One week after our Portland wedding, Liz and I went to the Crater Lake National Park area for a couple of days. That was our first time there.
We left on a Friday evening, spent the night in Roseburg and next morning took the beautiful and leisurely drive along the Umpqua river to Crater Lake National Park. As we got close to our destination, we saw Mt Thielsen. It has a jagged and sharp peak and I found it to be quite stirring. Once inside the national park area, there were many other natural wonders to see. The Pumice desert was impressively flat and open. It was inviting us to get off the road and walk around a bit and so we did. Next up, we got to the Rim Drive where we got our first sight of the lake, and it was awesome. Deep blue still water, with steep cliffs and some slopes that were snowy even in the peak of summer.
Rim Drive goes around the caldera and provides access several places, including the trail that leads to the lake, Cloudcap road, the Pinnacles, the Rim Village. We visited each of those. The one mile trail that led to the lake was quite comfortable and we were down at the lake in no time. There was a crowd there about to head out to Wizard Island in the boat. Liz found an excellent spot shielded by rocks. We sat there and soaked in the tranquility. After a while, we headed back up. Next, we visited Cloudcap road which is the highest point of the rim and sports an expansive view of the lake. From there we went to the Pinnacles, which are columns of stem and gas release vents that have been exposed through centuries of erosion. I had never seen anything like it before and was quite impressed.
Following that we had a snack at the Rim Village and headed towards Diamond Lake. We had booked in advance at the Diamond Lake Resort, but a few seconds after checking out that motel room, we decided to upgrade to escape its supreme ugliness. Soon, we were checked into a lakeside cabin. The next day we rented a motor boat and went out on the lake. Liz and I took turns at the helm. This was another first for me and I enjoyed steering the boat when the wind was favorable. Other angles were not as much fun. The view of Mt Thielsen was very cool.
Later that day we headed back to Portland via a different route. On the road we came across several folks headed to Burning Man and this brought back fun memories from when we went there last year. We stopped for a snack in Eugene. It was my first time there. On that warm Sunday afternoon, it was idyllic. A good transition from the stillness of the lakes to the hustle and bustle of home.
A set of all our photos from this trip is in my Flickr photostream, titled: Crater Lake Trip, August 2008.
