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

An Ode to Grandpa Lee

An old-time pioneer amid modern vanity and "progress." The man stood tall in the wind with the sun beating down on his flat-brim cowboy hat. He was a working man, focused on his pioneer family in the western country they called home. Building and designing structures high and wide, the man skipped across wooden beams high in the air, under shadows cast only by moving clouds; wide open spaces watched the scene as death-defying feats were carried out in relative obscurity, as just another day of work. The man was an old-timer with relatively few years to boast, a before his time pioneer with an adventurous and loving wife plotting business in sagebrush lands far beyond the hyped city life bustling with seemingly meaningless activities. His skin was as leather, scorched in the sun and beaten with high winds containing drifting sand mixed with alkaline dirt. The dry mountain air in the high desert cleansed his heart with comfortable respite from the high temps and harsh weather e...

What Happens to the Writer's Brain

Too many ideas and voices. It’s been around 40 days since I published an article, and I wanted to explain what happens in the writer’s brain. Essentially, I have too many ideas for articles to write and this causes my brain to meltdown and write nothing. While these ideas are flowing through the brain, life is happening; appliances need replacing, cars need repair, family trips, people passing away, bills getting lost in the mail, and other life happenings like work and chores. In between all of this, these ideas sometimes don’t find place to be expressed in the short time frame I have to share them. The exercise becomes too difficult, the writing takes a back seat to just relaxing and doing productive things around the homestead. Still, the writing brain is getting backed up with all of these ideas, and it begins to distrust they will ever see the light of day by being expressed and published. The hope of finding a fluid streamlined workflow for these ideas to be published diminishes ...

The Online World is Satan's Kingdom

The future is offline for those who love the truth and freedom. What is the online world to you? What is it in general? Isn’t it reasonable to conclude that it is going to be a closed system one day, only accessible to those who go along with the agenda of those who are in power? Those who rule the world control the people through money. The central banks control the monetary systems, thus, the economies, politics, commerce, and everything else that runs off money. If I wanted to control the entire world, I would create online technology, including smart technology. This is how I would control the masses to go along with my agenda. The Bible explains that this world system is in Satan’s control. That’s why he offered it to Jesus in the wilderness, as a failed temptation. We can conclude that the online world then was created for the sole purpose of controlling everyone who participates in the world system. In just two decades the world has become almost completely dependent upon the on...

Hive Mind Control

It tells you what to think about and believe. Many people are frustrated and angry at all the injustices we see today in the world, and rightly so, yet who are we angry with? The enemy seems to be elusive, amorphous, and hidden behind patsy boogie men, the powers to be put in front of us to hate. Who is the enemy? For Christians, we believe in a supernatural enemy, yet who are the workers of iniquity that the Bible speaks about, who does the work for this supernatural enemy? Ultimately, these are deceiving times, which means deception is being used to control our minds and hearts. Yet, how is this being done? It makes sense that online technology is the main tool being used to deceive the masses. Online technology is being used to form a “Hive Mind”, which is being used to control the masses. The hive mind is run by big data analytics, algorithms, and what they now call AI. It has always been AI, yet the hive mind wants us to think this is something new. The internet has always been AI...

Business and Society Articles

Search This Blog