Newberry Volcano - day one

While visiting Lava Butte, the Ranger at the lookout at the top of Lava Butte pointed out the less than completely prominent rise towards the south and said that that was the largest volcano in Oregon and that it was not only still potentially active but had two lakes in its caldera.  He also pointed out that the Newberry Volcano had undergone a blast even larger than the one at Mt. Mazama that created Crater Lake but that it had done so about 80,000 years ago (Mt. Mazama blew its top about 7,700 years ago).  So we decided we needed to visit this mysterious volcano on our way to Crater Lake.

This map shows the location of Newberry Volcano and its two lakes near the bottom.  The green represents major lava flows from the Newberry complex.  Highway 97 comes from Bend Oregon to the north and passes Lava Butte near the Lava Lands visitor center.  The nearby Lava Caves are part of the complex.  Inside the caldera is Paulina Lake and East Lake.  The youngest lava flow in the area is called the Obsidian Flow and is composed of obsidian lava.  The flow is just 1,300 years old and along with some hot springs in the lakes are evidence of recent and potentially future activity in this volcano.

The two lakes are a busy place in the summer with lots of boaters and campers.  This image is from the dock and boat ramp in at the south end of Paulina Lake, the western of the two caldera lakes.  The view east across the lake shows the central volcanic hills that separate the two lakes.  This image was taken with my 18-250mm Sigma lens at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/160 seconds at f/11, ISO 200.

A closeup of one of the many boats on the lake.  This image was taken at 250mm focal length with an exposure of 1/50 seconds at f/11, ISO 200.  The 18-250mm Sigma lens has image stabilization built in and it appears to have helped greatly with this longer handheld exposure.

From the boat ramps and dock, this is the view of Paulina Peak which is the highest peak around the rim of the caldera.  A dirt road allows visitors access to this peak and the views are spectacular as you'll see in a later blog.  This image was taken with my 18-250mm lens at 128mm focal length and an exposure of 1/125 seconds at f/11, ISO 200.

Lava Butte, Oregon

On our way to Crater Lake, we stopped at the Lava fields at the base of Lava Butte and took the road up to the summit of the cinder cone.  The lava fields and cinder cones south of Bend are part of a complex that is associated with Newberry Volcano - the largest Volcano in Oregon and a potentially active caldera south of Lava Butte with significant eruptions just 1300 years ago.  The lavas near Lava Butte erupted from a vent near the summit about 7000 years ago, not long after the Mount Mazama collapse that formed the caldera that we now call Crater Lake.  The Newberry Volcano suffered an even larger event like that which formed Crater Lake about 80,000 years ago.

This panorama was taken at a pullout near the base of the cinder cone along the road that winds up Lava Butte to the lookout at its summit near the edge of the lava flow.  This was assembled with the Hugin Panorama software from 4 images taken with my 18-250mm lens at 18mm focal length and exposures of 1/320 seconds at f/11, ISO 400. Slight adjustments were made in the GIMP after assembly.

Looking across the summit crater on top of Lava Butte from the fire lookout shows distant lava fields.  The lookout sits at the tallest point on the cinder cone.  This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/200 seconds at f/11, ISO 400.

From the south side of the summit crater on Lava Butte, you can see the lava flows next to the highway.  In the distance, the large gentle rise in the horizon is the Newberry Volcano.  Before its catastrophic collapse 80,000 years ago, it was probably quite a bit taller.  The Newberry Volcano is the center of the activity that includes this cinder cone and lava field.  This image was taken at 22mm focal length with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/11, ISO 400.

From the south side of the summit crater you can see the fire lookout and also see how steep the inner slopes of the crater are.  This cinder cone was last active about 7000 years ago.  This image was taken at 22mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/11, ISO 400.

A better view of the lookout from the same area as the previous image, this time with my zoom set to 183mm focal length and an expsoure of 1/320 seconds at f/11, ISO 400.

A view of the lava along the rim of the summit crater.  The exposure was 1/320 seconds at f/11, ISO 400 at 18mm focal length.

The source of the youngest lava flow visible in the middle distance was just below the summit crater just left of this image.  The lava flow dates to about 7000 years.  This image was taken at 1/500 seconds at f/11, ISO 400 and 18mm focal length.

The Three Sisters volcanoes

Our Oregon vacation had a couple of major goals.  First on the list was volcanoes, especially Crater Lake, and I had planned from day one to drive past the Three Sisters volcanoes on the way from Portland to Crater Lake with a camping night near the town of Sisters. The Three Sisters are prominent in central Oregon and we saw them for the first time even before we landed in Portland (See my first vacation blog post: http://pixofmyuniverse.blogspot.com/2014/07/vacation-day-1-flying-to-portland-oregon.html ).

Heading from the little town of Sisters to Bend, we found a great view across this clearing of the Three Sisters.  From the right is the North Sister, the Middle Sister and the South Sister and then Broken Top.  This image was taken with my Canon 70D with my 18-250mm Sigma lens at 18mm focal length and an exposure of 1/1000 seconds at f/11, ISO 400.

I took a pan with my lens at 73mm focal length and here is the panorama assembled from the middle set of images.  The exposure was the same as the first frame above.  The panorama was assembled with the Hugin Panorama Creator and then adjusted a little with the GIMP.

A closer shot of the Three Sisters with my lens zoomed to 43mm focal length and an exposure of 1/1000 seconds at f/11, ISO 400.

Later in the day, we stopped at Lava Butte south of Bend and found this view of the Three Sisters behind Broken Top from the loop trail around the crater at the summit of that cinder cone.  The South Sister is on the left with the Middle Sister behind Broken top right of Center and the South Sister near the right edge of the frame.  My 18-250mm lens was set to 87mm focal length and the exposure was 1/800 seconds at f/11, ISO 400.

During our flight home, we flew just east of the Three Sisters and were rewarded with this view of them, roughly from the northeast with my favorite traveling lens, the 18-250mm Sigma set to 37mm focal length with an exposure of 1/500 seconds at f/9, ISO 400.

Vacation day 1, flying to Portland Oregon

We spent 10 days in Oregon and California for our summer vacation.  We headed south from Portland and concentrated on volcanoes and then drove up highway 101 and visited and saw 7 lighthouses.  Here is the start of the trip: Day 1, flying into Portland.  All these images were taken from the window as we flew from Oakland to Portland

As we flew north, the Moon rose.  This image was taken with my 18-250mm lens at 73mm focal length and an exposure of 1/800 seconds at f/11, ISO 400.

Flying over clouds presents a number of opportunities.  In this case, a rainstorm in the sun created a small segment of a rainbow.  This image was taken at 73mm focal length and an exposure of 1/800 seconds at f/11, ISO 400.

Flying over Oregon west of the cascades allowed us to see lots of mountains off to the east.  These mountains are the Three Sisters volcanoes which we drove past and watched for the next couple days.  This image was taken at 61mm focal length with an exposure of 1/1600 seconds at f/6.3, ISO 400.  I straightened this image and did some other adjustments in the GIMP.

As we approached Portland, Mount Hood was visible.  What mountain in the Cascades will become active next or will another mountain grow in the near future?  This image was taken with my 18-250mm lens on my 70D at 61mm focal length and an exposure of 1/1250 seconds at f/8, ISO 400.  I did a little image adjustment in the GIMP as well.