McKenzie Pass

• Heraclitus.

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On our first trip to Oregon, we spend most of our time exploring the wonderful Oregon coast and Columbia river gorge, but as we started our journey back, I had a couple of spots n mind for a quick visit. One such location was the lower proxy falls, a massive waterfall near Bend, Oregon. The drive to the falls trailhead was long but beautiful. Inline with most aspen landscapes, we were driving on the road snaking through a dense pine forest for the most part.

Then suddenly, the landscape changed. Instead of the lush green forest, the area opened up and drove through a massive lava field. I have never seen anything like that before, and when we saw what appeared to be some building with a parking lot, we decided to stop and learn a bit about this stark but gorgeous landscape. The building we saw turned out to be the Dee Wright Observatory, an observation structure at McKenzie Pass's summit in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. The facility is an open shelter constructed with lava stone. It is located amid a large lava flow and offers an exceptional view of numerous Cascade peaks.

I saw this scene just outside the observatory. It shows the distant peaks of the middle and north sister mountains and the direction of the ancient lava flow. What interested me the most was how nature was reclaiming the rough rocky terrain. As we went on one of the many trails that start from these locations, you could see more signs of greenery returning with little plants and flowers all over the place.

At the McKenzie Pass in the Willamette National Forest.