Newberry National Volcanic Monument

So, before we begin with the pictures, the difference between a National Park and a National Monument in the United States has only to do with how they are created and who ends up responsible. National Parks must be created by Congress, National Monuments can be created by the President or Congress. (And I guess if there was ever a lawsuit about the status of such a site the Supreme Court would get in on the action? I wouldn't want them to be left out.) The Park Service runs the National Parks and some other agency ends up running the National Monuments.

Why do I bring this up? Because this past week I visited Newberry National Volcanic Monument, managed by the US Forest Service and I saw no difference between it and a National Park (except maybe for the fishing in the lakes). I feel like this is an indicator of the disfunction and cost of politics, that we need two mechanisms to essentially do the same thing because sometimes, one of them isn't working. I as an engineer I should appreciate the redundancy but it seems like redundancy in governance commonly goes by the name "waste". At least they all figured out having a common location to reserve campsites is a good idea.

OK, let's not dwell on such things any longer.

Last week we went camping! It was mostly wonderful aside from being very cold at night. Our one year old end up sleeping with us and with a cap on his head, he slept through the night like a champ. Being an outdoor boy, he loved having ready access to sticks, dirt and rocks.

My big event for the trip was a hike to a local peak. It was the most ambitious hike since injuring my foot with a 1400 foot increase in elevation and a total length of around seven miles round trip. I was hauling my son in a baby-carrier backback most of the way and I paid for a bit the next day but it was worth it. A view from along the way, showing the two lakes in the Newberry volcano caldera:

When we got to the top we found that there is a road that allows mere mortals to drive directly to the peak. The next morning, when our son woke early with the sun, being a mere mortal at that hour of the day, I drove up with him to get some sunrise pictures. The mountains you see are Mt. Bachelor and the Three Sisters.

The only other hiking we did was a short mile or so to the Pauline Falls; here's the view from the lower observation platform.