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 91 °F

    After a short rest back at the house, we headed out to a place called Rodeo Pizza. We ordered a few by the slice with a fresh salad and the boys were able to order their own custom pizzas. It had something for everybody and it was delicious. They were a little slow so it gave us some time to play a game together while we waited. After stuffing ourselves and enjoying every minute of it, we spent some time in Walmart hunting down dessert and waiting for sunset. So we then headed for Moore Park at the south end of Upper Klamath Lake, hoping to get there in time. We got there a bit late, but it was probably good, as the bugs were rampant by that time!Weiterlesen

  • Lava Beds NM - our first stop

    6. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    After about 45 minutes on the road, we made it through the pay gate of the national monument. We didn’t realize however, that we still had another 20 minutes till we got to the visitor center. On the way, though, we got to stop at Devil’s Garden, a massive field of lava from the nearby ancient eruption. The haze was in the air from all of the wildfires around, but it was still a pretty neat view.Weiterlesen

  • Labrynth and Lavabrook

    6. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    After stopping in at the visitor center, we snuck into a couple of caves just to explore before we went to mush pot, which was supposed to be our first stop. Turns out these were both black diamond caves, meaning just like in skiing, that these were more difficult caves, to explore. Took a lot more crouching with a lot more narrow gaps, but it was fun to poke around a bit.Weiterlesen

  • Golden Dome!

    6. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    According to the brochure, this one was titled for the color that you see once you get into some of the bigger rooms. And as you can see from the pictures, it lived up to its name! It was really pretty and really fun to explore. However, we started realizing that our battery + flashlight situation might not be sufficient for exploring all of the caves on our list.Weiterlesen

  • Sunshine on my shoulder

    6. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F

    This one wasn’t originally on our must see list, but we decided to stop anyway, given that the length of it wasn’t very long. By the way, along with a sheet that showed the difficulty of each cave, it also showed the length. This one was pretty neat because it did have a definite termination point where you could actually see the sun coming through in a couple of spots. We stopped at the nostrils, if you get it from the picture 😀Weiterlesen

  • Upper Sentinel

    6. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 90 °F

    Sentinel was definitely on our list and it turns out there’s both an upper and lower. We started in the upper and came out the lower. So then two of us (Dad and Aiden) went back up the cave to go back to our car while the other two (Mom and Eric) walked above ground to get there. The above ground team won, but it could be that the cave crawlers had run out of batteries and were only working with one flashlight!Weiterlesen

  • Valentine and Skull caves

    6. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 93 °F

    The last two caves were not on the cave loop, but we had to drive a little ways out. Glad we did, though as these two were definitely unique. Valentine was big with ribs that made it look like walking through the inside of a whale. Skull was an interesting one because it was deep and very cold with actual ice in the bottom. They won’t let us go on the ice because they are trying to preserve the ecosystem, but it was pretty neat to see it.Weiterlesen

  • Petroglyphs… where?

    6. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 95 °F

    We followed the signs to go see a slightly out-of-the-way part of the national monument where we were supposed to see petroglyphs. However, we couldn’t find them down at the base of the cliff so we took the marked trail up to the top. At this point, it was 100° outside and we were a little disappointed to find out there was actually nothing at the top aside from an amazing view of Mount Shasta.Weiterlesen

  • Sunset and fire!

    6. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    Our last night in Klamath Falls, we revisited the pizza place and afterwards went to the south of the lake to see the sunset. It was something recommended to us by ChatGPT so we thought we would check it out. As we got there, we were also able to see the gigantic plumes of smoke from the wildfire that was just over the hill from the town. It looked pretty spectacular in the Sunset glow. And... we finally got some time to play a game together as a family!Weiterlesen

  • Newberry National Volcanic Monument

    7. August in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 90 °F

    As if we hadn’t seen enough volcanic action already, we decided to stop right before the town to see this national monument. There was a mile long lava tube, but you apparently had to have a reservation to go into so we had to skip that one. instead, we went to the visitor center and took the shuttle bus up to the top of the cone, where we could see the amazing lava flows and the other volcanic mountains off on the horizon. While we were there, we got an alert about a new fire that was just over the hill from us, and it was actually spotted by the firewatch tower there at the top of Lava Butte cinder cone.Weiterlesen