Oregon Geology

[pwd72s]

Covered a lot in this tourism video...interesting stuff from the coast to the eastern border. Much of which I've seen & knew about...but not all. Lot of it only in Oregon, nowhere else. 40 minutes, the usual hated AI voice...but at least locations properly pronounced...so maybe not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkO5lA5SI0Q

[GH85Carrera]

Geology is fascinating to a laymen like myself.

We were recently in New York, and we took a tour of the Ausable Chasm. I was luck enough to be standing next to a PCA member that is a retired geologist.




See the bridge at the top of the photo? That is the brisge we walked across.


My phone said we walked 3.7 miles and ascended 10 flights of stairs. Going down is easy, gravity is a witch going back up.

[Cajundaddy]

Yep. Oregon is arguably one of the most interesting and beautiful places anywhere on earth. We typically spend 2 weeks there every summer lately. We head west through the Blues, down the Oregon Trail route along the Columbia river to the coast, and meander our way to the Rogue River where my wife's siblings live. It is a feast for the eyes and spirit. My grandfather was a geologist in the mining industry and always used to point out interesting formations and timelines in millions of years.

Oregon, Calif, Washington, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada are each interesting in their own way. Lands of contrast with striking coastlines, volcanic mountain ranges, Scablands of the Columbia, The Great Basin with early man sites demonstrating that it was inhabited by humans as far back as 20,000 years, the Sawtooth mountains and geothermal activity in Idaho, breathtaking Canyon lands of Utah carved out of sandstone. I plan to spend the next 5 years exploring these areas as time and weather permits.

[Zeke]

Interesting. Thanks.

[GH85Carrera]

Yea, at the Portland Parade 20 years ago, (wow that long) we did several tours of the beautiful waterfalls. Just everywhere. Lovely scenery.

[LWJ]

I regret never taking a geology course. We have a lot of cool stuff here in Oregon but then so do most places. A favorite - Steens Mountain. (probably in the video, I just don't have patience to watch videos)

If anyone comes through on a visit, look me up. I'm good for a hike or to point you towards my favorite tacos.

[herr_oberst]

We would all do well to explore the area just 50 or 100 miles around us. I'm sure that no matter where one lives, a lifetime could be spent in just that much area seeing new things and understanding what is around us.

Read up on John Jacob Astor's two-prong attempt to open up the PNW for the beaver pelt trade. My god, people back then were intrepid.

[rwest]

Originally Posted by LWJ

I regret never taking a geology course. We have a lot of cool stuff here in Oregon but then so do most places. A favorite - Steens Mountain. (probably in the video, I just don't have patience to watch videos)

If anyone comes through on a visit, look me up. I'm good for a hike or to point you towards my favorite tacos.

I may be in OR late summer to visit someone who also lives in Lake Oswego. Is my memory correct in thinking you used to live in MN a few years back?

[Bill Verburg]

The Missoula floods created the scablands, and dug most of the Colombia River Valley



similar to and much larger and spectacular than the Lake Iroquois flood did in the Hudson Valley

[LWJ]

Unfortunately, I have never set foot in MN. Other than Fall 88 semester in Boulder, I have lived in Oregon.

[Skip Newsom]

Oregon has sooo many amazing places to visit!

Mt Hood
Rogue River
The entire coast
Black Butte
To name a few favorites-

Over several decades we have gone mostly to the beaches, great access, lots and lots of sand, or rocks, or both.
In 2022 we spent several days at a cabin at Black Butte ranch an we took a day trip into the Dechutes wilderness and did the Polina triad, Polina peak, lake and falls plus a hike up onto a mountain side of Obsidian and Pumice, some of the hardest and softest volcanic barf there is. Sturdy shoes an no dogs since you are walking on glass.

That entire area is in the Newberry caldera, Polina Peak is 7984' elevation.

Stunning area, it's on our "return to" list!











Here's a spot on Black Butte Ranch where a good size spring pops up out of the ground and starts a river.
It's crazy clear, clean and cold. Filled my water bottle a couple times there, no need to filter or treat it, it's been flowing underground from the surrounding peaks.

[LWJ]

^^^Skip. You should check out the headwaters of the Metolius. Very close to Black Butte and it also just comes out of the Earth. Pretty cool.

My best obsidian story was fishing a small stream in the very remote South East end of the state. Some of the least populated country in the lower 48. And I found some obsidian chips. This is around 150 miles from the obsidian flows in Central Oregon. I always wondered what human brought them and when?