Day 16: 8/24/14
Eureka to Crater Lake National Park
Mileage: However far you can get in like 6 hours
People: 2
Dogs: 2
This
morning I took my final free hot shower, we packed up the car, said goodbye to
Joan, Nick, & the baby and headed out to our next stop at Crater Lake
National Park. We got about an hour into our drive and stopped again in the
Redwood National Park/Forest at Ladybird Johnson Grove. While the trees were
still huge, but not as big as Big Tree or as giant as Giant Tree, there were a
lot of hollowed out trees to climb & play in. Most of the trees that were
hollow had been burned out by fire over a 100 years ago and some continue to
grow. One tree we walked inside was more spacious than our 6 person tent. Of
course all of our best ideas happen in the Redwood forest, and today was no exception.
As I mentioned before, we’d been watching a lot of dumb crazy people be
interviewed about various mythical creatures on Penn & Teller’s show and we
couldn’t help but think, how could we cash in on that? Well today it came to
me. When Brandon jokingly stopped us in the trail, and very seriously pointed
to a tree base and said, “that’s where the Keebler elf lives”, the idea for
woodland elf & fairy tours was born. I bet we could rake in the cash. We
just have to practice saying these things with a straight face. We took some
pictures and were on our way again.
We
pulled into the Crater Lake campground to find our first bear box. This is a
giant industrial strength metal box with a special bear proof latch that keeps
bears out of your food & toiletries. Brandon says this is to keep the bears
safe and I was disheartened to learn this is in no way designed to keep me safe…The
idea is that a fed bear is a dead bear. Many bears that get fed people food,
very quickly become aggressive and then have to be killed. No food = bears
live. There have not been bears spotted in Crater Lake campgrounds for years
and there are roughly 30-70 bears in the entire park which is over 200,000
acres. Ultimately, it worked to keep the thief birds from stealing the dog
food.
Day 17: 8/25/14
Crater Lake National Park
Mileage: ?
People: 2
Dogs: 2
First
things first. Today Dad turned 60. I sent him a postcard from the Redwoods that
said we finally found something older than him. I’m a laugh riot.
Today
we took the dogs on a hike to Godfrey Glen Trail, about 5 miles round trip, and
saw some of the nearby canyons and pumice stone pinnacles. We’ve been lucky
that the weather has been so nice this trip. Even with it being bright and
sunny today it was still only mid 70s. Workin’ on my tan.
After
getting back and having a quick lunch, we loaded everybody back in the car and
started part of the Rim Drive to head to Sun Notch and see Phantom Ship
overlook. Crater Lake is an absolutely beautiful National Park. The water is
bluer than the sky and changes to deep turquoise & emerald depending on
your relation to the water, the sun, and the depth in that particular spot. The
deepest part of the lake is 1,943 feet deep and average clarity is over 100
feet deep. (Lake Tahoe averages 70 feet, so take that Tahoe.) The lake is the
deepest and purist in the U.S. It was created by a volcanic eruption 7,700
years ago and the walls fell in on itself creating the crater. The crater was
sealed by lava and some scientific process involving stone & compression
& magic and the bed of the crater was then able to hold water. 34 billion
gallons of water. The lake is fed solely by rain & snow. While there are
waterfalls that empty into the lake, the water from these come from aquifers
surrounding the crater filled by rain & snow. 17 million gallons seeps out
under the north side of the crater basin and Ranger Darby claims nobody has any
clue where it all goes. The rest evaporates and thus creates an amazingly pure,
static system.
Phantom
Ship is an island created when part of the crater wall slid into the water. If the
light is just right and you’re looking at in just the right way, from across
the water it seems to disappear. Basically, the rocks match the crater wall so
well, it blends in with the shore behind it. We took a ton of pictures. We
headed to the visitor center, bought tickets for the boat tour for the
following day, and walked along the rim oooo-ing & aaaahhh-ing our way back
to the car.
Back at
camp we made a fire, ate dinner, and relaxed watching the fire. The family next
to us had an argument with their son who thought he was qualified to play with
matches and light the family campfire. Later on he screamed and cried like a
baby when “a tiny spark landed on me”. I don’t think little Jimmy has a future
in their local fire department…
Just
as I had settled into bed and closed my eyes, screaming started coming from the
family camps. I mean, blood curdling SCREAMING. This was followed by two sleepy
parents explaining to their hysterical son that they were not opening the tent
and he was having a bad dream and should go back to sleep. He fell asleep. I,
on the other hand was wide awake thinking of those 30-70 bears…
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