Crater Lake (or, Craters of the Laaaaaake!!!)

It wasn't easy, but somehow we managed to leave behind Oakland, CA and the hospitality and home cooking of Furball's parents. (Thanks for everything, David and Margaret!) The final destination on TGWCRT '05 was Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, so we headed North. We made it to Shady Cove, OR without drama. (That is, without road construction, flaming RVs or criminally stupid truckers.)

We checked into the Edgewater Inn. This is a beautiful spot, overlooking the Rogue River. This was the view off our balcony:



Not bad, eh? You can see some kayakers lazing down the river. The town of Shady Cove is lousy with kayak and raft rentals, and we almost changed our plans to include a rafting trip. Across the way, you can see the Mexican restaurant where we later had dinner.

The next morning, we drove into the park. This didn't go as smothly as we had expected ... literally. The road wasn't even there in places. Since they have so many freeze/thaw cycles in Crater Lake, the road is a constant work-in-progress. While waiting for our turn at one construction site, we had a chat with the in-the-know flagger guy, who gave us some good site-seeing tips (see Watson Falls, below).

Crater Lake was certainly worth the trouble, though. When we got there, this view was waiting for us:



Crater Lake is the purest lake in the world, and the deepest in the United States. It's actually the caldera of a volcano, and the water is rain and snow-melt that has collected over thousands of years. The island in the middle is called Wizard Island, and it is the cinder cone of a new volcano which formed in the collapsed caldera of the old volcano. (The same thing is happening today in Mt. St. Helens, by the way.)

There is a boat tour on Crater Lake which drops you off on Wizard Island. Unfortunately, we didn't get there early enough to reserve a spot. Bah! We hiked down to the dock anyway and enjoyed the views. It's hard to explain just how beautiful the water of the lake is. It's a strange iridescent blue.



The water is also very, very cold. The surface of the lake maybe hits 50 degress in the summer. After a few minutes with our feet in the water, we couldn't feel our toes. Nevertheless, a father and his two sons stripped down and jumped in while we watched. In the words of the father, "This is stupid." Not to be outdone, we stripped down and jumped in, too. Heinz jumped right back out (and nearly jumped out of his skin, too), but Furball paddled around nonchalantly for a bit. Everybody was duly impressed.



The hike back to the crater rim was enough to dry us out and warm us back up. After a brief stop at the Rim Village, we left Crater Lake and headed North.

On the advice of the well-informed construction worker we met earlier in the day, we made a side trip to Watson Falls, Oregon. It's a short hike to a tall waterfall just off Highway 138. This corner of the world seems to have a little wonder tucked in every nook and cranny. We approve.



We rested our bones in Salem, Oregon, preparing ourselves for he last day of our trip.