It's About Time

You may or may not know this, but most of my family lives in Oregon, even though we're not from there originally.  And I have been to Oregon countless times to visit.  But in all my visits to Oregon over the years, I have never been to Crater Lake.  Well, that oversight has been remedied.  And let me tell you, I can't believe it took to me so long.

I left Wolf Mountain on Tuesday morning, stopped at truck stop in La Pine to take a shower, and continued on towards Crater Lake.  The plan was to snag one of the campsites in the park and then explore the lake the following day.  But on the way, I got a message from my friend Michael from Louisville.  He wanted to know where I was.  He's on a west coast road trip with his parents, and he said they would be getting to Crater Lake in a couple of hours.  I told him that I was on my way to the lake as well.  Quelle coïncidence!

He said that he and his parents would be staying in some cheap cabins by the south entrance of the park, and he invited me to join them.  Not one to turn away a real bed (I had slept on the floor of the lookout tower the previous two nights), I said sure!

We met up at The Wilson Cottages -- a totally charming and rustic set of small cabins run by a friendly character named Adrian whose grizzled face was hidden behind a shaggy white beard.  We checked in and then headed up towards to the rim of the crater to try to catch a peek before the end of the day. 

As you take the curving road up the slopes of ancient Mt. Mazama, you're really not prepared for what you see at the top.  When you get above the tree line and finally peer over the rim of the crater, something really amazing hits you over the head.  This:

I'd seen pictures of Crater Lake before, but any picture you might see really doesn't do it justice.  First of all the lake is friggin' HUGE.  It's about five miles across.  In the standard tourist brochure photos it always looks so small.  I couldn't get the whole thing into my camera frame. 

I also couldn't believe how much snow there still was.  Here we are at the end of July, and there were still ten foot high snow drifts on the side of the road that encircles the rim.

The water was a freakish shade of blue, punctuated only by Wizard Island (see pic above), a rock outcropping called the "Phantom Ship" and two little excursion boats that zoomed around the lake, full of tourists futilely snapping photos.

The walls of the crater are so steep that there is only one place where you can actually hike down and stick your toes in the water.  The next morning, I decided to try it.  (Michael and his folks decided not to; we said our goodbyes before I went on my hike.)  It wasn't too strenuous of a hike, about a mile down and a mile back up, with lots of switchbacks.  The water at the bottom was cold, but not nearly as cold as I expected.  The park ranger standing nearby told me that since it was a sunny day, the surface temperature was probably about 50 degrees.  But, she said, go down a couple of feet, and the water temperature will drop significantly.  I opted not to test her claims.  But some young kids were out splashing about, having a blast in the chilly water.

After the short trip down to the lake surface and some exploring around the rim, I headed down the mountain, continuing west.  I had a few more places to go, some family members to visit, before our month-long adventure winds down.