Although we took a couple of short morning walks, it was just too hot to do much in our last few days in the Grants Pass area, other than visiting Sue Malone for a very nice supper on Tuesday evening. We were delighted to see their new house and meet the infamous Mattie dog.
Back in January when I was making reservations, I was able to get two nights at Mazama Campground in Crater Lake National Park. After our time at the Rogue Valley State Park, we had a few extra days. I filled them with a stop at a commercial RV park, called Crater Lake RV in Prospect, OR.
The weather was hot, but not too hot. There was some smoke in the air, but we did take a few short walks. In fact we took one walk twice in the same day!
Near our campground were two nice waterfall views accessible by a half-mile walk down a pretty forest trail. When we went the first time it was morning, and the north-facing falls were in the shade. So we went back for a second walk in the late afternoon, and were pleased to see the water falling in the sunlight.
In fact there was even a rainbow in the spray. It's not often we can go back for better light, but we are pleased we did this time.
On Saturday we drove all of 28 miles to Crater Lake National Park.
We quickly settled in our dry-camp spot, and headed up to the lake rim for lunch at the lodge and our first 2018 view of the lake. Although there was a threat of haze from a nearby fire, the lake seemed almost as blue as we remembered.
Above is a very zoomed-in image of a couple of the very small spots of snow that remained in spite of the hot weather.
We stayed in the lodge area for a few hours, and planned to drive around the lake the next day.
That was a mistake because the smoke and haze increased overnight, but it gave us a different view. Instead of being the usual unbelievable blue, the lake color was a softer pastel and much more reflective of the sides and overhead clouds.
This view of the "Phantom Ship" had a magical quality.
As we drove around the lake, there were many pullout view points and we were able to see some of the interesting rock formations on the sides of the caldera. The one above is called "Pumice Castle".
We also took a drive down a seven-mile side road to the Pinnacles formations. These are huge rock formations that were once lava tubes that cooled inside the volcano. Over time, the encasing rocks have eroded away, leaving the harder tubes exposed. I thought they looked like giant termite mounds.
We returned to the Alfa, parked in our Mazama Campground spot, late in the afternoon to get cleaned up for our dinner reservation back up at the Lodge Dining Room. Eating dinners at the National Park Lodges has become one of our little traditions. This time, although Craig had not been "wowed" by our lunch Saturday, we were both very pleased by our ribeye steak dinners. They were beautifully prepared and very tasty.
We had requested, and were seated at, a table by a window overlooking the lake. As our meal progressed, we noted that the smoke haze was increasing. By the time we were finished the surface and far sides of the lake were completely obscured by the smoke.
The image below was taken before dinner:
This fire was just within the north edge of the park. Monday we choose our route to stay away from it.
Our next stop is at the Champoeg Historic Site east of Aurora.
Onward!
I booked our spot at the Crater Lake Resort for a week. I wanted to have plenty of time to savor the most beautiful lake I will ever see!
When we set up here, our small slide seemed to stick and balk when we put it out. We decided to defer looking into the problem until after the 4th. We tried it again on Thursday, and since it had not magically healed itself, a call to Coach-Net was in order.
They found a repair place for us down in Klamath Falls. Craig wasn't sure he liked the sound of "Eddie's RVs". Although we made an appointment there for Tuesday, we also asked a local camper if he knew of a good shop. He suggested a place called Courtesy RV.
We wanted to pick up a few fresh veggies anyway, so we drove the car down to Klamath Falls to take a look at them both.
But first I wanted to stop at the nearby Logging Museum that was listed in the "Free Local Things To Do". Free is always good! I have found small one-subject museums can often be interesting, and it was.
It is in an Oregon State Park, and had a self-guided walk around a large collection of old machinery used in the logging industry. The informational signs and the weather were both good, and it was fun to try to figure out what some of the machines did.
Nothing mass produced about this stuff! Each was either a limited edition or a one of a kind.
Our first stop in Klamath Falls was at Courtesy RV. We talked to the service writer about the problem. Unfortunately they were booked solid for the next two weeks and couldn't help us. We asked his opinion of Eddie's.
He hemmed and hawed a bit, not wanting to give us an opinion, but eventually he suggested it might not be a good place to go.
Given that he could not fit us in, we asked for a recommendation for another place. He put us in contact with a repair shop in Medford.
So, once we get the slide in on Sunday, it will stay in until we can have it looked at on Tuesday. I can climb in and out of bed from the end. It's much easier now that I'm not so fat.
On Friday we explored two little park areas, and later in the afternoon we went up to Crater Lake once again.
We wanted to see the sunset and have dinner at the Lodge. We have eaten at the Ahwahnee in Yosemite and it was wonderful. We hoped for the same at Crater Lake Lodge and were not disappointed!
Craig has had his eye on a wonderful Indian design Pendleton blanket we saw at the gift shop. We looked at all of them several times, at both gift shops. We also went on line to the Pendleton web site and saw they were the same price there. We were looking at it for a cover for the Alfa's couch.
I liked one, Craig liked another, but we were both OK with the other's choice! We bought Craig's choice.
Unfortunately when we got it home, we discovered a flaw and took it back on Saturday.
As we discussed the exchange with the clerk I noticed they had hung up one we had not seen the day before.
It was perfect! Our first real decor element for the Alfa. I did buy some cheap rugs to start with, but now can keep an eye out for better ones that will go with the blanket colors.
We hiked Annie's Creek trail on Saturday, finishing off all trails open to us at Crater Lake.
I will enjoy making a slide DVD for us of this spectacular place when we get home.
Next up ... Kayaking with blogger friends Sue and Mo at Rocky Point.
From Craig: Merikay is letting me write a whole post!
On Monday July 2 we went back to Crater Lake National Park, drove part-way around the lake, walked down to the boat dock, took the boat trip around the lake and then climbed back up and went home.
When you come from Fort Klamath as we did, you arrive at the lake at what's called Rim Village. Merikay's previous post (below) shows some of the views from there on Sunday.
Monday we started driving around the West Rim Drive. This image is one of the most-photographed views from near the start of the drive. The island is called Wizard Island and the big rock behind it is called The Watchman.
Here's Wizard Island from further along the West Drive, looking back toward the East shore with a snow slope at lower right. The far side wasn't that blue, but it's too hard to fix that without spoiling the color of the water.
Note that the top of Wizard Island has its own little volcanic bowl. In some sense it's the descendant of the great volcano that blew up 7700 years ago to create Crater Lake. (Very safe now they say :-)
We stopped at several other scenic stops along the West Rim Drive before we came to Cleetwood Cove from which the boat departs. This is the only way down to the lake surface, and the trail switches back many times, providing many breathtaking views. This one looks toward the south shore from high up on the trail. See the swirl of light color at the lower right? That's pollen from pines and firs, floating on the water.
Further down the trail, this one looks down the East side of the lake. The mountain in back may be Shasta. You thought maybe I was a geographer?
One of the nicest things about Southeast Oregon is how healthy the trees look.
We got down to the boat dock, waited a while, and went aboard for a two hour trip around the lake. It went counter-clockwise, first passing The Watchman, around the back of which we had just driven.
This one is on the southwest shore, below Rim Village. It made the cut among 231 images because of the color contrast between the different slopes.
Further around the southern shore, this orange formation is called Pumice Castle. Somewhere along in here is a rock island called the Phantom Ship, but none of the images we got of it were good enough to burden you with yet another big image to download...
The northeast shore of Crater Lake (near the boat dock) is where water leaks out to keep the lake from filling and overflowing. The rangers say no one knows where it goes. We couldn't find a way to get an image of water leaking out underground.
After the boat docked, the walk up the trail was hard but the views were just as good as on the way down. They differed only from the downhill views in how the sun lit them. Here is Merikay being happy to have made it back up.
We drove back toward Rim Village, and our scenic turnouts looked outward away from the lake. The plain here was in a patchy stage of snowmelt. Behind it is a little Matterhorn-type peak which a ranger at the turnout said was "sharpened" by a glacier long ago.
Stay tuned for more adventures in the Crater Lake area...
Advice from Karen, one of my blogger friends, saved our butts (or at least our toad) once again! She suggested that after hooking up, we check all lights and that one of us should stay by the toad as the other pulls forward a few feet to make sure everything is tracking properly.
As we hooked up to leave the Lava Beds area RV park, a neighbor was around and was asking us some questions about the Alfa. Of course we are proud of our rig, and let his chat distract us.
But because I was watching, disaster was averted.
We forgot to release the hand brake and the wheels were still locked! I caught it and stopped Craig from pulling forward more than a foot or two.
Remember how our mothers would tell us to pay attention to what we were doing? That still applies. Next time someone wants to chat during hook up time, we have to be polite but pay attention to our task.
We did get out of the park and on our way without damage.
We are also learning not to rely on the navigation system on the Android phone.
This time it told us "your destination is on the right" about 8 miles too early. When there was no road or promising driveway, Craig started watching addresses and got us where we wanted to go.
We are now tucked in at the Crater Lake RV Park, a private park about 15 miles from the entrance of the National Park. We drove up to the NP after getting set up, for a short preview of the week to come.
All I can say is WOW!
Yes, it really is that blue. Every minute and every view is breathtaking.
On Monday we walked down Cleetwood Creek trail to the lake and took the two hour boat tour. This trail is the only way regular people can get to the water's edge. I'm sure Rangers can rappel down other ways! The walk down wasn't bad. It was the mile long uphill climb (equivalent to 70 flights of stairs) that was a killer. So glad I've been pushing to be in better shape, because the views of the caldera from the boat were fantastic.
Tuesday?
We are just about ready to set off for the park and find another hike.
