Crater Lake

Pictures are now posted...

May 31 - Crater Lake

We leave La Pine, driving south on 93 and made a slight detour by pulling into the Walt Hering Sno-Park to check it out. It was a beautiful site right behind the Winema National Forest Ranger headquarters. There are picnic tables, fire rings, and an asphalt parking lot.  They also have pit toilets and running water. In Oregon, you can park at these Sno-parks overnight for free during the off season (summer).

On to Crater Lake, we turn west on 138 to go to the park entrance road. We turn and soon we drive we notice these bubbled out areas on some of the trees. What in the heck makes these bubbled areas on the trees? They make it look like the trees have the mumps. lol We see them on the way down from Crater Lake too. It must happen only within a certain altitude range. Very interesting!!

It is extremely difficult to put this day into words. I looked at a picture of Crater Lake above my kitchen stove for years. I was always intrigued by how blue the water was. I dreamed of what it might look like in person but I never thought I would really get to see it in person…but today is the day that this will change!!

Please keep it in the lines, honey!!

As we clear the north gate to the park, the scenery gets better and better. The trees are amazing. The forest is as I had always imagined. We are headed up…way up!!! The road becomes steep and winding with some out of this world views!! I should also say that there are some very steep drop offs right outside the passenger door…not for the faint at heart!!

We get to the first pull off just past Llao Rock. We park Lilah. There is a fairly steep grade of about 200 feet or so to get to the view of the lake. High altitude and RA means I will be stopping on the way up the incline. I take Charlie’s arm and up we go!

We get about a third of the way and I have to stop. I do not want to weak or short of breathe when we get to the top. After a minute or so we continue on. We stop again just as we begin to see the other side of the crater.

This time it wasn’t about the RA or the high altitude, it was knowing I was about to see something so magnificent.

I take a deep breathe and tell Charlie “Okay” and up we go!! I am in total awe. Mesmerized…there before us is this absolutely amazing place. Nothing I can put into words can describe what nature had laid out before us. (I am tearing up just writing about it.)

The water is so blue!! A deep rich blue…even better than the picture I had stared at for so long!!  Charlie goes up a steep side trail to get more pictures. I stay behind. He comes back with this look on his face that tells me I absolutely cannot miss this!!! I must go up!! He offers me his arm and up we go!

We get to the top of the trail and come to a clearing and I realize this is the exact location I had stared at in that picture for years!!!

We take a ton of pictures!! The water is so clear and the shades of blue are so amazing…turquoise, teal, light blue, royal blue, dark blue. There are streaks of white/yellow in the water and aqua around most of the shore.

Each cloud moving over head changes the way the light reflects on the lake and the hues of blue change with it. The green of the trees against the dark blue of the water is surreal.

Charlie returns to Lilah to get me a chair and the binoculars. We are gonna be here a while…three hours actually!! We sit, we take more pictures, and we dance on the rim of Crater Lake!! I laugh, I cry, and I thank God for it all! This is indeed a day I will remember forever!!

Unbelievable!!

Oh, did I tell you we played around a bit?? LOL

We finally pull ourselves away…our souls refreshed. We head up, up, and up still to another pull off that provides us a great view of Wizard Island. Again, the colors are amazing! The colors are the colors you see in the Caribbean but this is in the US and we got to drive here…no flying required…simply amazing!! More pictures and then time to move on. Next, we hit the Rim Village and the customary gift shop. We eat a little lunch in Lilah and then begin the drive down. Down, around, around and down...here we come!! Forest, forest, and more forest….it just keeps going on and on…simply amazing!!!
 

We look at a couple of Sno-parks on the way down but to no avail as these are not nearly as nice as the one before. Then across the road from Farewell Bend Sno-park we see the Farewell Bend Campground, another US National Park Service campground. Eureka!!! We got a campsite right on the banks of the Rogue River!!

This is no babbling brook, instead it is a fast moving-mountain fed-loud rapids-right behind our campsite type river!! Like something one would see on TV!! WOW!! So amazing! I laugh and I cry…it seems to be the theme of the day!!

We are in Campsite 24. Next to us in Campsite 25 (which is reserved) there is a big log laying across the site. It literally cuts the site into two areas. It has been cut in the middle so there is a wonderful walkway right through the site. There is a parking area and the big backyard area (as we called it). The backyard area has the fire pit and picnic table and these huge lovely trees surrounding it. It is shady but not dark. The view of the river from this site is awesome. On the right side of the site, the river is smooth and quiet and so clear you can see the pebbles and rocks on the bottom, but on the left the river tumbles over large boulders and becomes very fast and strong. This continues well past our campsite next door. I can't believe I am standing here seeing what I am seeing!

Gifts from the Heart

The campground hosts come to collect the campground fee and stay to visit with us.They are a very nice older couple who speak passionately about their campground and the local area. They give us a flyer with the local waterfalls and tell us which ones are best for us to go see.

We share our stories with each other. The gentleman recently had a 12 pound benign tumor removed and then quit his job and he and his wife started full-timing. They do the camp host gig as a way to be near their family. His wife pulls a book from the dash of the golf cart they are driving and hands it to me. The book is a book of daily prayers and passages. She says she wants me to have it. I reluctantly accept it.

Charlie and I enjoy the rest of the day by the river. We relax, Charlie cooks supper over the open fire and we literally just veg out! I get some great video of the rapids and we both snap some still pictures. We are inside Lilah by dark and I work on the blog. As we are reflecting on the day, I pull out the book that the lady had given me and notice that it was given to her in celebration of her 65th birthday by a close friend.

We read through some of the pages and I take pictures of the passages from the most significant dates in our lives: our birthdays, our anniversary, our daughter birthday, her husband's birthday, their anniversary, our granddaughters birthday, today and tomorrows passages, and the day we started our trip. They are significant passages for sure! Reading them ensures me that this trip was meant to be!

Tif's Birthday

I decide I really cannot keep this book though! It seems like such a powerful life tool and I decide it really belongs with the kind soul that gave it so me. I write a little note of appreciation to her, add a couple of small gifts and wrap it all up together. The next morning when we are pulling out, we leave the bundle on the front seat of their golf cart. I hope she is pleasantly surprised! We have met such nice and welcoming people on our adventures and I am grateful for each one of them!!

The journey continues and down the road we go! Headed for California and the Redwoods...wonder what adventures lay ahead!

Safe travels,
Charlie and Tammy