Blogs from Crater Lake, Oregon, United States, North America - page 3

Day 7 A Caldera of Awesomeness Today we woke to more rain and clouds – so no dune buggies. I think Shelby was more disappointed than Stephen. Weather reports promise partly cloudy skies with lots of sunshine so we head out to Crater Lake. We take the scenic highway - of course trying to see as much as we can. Scenic highways are really curvy highways. They are slow highways and they are yawn a thousand times highways. They are the longer highways. They are the twist and turn highways. They are the up and down highways. But by the end they are truly the exceptional vista highways. Today’s scenic highways did not disappoint. The first followed 2 rivers through gorges with numerous rapids. The ro... read more

Today, I dive headlong into the Oregon Cascades. My choice for doing so is the North Umpqua Canyon, which the North Umpqua River has eroded through the western part of the mountains. The lava was much harder than the rocks cut by the Klamath, so this canyon gives the expected view of a narrow ravine through basalt rocks. Colliding Waters The first sight along the river is the famous but overhyped Colliding Waters. It happens where the Little River merges with the North Umpqua right where it curves. The two river currents run directly into each other in an area of big rocks. During spring runoff, the resulting wave effects are dramatic. The rest of the year (including now) it looks like any other river junction. ... read more

We enjoyed an evening out in Ashland, OR and then moved on to Crater Lake National Park. What a beautiful drive up the mountian. The first moment we got to the top was wonderful, the view is awesome! We lucked out and found a great camping spot at a place called Lost Creek Camp. I just wish the mosquitos would have stayed lost. Those lil' blood suckers were swarming. Thank you again, Sara Lindey, for the mosquito coil knowledge. We talked to the ranger about which trails would be good to hike on. I asked about the Lightning Spring Trail and her response was that there are small patches of snow on the trail, but not to worry because there are reflectors in the trees to follow the trail. We thought that sounded good enough so ... read more

Some pics from this weekends road trip to Crater Lake National Park. My driving skills confidence is now totally boosted; we mastered two states in two days. ... read more

After hearing horror stories about driving down the coast in a big rig, we decided to head through central Oregon south to California. We camped at Cascade Meadows RPI because Bend Thousand Trails has no sewers and our new motorcoach is a primadona with a restrictive electric toilet that shuts itself off after 2 days. This campground was fine since my broken foot restricts me from pickleball anyway. The night before pulling out we had a hail storm which painted a beautiful sunset with the Three Sisters Mountains in the background. Next we camped at Diamond Lake RV park 12 miles from Crater Lake. We did an "auto-tour" of Crater Lake, which is considered the cleanest large body of water in the world. It rests in a caldera formed 7,700 years ago when a 12,000-foot-tall volcano ... read more