What is the Hole-in-the-Ground in Lake County, OR?

NASA used it to practice for the moon.

The Hole-in-the-Ground is a large crater caused by a volcanic explosion (maar). It is an entire mile across at the furthest point and 490 ft. deep in the middle. There is another maar 8 miles west of this one that is even bigger at 1.1 miles across called the Big Hole. The elevation of this area is 4,650 ft.

This massive hole is one of the many geographic attractions found in Lake County, OR. It can be found off OR-31 around the 22-mile marker. There is a sign saying Hole-in-the-Ground and another entry point saying Outback Station.

Off OR-31 at the second exit, visitors will take dirt roads and come across the Outback Station, which is an RV park, before getting to the Hole-in-the-Ground Vista Point about 2 miles later.

The Hole-in-the-Ground is located within the Deschutes National Forest at the western edge of the Fort Rock basin. It is located about 8 miles northwest of the town of Fort Rock and 24 miles southeast of La Pine.

The Oregon Encyclopedia explains there are twenty sites in Oregon that have close iterations of the name Hole-in-the-Ground, but only the one in Lake County was caused by a volcanic eruption, specifically from the Newberry Volcano.

Interestingly, in 1966 NASA astronauts and scientists visited Oregon and stopped by the Hole-in-the-Ground rim as part of their Apollo training sessions, according to the Oregon Encyclopedia. The volcanic landscape was similar to what they thought the moon’s topography would be like.

Once visitors get through exploring and taking pictures of the Hole-in-the-Ground, they can head to Christmas Valley next to check out the Crack-in-the-Ground, which is another volcanic formation that runs 2 miles long and up to 70 ft. deep.

Originally published at NewsBreak

Comments

Is Writing on Medium and Vocal Worth It?

Honestly, the writing site, Medium, is my favorite from the user friendly and quality aspects with reading and writing. I like the concept, the pay structure, how it works in theory. Why then, am I not writing there anymore? Deleting my Medium writing account wasn’t an easy decision, and I’ve had some times of regret in losing what I considered the best compilation of my articles online, yet, overall, it was a good move for me. When it comes down to what matters, where we write makes a difference in our identity as a writer and person. Medium continued to show me that it had much different values than I did as a conservative Protestant Christian. That is the main reason I’m glad I’m not there anymore. Yes, it is a shame that I had to delete hundreds of articles, all chronologically published, representing my work in a professional and quality way on their excellent writing and publishing site. And, the yearly membership fee really wasn’t very much, around $60, and I probably made aroun...

A Guide to Winter Fishing on the Oregon Coast

When it comes to finding the perfect winter fishing destination, the Oregon Coast won't leave anglers disappointed. The mild weather coupled with an abundance of fishing locations and fish make Oregon's coastline a perfect place for winter fishing adventures. What's the Weather like on the Oregon Coast in Winter? The average temperatures in the winter on the Oregon Coast are around: high 51° F and low 42° F . Other weather factors include high wind gusts up to 80 mph and the bulk of the annual rainfall of 75" coming down from October to May. Basically, the wintertime weather on the Oregon Coast is rugged enough to filter out the fair weather visitors, yet mild enough to welcome anglers looking for some of the best fishing in the world without the crowds. Types of Fish to Catch and Where Weather is mostly a secondary consideration for anglers visiting the Oregon Coast; their first consideration focuses on the types of fish there are to catch. I...

5 Topics Hotels Can Consistently Blog About

Starting a blog to complement a website and other digital marketing efforts is a great idea for hotels, yet what should their blogs be about? Consistently posting blogs about interesting topics sometimes isn't that easy. In an effort to help, let's discuss 5 topics hotels can consistently blog about to gain traction online. 1. Local Attractions and Destinations: cc from pxhere.com Local SEO is vitally important to gain attention from search engines, in order to stand out to prospective guests interested in staying in the hotel's local area. Blogging about local attractions gives hotels a large topic to draw upon when brainstorming blog ideas. Even if the hotel is in a relatively isolated location or smaller town, there's always something to write about when it comes to local attractions or destinations. Restaurants, bars, nightclubs, concert halls, sports stadiums, race tracks, wilderness attractions, parks, historical sites, and more can be highlighted in a ho...

Opinion: Most communities in Oregon and the US are Republican, yet Democrats are in charge

2022 Oregon Governor Election Photo Assuming election results are valid in Oregon, which does take a lot of faith these days after the questions about the 2020 US Presidential election arose, Democrat Tina Kotek won the Governor’s race in 2022 by a slim margin over Republican Christine Drazan. The interesting aspect of this win is how many of Oregon’s 36 counties voted Republican vs. Democrat. Looking at the political map, almost the entire state is red with only a few small counties in the northwest having the blue color. Specifically, there were 7 counties that voted Democrat and 29 that voted Republican. The difference is the 7 counties voting blue are the most populous counties, also the counties with the most residents coming from other states – much like Tina Kotek herself, a transplant from Pennsylvania . Tina only won the campaign to be Oregon’s 39th Governor by 66,727 votes over Christine Drazan. Said in another way, the Democrats pulled off another close election with m...

Business and Society Articles

Search This Blog