Southern Oregon Ramble - Fall 2003

-Idleyld Park and Steamboat Inn - Waterfalls! - Foreign Fauna - Driving for Vineyards - With Melpomene, Clio and Thalia - Historic Jacksonville - Up the Rogue - Crater Lake		Crater Lake and Home From Beckie's we pressed on the final 23 miles to Crater Lake (http://www.nps.gov/crla/ or http://www.nationalparks.org/craterlake). Crater Lake is the premier volcanic experience in the Oregon Cascades and one almost impossible to describe. (But I'll try.) Jeffi had never been before so we had a great time appreciating her reactions. We entered the park at the south entrance, paid our fee ($10.00 a car) and picked up the map and explanatory material they give you. The first thing we decided was to skip the boat ride. They advise you to allow at least 4 hours to hike in and out and for the ride itself and we decided we just didn't have the time this trip. Plus the hike, a mile-long trail that drops 700 vertical feet, is recommended only for "those in good physical condition." I don't think I would have much trouble with the "drop," it's the "rise" to get back out that might be hard. The route is described as the equivalent of climbing 65 flights of stairs. Maybe next time. (Maybe never.) Our first stop was Rim Village, which is basically a big old building housing a gift shop, a cafeteria and a visitor's center. But what's important is that this is where you can first get out of the car and go stand on the crater rim and look down into that blue, blue water. If that doesn't make you glad to be on this earth, nothing will. Jeffi's expression was worth the drive. Now, a short educational interlude. Crater Lake is in a mountain named Mt. Mazama, the largest volcano in the Cascade Range which has lots and lots of them. Mt. Mazama erupted over and over again for half a million years until the climatic eruption 7,700 years ago. At that time the volcano spewed out all its lava and collapsed, leaving a huge bowl-shaped caldera. Over time, the bowl filled with water from springs, snow and rain, forming the deepest lake in the U.S. At its deepest, the lake is 1,943 feet deep, the average is 1,148 feet. It's six miles wide and pretty close to circular. And it is bluer than anything else because it's deeper than anything else. Light is absorbed as it passes through water in the order of the colors of the rainbow (wavelengths, of course) -- starting with red, then orange and so on, so that by the time it is reflected back, only the blue is left. If the lake were deeper it would be violet, I suppose. But it's plenty impressive as blue. The next thing you notice after the blue, is Wizard Island, which is, essentially, a cinder cone, a baby volcano tucked into a curve of the lake. If you take the boat ride, you can hike around on it. Here are a couple of good pictures: (http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/np-image.crla1078.html and http://www.pointsunknown.com/crater.htm). After admiring the island for a while, we bought to-go sandwiches at the cafeteria and studied our maps and guides to make a reasonable plan that would let us see as much as possible and also get us down out of the mountains and back on the freeway by dark. The rim drive is 33 miles and even without sight-seeing stops takes two hours. On the drive we wanted to be sure to see the Phantom Ship, the Pumice Castle and to try very hard to find "The Old Man of the Lake." But first, we went to see Crater Lake Lodge (http://www.craterlakelodges.com/) which is just up the road (walking distance) from Rim Village. The Lodge has been completely restored for the Park's 100th anniversary (in 2002). The Lodge itself first opened in 1915, but it had fallen apart since then, mostly because it's buried in snow for much of the year (The Park gets about 44 ft. of snow a year and for most of the time isn't very accessible. The Rim Drive, for example, is only open from early July to mid-October most years.) The Lodge restoration was actually a total gutting and rebuilding, new foundations, fireplaces taken apart and put back together, etc. There's an interesting exhibit of how they did it and of course, they re-used the major pillars, beams and rafters as much as possible so it's very impressive. You can truly say "they don't build them like that anymore," because they don't. For one thing, trees that big are no longer commercially available. Our first stop after leaving the lodge was at Sun Notch where a short hike takes you to several excellent vantage points to see the Phantom Ship. It was on this part of our vacation that having a traveling companion with a Masters' Degree in geology (Sheila) was a real bonus. She taught us about all the formations we passed on the road and explained about volcanic cycles and so on. It was like having an expert tour guide. Since you don't have Sheila, you might check this glossary from the US Geological Survey to give you a small sense of the various geological objects we encountered. http://craterlake.wr.usgs.gov/glossary.html. We didn't need any outside expertise to teach us that a "moderate" climb at 2,500 ft. to see a waterfall is a far different thing than a "moderate" climb at 7,000 ft. to see the Phantom Ship. But we managed it, huffing and puffing. The Ship was made, of course, by a particular kind of lava flow as was the Pumice Castle, the Devil's Backbone and the other Crater Lake scenic phenomena. Here's a set of photos, also from the USGS, that includes shots of the major features: http://craterlake.wr.usgs.gov/photos.html. We pretty much stopped and looked at everything there was to see from close to the road, becoming more and more saturated with blue, blue, blue. Even the best photos can't convey this color. Ah, you may be wondering why there is no picture of "The Old Man of the Lake." This is not a volcanic phenomenon. The Old Man is a huge hemlock tree trunk drifting around and around the lake for at least the last 100 years, held in an upright position by rocks tangled in the roots. We looked for it at every viewpoint with no luck. Until, at the very last place we were going to stop, Discovery Point, we saw *something* on the lake that was not a bird and not a boat, a size in-between and definitely drifting. Even using our binoculars, we couldn't tell for certain sure that it was The Old Man. But I think so, I really think so. And so we headed for home, down another wonderful Oregon river, the Willamette, but we didn't stop anywhere. It was a great southern Oregon mini-vacation, which left us eagerly planning a return trip. There's still plenty to see -- we didn't make the Wolf Creek Tavern (now Inn) or New Sammy's Cowboy Bistro in Ashland or the Caves of Mystery or take a raft trip on the Rogue or the Umpqua or the boat around Crater Lake or tour the Chinese gold tailings sites in Jacksonville or see all those wondrous wedding gowns in Idleyld Park. And there are many vineyards to visit and many wines to taste. When we next go to find them, I'll be sure to let you know.