Crater Lake N.P. & Umpqua N.F.

Crater Lake & Umpqua National Forest

Wednesday morning, 8/10, was laundry day prior to departing for Crater Lake.  The East Lake RV Park was a great place to stay, but the laundry facility was less than desirable.  It took much longer than expected…it was early afternoon before departing for Crater Lake.  Our itinerary always included a stop at Crater Lake.  However, as this travel day approached we had talked about skipping it altogether.  There had recently been a forest fire in the park resulting in considerable smoke and some road closures.  It’s just a lake, eh?  Do we really want to go if the conditions aren’t good?  Fortunately the latest updates indicated the fire was contained and roads had been reopened.

We made it to the park late in the afternoon with no campground reservations for that evening.  Our hopes were to land in one of the campgrounds in the park.   After some waiting for road construction to take the shorter West Rim Drive, we finally caught a glimpse of the lake.  Wow!  This wasn’t just a lake.  There’s good reason this area has been made into a national park.  We enjoyed the drive around the west rim and made our way to the campground which was found to be full L.  Back in the car, we made our way around the East Rim Drive.  We couldn’t get enough of the views but it was getting late and we still didn’t have a place to stay.  After finally catching a fleeting cell signal, a spot was reserved at an RV park at nearby Diamond Lake.

With dinner cooking on the grill we took Chewy down to Diamond Lake to catch the sunset.  The water was chilly but that didn’t stop Chewy from molesting some of the local waterfowl, a favorite pastime of hers.  The sunset was beautiful and the skies were clear…so far Oregon has exceeded our expectations.  

Our arrival at Crater Lake was a day before the peak of the Perseid meteor shower.  A heat wave over the area had brought with it exceptionally clear skies.  Over dinner we planned to get up early and head to the lake for some viewing of the meteor shower and the sunrise. 

When we rolled out of the camper at 3:00 am the night sky was lit up big time.  It didn’t take long before we were rolling around the East Rim Drive checking each pull-out for a good Milky Way shot.  Eventually we stopped at the Phantom Ship Overlook and managed an ok shot, but it wasn’t quite what I wanted.  As we made our way around the SW corner of the lake, the sun was starting to  wash out the stars…but not yet enough to mask the numerous Perseid meteors.  The focus went from the night sky to the beautiful sunrise.  Crater Lake is an exceptionally beautiful setting to watch the sunrise.  If ever the chance to visit…do yourself a favor and get up early!  As with most things, what was captured through the lens represents only a fraction of how marvelous it was to watch the sun come up over the horizon.

With the sunrise forever burned into our memory we went back to camp to soak up more coffee and grab the trailer.  Adjacent to Crater Lake N.P. is the Umpqua National Forest with its towering trees and namesake river.  The three of us were hoping to find a nice place to camp in the forest off the grid to do some hiking and fishing.  This was going to be a bit of a challenge…towing a trailer with a VW Passat doesn’t make it easy to get far into the sticks.  A quick stop by the ranger station was rewarded with some good info on where to go from Patrick, the fisheries biologist.  He recommended a campsite where Skookum Creek intersected a gravel road.  Once there, we found a great hunting camp next to the creek where we spent the next three nights.

The first afternoon in the Umpqua we decided to hike to Skookum Lake.  The hike to the lake was mostly downhill.  The last half was a pretty steep descent with some views of the lake.  We met a fellow hiker at the trailhead who had just made it back up.  He said the shoreline of the lake was lined with thousands, if not millions, of baby frogs.  Sure enough…when we arrived at the lake the shoreline was crawling with tiny baby amphibians.  Turns out every year about this time there is a massive orgy of toads resulting in millions of little baby toads.  It was a cool sight to see, but also somewhat creepy.  Chewy definitely did not like it at all.  She was afraid to take a step anywhere near the shore.  We stayed long enough for me to make a few casts at some of the lake’s rising trout.  With no success we headed back up the trail which now became very steep.  The hike was an adventure, but not one that we would likely repeat.

The next couple days were spent exploring the Umpqua and Rogue rivers.  I broke out the fly rod and managed to snag a few of the less wary trout, the biggest of which might have barely topped six inches.  The evenings we enjoyed some laid back chilling around the campfire with some good eats.  With the Perseid meteors still around, I did manage to pry Laura and Chewy out of bed for some early morning night sky pics.  

After a relaxing few days in the woods, it was time to head to the coast (and find a shower!!!)

Bend, OR

Bend, OR

Sunday, 8/7, we departed Twin Falls very excited to be reaching Oregon!  The drive though eastern Oregon was ok…it’s awful dry but some small mountains make most of the drive somewhat scenic.  We reach Bend in the afternoon.  Our first choice for a campground, Tumalo State Park, was full with no sites available.  Bummer!  It was the same with our second choice, a campground nearby in Sisters.  Finally, we settled on East Lake RV Park located in Newberry National Volcanic Monument.  The campground was nestled next to East Lake, which happens to be part of the Newberry caldera…we were camping in a volcano, the largest in the Cascades. 

It was a beautiful campground and evidently East Lake is packed full of trout.  We spent the first evening hanging out by the lake.  The next day we had plans in the evening to head into Bend to meet up with some folks for dinner.  It was an early evening…thank goodness we saved the firewood.  When we rolled out of the trailer the next morning it was COLD!  I don’t know for sure what the temperature was…high 30’s?  In no time at all there was a roaring fire.  It took a bit of coffee to warm up, but eventually we took Chewy for a hike around Paulina Lake and drove to the top of Paulina Peak.  At the top of the peak there is a great view of the most recent lava flow.  It was a wonderful way to spend a morning.  

View of Paulina Lake (foreground) and East Lake from Paulina Peak...you can also see the most recent Obsidian Flow coming down from the right.

Hiking around Paulina Lake

With Chewy’s orthopedic issues, she is good for hikes about two miles or less.  Anything longer seems to wear her out big time.  Having this in mind, we decided to board Chewy for a day so we could do a longer hike.  It sure was tough dropping her off for the night!  The mood lightened a bit over dinner at Worthy Brewing.  It was good to catch up with Nancy (a fellow co-worker from the Angola days) along with meeting some new folks.  After dinner we returned to camp looking forward to a night’s sleep without a dog hogging half of the mattress. 

For our big dogless day, we planned to do the Green Lakes Trail in the Deschutes National Forest.  After a hearty meal we were on our way to the trailhead of the 9 mile hike.  Several folks had said it was one of the most beautiful hikes in the area.  Judging from the amount of cars parked at the trailhead, it was also one of the more popular.  The trail follows a creek up a mountain for ~4.6 miles gaining about 1,250’ in elevation, ending up at two beautiful lakes that are flanked by peaks still holding numerous patches of snow.  All along the way there were lots of wild flowers blooming along the creek.  We sat by one of the lakes to eat lunch trying the whole time to absorb the surrounding beauty.   It really is an amazing place! On the way back down we parked our butts off the trail by the creek and enjoyed a couple glasses of wine…really nice way to spend an afternoon!!!

After the hike we returned to Bend to collect our pup from the boarding facility.  With a pit stop for some Thai take-out, we headed back to camp for one last campfire at the East Lake campground.  In the morning we were picking up and headed to Crater Lake.

Moab - Canyonlands & Arches

Moab – Canyonlands & Arches

Friday morning, 8/5, found us hitting the road early.   We were not really sure how far down the road we would make it.  From Durango, Salt Lake City was something like 6.5 hours and Twin Falls, Idaho close to 9.5 hours. 

As we moseyed along the desolate Utah highway, when we reached the turnoff for Canyonlands NP Laura suggested we take a detour and check it out.  Man, are we ever glad we made that turn!!  Canyonlands, along with the drive into the Needles entry, is nothing short of breathtaking (stunning, amazing, fantastic…all these apply but none really do it justice!).  Most of the morning had been a nasty, drizzling rain.  As soon as we got to the park, the sun started peeking through the clouds, adding to the dramatic vistas.  

After exploring Canyonlands we headed into Moab.  Once we were resupplied with food and goodies, it was decided we would try to find a campsite further out of town…something “off the grid”.  Our first choice was a poor one.  Bride Canyon campground is “dispersed camping” situated on BLM land something like 13 miles from the highway.  No problem, eh?  The turn off of the highway was onto a dirt road that quickly turned into a boulder strewn goat path leading up the side of a mountain.  When Laura saw the zig-zagging path, all she could say was “Nope”.  I wasn’t about to tell  her there was no way possible we would make it up that road in a VW Passat towing a trailer.  Regardless, you ever try to turn around a car towing a trailer on a boulder strewn goat path?  Neither had I.  It took some effort and a few choice words, but we managed to unhook the trailer, swing the car around and get the trailer hooked back up.  We weren’t going to make it to Bride Canyon campground. 

On our way into Canyonlands earlier in the day we had taken a gravel road off into some BLM land before making our way into the park.  There was a really cool rock formation that was also a campground.  The name was Hamburger Rock Campground.  It was a pretty cool looking place with maybe half a dozen campsites.  Although it was about an hour drive from Moab, we thought it would be a cool place to stay.  With a modestly bruised ego, we headed south out of town with Hamburger Rock as our destination.    

As we are getting closer, we notice the sky to the southwest is getting angry.  It was going to storm again and we hadn’t yet reached the campsite.  A game point decision was made to pull into Windwhistle campground which is not too far from the turn-off to the Needles entrance to Canyonlands.  It ended up being a great choice!  The campground was empty upon our arrival.  The grill was fired up and some drinks poured.  It was time for a bit of exploring the cool rock outcrops that flanked the campground.  There was just enough time for the exploring and cooking of some delicious bacon wrapped morsels of pork and chicken before the storm swallowed the campground.  It was very cool watching the distant lightning as the storm rolled in.   Dinner was finished sitting in the trailer followed by some reminiscing of the beautiful sights we had consumed earlier in the day.  

The next morning we were up (well, I was up and daringly prodded Laura awake) around 5 am, well before sunrise.  After making a pot of coffee and packing up camp, we were back on the road.   We make it a few miles out of the campground when an antelope crossing the road right in front of the car.  There was enough light for Chewy to have caught a glimpse of the animal.  As we stopped the car, Chewy completely lost her head trying to get out of the car to chase down the antelope.  It was hysterical listening to her.  After a few minutes of taunting Chewy, the buck pronghorn pranced off into the scrub.  It took Chewy a good 10 minutes to calm down and return to her usual passed out position in the back seat.  

Chewy Losing Her Head 

Our early rise positioned us nicely for a drive through Arches before continuing on through Utah.  It was a beautiful drive through some more spectacular scenery.  This is one place we will definitely visit again in the future! 

The rest of the day was an uneventful drive to Twin Falls, Idaho.  We had done zero research regarding Twin Falls…it was simply a convenient spot on the map to pull over for the night.   So far, the drive through norther Utah and southern Idaho had been very uninspiring, especially when compared to the sights from earlier in the day at Arches.  As we pull off the interstate and start making our way towards the chosen RV park, we were pleasantly shocked to find the Snake River Canyon.  Here in this seemingly flat, boring terrain is this beautiful canyon complete with waterfalls!   Tired from driving all day, we did a quick pass by the falls and headed back to the campground for an early night.  Tomorrow we make it to Oregon!