“The very basic core of man’s
living spirit is his
passion for adventure”
Chris McCandless
The first time I ever saw a
picture of Crater Lake I knew I had to go there. The problem is that it’s a rather difficult
place to get to. There are no cities
nearby, Portland is over 300 miles away and if you drive from San Fran (which
we did) it’s an 8 hour straight short. Of course, you know we went the scenic
route. We did not arrive until 10 PM. Along the way we passed dense areas of smoke
from the nearby forest fires. It was
cloudy too so the hope of seeing stars was minimal. After our long drive we pulled into the
Mazama Campground, considered one of the nicest in the park system. We found our site, set up camp and had
originally planned to go to bed, but that night the moon was not visible yet
and the clouds had moved on to disrupt someone else’s view of the stars. This night we were going to see the stars,
and we were going to see them over Crater Lake.
Driving in the dark up the windy
roads was, as always, a slow going affair, especially with the fearless deer
grazing in the middle of the road. After
some misdirection we finally arrived.
The stars were unbelievable. Then
the moon did something that gave us what I will probably have burned in my
brain as the coolest site ever. It
slowly rose over the peaks surrounding the crater illuminating the entire rim
of the lake and the waters. It was a mix of yellow moon, purple and dark grey
sky reflecting in the water with black mountains in the distance. Satisified with our treat after a long day we
drove the 7 mile trip back to camp and went to bed.
The next morning we woke up,
made some coffee, ate oranges and granola bars and headed back to the
lake. The sun was now shining and provided
another breaktaking view of the expansive lake.
Crater Lake was actually created by a volcano that has collapsed into
itself after erupting. It filled with
rainwater and snow melts, creating the a 4 by 6 mile lake that is now the 7th
deepest lake in the world at 1900 ft with the clearest water in the US. The park has drive around the rim with views
of the lake, Wizard Island and the surrounding mountains. Our first stop was the lake shores.
The rim of the lake sits
about 700 feet above the surface and there is only one trail that leads to the
bottom. This is a strenuous hike like
everything we’ve done, as it is just a bunch of switchbacks. At the bottom there is a boat that will take
you to Wizard Island and drop you off for 3 hours for $36 dollars. There were no tickets available so we did not
have make any financial decisions. The water in the lake looks tropical, dark
blue in the deep parts and a mix of aqua green and light blues along its rocky
shores. The temperature of the water is
far from tropical at a cool 59 degrees.
Swimming is allowed but I was challenged by something cooler. There is a 17 ft cliff called Jumpers
Rock. There was already a group of
people taking turns jumping surrounded by a larger group of spectators. Not knowing about this ahead of time we did
not have bathing suits. It was hot
enough that I figured I’d dry off quick enough, so I headed towards the
edge. Shriver chose to spectate. The guy before me did some sort of back flip,
so naturally I had to show him up, cannonball style. Fortunately Shriver caught the perfectly
formed cannonball in midair and failed to catch the terrible landing. The drop was fun but I knew I was heading for
a rough landing. My right side hit first
and the all-too family feeling of a belly flop stung me like swarm of bees, but
was instantly cooled by the lakes frigid waters. This was not the coldest water I had been in
(that was the Colorado River) and it was extremely refreshing. It was so much fun that I went again this
time with a more conservative jump.
Refreshed from the lake we headed up to the rim.
Continuing along the rim road
we had one last destination, Mt Scott.
The mountains along the edge of the lake sore about 2000 miles at their
highest point. The mountain that achieves
this is called Mt. Scott and gluttons for punishment we decided to do the
hike. It was a short 5 mile round trip
hike with a 1,250 ft gain in elevation to reach a peak of 8,929 ft. Unlike our other steep climbs this did not
have shade, the dry heat and the sun was brutal, but we made it up at our usual
pace and once again got a 360 view of the park.
The pictures did not come out due to afternoon haze. We headed back to camp after this, made
dinner and then went back for round two of the moon show.
 |
| Mt Scott |
The next morning we woke up at 5:15 and packed camp in record time to make it for sunrise. As we were packing the sky was already becoming brighter. We zoomed up the 7 mile windy road and parked at the very moment the sun made its way over the mountains giving us another amazing view. Then we headed outout for the
longest drive of the trip, 16 hours to the east towards arguably the most famous
national park, Yellowstone. When people
asked what park I was most excited for, I answered Crater Lake. It far exceeded my expectations. Though there is not much do here, the views
were amazing. This was the perfect
start to the fourth leg of the trip, the Northwest.
Stats:
Miles Driven: 5441
States: PA, MD, WV, VA, TN, NC, AL,
MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA, OR
National Parks: 12
Miles Hiked: 51
Score for my Cannonball: 2.7 (5 for
dismount, 0.4 for landing)
Elevation Gain from Lake Surfact to
Mount Scott: 1800 feet
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