Smith Rock jumps out of a hole

Smith Rock has an odd look to it when you first see it across the Central Oregon desert.

The feature looms above the scene located near Redmond and Terrebone north of Bend, but appears to be coming up out of a huge hole.

When you get to the rim and look down you see that what is actually a series of gigantic rocks starts below and is even taller from bottom to top than it initially appeared.

The Crooked River snakes its way through the landscape around and in front of the rocks.

All of the rocks are part of what is left of an ancient volcano.

The hole they come up out of was formed when the magma chamber below was emptied and collapsed in on itself to create the Crooked River Caldera.

Subsequent activity resulted in the rocks, which are composed of volcanic tuff.

The tops of the rocks stand at roughly 3,200 feet above sea level.  They offer the goal of thousands of possible climbing routes available in Smith Rock State Park.

The 641-acre park is crisscrossed by 15 major trails for other uses such as hiking, trail running, mountain biking and horseback riding.  They range from several easy trails to difficult paths with names such as the Misery Ridge Trail.

Slack lining is another available activity in the park.

Those with less time and/or energy can walk a short ways down from the parking lot and take in the scene at a lookout next to one of the gnarly juniper trees.

The day use area is open all year from dawn to dusk, with tent camping only offered to those who want to stay.

How to get there:

Smith Rock State Park has an address of Smith Rock State Park, Terrebone, OR. 97760 and can be reached by calling (800) 551-6949 or (541) 548-7501.

Follow the signs from nearby Highway 97, which runs north and south across all of Central Oregon and Washington.

Text and photos by Tim Clinton.

Grand Coulee light show returns

It's back.

The nightly "One River, Many Voices" laser light show has returned on the spillway of the Grand Coulee Dam after the COVID pandemic took it away.

It came back to the gigantic Eastern Washington structure May 28 of this year and is still running through Sept. 30 starting at 8:30 p.m.

Right before each show more Columbia River water is allowed over, providing a white screen for a backdrop.

Only a comparative trickle flows during the day.

No admission is charged for onlookers for a feature that covers the building of the dam and its benefits as well as what it has done to the environment and the Native American side of the story.

The dam itself is so huge that it boasts 12 million cubic yards of concrete and stands at 550 feet high.

It has enough concrete to form a sidewalk four feet wide and four inches deep all the way around the equator twice -- or 50,000 miles long.

It took from 1933 to 1942 to build it, and it irrigates 600,000 acres.

For more information, contact the Grand Coulee Visitor Center at (509) 633-9265.

How to get there:

The Grand Coulee Visitor Center is located at WA-155, Coulee Dam, WA 99116.

Take Highway 17 north from I-90 and Moses Lake, turning right onto Highway 2 and taking a left off of it at Highway 155.  Head north along Banks Lake in the scenic Grand Coulee until you come to the dam after a narrow strip of land.

Text and photo by Tim Clinton.