I love camping with my friends, but I also love my alone time. So after a night of camping at Suttle Lake here in Oregon, I decided to take a roundabout way getting home, a solo impromptu road trip, if you will. I ended up on the MacKenzie Pass Scenic Highway, not knowing what I would see. I was completely blown away!

Starting from Sister’s, OR, you begin to gain elevation as you transition from the dry side of the Cascades to the wet side where you’ll notice the forests getting thicker. Until suddenly you turn a corner and see miles and miles (50 square miles to be exact) of volcanic rock!

The highway apparently follows the path of a Wagon Trail Route from the late 1800’s, that’s right, Wagons went over these rocks. Wagons full of people’s belongings, furniture, musical instruments, babies too! (I recently learned that a Dulcimer came over from the East to California with my ancestors).

Somehow, trees have managed to grow here. They’re very short despite some of them being over 80 years old. This environment is very harsh – freezing and covered in snow in the winter, blazing hot but very windy in the summer.