Sunrise glow bathes Smith Rock in warmth and yellow light, as the Crooked River casts a lazy bend around the 400 foot monolith. Comprised of rhyolite tuff, a welded amalgam of ask, pumice and rock formed 30 million years ago by the collapse of the Crooked River Caldera. In the background to left, rises Oregon's largest mountain by mass, the Shield Volcano Newberry Caldera. To right, the twin cinder cones Tetherow Butte, which we drive past on section of Highway 97 between Redmond and Terrebonne. On distant horizon to right are the snow capped peaks of Mount Bachelor and Brokentop.

Sunrise glow bathes Smith Rock in warmth and yellow light, as the Crooked River casts a lazy bend around the 400 foot monolith. Comprised of rhyolite tuff, a welded amalgam of ask, pumice and rock formed 30 million years ago by the collapse of the Crooked River Caldera. In the background to left, rises Oregon’s largest mountain by mass, the Shield Volcano Newberry Caldera. To right, the twin cinder cones Tetherow Butte, which we drive past on section of Highway 97 between Redmond and Terrebonne. On distant horizon to right are the snow capped peaks of Mount Bachelor and Brokentop.