Middle of nowhere offers slice of heaven

CRACK IN THE GROUND, Ore. – If you know where this place is, you probably live nearby. That goes double for Hole in the Ground just a few miles west.

They are two of a slew of geologic oddities sprinkled along and near the National Outback Scenic Byway – a daylong diversion from more than 20 golf courses, 71 ski runs, whitewater rafting, alpine hikes, fishing and more in the Bend-Mount Bachelor area.

There are lava flows and lava caves, the nation’s largest flow of obsidian and cinder cones from volcanoes, all with signs to inform the layman of what he is seeing and how it got there.

It’s quiet now, but the area was born in fire and scientists say molten lava is only three miles or so below the surface. Some day, they predict, it will blow again.

It certainly did in the not-too-distant geologic past, leaving calling cards of unusual kinds to poke and ponder along and near the 171-mile Byway.

A good start is the High Desert Museum a few miles south of Bend on U.S. 97. It provides an overview of the West’s vast High Desert; its wildlife, including wild mustangs and endangered spotted owls; and how settlers fought to survive illness, Indians and the elements.

One recent display included a room dedicated to frontier medicine, complete with bullet forceps, a tooth extraction key and bone saws.

Medical advice for bullet wounds included chloroform if available, and for large people to sit on the victim during surgery otherwise. The treatment for cholera was 60 drops of laudanum, an alcohol and opium solution that likely put the poor wretch beyond caring – which is fortunate, because it didn’t cure cholera.

“I hope Tom is better. I washed him all over in vinegar water. … I can’t believe the Lord will take him from me,” wrote Hannah King, a settler, in an 1858 diary entry. “And have I not already buried four?”

At least when it comes to health care, the good old days are now.

The museum is kid-friendly with carefully reconstructed and furnished settlers’ cabins, occasional blacksmithing demonstrations and a working 100-year-old sawmill that operates for visitors from time to time (call ahead).

It’s a short drive from there to the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, which includes the Lava Lands Visitors Center and a 500-foot cinder cone with a road to the top.

It is one of hundreds of more than 400 “one-shot” volcanoes in the area that spawned miles of lava flows.

There is an easy quarter-mile trail around the rim with plentiful signs that explain it all in layman’s terms, and a working forest fire lookout tower at the top.

Within the monument near Paulina Lake is the nation’s biggest flow of obsidian – 170 million cubic yards of the volcanic black glass once prized by Indians for knives and arrowheads. (Visitors are not supposed to take obsidian, but there are flows outside the national monument where plenty is available.)

Newberry Crater was home to Indians some 10,000 years ago, and a homesite there carbon-dated to about 9,500 years ago is believed to be among the oldest in North America.

The monument is sprinkled with camping areas, and cabins are available at East Lake and Paulina Lake.

Back on U.S. 97, continue south for a few miles through the town of La Pine and head east (left) on Oregon 31 and watch for a sign for Hole in the Ground after about 22 miles. It is about four miles to the north along dirt roads that are passable in a passenger car most of the year. At forks in the road, generally bear to the right.

You will know it when you see it – something resembling a huge meteor crater about a mile across and some 300 feet deep, so otherworldly that astronauts were taken there in 1966 because of its resemblance to a lunar landscape.

Scientists say it probably is a result of underground steam explosions that took place about 15,000 years ago when magma came in contact with ground water, forming a dome that collapsed.

If you get lost, there are ranches scattered about where someone can set you straight, but carry extra water just in case and check your fuel gauge. Cell phone contact can be dicey.

From there return to Oregon 31 and continue east or take a more or less parallel unpaved road to Christmas Valley, a town named for reasons lost to history.

At the eastern edge is a turnoff for Crack in the Ground, a rare tension fracture some 70 feet deep, a few yards wide and two miles long that formed about 1,000 years ago.

Such fractures are rare, as most fill up with rock and other debris within a short time, geologically speaking, after they open. This one has not.

There is a parking area at an outhouse about seven miles in, the only building for miles. Cross the road to a clearly marked short trail to the fissure.

As you edge your way down through the boulders to the bottom, the temperature begins to tumble as you get into trapped cold air.

Pioneer diaries recall that Crack in the Ground was popular for community picnics long ago because in a fiery high-desert summer, ice trapped in the bottom could be used to make ice cream.