Crater Lake and Rogue-Umpqua

July 17, 2007—Heading out from Eugene, I got up early so I could make it to Crater Lake in time to catch a tour boat. Everything was covered in low-hanging clouds all along the way, which I suppose should have been a sign.

When I got to the park and the road started to climb to the crater rim, this is what I found:

Not a good way to see sights! Finally I reached a spot where other tourists had stopped, so I figured there must be something visible, and yes, we had dipped down to a point where you could just see under the cloud level down to the lake below.

As I went further along the Rim Road, the clouds parted occasionally, giving small glimpses of the beauty I had heard people rave of at Crater Lake.

BUT, it also snowed. In July.

I talked to one of the park rangers, who told me that in three years of working at the park she had never seen it look like this in the summer. Awesome. She told me, forget the lake, head down southwest out of the park into the Rogue-Umpqua National Forest, take a left and go have some of the best pie around at a little place called Beckie’s. So I took her advice!

One corner of the lake caught a ray of sunshine before I left, showing off the beautiful, deep blue that can only be found in a 100% rain and snow-fed lake with no sediment, reflecting the pure blue of the sky.

Oh, and there was a pretty waterfall.

So I headed to Beckie’s, had some fried food and a piece of apple pie and felt much better about my day.

Then I checked out a bit of the forest scenery, including the Rogue River overlook. This river was rerouted by the volcano and found its new path through the old lava flows, allowing it to disappear frequently underground into the lava tubes (giving it the name “rogue”). This is the pretty river and where it disappears underground:

It also goes through some crazy gorges—

I later took a trail to a cool waterfall, Toketee Falls, where this crazy wooden pipe runs through the parking lot, spraying leaking water all over the people and cars.

The trail along the Umpqua River was pretty but wet, allowing lots of green mosses and ferns to grow.

The falls (check out the lava rock cliffs!) and the view from above the falls:

Then I headed north to Portland for the night to see my buddy Clayton. This is what central Oregon looks like:

We had a yummy dinner at a place called Tsunami in a cool area west of downtown and crashed early. I really like Portland, though, and determined I would have to come back to spend more time.