July 18

Day 4: Deschutes National Forest

This is by far my favorite part of the trip. The forest is truly breathtaking and the people were amazing. The day started off with a doe in camp right by my tent. After scarfing down some fuel, we headed to Lava River Caves south of Bend. After a quick talk by the director Scott McBride, we had a very informative talk with Barbara Webb, a Wildlife Biologist, who specializes in bats. We learned about white-nose syndrome and the precautions the Deschutes NF takes to prevent this fungus from invading the small bat population here.

A short time later, we got to talk with Bart Wills, a Geologist, who took us on a tour of a lava tunnel. He explained the formation of the tunnels and why it was so cold down in the tunnel. 42 degrees is pretty cold but it actually felt pretty good. And boy was it dark. This tunnel was possibly the darkest room I have ever encountered. The lanterns seemed to barely pierce the abyss that surrounded us. So fun!

*Sorry no pictures.. camera batteries decided to take a break.

We next met with Amy Tinderholdt, the Recreation Team Leader, who took us up to Lava Butte. There we had a couple talks with Erin Woodard (Archaeologist) and Doug Johnson (the Fire Management Officer).




The best view!

Erin explaining her job with artifacts

The ponderosa have a beautiful view

Stuart, a summer intern, describes his job as fire lookout

Then we ate. Thank you to the whole Deschutes team who put together the potluck in our honor!



So yum!

Aprés lunch, the forest team took us on a short hike up the Deschutes to Benton Falls. It was amazing to see how beautiful the trail and banks were kept despite having so much traffic each year.

It looks so calm...



And then... Benton Falls

 

Kevin (far left), Shane (far right) and Amy (middle). You were awesome!

Thank you so much to Shane Jeffries (Deputy Forest Supervisor), Kevin Larkin (District Ranger), Amy Tinderholdt (Recreation Team Leader). The other gentleman in this picture, I cannot remember his name but he is to be especially thanked as this whole "Deschutes" experience would not have happened without him. Thank you!