The River Disappears...

This was a quick stop that I made just south of Crater Lake on my way into the Redwoods National Park. The Rogue River disappears into a lave tube. Lava tubes are caves which are formed when there is a giant lava flow. The outer layer of lava cools off quickly and solidifies, while the inner lava remains molten hot and slowly drains out leaving a hollow tube behind. There are many of these types of caves in the Pacific Northwest due to the underlying volcanic activity and associated fault lines. Plate tectonics are crazy! I took a geology class in college... they called it "Rocks for Jocks" cuz most of the UF athletes got A's in it. But the professor sure loved him some plate tectonics. Check wikipedia for more details...

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Sea of Grass!

In this video you can see a wide open part of Washington... no trees for miles, just grass or wheat or whatever that stuff was, but it went on in every direction for miles, and miles, and miles.

Short stop at Crater Lake National Park

While driving south after a brief stay with my aunt and uncle in Bend, OR I stopped at Crater Lake National Park. As you can see in the video it was a beautiful, sunny day and the lake looked amazing. The water is ridiculously blue, such a deep, deep hue. About 8000 years ago there was a huge volcano there. It erupted and then collapsed inward on itself creating the huge crater we can see today. I didn't spend much time here as I was in quite the rush to get down to see some friends in San Francisco. Enjoy the video.

Hiking the South Sister near Bend, Oregon

While in Bend, OR I decided to hike up to the top of one of the nearby mountains. There are actually Three Sisters (each its own peak) and Mt. Bachelor very close to town. Bend is a very nice town although it is growing tremendously fast. I guess all the other people out there think it is nice too and have moved in from small rural communities. Most people don't really think of Oregon and Washington as dry, but on this side of the mountain range it is a desert. All of the rain gets dumped on the coastal areas like Seattle and Portland and then very little of it makes its way into the central parts of the states where Yakima and Bend are located. Both of these towns were founded because of the rivers flowing through the area. It is a very unique kinda place. Well, check out the short video of the hike. It was a tough hike, but well worth it and the view from the top was spectacular. Also, I found a quick and fun way down part of the mountain.

Yellowstone's Thermal Activities

Here is a video showing some of Yellowstone's geysers and hot springs. The Earth's crust is super thin at Yellowstone and the Earth's natural geothermal heat causes these geysers and hot springs to form. There are tons of areas in the park where these thermal vents occur and many of them are easily accessible and quite beautiful (although stinky. Sulfur= rotten eggs). Certain species of bacteria are able to live in the super heated water, but only in the "cooler" pools. In the video you will be able to see that the bacterial mats are found on the very edges of pools or in the small run-off streams away from the direct heat source. Check out the video. If you don't give a damn about geology... well then just skip it! Also, check out the latest issue of the National Geographic for a more in depth look at Yellowstone's geologic anomalies.

Bear Vision!

So in this video you can see one of Yellowstone's many bears. I had been hiking all day, but I actually saw this bear on the side of the road when I inadvertently took a wrong turn. It turns out that this is a very efficient way to see wildlife- whenever you see people pulled over on the side of the road with their binoculars and gigantic cameras you know there is something worth stopping for. That is exactly how I found this guy. During my hike I saw some animals- the highlight being a bald eagle- and a few bear tracks in the mud but no bears on the hike. It was actually pretty unnerving seeing the fresh tracks. I felt a little alone at the time because there really weren't any other people around on this hike. I guess I was glad in a way that I didn't have a closer encounter with a huge grizzly. Enjoy!

Okay... so the blog kinda sucks right now...

I gotta admit that the blog kinda sucks right now because I haven't made any updates in about a month. It's lame... I know. I am currently in Houston and I have some solid internet access so I will try to reconstruct what I have been doing over the past few weeks. Take care, enjoy the movie and I will have some more stuff online in a matter of days! Word!