Central Oregon

  Newbury Crater National Volcanic Monument is south of Bend, on US 97.

Volcanic activity has occurred here for a long time, even though it is geologically unconnected to the Cascade Range to the west.  It is held to be over a hot spot, where the crust is thinner than elsewhere, a bit like Yellowstone.

A large volcano once stood here, that destroyed itself in a series of cataclysms, leaving this fragment of itself as Mt. Paulina.  It is the highest point in the state that you can drive a car to:

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It’s so tall that we were in the clouds here, while the rest of the region was fairly clear:

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The view up there would have been what they made the word "spectacular" for:

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The views down inside the caldera were better:

 

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