Where we went and why
Today, we decided to go for a walk at Scott Lake on the McKenzie Pass in the Central Cascades in Oregon. However, but we got there, we were eaten alive by mosquitoes while getting our stuff ready. We promptly decided that we didn't want to spend the next two hours getting attacked by blood suckers, so we left. We figured that any other hike along this stretch of road would have the same problem, so we decided to try the Dee Wright Observatory since it was surround by a lava field, how many mosquitoes could there possibly be there? We climbed back into the car and some mosquitoes came with us! While we were inside trying to kill the stowaways, the ones outside were attacking the car! They wanted in. I've never seen anything quite like it! Madness!
The Walk
The Dee Wright Observatory is at the summit of McKenzie Pass. You can only get there between like mid June and Octoberish. They shut the pass down during the snow season. All the snow has to melt before they open it back up. It's then left open for a couple weeks without any snow on it. Bicyclists love it because they can ride it without the risk of being squashed by a car.
There is a 1/2 mile walk through the lava field. There are a lot of educational signs along the path. It was a pretty easy walk, but it's not completely flat. It's paved the entire way. There were some spots where my breathing was heavy, but I didn't need to stop to catch my breath. It was a nice cool day. We've been there before when it was really hot and it was kinda miserable since you're walking on a black field of lava. The sun just beats down on you. There were some really nice views of the mountains. You can see two of the Sisters Mountains, Mt. Washington, Three Finger Jack and Mt. Jefferson. There were a bunch of other craters and buttes and stuff too. The 1/2 mile walk has a couple of options so you don't need to do he whole thing.
The observatory is at the top of the hill. There are steps to climb up. There isn't much of a handrail though. There's a chain going up it, but it's not really at a convenient height to actually use. I made it up to the top without stopping! I was pretty proud of that because the last time we did it, I had to stop a couple times. It's a pretty short climb, but it's still like going up a couple flights of stairs. You can go inside the top and you can go on top of it. Inside, there are holes so you can look at all of the different mountains and crates. On top, there is a big round thing that shows you which mountains and crates you are looking at. It tells you how far away they are and how tall they are.
There are restrooms here, but I didn't go inside on this trip. I can't remember if they have flushing toilets or if they are just the vault toilets (translation...glorified outhouses).
This is a nice place to stop if you're in the area, but I wouldn't drive all the way there to just see the observatory. If you're doing another hike in the area though, you should stop by to do the walk.
BodyMedia Screen Shot
The first pat is the walk and then I went to the top of the observatory. The little dip is when we stopped to enjoy the view. I was surprised that I got up to 12 calories per minute.
The Video
If you like the pictures, check out my Dee Wright Observatory YouTube video. My husband was making fun of me for taking so many pictures. I took 59 pictures on a 30 minute excursion!
BackCountry Navigator Screen Shot
I couldn't get RunKeeper to load and I somehow lost the MapMyHike map, so I only have this screen shot for the hike. I agree with the length and the elevation. I just really wanted to see the elevation map that the other two apps show. I really need to get one of those GPS tracking things that's a stand alone device. The phone apps are just not doing it for me.
I edited the post to fix the name. I spelled it Wight instead of Wright.
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