Crater Lake

We've been wandering Oregon for a week now .Scenery on Coastal Highway 101 is really something.  Mountains to the left of us, ocean to the right of us. Liz kept leaning out the window with the camera but there's just no way to actually capture it. Not that we won't keep trying. We spent a couple of days dry camping in the Tahkenitch Forest Service sand dune area, taking a unique hike from deep forest over sand dunes to the ocean. Think Sleeping Bear dunes, only a bit bigger, just as hard to get up and down.

Through the windshield shots of the Oregon Coast.

Reminds me of the Lake Michigan dunes

 

We found an SKP (aka Escapee, yet another RV camp organization, a member owned co-op, membership gives us access to some exclusive campsites and discounts in others.)  campsite in Sutherlin, Oregon.  A nice place to kick back for the evening and enjoy full electric power, empty and refill the appropriate waste and water tanks, some 30 or so miles inland. We also let our maildrop know we were here to forward mail. One night and off to Crater Lake.

Crater Lake is one of those bucket list things. I’d heard from other RVers everything from “a nice place to see, kind of like Meteor Crater” to “I’d spend the entire summer there if I could”. My own feeling? For sure it’s worth seeing. If you’re deeply into long distance hiking you could spend weeks there without hitting the same trail twice. We spent three days and a couple more wouldn’t have hurt. The National Park is dry camping only - no electricity, no water, not even showers. This automatically limits the time you can spend.

Of course, it is a unique thing. Only 7,700 years ago a magma pocket under a 12,000 foot mountain built up enough pressure to erupt. This was the biggest volcanic eruption on the continent since the latest Yellowstone eruption 640,000 years ago, covering a 5 state area along with part of Canada with ash from 8 inches to 60 feet. After it had vented itself out, it left a deep empty pocket that ate the upper 5,000 feet of the mountain. It actually continued venting for another few hundred years, building up a 2,500 foot ash cone that is now known as Wizard Island. Since the caldera (NOT crater, no meteor involved) had no outlets and a pretty watertight bottom, snowmelt and rain just plain collected and made a lake. A really big lake, 5 miles across and 2,000 feet deep, deeper than any of the Great Lakes. That’s 5 trillion gallons of pure fresh water, the clearest and cleanest in the world. It loses 34 or so billion gallons a year to evaporation and seepage and then gains it back in the winter with up to 44 feet of snowfall. You can only get around the lake on the road for a few months – early July to mid September – any other time and you’ll be blocked by the snow. It’s all they can do to keep the visitor center open year round to accommodate skiers and snowshoe hikers, no snowmobiles allowed.  This July there are still pockets of snow in many places and last season’s snowfall was one of the smallest on record – a mere 24 feet. Yet the lake has only been observed to freeze twice despite a 38 degree average temperature and complete absence of currents due to its huge volume.  Partially because of the rough country surrounding the lake, nearly the entire 183,000 acres of the park was not logged and is thus one of our few pockets of old-growth forest. Due to the extreme weather the trees in the park are not especially large but are up to 400 years old. Okay, enough science, on with the pictures.

 

Deep, deep blue

Clark's Nutcracker, found mostly on the rim, lives mostly on White Pine nuts.

The first night there we took a little (uphill, of course) hike up to Watchman Peak to see the sunset. Sorry, the sunset pictures didn’t work out too well but the old Forest Fire Tower lookout photographs nicely.  Our first full day there we treated ourselves to the bus ride on the 33 mile road around the lake, 22 bucks each but with great commentary by a volunteer guide and several stops at scenic turnouts. Of course we took advantage of a ranger talk, this one about the events of creation of the lake. Topped it off with an evening talk on how it came to be a national park. Day two was a little more freestyle, morning Liz biked the 4 miles to the park headquarters (she claims it was 7 miles there and 1 mile back) while I lounged at our VERY desirable campsite. If you’re ever there, loop B, site 7 has a wonderful view of Annie Creek, just a couple of hundred feet down, along with the obligatory chipmunks and bluejays. After lunch we took another ranger hike to Plaikni Falls then continued down that road to the Pinnacles. These pillars were formed at the same time as the volcano. The magma pocket vented all over the mountain and the hard lava cooled in the vents. Then a later river carved a deep valley through the soft tuff the mountain is mostly made of, leaving the hard lava in the vents exposed. Leaves a weird landscape. Evening and yet another ranger talk, this one about the animals in the park.

Plaikni Falls

Forest ranger station on Watchman Peak

Liz luxuriating in our back yard

It's tough to get a good sunset. Sigh.

Lady of the Woods, an unfinished sculpture from the 1920's in native rock.

Really cool park benches on the trail to Plaikni Waterfall.

Pinnacles. Somewhere down there is a river.

Trees, pinnacles

This is part of the gate at the old entrance, now on Pinnacle Trail.

How's that for a backyard view. Remember Loop B, Site 7.

As if I weren't even there.

Phantom Ship, looks tiny but is in fact 150 or so feet high.

I'm reminded by the Pinnacle Rock picture: on our bus ride we were treated to the sight of The Old Man, an old hemlock log about 50 feet long floating vertically in the lake with 4 or 5 feet sticking up out of the water. Doesn't photograph worth a darn. It's been there for at least the last 100 years. It floats pretty much all over the lake. Park rangers were in the habit of boating out to it and climbing and standing at the top. Some time in the 1920's they talked the park director into trying, then abandoned him to swim back to shore. Since then it's been illegal to approach the log.

Sunday morning, we reluctantly headed back to Sutherlin. Time for laundry, a shower and pick up the mail. Woke up Monday morning to a flock of turkey wandering around. Longtime residents pay them almost no attention, just a daily occurrence. The newsletter mentioned a couple of residents witnessing the birth of twin fawns in their back yard. Talk about laid back! Yesterday we used our air conditioner for the first time since last October. The difference from the mountains and the coast to here is a good 20 degrees.
 

Truly good size turkeys. I keep thinking Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow, off to see the redwoods

 

Liz here. 

We're staying in Dimond and visiting Yosemite from Aug 4 - 18.   If it's anything like Crater Lake, communications will be limited or nonexistent.

FYI – From Sept 6 to Sep 13, we’ll be at a 5-star resort in Sparks, Nevada near Reno. We’ll have way more room than we need. If you think you can get there, let us know and we’ll be happy to share.