Crater Lake, OR

July 2, 2011

Crater Lake, Oregon

Photos of Crater Lake

I arrived at Crater Lake about 10 a.m. When I entered the park I asked the ranger at the gate about campgrounds. I was told that due to all the snow there was only one campground open so I headed to it in hopes of getting a camp spot, hopefully with electric.

The drive into the park was interesting. There was snow everywhere and high in many places. I could see treetops sticking out from the snow and I saw some avalanches signs again. I did not see any wildlife except for a few birds and LOTS of mosquitos. In fact, the ranger at the gate was wearing a hat and netting covering her face and head. The mosquitos flew in my window while I got the flyers entering the park. They are really large and in great quantity.

Crater Lake

Driving through Crater Lake reminded me of my drive going to Yellowstone. Same type of narrow, steep grades both up and down, and steep dropoffs down the mountain. Only difference, this one had lots of snow along the route. I’m sure the views were great, but I was concentrating so much on the road that I think I missed lots of scenery. But I preferred to be safe driving. There were a few lookouts but there were lots of cars in them so I kept going south on the mountain road.

I finally arrived at the campground about 10:20 and I was told they would not know until about noon whether or not they had anything available. Due to the unexpected high amount of snowfall this winter, they still had all but 2 areas of the campground closed because they were full of snow. I went and got something to eat and then waited near the registration kiosk so I would be first in line in case something was available. A little while later, the campground manager came by and I was talking with him asking if there were any sites with electric. He said they only had 2 but he wasn’t sure if they were working yet since they just cleared the snow from the spaces. He said he would have someone check and let me know. I had found out when I got to Crater Lake that it gets into the 40s at night and in the 70s during the day. I didn’t want to wake up with 30 degrees in my camper. July 3 update: I woke up and it was about 55 degrees in the camper, I tried turning the heat on and it didn’t work I thought maybe it was my heat pump, but later on when I tried it with the generator it worked. I guess there was not enough power to the outlet or something. But it did run my fridge which was okay with me.

A while later one of the maintenance guys said there was no electric working but they will see what they could do. I thanked them and said I would take the site with electric and if it works fine, if not it will also be okay. A while later he told me they got it working!!! Thank you God!!! I checked out the site which is a pullthrough making it easier than having to back in. The post where I would have put my reserved slip is still under a tall mound of snow so I attached it to a tree, then I went exploring.

Camping in the snow

I wanted to go down to the rim lodge so I could see the lake at ground level. I tried two different times and the traffic in that area and in the parking lot was so congested that once I got in there I couldn’t find a place to park and I had a hard time getting out of the lot. The 2nd time I was in it, I guess the rangers realized the traffic jam because they began directing traffic. I left that area and decided that I would drive back north up the mountain and the steep winding road to get photos from the top looking down into the lake and that would be good enough. I stopped at 2 different lookouts to get photos from different directions. If you look at the photos closely you will see the mirror reflection of the mountains in the lake. The water was so still it looked like it was all mountain and not a reflection. The colors in the sky and water were like no colors I have seen before. They are vibrant and a wonderful assortment of blues. The snow surrounded the lake and even much of the sidewalks at the lookouts still were under snow and others were really wet where the snow was melting and running down the road and sidewalks. At one of the lookouts, I met 3 brothers, I’m guessing late 20’s early 30’s. They were from Iowa and were on a 45 day trip to go to 25 national parks, they had already done most of them and had driven over 10,000 miles. They were also going to Los Angeles to see their grandparents. They had been in Alaska at several National Parks, in Banff, Alberta, and British Columbia as well. They had large ice chests filled with food and had just cooked a hot meal at the lookout for lunch. We shared places we had visited and found we had some in common and some I did they were on their way to explore, and they gave me some to visit when I was in Washington State, and also when I get to Canada one day.

At Discovery Point where the main view of the lake is a great overlook, still snow covered, there were 2 motorcycle travelers who asked me to take their picture. I said I would be happy to, after I took their picture, one of them told me to get on his motorcycle and he took a picture of me on it. I would have loved to go for a ride on the motorcycle but thought maybe not at this time with all the traffic and steep winding roads.

Crater Lake

After driving up and down the mountain for the 3rd time, I decided it was time for a rest. I came back to the campground area and at lunch at the restaurant. It was fair, nothing great. I came back to my camp spot, hooked up my power cord so I could run my fridge on electric rather than gas for at least part of the day. Then I took a walk around the campground and saw the 5 sections that were still under snow. I took some pictures of the entry into those sections. I also took photos of the snow in the 2 areas that are open. My camper has an 11 ? foot height, look where the snow comes in comparison to to the top of the camper. As I was taking a photo another camper drove by that was probably taller than mine and I took a photo of it next to a wall of snow.

Even though there is all this snow, today the temp’s were in the 70’s and it felt nice. Now it’s getting cooler, I have my window open while I am typing this and I can feel the temperature getting cooler, it’s about 5 p.m. I would love to sit outside, but the mosquitos are really attacking and I don’t feel like being there evening meal. Having the windows open, and walking around the camp area before was just fine with me.

I forgot to mention, due to all the snow they had this winter, only the west loop drive in the park is open. The east loop with lots of interesting things and formations to look at is closed and won’t be open for quite a while they said, maybe not until the end of July. Almost all the hiking trails are also either closed or cannot be accessed since they come off the roads that are closed. So, instead of staying here another day, I will head towards Crescent City, CA where I will see the Redwoods.

I checked into the cost of a room at the lodge on Crater Lake thinking it might be worth the cost to have that experience, even though I couldn’t even get through the traffic at the village section where the lodge is located. The only room they had was $205 for one night plus tax. I think the campground spot is just fine with me, it was about $29 plus tax.

This journey and all that is coming with it I know comes from God working in my life and in this trip. My basket of blessings is overflowing with gratitude. Not only because I was gifted a camp spot with electric tonight, which the campground manager said he got working just for me. He visited central Florida a few years ago and liked it and wanted me to be warm tonight. But because I am getting to see some awesome places, more and different that I ever imagined when I was planning this trip. Between Brian at AAA, and people I have met on the road, I am finding new routes and places to stop. I am also able to share where I have been and what others can see. I got to a meeting and met a lady who was just diagnosed with cancer and I could share with her. At a restaurant I stopped at in a little town, one of the waitresses was wearing a Relay For Life t-shirt and I told her I do the RFL and found out that the owner of the restaurant gave food for the event. My waitress told me that her teenage daughter died recently from a rare form of cancer and I was able to share with her too. We both cried and afterward had a common bond and heart connection from losing people we love to cancer. Another one I remember strongly was seeing the mama grizzly and 3 cubs. What are the chances that we were both in the same place at the same time. I saw her from a distance, thankfully. So many, many blessings that I can’t even share them all. But they are all reminders that I am not alone on this journey.

Until next time.

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