We followed some road signs for a lava cast forest and found ourselves exploring the Newberry National Volcanic Monument for a couple of days. We saw volcanic flows that have surrounded trees and when the trees burned away left casts in the volcanic rock.
We cycled two miles up and down Lava Butte to see over the landscape, we visited Paulina and East lakes and then oohed at Paulina Falls.
We trekked over rock and snow to see a lava flow that looked like it was made of black glass (Big Obsidian Flow).
Lastly we used torches to find our way inside a one mile long Lava River Cave.
Inside the 6 degrees centigrade was a pleasant change to the 30 degree heat that awaited us at the ground surface. It is places like this that you have never heard off that just blow you away. And the people are so friendly and proud in Oregon. They are just lovely (and so are the cute Pikas). 
As we left we drove past an impressive Mount Batchelor, still covered in snow, it was hot!
We camped up for the evening in an area called Swampy Lakes (a very dry swamp if you ask me) ready for mountain biking the following day. Luckily we met some local mountain bikers literally passing by our van who could share their knowledge of the trails and let us take a photo of their map. Day 1 – we did a dry, dusty, undulating 15 mile loop through pine forests and up onto a ridge overlooking Bend.
It was a nice flow trail and our Wal-Mart bikes coped well, only rattled by the odd volcanic rock gardens. But it was hot and when we ran out of water, it seemed like a long way back to Fred. Time for some big gulps of cold water from our fridge and our first outdoor shower.
For a couple of days we had been carrying water in the pipe on top of Fred and now it was lovely and warm for a much needed shower – bliss. It was an afternoon for jobs so we cut Pete’s hair (also alfesco) and then headed into Bend in search of a laundrette (ooh clean bedding – you can’t beat it). Near the laundrette was a great bike shop and we considered hiring bikes for the next day at $60 a day but then Janet blew the budget when she decided to buy a pair of padded inner cycling shorts (much needed for all this cycling) and Pete bought a Bend Souvenir cycling top. Oh well, Walmart bikes for day two it would be.We found a lovely riverside park near the laundrette and watched loads of people floating down the river on kayaks, inflatables, stand up paddle boards – everything. Hmm, we need some info on this one way trip thing. It was after 7pm and still hot so we decided to order a huge 20″ pizza (that’s tomorrows lunch sorted) and sat by the river to eat.
The pizza had mixed seeds and chilli on the crust – pretty amazing!Day 2 mountain biking took us to the other side of the highway which was more steep (both up and down). We climbed gradually for a long time and then we were treated to pump track, a chat to some cool locals and then an ace downhill track called Tiddlywinks with lots of berms, jumps and table tops. Great fun!!!!
Pete’s plastic chain guard finally snapped of his bike (it had been hanging in by only one of the four screws for a few weeks now) but other than that we were unscathed. The blue sky suddenly had some clouds and then breeze turned really hot. We just got back to Fred when a thunder and lightening storm passed overhead bringing huge rain drops. The storm circled around for a while so lunch was followed by an afternoon nap. Jobs continued as Janet sewed and did our accounts and Pete sanded and sprayed a patch of rust on Fred’s door.
The storm prevented our float down the river but maybe tomorrow?????On the riverbank we met a great English couple, called Lucy and Dale, who are also travelling in a van. Unfortunately they were waiting for their van to be fixed at the garage. We shared tips and recommendations and discovered freaky similar travel experiences. We decided rather than rent two inflatables to float the river once ($30), we would buy a cheap one for future use. $22 later and much puffing, we were ready.
The whitewater section was great fun – and refreshing in the icy water. It was quite shallow in places, so we may have got more of a rocky descent than we’d bargained for, and then we re-circulated a couple of times in one eddy but it certainly a hoot.
In the “experts section” there is a changeable standing wave for surfing which is a great facility for the locals.
Although we had no expectations of Bend, we found it to be a really friendly place, with a great outdoor vibe. Loads of bike shops, cycle paths, breweries and nice bars, plus a ski resort on your doorstep – what more could you want? Ooh maybe their local speciality from The Sparrow Bakery, an ocean roll, a cardomon spiced roll, yummy!
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