Back to the Beginning and a Trip to Crater Lake

We spent a good deal of time debating routes and timelines for the final leg of our journey. I wouldn’t say the prospect of some puppy time entirely drove our decisions, but, yeah it did. Lol. We opted to make our last stop a campground within easy driving distance of Bellingham (puppies!!!). We worked backwards from there and everything fell into place. We’re visiting several old favorites on the way home. After going so far for so long, it feels a little weird to be back on our old stomping grounds.

We’ve camped at Collier Memorial State Park in Chiloquin, OR before and really liked the area. It’s a perfect distance from Redding for an easy day’s drive. This time we decided to try out the Williamson River National Forest campground right next door. It was a great choice. The NFS campground doesn’t have hookups, but it does have huge spaces, lots of trees and privacy, and it was nearly deserted when we arrived on Monday, 7/10. We could access the same trail system and river as from Collier, but from a more secluded, quieter setting. We enjoyed the solitude and the cooler weather!

Spring Creek feeds into the Williamson River.

Make a wish! 

The temps were in mid-80’s and after the brutal heat in Redding, that felt positively balmy. Lol. We hiked about 7 miles through the woods and along the river to the Logging Museum.  The museum is just across the road from the campground entrance and is well worth a visit. It covers the history of logging from the days of muscle powered saws and horse/ox-drawn wagons, through steam and early combustion engines, to modern logging equipment. It’s very interesting and they have several historic buildings and lots of early logging artifacts on site.

Logging Museum
Very interesting, but pictures of the lumberjacks taking down huge old trees always makes me sad.

Horse or ox drawn cradle for removing the downed trees.

Bear chair. :)

After two nights at Williamson, we headed back to Diamond Lake, OR. Those of you who’ve been with us from the beginning will know this is where we started our trip. We love this area and have been coming here for over 25 years. We have so many wonderful memories fishing, hiking, kayaking, and hanging out with family and friends. It’s also where Callie became ill last year and passed away, so the memories are bittersweet.  

We arrived on a Wednesday, 7/12, without reservations, but managed to snag an excellent lakeside spot (K-22). We have good shade and our space has three levels – just a few steps from the coach is the picnic/firepit area, down a short path to the shady “reading room,” and a little further down to the “launch area” where we can put in the kayak or fish right from our campsite. We’ve stayed in a lot of spaces here over the years, but Rog thinks this just might be his favorite and that is saying something! Lol.

Our lovely campsite with three levels. Lol.

Evening light on the chopping block.

Wildflowers carpet sunny areas of the campground.

Now if we could just do away with the mosquitoes!  Arrrrrrrrrrrgh! The blood-thirsty little beggars are making it hard to sit outside without a healthy (or maybe not-so-healthy) application of chemical defense. Throw in clouds of no-see-ums so dense they make the air look thick and it’s a buggy paradise. Of course, there are ways to escape the mosquitoes and one of our favorites is heading out onto the lake in the kayak. Get a little way away from the shore and with the lake breeze it is bug-free heaven.

Shields Up, Scotty! :)

No bugs on the water, but this family of duckies was adorable!

We’ve also found that we can mostly outrun the little buggers on the bikes, although that can have its downsides too. Note to self: Do not smile so much while biking, there are better ways to add protein to your diet. Lol. We’ve biked the loop around the lake three times. On one of our trips we were thrilled to see a family of three otters swimming and playing on the bank. We were far enough away that they paid us no mind at all. Of course, one of my favorite things about biking around the lake is stopping for a well-deserved ice cream cone. Yes, life is good. 😊

We love the paved trail around the lake!

Mt. Bailey

Mt. Thielsen

Loved watching the otter family!

The real reason I bike around the lake. Lol.

Yes, life is good. :)

Rog has managed to get in some fishing too. I reminded him to take the camera when he went out Friday morning for a few hours, but he had no luck at all. He tried again on Saturday, this time forgetting the camera, and caught (and released) eight trout! Coincidence??  I think not. I’ve always said the best defense I have against bears is having my camera ready, apparently the same holds true for fish. Lol. Rog was feeling bad when one of the trout he threw back went belly-up, then an osprey swooped down and snagged it. Awesome! 

On Sunday, 7/16, we visited Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake is only about 20 miles from Diamond Lake and it’s an easy day trip. We’ve visited Crater Lake a couple times in the past, and we’d hoped to take the boat tour to Wizard Island. Unfortunately, the tour we wanted was canceled due to winter damage to the boat. There were other options available, but we decided to just wait until we could get the tour we wanted. Given how much we love the area, it’s a pretty fair bet that we’ll be back. 😊 

Crater Lake.

Snow bent Hemlocks - Crater Lake gets an average of 43 FEET of snow annually. 

We asked at the visitor center about trail closures and were told the Garfield Peak trail was open.  We hit the trail and were disappointed to find it was closed about half way up due to snow. We debated going rogue and just crossing the snowfield, but Rog checked out the trial and it was very slippery. It was also impossible to see the conditions ahead and, although this obstacle was certainly surmountable, who knows what we’ve have faced around the corner. Discretion is the better part of valor. 😊 Reluctantly we turned around and headed back down the trail. On the up side, the views to that point were to die for gorgeous.

Closed for this?? Really?!

Crater Lake is just eye-meltingly beautiful, the steep sides of the caldera enclose a near perfect circle of water that is bluer than blue. There was still snow fringing the sides and highlighting the shady areas of the forest. The visitor’s center has a movie and exhibits detailing the cultural and geological history of the lake. It was fascinating to learn how it was formed. Mount Mazama was a 12,000 foot peak formed over 400,000 years by volcanic activity. During a climatic eruption about 7,700 years ago the entire top of the mountain collapsed into the emptied magma chamber in a matter of hours. Incredible.

The views are spectacular.

Rain and snow-melt filled the caldera over the next few centuries forming the deepest lake (1,943 feet!) in the United States. There are no streams or rivers flowing into or out of the caldera. The water level is maintained by a balance of seepage and evaporation (out) and precipitation (in). Because of that, Crater Lake has some of the most pristine water to be found anywhere. That is also the reason it appears so startlingly blue – the water is so clear the sunlight penetrates and other colors of the spectrum are absorbed leaving the blue wavelengths reflected.

Happy campers at Crater Lake.
The lake is blue, but we are not! Lol.

Huge dead pines dot the edge of the caldera like sculptures.

Wizard Island is a cinder cone rising 760 feet above the lake surface, indicating that the volcano remained active long after the big eruption which formed Crater Lake. The volcanic nature of the area is easy to see in the rocks around the lake. Devil’s Backbone is a spine of darker volcanic rock climbing up one side of the caldera. I love the moonscape look of the surrounding landscape juxtaposed against the brilliant blue water and evergreen trees. Truly a beautiful place.

Wizard Island.

Cool rocks, blue water and snow!

The sides of the caldera clearly show its volcanic origins.

We decided to extend our stay at Diamond Lake an extra day– one of the joys of jello planning! So our plan is to leave Tuesday, 7/18, and head for Maupin, OR near the Deschutes River. There are several BLM campgrounds in the area, so we’re going to wing it. 😊