July 10 - Crater Lake National Park, OR
Had a rude awakening overnight. The power went out in the 'village' and when it came back, the smoke detector beeped loudly to let us know. This happened several times before power was finally restored. Luckily the day dawned clear and sunny, making the stay worthwhile. We stopped briefly at the visitor's centre, only to find it rather kitschy. The one ranger we spoke to didn't seem too interested in hearing about our comparisons between their wildlife and that of Jasper and Banff.
However, we did the splinter drives off of the Rim Drive. The Pinnacles turned out to be way more amazing than I expected. Probably because I thought this drive would just take us to a vista of mountain peaks. Instead, the Pinnacles are tall fumeroles - hollow spikes of hard rock where softer stuff has eroded away. Some were rather hoodoo-like (for those of you who have been to the badlands either in Alberta or in the Dakotas), others looked phallic, while still others were like minarets. Striking!
We also did a few of the hikes. The first was down to the lakeside along the Cleetwood Trail. Many dire warnings about the difficulty of this 1-mile climb were discouraging; fortunately we've been accustomed to Rockies day-hikes, so this one wasn't as bad as the signs had me believe. This trail is the only route down to the lake and is usually taken by those who want to take the boat tour around the lake. Unfortunately the boat tours had been cancelled indefinitely (foul weather), but we went down anyways. The water retained its eerie blueness even when one was peering down over the edge from the lake's shore!
There was also a wildflower trail which took us through a lovely meadow and across some streams. While we did see some wildflowers (others had already bloomed), the highlight was spotting two deer and two fawns on the cliffside! As luck would have it, this was the one time we hadn't brought our binoculars with us. Oops!
However, we did the splinter drives off of the Rim Drive. The Pinnacles turned out to be way more amazing than I expected. Probably because I thought this drive would just take us to a vista of mountain peaks. Instead, the Pinnacles are tall fumeroles - hollow spikes of hard rock where softer stuff has eroded away. Some were rather hoodoo-like (for those of you who have been to the badlands either in Alberta or in the Dakotas), others looked phallic, while still others were like minarets. Striking!
We also did a few of the hikes. The first was down to the lakeside along the Cleetwood Trail. Many dire warnings about the difficulty of this 1-mile climb were discouraging; fortunately we've been accustomed to Rockies day-hikes, so this one wasn't as bad as the signs had me believe. This trail is the only route down to the lake and is usually taken by those who want to take the boat tour around the lake. Unfortunately the boat tours had been cancelled indefinitely (foul weather), but we went down anyways. The water retained its eerie blueness even when one was peering down over the edge from the lake's shore!
There was also a wildflower trail which took us through a lovely meadow and across some streams. While we did see some wildflowers (others had already bloomed), the highlight was spotting two deer and two fawns on the cliffside! As luck would have it, this was the one time we hadn't brought our binoculars with us. Oops!
posted by blumaroo at 11:11 PM
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