We Saw Big Foot on Our Way Home!!

On Saturday we loaded up our car and enjoyed a breakfast at the lodge kitchen before doing our final sightseeing on our way home. We passed Table Rock while headed to Christmas Valley.

Table Rock

A cool rock formation.

You would think that Christmas Valley would be pretty and full of Christmas trees but in actuality it is a barren and dry desert. Apparently a developer tried to make it a farming and retirement community in the 1960's. He put in a golf course, airport, lodge, rodeo grounds, and an artificial lake. He even went so far as naming all the streets with Christmas names like Mistletoe Road, Dasher Street and Candy Lane. No one ever actually moved there so it is home to only 979 people who grow and harvest hay.

We saw the sand dunes from a distance outside of Christmas Valley. It apparently is a huge tourist attraction for off-road enthusiasts. We drove to The Lost Forest but didn't go too far in because the driving conditions were not suitable for a minivan.

The Lost Forest is a unique Ponderosa Pine stand remnant of a once vast forest that existed thousands of years ago. They survive on less rainfall than is usually needed which is part of the mystery of the Lost Forest's survival. We all liked the way the tree trunks curved around as they grew.

Our next stop was Crack in the Ground, Oregon. My husband told us about this spot and at first we thought he was pulling our leg but it really is called that. It took us a long time to get there because the gravel road was so washboarded (is that a word?) that we could only drive about 10 miles an hour without shaking our fillings out of our heads. It was worth the drive though.

Crack in the Ground is just that. It's a 70 foot deep crack that runs into the ground caused by volcanic activity which created a tension fracture. It's about 2 miles long and the cool thing is that you can go down inside of it. I went in with the girls but we didn't get too far because there was snow and ice inside. I wasn't prepared to go too deep in those conditions. I would love to go back in the summer and explore.

Getting ready to head down.

The walls had cool texture to them.

This is as far as I dared to go. There was ice and it got rocky a little further in.

This is what most of Eastern Oregon looks like. Lots of sage brush, scraggly trees, sand, and rock formations. A lot of people think it is ugly but I found it lovely in its own way. Lots of greens, browns and yellows. I wouldn't want to live there but it was pretty to look at.

Our next stop was Fort Rock. It is the remains of a volcanic tuff ring with a broken rim. We were able to drive up to it and walk around. By this time of the day we were tired so we didn't walk too far in. I got some good panoramic shots with my camera but can't figure out how to paste them together.

This is Hole in the Ground, Oregon,which is a volcanic explosion maar located on the edge of Fort Rock Basin. You can hike down into it but again, it was getting too late in the day for hiking out into this area, plus there are rattle snakes in this region. Maybe some day we will come back when we can be more prepared and take a scenic hike.

How cool would it be to see the real thing? We got a kick out of this carving.

We drove over the Cascades to get home and encountered snow. It was coming down thick and hard. Luckily the roads were pretty clear and it didn't take too long to get down the mountainside.
There were a lot more things we wanted to do on our trip that we couldn't because of the time of year it was. There are caves to explore and waterfalls to see. I have kept a list so we can go in the summer to see all the sights we missed. And I think it would be fun to take my hubby since he's an outdoor enthusiast.
I hope you enjoyed the posts about our spring break. If you haven't been to scenic Eastern Oregon, I strongly suggest you plan a trip. It was interesting, beautiful and fun to behold.