Mon 08/07:

It was really COLD last night! I awoke this morning to 47 degrees inside the trailer, so I fired up the heater to take the chill off. Hmmmm, heater in the morning, and air-conditioner in the afternoon---no extremes here!

I was headed south on Highway 97 just after 8 am, hoping to find an RV park in the little town of Union Creek, west of Crater Lake National Park, my next destination to visit. I arrived at Union Creek about 11 am and didn't see ANY camping in the area. A quick stop in the local General Store proved my suspicion, so it's on to the town of Prospect, another 10 miles south. A few miles down the road, I hit my next obligatory road construction stop. Another 15 minutes to wait for the pilot vehicle. I started a conversation with the woman holding the sign by asking her where there might be an RV park.

"Prospect is the nearest place with hookups." she said. "Actually, there are two RV parks in Prospect, one right on this highway, and the other in town."

I commented how it seemed as though Oregon had very few RV parks, at least in the places I'd been. She agreed, saying, "Yes! I was really surprised how few places there are for RVs. I see them all day long on the highway. They must be just passing through, I guess, because there aren't many places to camp. Lots of tent camping, but not for RVs."

I said, "That surprising, considering how much of a tourist destination Oregon is."

About then the pilot vehicle appeared, so I thanked the her, and slowly followed the pilot vehicle for at least 5 miles before seeing the RV park she had mentioned. I pulled in. It was only about half-full. The woman who signed me up said that most of the people in the park were construction workers from the highway paving project. I commented that the paving must not helping her business any. She agreed, "I'm getting really tired of it. I can't wait till they're done." After finishing the paperwork, she said, "Just go pick any open spot you like." I got the impression that I might be the only tourist in the park.

After getting the trailer set up, I had lunch and went into Prospect for gas. A VERY small town, in fact, I was wondering if there was any gas stations at all because I had driven all the way through town and seemed to be back on the highway when a general store/gas station/service garage appeared on the right. Good thing! It's a LONG way to the next town, and I was low on gas. After tanking up, I headed home and out of the escalating heat of the early afternoon.

Tues 08/08:

I wanted to get an early start this morning because I had a 40-minute drive to get to Crater Lake from Prospect, so I was on the road by 7:30 am. Of course, I had to run the road construction gauntlet before actually heading to Crater Lake. I won't miss this!

On the Rim Drive by 8:30, it was quiet, with few people---yet---as I stopped at the first overlook. The morning was calm, clear, hazy at the horizon, and in the low 70s; it should be a gorgeous day! I hope the slide film does a better job of depicting the incredible blue color of this lake because the digital pictures were a sad representation.

Crater Lake was known to Native Americans long before white people ever saw it. Because it was considered sacred, Native American shamans forbid their people to even view the lake, and they didn't tell white visitors to the area that the lake even existed. It wasn't until 1853, when John Wesley Hillman happenned onto seeing it for the first time while searching for the Lost Cabin Gold Mine. He never found the Gold Mine, but recognized the lake for its amazing beauty. It was eventually made into a National Park in 1902, after 17 years of lobbying by William Gladstone Steel.

It's quite likely that Native Americans saw the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Mazama (the volcano whose collapse created Crater Lake) about 7700 years ago. This eruption was so violent that volcanic ash from the eruption covered eight states and three Canadian provinces (about 5000 square miles) with 6 inches of ash, and was estimated to have been 100 to 200 TIMES more violent than the Mount St. Helens eruption!

The lake has some phenomenal qualities: at 1932 feet deep, it is the deepest lake in the United States; its waters are more clear than any in the world (measured clarity to 144 feet at one time, but averaging 100-120 feet); the lake has no streams running into or out of it, yet its water level only varies by about 3 feet per year (it's replenished entirely by snowmelt); the stunning colors of the water are created solely by the absorption and refraction of sunlight: the water itself is crystal clear; however, this may be a relatively recent phenomenon. In the past, considerable minerals bubbled up from the caldera and probably caused the water to be less clear than it is now.

Driving around the lake, counterclockwise, I stopped at most of the overlooks to take in the scenery. Truly breathtaking! By 11:30, I was about 3/4 of the way around the perimeter and stopped at The Watchman Overlook. I took the 1.4-mile round-trip, 500-foot climb trail up to the watchtower for a see-it-all view of the whole lake. In spite of the haze in the distance, the near-view of the water was lovely! It varied from turquoise and emerald green in the shallows near Wizard Island directly below, to azure and the deepest indigos and cobalt blues with depth and transparency of the finest jewels.

I had lunch at the parking lot after hiking down, then started back to Prospect. On the way, I saw a sign for a "Natural Bridge" to the right, so drove about a mile to a parking lot. The bridge turned out to be a 200-foot section of a lava tube that was now filled with water from the Rogue River. Sort of interesting, but not a lot to see. The river was pretty, though.

By about 2:30 pm, I was home. I prepared a roll of film to mail, went into Prospect to mail it and get gas for tomorrow's drive.