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Published: August 29th 2011
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Met a couple of bikers from Nottingham this morning who were staying at our motel. They were travelling around on a Triumph Boneville which they bought out in the states and keep over here and use each year for trips! It was great to talk to them, pity we met them just as they were leaving.
Today we drove to Crater Lake National Park. A beautiful area and when we got our first look at the lake all I can say is STUNNING, STUNNING, STUNNING! I have never seen anything quite like it, the water was the bluest blue, surrounded by trees, mountains in the background – a truly beautiful place.
There was a small island in the lake, part of another volcano. We drove right around Crater Lake, which would have taken about 2 hours but we kept stopping at the view points and taking loads of pictures. When we got to the Cleetwood Trail we parked up and did the hike down from the rim to the lake, it was all windy switchbacks through the trees and at the bottom was a little area where you could swim or dip your feet in. We did the dipping
bit and the water was freezing! The hike back up was a bit more challenging but luckily they had little wooden benches you could take a break on while gazing at the view. We also had our first encounter with chipmunks here – they are really cute and were very tame. When we got back to the motel we had a swim which was great and went out for tea.
28th August ’11 Lava Beds National Monument, California
Today we drove out to the Lava Beds NM which was very different to the Crater Lake area very dry and arid with big rocky outcrops and lava stuff everywhere. This was the site of one of the wars against the Indians – the Modoc tribe and the visitor centre was excellent telling you all the history and how the whites wanted the Indians out of the area and put into a reservation and how some of the Indians escaped and went back to the Lava Beds and the subsequent wars which while they held out for 5 months despite being outnumbered 10 to 1 they were eventually beaten and the leader of the Indians nick named Captain Jack and
some of his warriors were hung. Today the Modoc still come back to the Lava Beds to practise some of their rituals.
There were lots of caves (made from the lava tunnels) which you could go in, only one had lighting and paths the rest you borrowed flashlights for and could just wander around. They were very weird, not at all like lovely limestone caves and the atmosphere made it really hard for me to breathe in them. I didn’t like them much but Howard did. We went to one cave where a ranger gave a tour and that was interesting learning how they were formed and when the were discovered etc.
We also saw our first Marmot here as it scurried into some bushes, fortunately we did not see any rattle snakes I am pleased to say!
The strange thing about both places was there were virtually no people there! especially at the Lava Beds we saw about 12 cars the whole day, if they had been in England it would have been nose to tail traffic!
29th August ’11 Klamath Falls to Redding, California
Today we have to check out by 1pm, the car has
gone back and then we have to hang around until the train at 10pm tonight! Luckily the motel are going to look after our bags, unluckily the pool is shut for cleaning and there is only so far you can walk and the area is not set up for pedestrians! Apart from some diners and the Dollar Tree (think pound shop!) there isn’t much else in the vicinity, its going to be a long wait on a bench for us!
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
I stumbled on your blogs tonight.
Really enjoyed them. Looks like you are having a great time. Very nice photography.