Everyone I canvassed for an opinion used the same word in their reply – “pretty”. It was a destination for us based on accommodation, i.e., where we could get it and it turned out to be an absolute winner.

One thing about travelling in the USA that you can’t help but notice is the number of motorhomes and fifth wheelers and they all have something in common – they’re huge. Stuff like my Winnebago Leisure Seeker would be frowned upon over there. Another thing that struck Lorraine and I was just how many of them were up for sale in lots throughout the towns and cities. Not one or two, no, dozens and dozens lined up in rows and in towns of, say, 20,000 population; there were multiple yards. We couldn’t help but wonder just who was buying them.

Out on the roads we saw plenty and also couldn’t fail to notice that around half were towing cars behind. Apart from the affluence of many in America, there’s another contributory factor – the roads.

Most visitors don’t realise that immediately after WWII, when Eisenhower was in power, a national road network was instituted whereby at least every five miles a plane could land, such were the times. It’s extraordinary when you think about it; couldn’t imagine that ever happening here.

We started out at a tiny speck on the map called Bridal Veil, which just happens to be a couple of kilometres up the road from the second highest permanent falls in the US, Multnomah. At 640ft they’re certainly way above the puny Niagara that drops only 188ft.In fact, the place is riddled with falls. It’s where the Columbia River has cut a swathe through the Cascade Range and it is but one of 77 falls that tumble into the Columbia River Gorge.

At least we got to see three, the other two being Wahkeena and Bridal Veil Falls. Nearby to the latter is the smallest still operating post office in the US. Apparently, it’s much in favour when it comes to posting wedding invitations.

Crater Lake is one of the deepest in the world. Simply stunning

We were headed south through Eugene to see some wineries and there are plenty open to tourists. Our favourite was the Pfeiffer Winery a little way north of the town. A lovely garden, deliciously decorated tasting room and effervescent staff made for a memorable tipple.

Next day we crossed the mountains over McKenzie Pass, stopping to visit Proxy Falls en route, our first encounter with lava flows. We were to see so many amazing ones further on and this whetted our appetite immensely.

Next day we visited Smith Rock, which seemed like the rock climbing centre of the world. We thought we’d arrived fairly early at just after 8am but the two main car parks  were already full and people in weird clothing floated by us with a lightness of foot we hadn’t experienced in some time.

Although the rocks aren’t that high, only up to about 600ft, they’re quite dramatic and photogenic and walking around is a worthwhile exercise in its own right.

On the morrow we were off to Sahalie and Koosah Falls, part of the raging McKenzie River’s numerous cascades and they certainly roar, both of them. I found the walk between them to be the highlight with taunting glimpses of an angry river.

Then it was off to Dee Wright Lookout, a strange structure set amid a vast lava field. It was constructed out of raw blocks of lava during the depression years as a means to employ people and features a round room with clear windows to the surrounding mountains.

Glorious colours in the town of Bend

Next day it was Sisters, a town revitalised when a local resort owner offered a $5000 loan to anyone who rebuilt their facade in old western style. If you kept it that way for 10 years, you didn’t have to repay. Such was its success that around 90 have taken up the offer and these days Sisters is a major destination for tourists with its western theme. It’s also a noted quilting town and is big on the arts scene and Ken Scott’s sculpture gallery is a must-see with its Venetian-style carriage outside and stunning works within.

Later we headed off to Sparks Lake, after lunching at the Pine Tavern (it has two pine trees right in the middle of the building) in the delightful Bend, as Sparks is a noted spot for photographers around  sunset. We first visited Todd Lake and then waited for about two hours at Sparks until the waters stilled and we got some perfect reflections. No wonder the place rates.

We awoke to yet another perfect day, this time aiming for Benham Falls but getting distracted en route by Lava Lands, a surreal place where you can ascend on a circumference route to the top of a cinder cone and then gaze across hundreds of square kilometres of mostly barren lava flow remnants. It’s also extraordinary to see clumps of trees, huddled like penguins in a blizzard, in the bits that the molten lava missed.

Eventually we reached the parking spot for Benham and walked beside the river where you can see how the lava flow stopped and then the river found its new way through the weak spots. Benham is a violent rapid more than what you imagine as a true waterfall and there are others further along this track if you are keen enough to keep walking.

We had other things to see still and, after an early start, we headed for Crater Lake, the deepest in the whole USA at 1943ft and one of the deepest in the world. After more than two hours on the road we reached the focal point of our day and gazed down on this amazing geological area where once Mount Mazama was until it spectacularly collapsed. Today, at 8929ft, Mount Scott, once a satellite peak, now rules the landscape but your eyes are drawn into the abyss below and the two islands that split the surface in stark contrast.

Dee Wright Lookout

The tiniest, Phantom Ship Island, is the most photographed and has seven different tree species on its flanks. From above it looks like there are only about seven trees total on it. However, the most surprising thing we discovered is that there’s a 30ft long hemlock log that’s been floating upright in Crater Lake for more than 100 years.

There was still time enough on the way home to stop at Paulina Lakes and we took advantage by calling in first to Paulina Falls and then heading for one of the wonders of America – the Big Obsidian Flow. Obsidian is a rare mineral, almost pure glass in layman’s terms. For thousands of years it was prized as money and for use as tools.

Scientists from NASA came here in the 1960s and extracted drinking water (it contains 0.2 percent) and proceeded to drink it. Even more extraordinary in the 1970s was when doctors performed open  heart surgery on archaeologist Donald Crabtree. Crabtree had fashioned scalpels from the obsidian and they used both those and normal steel scalpels during the operation. Where the obsidian was used the skin healed with hardly a trace while deep scars were the result of the normal ones. Obsidian can be sharpened to almost one molecule in thickness. It has the shine of polished black boots and is cemented between other magma flows. Spectacular, no; fascinating, yes.

Bridal Veil Falls

For our last day in Oregon we travelled north after first visiting Bend again. Set on the banks of the Deschutes River it has many houses that lie empty for much of the year as they are used as holiday houses to escape the wet of the Portland coast. We spoke to three couples while we wandered around and they all came from Portland.

On the road we stumbled over a place called Shaniko. According to a sign, it was The End Of The Line; according to another, it was a Ghost Town. Both claims had links to the truth; it was like a Hollywood movie set, a classic windswept hill top village set in arid lands where nothing much was happening.

Sparks Lake

The hotel, so called, had a wonderful porch including a bench seat with two yokel statues seated on it and across the road was a still-in-use post office. Other buildings were in various states of decay, especially the museum filled with ancient motor vehicles. A bent front barn door squeaking forlornly in the wind allowed instant access and there, behind a metal fence topped with square mesh, were cars that had last seen the light of day some  decades ago, judging by their shabby appearance and depth of dust. A restorer viewing these relics of yesteryear would, no doubt, have been in ecstasy and tears all at the same time.

There were things like a 1925 Hupmobile, a 1918 Chevy and numerous others in various stages of unkempt decay. I moved on.

Smith Rock

Some of the buildings are in a similar state; flaky paint, missing shingles, missing weatherboards that have exposed beams and others are merely skeletons. The dry brown grass merely highlights their plight. Thus it is that the school, all bright and freshly painted, is so at odds with all around it. I loved the mobile gaol house, so yesteryear, but we had to move on, Montana beckoned, but if anyone ever asks me is Oregon worth a visit, they would definitely get the thumbs up from me – and we didn’t even see its famed coast.

Lava Land

Category: Unknown
Written: Mon 01 Feb 2016
Printed: February, 2016
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