Crater Lake and Wizard Island
[Truth be told, I write this blog post from Louisville as we made it home safely after 9 weeks on the road with beautiful sights, entertaining adventures, and visits with wonderful friends and family, plus some new acquaintances and definitely some stories. I’m hoping to finish out the blog posts of our time on the road this week, before we head off to new adventures in New Zealand!]
Oregon is a beautiful state, really no matter where you look. The coast, the inland areas, even Portland has a definite charm to it, and its urban growth boundaries ensure that you can be out of the city in no time. With all of this beauty I had high hopes for Crater Lake, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. It’s an amazingly beautiful place!
We arrived in Crater Lake National Park the morning of October 18 and our first sighting of the lake happened at North Junction. The sense of anticipation as we climbed the slight hill to the overlook was palpable. I had heard so much about this lake but had never seen it for myself. The lake was so blue, so clear, so big, it was hard not to stare. It’s on the site of a former volcano that erupted a long time ago, creating this large crater that was sealed and started collecting water. Even today, the lake is only fed by precipitation and a small around of runoff from the crater walls, maintaining its clarity.
The hike to Watchman Peak
We drove to the Watchman overlook for closer views of the larger land mass in the lake, Wizard Island. Impressed by what we saw, and the allure of seeing more, we hiked the 1.6 miles roundtrip to the top of Watchman Peak for stunning views of the lake and the surrounding areas, including Mt. Shasta in northern California. I had heard the lake described by plenty of people that I truly respect, including my dad, but no descriptions do it justice. The blue color of the water is almost indescribable.
We visited the Steel Visitor’s Center for a National Parks passport
cancellation stamp, then ventured to the Phantom Ship overlook for a closer look at the smaller land mass in the lake. It’s called Phantom Ship because from certain distances and at certain angles the island isn’t visible. Kind of a cool disappearing act for such a large area of land. Another interesting feature of the lake is the Old Man of the Lake, an ancient hemlock tree trunk over 30′ long that has been floating upright and moving around in the lake for over 100 years. Definitely an interesting story worth reading here. We didn’t actually see the Old Man but the intrigue certainly kept us looking.
The Pinnacles
A drive out to the Pinnacles and a 2mile hike returned us to the area right around the lake just as the sun was setting. Adam hopped out of the car along Dutton Ridge and captured what I think are the best sunset photos of our trip, quite a statement among the beautiful sunsets out west. After gazing at the colorful, quickly changing sky for a while, we found a picnic table to cook dinner in the dark, then began our journey out of Crater Lake National Park. We spent that evening in Grants Pass, Oregon with a beautiful crescent moon and the Milky Way very visible.
Sunset on Dutton Ridge
The next day we crossed the border into California on 199, passing easily through the Agriculture Inspection station and finding our way through beautiful redwoods to Redwood National Park. A drive along Howland Hill Road offered up close viewing of the beautiful, stately trees, and we opened the sunroof to get a better look at their towering majesty. We hiked the Stout Grove Trail, short in distance but impressive with large trees. Looking straight up became a pastime until I thought my neck might not recover.
Giant redwood trees
We passed through more beautiful redwoods on our way to the Newton Drury Scenic Parkway, stopping at the Klamath River overlook which was just fogging over as we climbed the hill. We saw a herd of elk grazing as we passed Prairie Creek, then made our way to a few breweries for some samples. We shared a porter at the Redwood Curtain Brewery in Arcata and then ventured to Eureka and the Lost Coast Brewery for pints of 8Ball Stout and an Apricot Wheat and some fish tacos. Our last stop of the night was very informational, as the bartender at Eel River Brewery shared some of her favorite breweries along the west coast.
The next morning the smell of warm pastries greeted us early at Loleta Bakery in Loleta, CA where my eyes grew bigger than my stomach (and our budget). We shared a cheese danish and some coffee, but the beautiful scones, cookies, bread, cakes, and pies on display had me hungry for more. We spent a few hours blogging and reading while charging our electronics and talking to some locals about their brewery suggestions. We even met a gentleman who grew up not far from Louisville in Kentucky.
Wow – the Dyerville Giant
Driving south we explored Humboldt Redwoods State Park and its highlights of the Avenue of the Giants, Founders Grove, dedicated to those who fought originally to preserve the redwoods, and the Dyerville Giant, a redwood tree that fell in 1991 with a big bang, weighing over 1 million pounds at 370 feet tall and 16 feet in diameter. Apparently residents nearby to the tree thought there had been a train crash when they heard the noise of the fall. These trees are beautiful and tall, elegant in their life over thousands of years and certainly inspiring.
A camera self-timer moment gone awry
That afternoon we continued south and found Highway 1, which follows almost the whole California coast. Reaching the ocean again was magnificent and made me smile as we sailed down the windy, narrow, cliff side road (I was honestly glad that Adam was driving). We stopped in Fort Bragg to visit North Coast Brewing Co, home of Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, and sampled a few of their tasty other selections. We continued down the coast on The 1, pausing to overlook the ocean as the sun set on the horizon. After a quick sunset kiss we hopped back in the car to escape the wind, and journeyed south to Jenner, where we headed inland across 116 to Santa Rosa and the Russian River Brewpub. It was definitely a popular spot on a Saturday night so we shared a porter and headed on to San Francisco!
The northern California coast
Moneys on the Move 