10 October 2016, Monday
Today we have 120 miles to go to Crater Lake National Park. We eat our breakfast of left over sticky buns, warmed in the microwave in our room – an excellent beginning to the day. Again we drive south, first through rain and then through sunshine. There are miles more of golden pastures and ponderosa pines. Soon we turn north on route 62 and stop at Crater Lake Resort, a private campground for RV’s and tents. There are also cabins for those who want a bit more comfort. We cannot camp at Crater Lake National Park because its campgrounds are closed for the season. We quickly set up our tent on a grassy lawn, have some lunch and hop back in Jazz for the 20+ mile drive to the National Park.
Our tent has been left behind in the broad Klamath Valley at an elevation of just over 4000 feet. It is a sunny and pleasant afternoon there when we leave. We ascend to 7000 feet as we drive into the mountains. Here it is a cloudy and windy 43 degrees F. We stop at the visitor center and watch the film on Crater Lake and its history. Approximately 7700 years ago Mt. Mazama, a mountain likely higher than Mt. Rainier is today, erupted in an explosion that sent its ash cloud as far east as Nebraska and north into Alberta. The center of the mountain collapsed forming a giant caldera which slowly filled with rain water and snow melt. Today the lake created here is the most pristine in the world. The ancestors of the local Klamath nation passed down tales of the cataclysmic eruption. This remains a sacred landscape for local First Nations.
O and I walk along the overlook at Rim Village reading about the lake and admiring the water which is quite blue even beneath the cloudy afternoon sky. We are running out of time to explore, but we drive up the West Rim Road to the point where it is closed (temporarily as it turns out) due to snowy weather and subsequent construction delays. Tomorrow we plan to explore the east rim and hope to hike a trail or two. We also hope we get reconditioned to the altitude. The hikes begin at an elevation of around 7000 feet or more and I notice I am huffing and puffing a bit on the little hills around Rim Village.
As we prepare for bed in the warmer valley (the temperature rose 12 degrees F as we descended back to camp) we hear a chorus of coyotes in the distance. They seem to have drowned out the calls of the nearby owls.