The Haul Road Trail follows the path of Bend’s old mill railroads, once used to haul ponderosa and douglas-fir logs from the surrounding forests to the Brooks-Scanlon and Shevlin-Hixon mills along the Deschutes. At their peak in the early 1900s, these mills operated one of the most extensive private rail networks in Oregon, running for nearly 70 years. The system supported not just trains, but entire portable towns on rails—complete with bunkhouses, schools, commissaries, and even a movie theatre—that could move deeper into the forest as the timber was cut. [Ref: The Old Mill]

The Upper Deschutes once ran with remarkable stability, its spring-fed flows fluctuating less than 8 inches across the seasons. Today, irrigation storage at Crane Prairie and Wickiup reservoirs has transformed that rhythm. Winter flows can plunge to 100 cubic feet per second (cfs), while summer releases surge above 2,500 cfs to meet farm demand. This artificial pattern scours banks, degrades water quality, and leaves sediment deposits in places like Bend’s Mirror Pond. Wildlife adapted to steadier conditions—such as redband trout and Oregon spotted frogs—struggle with these rapid swings. To address the damage, the Deschutes Basin Habitat Conservation Plan (a multi-party collaborative plan) advocats for winter flows to rise gradually, reaching 300 cfs by 2028 and 500 cfs by 2033. Conservation groups, irrigation districts, and the ranching/farm communities are also pursuing canal piping, farm efficiency upgrades, and water banking to return a measure of balance to this altered river system.

Several winters ago, this giant rock came crashing down from the hillside above (to your right). It brought with it three smaller boulders with it—which we’ve since moved aside—but this one was far too massive to budge.

Nature set the stage for this dramatic fall. Over many years, water seeped into tiny cracks in the rock embankment. Each freeze and thaw cycle acted like a wedge, slowly prying the rock loose until one final push sent it tumbling downhill.

How big is it? Our staff geologist, Kim Ely, estimates its weight at about 25,000 pounds—that’s as heavy as eight mid-sized cars or five full-grown elephants!

Ryan Ranch was once a vibrant wetland connected to the Deschutes River, but in the 1920s ranchers built a berm to keep floodwaters out and create pasture. The change dried the marsh into a meadow, cutting it off from the natural river cycle. Nearly a century later, the Forest Service is reversing that decision. A pilot restoration project has opened culverts in the berm, allowing seasonal flows to return and re-flood the basin. Over 65 acres of wetlands are being revived, transforming the landscape back toward its original form.

About 7,000 years ago, a massive lava flow from nearby Lava Butte dammed the Deschutes River, forming a temporary lake. When the river finally overtopped the hardened basalt, it carved a new channel through the rock, creating the tumbling cascades we see today. With a 25-foot drop across a 40-foot span, Benham Falls is the largest and most dramatic waterfall on the upper Deschutes. Its swift, frothing waters are rated Class V for whitewater.

The Lava Butte lava flow (to your left as riding) began with pāhoehoe lava, a smooth, ropy lava that spread fluidly and formed tubes and rope-like textures. As the lava cooled and degassed, it shifted into ‘a‘ā, a jagged, blocky form that bulldozed trees and “knocked down everything in sight.” This transition is a key geologic marker, revealing how eruptions evolve from fluid to chaotic. Along the paved trail, you can spot features of both phases—lava balls, collapsed tubes, and rough clinkery boulder fields (like that shown in the picture).

Make sure to visit the Lava Lands Visitor Center, where learning isn’t passive—it’s immersive and hands-on. A giant 3D map shows the size of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, including its lava flows and cinder cones. Interactive exhibits let you test the weight of different rocks. You will learn about different types of lava and the rocks they create. Cultural displays trace over 10,000 years of people living in this volcanic region, with examples of obsidian tools and artifacts. Rangers are on hand to answer questions, and daily films offer deeper insight into the area’s geology, ecology, and history.

Lava Butte is a cinder cone that formed about 7,000 years ago in a single eruption. That event sent a lava flow across 9 square miles, blocking the Deschutes River and briefly creating a lake upstream. Rising 500 feet above the surrounding plain, Lava Butte’s summit holds a crater 150 feet deep. Its rugged, alien-looking terrain caught NASA’s attention: in 1963, Apollo astronauts trained here for lunar missions, learning to recognize volcanic features and practice sample collection.