Getting There
Earlier in the day, I was at the Lava Cast Forest, so I was already part of the way to the caldera from my base camp in Bend.
I drove south on Hwy 97 from Lava Cast Forest Road (NF-9720) for about 16.7 miles to Paulina Lake Road. Continued on NF-2120 for 12.5 miles. Just past the Paulina Lake Campground, I took NF-500. It's just shy of 4 miles to the top, mostly washboard dirt road.
On the Lava Cast Forest Road, I'd tried going about 25 miles per hour on the washboard which seemed to work. Better than going 5-10 mph and feeling every bump, you seem to skim on the top of the perpendicular crest/troughs. I feel comfortable doing that down there because if I got a little sideways, shoulder of the road was mostly flat. Here on the Paulina Peak Road, there are drop-offs that would not be good. I had to slog up (and down) at 5-10 mph.
When I reached the parking lot, there was a guy with a big tanker truck that was servicing the bathroom but no other visitors, a contrast to the last time I was up there. Guess folks had a better sense to stay away from the smoke.
The Hike
There is a interpretive trail that part of the Crater Rim trail. I didn't count this as I "hike" as it was more of a viewpoint. I did the same jaunt last year as well. I could smell the wildfire smoke and see it creeping north across the landscape. I took advantage of the short respite from the dirty air to hike down to the viewpoint looking back at Paulina Peak, a little bit of it off-trail though well traveled.
I did less exploring this time since the air quality was declining rapidly. I was still glad to have made it out here to the caldera. I remember seeing pictures of the lakes and cinder cone in the middle and making my mind up to visit. All of my pictures are basically the same as last year.
After descending down the road (NF-500), the air quality had gotten a lot worse. I continued north on Forest Service Road 21 to the Hot Springs Boat Launch. (The previous year, I'd gone all the way to the end of the road and toured the Cinder Hill Campground.)
I only stopped briefly as the sun was setting and smoke in the caldera was getting unbreathable. (I would later find out that the AQI was nearly off the chart in La Pine, OR, dangerous/unhealthy.)
I was a little bummed I didn't have time to explore more of the lakes, Big Obsidian Flow, other stuff I wasn't aware of. I remember driving by Paulina Falls and had hoped to stop on my way out but by the time I was leaving, the air was awful.
I left the caldera around 5pm but I still had an hour or so of daylight. Although I passed the Lava Butte cinder cone & visitor center (closed during the week), I did a u-turn in south Bend and made a last stop at Trail of the Molten Land.
