As announced here are a few spots that VivaLaVida and I visited in Oregon, a state with varied and attractive scenery. The wet Pacific coast (where I didn’t go because of rainy weather) covered with beautiful forests, especially those of “red wood”. Moving 100 mile to the East, past the mountain range of South Cascades, they are highlands where the altitude ranges between 2,500 and 4,500 feet, dry because protected from rain by the Cascades range.
 
First spot visited, the Palissades, a cliff created by the erosion of volcanic mud dating from 40 million years ago.
 
 
1. The Palissades.
 

 
 
2. This site is part of the John Day National Monument, known for the fossils it contains. Here, prints of fossilized leaves which show that there was a very different landscape millions of years ago.
 

 
 
Then another site still within the John Day National Monument. It’s the “Painted Hills” which are aptly named.
 
 
3. Overview.
 

 
 
4. There’s something alive in these unusually rounded forms of a mineral landscape, don’t you find?
 

 
 
5. The red is rich in iron (iron oxide, such as rust), yellow-green substrate is dating from dry ages and black is manganese, set by various plants in wetter periods.
 

 
 
6. These hills are made of clay that pumps all the water and makes them inhospitable to any plant that would colonize.
 

 
 
7. Slip of the clay created by the few heavy showers or thunderstorms are even dying plants at their feet.
 

 
 
8. No, it’s not a volcano! 😀
 

 
 
9. VLV is well camouflaged in these colors…
 

 
 
We now move to the west of Bend, in the Cascades, up the bed of the McKenzie River. This mountain is part of the Pacific Rim where the tectonic plates of the Pacific and North America meet; it comprises of numerous volcanoes, many still considered active, and several volcanic sites, including many recent lava field.
 
 
10. Let’s begin with a small wonder difficult to access, Tamolithe Pool. There is a resurgence of the McKenzie River which disappears in a lava field about one mile upstream.
 

 
 
11. The color and clarity of the water are just stunning!
 

 
 
12. After much effort, I finally managed to go down one of the cliffs for a the bottom view. Difficult to realize the depth of this hole; but this image is a stitched panorama of vertical images taken at 16 mm of focal length, an ultra wide-angle, and it barely fit in height!
 

 
 
Going up the river, there are two beautiful waterfalls created by a lava flow of about 3,000 years ago.
 
 
13. The Koosah Falls jumping about 90 feet. Unfortunately, the rain is back when I arrived there.
 

 
 
14. McKenzie River upstream from Falls Koosah.
 

 
 
15. Above, Sahalie Falls, best known as the accessis easy, jumping nearly 120 feet in a rather deafening uproar. Note the amount of foam that covers thelava arround.
 

 
 
16. Finally, I ended my walk at Clear Lake where the McKenzie river exits from. With almost 100% humidity, it was partially embedded in the mist…
 

 
 
That’s it for the Cascades that allowed me to redo a long walk after more than two weeks of bad weather. It was good! 😀
 
Radical change of scenery just about seventy miles to the east, on the site of Smith Rock in the sun while it was still raining on the Cascades. Other volcanic site created by two separate events: first a big explosion, creating tuffa peaks, a relatively porous but solid rock, then a flood of basalt that has spread around the peaks. The river that runs through the site dug its bed between the two, carving a rather exceptional landscape.
 
 
17. It’s rare to see such a river in a semi-desert landscape…
 

 
 
18. The tuff is solidified in veins sometimes really vertical.
 

 
 
19. From the high peaks, the highlands are immense.
 

 
 
20. Here we see the basalt plateau to the left and the tuff peaks to the right.
 

 
 
21. I discovered that these peaks are a mecca for climbing, with dozens of pathes. There were also dozens of strung this afternoon.
 

 
 
22. The sun goes down behind the mountain for a pretty special atmosphere…
 

 
 
that’s it for today. I’ll let you discover other sites in Oregon soon.
 
Thank you for all your comments, it’s nice to react to my images. 😉