Crater Lake Oregon Sight Seeing Trip

Sunday:  September 30, 2012 

We are going to see Crater Lake today.  The lake is around 30 miles from our camp site at the bottom of the mountain volcano Mazama.  The volcano is part of the Cascade Mountain range in Oregon.  The volcano's top collapsed something like 8,000 years ago creating the lake.  The lake is 5 mile wide and 6 miles long and is 1,949 feet deep.  It is the deepest lake in the USA and the 3^rd deepest in world.

Our base camp is at 1900 feet in elevation and the visitor’s center where we were going is at 7,200 feet.  So we were going to climb about a mile in elevation in this trip to see the lake.  The weather was absolutely beautiful at 75 -80 degrees and humidity of 20%.  It was one of those deep blue/black sky days. 

On our way to the lake we stopped at the Rogue Gorge.  It is basically a mountain stream that has cut though the volcanic rock to make a gorge.  I didn't put many pictures here as they just do not do the area justice.  You really need to be here for this one.  It also was a nice mile walk round trip into the woods along the stream.

This is at the end of the trail along the gorge.  This is where the water goes down through the gorge.

On the way up to the lake we ran into what looked like a traffic jam, it was a motorcycle accident on one of the switchbacks.  We had seen the ambulance coming down earlier but didn't think much about it.  We also saw them closing off a Snow Park and later figured that they used that for a medical helicopter to take the person out.  As we went by the scene there was still pools of blood on the asphalt L

At the visitors center at the top you are greeted by the site of this deep blue lake that has like a mirror surface with some clear ice on the surface.  We read that the water temperature is a near constant 32-33 degrees.   This lake is huge and you can see all of it.  The cliff sides or walls are 1000 feet above the surface and they reflect from the surface.  As you get close to the edge of the wall you can feel the temperature difference of the air coming up from the lake.   It feels like air conditioning.  An absolutely stunning site!

Crater Lake

 

Crater Lake

We walked around the rim for about a mile total and we visited the gift shop for a bathroom break.  I also had to get a souvenir tee shirt. J  To help keep our RV weight and room stable, I now need to trash an existing shirt which will not be hard to do.  After about 2 hours we headed back down the mountain.

We needed to get fuel for the truck so we headed in to the town of Prospect to the one and only gas station.  Diesel here was $4.59 per gallon.  I was down to just a few gallons left so we filled up for a $149.00 tank of fuel! While in town, we went into the general store to see what they had to offer.  We found they had some pretty good wines at a good price, who would have thunk!  We didn't need anything else so we headed back to our RV house. 

The Prospect General Store.

The most friendly kitty out front of the general store.  This kitty let everyone pet him.

 Before dinner we took a 2 mile walk on the trail behind the camp ground.  The forest here in Oregon smells so good and the walk is very easy.

We found this really big tree that was struck by lightning.

We had Tee Bone steaks in the frig we bought a few days ago in Junction City, so we grilled those with baked potatoes and fresh sugar snap peas for dinner.  Yum! 

I how have sort of figured out how to have the satellite DVR record shows so we have some stuff to watch in the evening.   Our TV habits have not really changed from our sticks and bricks time, but the satellite programs have changed.  With satellite TV, (we have DIRECTV), it gives us the broadcasts as if we are still in Keyport NJ.  We even get the local NY/NJ news.  The biggest issue isn't getting the local news though, it’s the time differences.  All of the programming is still in NY/NY time which is 3 hours ahead of us now.  By 6 pm all of the news shows are over.  Jay Leno comes on at 8:30!  So when we want to watch TV everything we used to watch is already over.  We try to watch local over the air TV if we can get it or cable if the camp ground has it.  But here at the Crater  Lake RV resort we do not have cable, over the air TV, or phone service.  We do have satellite TV and with the DVR I now have the shows we watch recorded while we are out or in bed.  How did people do this before all of this technology!

Tomorrow we move to Klamath, California near the Redwood National Forest 185 miles from here.  It should be an interesting drive as we are taking route 199 from Oregon to Crescent City, California.  This is a mountain road through the Cascades and is not listed as a truck route.  It is mainly a 2 lane road with many switchbacks through the mountains to the California coast. We have been told that this route requires patience and extreme attention to the road.  I’m just a tad nervous about it, but pumped up also.  I sort of think I can do most anything now.  Famous last words, right!

Stay tuned!