Crater Lake is one of those places where everybody who's been there goes on about how special it is, and you have to go there. So we gave it a shot, and got lucky. I think.
The park was less than 50 miles from Lake of the Woods. The campground has 7 loops, but only two were open. We lucked on a site for two nights with the back fence a friggin canyon! Annie's Canyon is one edge of the campground.
(North of Boulder and South of Fort Collins CO is Carter Lake, a great destination for a road ride. I've ridden around it several times earlier this century and last. When I see Crater Lake, my mind reads Carter Lake. Oncoming dyslexia is better than oncoming dementia, so I'm holding out for dyslexia.)
So we started exploring the park. First off, the Visitor Center, with a nice video about Crater Lake, and even better, a map of road closures (or more accurately, which roads haven't opened yet since Winter). So we drove the North Rim (stopping at every Vista) and parked by the South Rim turn-off that was closed except for hikers and cyclists. Then we rode for 6+ miles along the rim, with no cars, again stopping for the Vista. It was much more descending on the out, and for some reason, the 6+ mile return had much more climbing heading back to Ernie. Sharon's climbing skills are impressive, considering what they used to be.
We stopped on the return for a bite (cream of mushroom soup and a salad, aka Dinner) at the Lodge before returning to our campsite. We saw the lake from so many angles on our drive/ride, it's incredible Blueness is breathtaking. We've all seen lakes that go beyond the horizon. This isn't that, here you can see the entire shore of the lake pretty much from the high above vantage point. (It's 4.something at its narrowest, 6.something at its widest.) The color is captivating, bringing to mind Caribbean waters near the shore around the volcano within the caldera. The rest is such an intensity of Blue it's hard to stop staring, gazing over the nuances on the surface. We will likely put too many images in the album, but we've succumbed to the Lure of the Blue.
Day 2
The thermometer says it got down to 30 overnight, but we slept in, cozy and warm under our blankets. To warm up after a cold breakfast we tried the Annie's Canyon trail by the campground, but after an hour we found most of it closed, presumably for too much snow. Then I tried to fix one of Sharon's clothes drawers that shrank from the dryness, and pulled the screws on the slide out. It seems I need more shims and longer screws or even bolts. And confirmed that pine is way too soft a wood to really hold screws.
Then I went at the foot locker. A gravel truck pulled over for me to pass, then pulled back out, forcing me to slam my brakes. The foot locker was secured but the hook wasn't sufficient and the locker flew forward off its tracks. Screws were loose, one blocking the slide, and dry air shrinkage makes the fit way too loose. I am learning that I should have used better woods that are more impervious to shrinkage. Hopefully I don't have to redo everything in teak.
Simple repairs done, we drove the 4 miles open on the East Rim road, then climbed the trail to an overlook at the Phantom Ship, though it looked more like an edge of a mini-caldera to my unimaginative brain. We also hiked the Castle Crest Wildflower Garden, and the Lady in the Lake trail.
The first is quite a number of stepping stones over a plethora of greenery betwixt rivelets of water eventually creating a Creek. Headwaters are surprisingly fertile, and the stone path allow the mosses and plants to grow without footprints, and to provide relatively dry and stable footing through all the water. Kudos to the path designer.
The second trail didn't have stepping stones or mosses. But it did have climbing and snow. It was up and down a steep hill; we never saw the lady, maybe because we were looking for the trail through the snow. I understand much better why other trails are closed. Finding the trail was a case of looking for patches of dirt that were trail-like (trail dirt is slightly lighter/dryer than the adjoining soil, which isn't pounded by hiker hooves or rocks in a formation indicating a turn) In the end, a much more challenging hike than either of us expected!
Instead of another hike, we stopped at the restaurant by the campground for a late lunch. The food was good enough, the beer refreshing, and I succumbed to an hour of wifi for $4, so I sat long after lunch was done. Sharon went and started laundry and met Nick Hart who's walking the Pacific Coast Trail, since the "plan" only gave me one IP address, so my hotspot was cold. I uploaded some pictures, but not even all the videos before my time was up. <soapbox on>Clearly, Congress needs to implement Google's Project Loon for all areas with limited access. Loon is a reasonably high altitude balloon providing wifi to an area. Universal WiFi should be part of Universal Health!<soapbox off> Sharon thinks I should have spent $10 for 24 hours, like Nick, but that would've required sitting in the restaurant a lot longer than I was comfortable with. Nick is from Miami and has already completed the AT - pretty cool.
Our big meal over, evening was some nibbles over wine, and prepping for tomorrow. We're getting ready for the weekend already, since we need to be close to Tacoma for Ernie Service #1. The weather forecast for Washington is 70%+ Rain all weekend, Oregon Fair. So our plan, stay in the good weather of Oregon through Saturday. Tomorrow Honeyman, then maybe a few days at Fort Stevens in OR or it's counterpart in WA (they're opposite shores of the Columbia River), which is actually on the schedule! Time and Sharon will tell.
Pictures are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/4ig7nVP9T62q68S86
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