Crater Lake

We’ve been on a rather zig-zaggy course since we left Vancouver and, thus far, have only managed to cover about 160 miles since the 29^th because of the slow pace but its been heaven being able to just stop or take detours whenever we want without a deadline looming.

We arrived in Sutherlin on Thursday after a beautiful drive down a “new” back road. We saw tons of Elk and came close to running out of gas but what is life worth without a little excitement? After getting the trailer set up Chris & I met my daughter, Amanda, and her husband and boys for dinner. We had a nice visit but it was a weeknight and Amanda had been working 6-10’s of late so we made it an early night. It turned out that Anthony, my grandson, had no school on Friday so we decided to take him to Crater Lake the next day. The original plan was to drive up there after we’d left Sutherlin but this seemed like more fun. We are nothing if not flexible!

We picked Anthony up at 9:30 and were off. The drive to the top takes about 1-1/2 hours and Anthony kept us entertained with a running commentary about football. This is his year of playing and he is clearly having fun. He plays both offense and defense so is on the field throughout most of the games. Of late he’s been watching Sports Talk so he was able to bring us up to date on how all the teams are doing this year, which players have been traded to which teams and the whole lowdown. Mind you, Chris & I have little or no interest in football so we got a good education. Fortunately, Chris has some knowledge of the principle players and teams so he was able to keep up our side of the dialog.

The drive up to Crater Lake follows the North Umpqua River and meanders through farmland and forest in fairly equal parts. In a word, it is a gorgeous drive. This River is strewn with boulders and rapids abound so there are few places where one can imagine even a raft safely navigating. We saw no one fishing from boats but quite a few men in waders were readying their fly fishing gear for the day.

At about the 6500 ft level the trees became much sparser and we found ourselves driving through a moonlike terrain that is quite beautiful. This is the “Pumice Desert”. It consists of rolling hills that are covered with pale reddish colored pumice. A few clumps of trees stand here and there but, clearly, nothing much grows in pumice.

As we approached the first viewpoint, we passed a sign I couldn’t resist photographing. I have long been a fan of the Darwin Awards but this really brings it all home. The big red “DANGER”, followed by “Falling Will Cause Injury or Death Stay Back From Cliff Edges” says it all. It is hard to believe that people can be that stupid but, of course, some of them are.

Our first glimpse of the Lake nearly took our breath away. It is close to impossible to find words that adequately describe this gorgeous place so I will just leave it to the photos. I was stunned to learn that the Lake was first discovered by gold miners back in the 1800’s. I wonder if any of them fell over the edge?

There are no native fish in the Lake but over the years 6 different varieties have been introduced and two types (Rainbow Trout and Kokanee Salmon) still live in the cold water. Because they are not indigenous, fishing is encouraged and there are no limits. The only restriction is that no live bait may be used. Chris is an avid fisherman so before we left town he dug out his new pole and purchased some lures in anticipation of showing his new grandson the ropes. Turns out there is only one place you can actually get to the water and that entails a hike down a trail with a 700 ft elevation drop. As the brochure clearly states, coming back up is like climbing 65 flights of stairs. This is at an elevation of 7,000 ft where walking across a level parking lot can leave you panting like an asthmatic during haying season. Having done my share of skiing, I was pretty clear about what the hike and the climate would be like so I brought a book along. Thus armed I would be able to wuss out and sit in the car while “the boys” were off bonding. They never even contemplated that trail. Five minutes of standing in the viewing area with that cold breeze burrowing down inside their sweatshirts and they quickly decided a trip to the gift shop and lunch in the lodge was a better idea.

We had a great day and deposited Anthony safely home with plenty of time to back to the RV park and pay for another night. Next morning we were sitting at the 50 yard line watching 9/10 year olds playing football. I hadn’t been to a game since my kids were little and I’d forgotten how much fun it can be (when its not raining or snowing) to watch these intense young players. Anthony’s team won with a score of 7-0 and he and he and Amanda were both happy that we had stuck around to be there. Well…who wouldn’t? I think it is in the “Book of Rules for Grandmas and Grandpas”, isn’t it?