Happy Solstice!

 

On June 20th  (my mothers birthday, Giovannina writing, and the summer solstice) our destination was the painted hills of John Day National Park. We had heard about the unique colors of the Painted Hills and were excited to go see them. 
 
The painted hills are the result of thousands of years of volcanic eruptions over Central Oregon.  Each eruption laid a layer of ash and each had a different mineral composition. Years later as the land was geologically pushed up into "hills" and exposed to wind, rain and sun the minerals in each layer oxidized creating the bands of colors in the hills.  
 

We arrived around 7:00pm, the sky overhead was dark with thunder heads and the hills were wet from a recent rain. Over the next hour the sky cleared the hills dried and it almost seemed like we were watching the sun rise instead of set - we even got a rainbow. 






The changing light made the hills come alive, shifting colors as if they were being painted right there in front of us. A purely magical experience for such a special day. We watched the sun set and then headed out to find a spot to camp for the night. 
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............................................................

The next day we drove to Crater Lake. It was my request to go (Woody had been there before) and I had done the research to make sure the roads were open, I was really looking forward to hiking around the most pristine lake in the world.  

Funny thing is that although the roads were open, as we got closer to the lake (and higher in elevation) there was still snow.  Not just a little, there was over 12 feet of snow on the side of the roads, and we learned that none of the hiking trails were cleared yet. As we watched people putting on their Snowshoes and skiis we realized how unprepared we were but we still decided to camp out that night and then drive the rim the next day to enjoy Crater lake from the car. 

 

                
That night we were snowed on (which was actually better then being rained on because for the last few nights we had been fighting a leak in our rain fly). In the morning, the sky was clear blue and we had spectacular views of the lake.
 Umpqua Falls near the hot springs.


Playing in the snow all day was fun but we were ready for a dry camp sight and decided to go early to the Umpqua Hot Springs. The perfect end to the Solstice weekend.


Happy Solstice !!!