Crater Lake

Reluctantly departing the very comfortable Windermere Hotel, (an ‘overnighter’ just didn’t do it justice, I left a little Aussie cheer in the room as we were so happy with our stay)  our plan was to head north east, inland toward Crater Lake.

We grabbed a few quick photos of Bandon beach on the way out, filled the tank ( well actually the attendant did cos that’s how it works in Oregon) and we were off on Highway 42 which firstly follows the Umpqua River valley and then traverses lush evergreen forests before depositing you in Roseburg. Here we collected a few supplies for our picnic lunch which we had in warm sunshine at Colliding Rivers, Glide,  further up the road.

It is known as Colliding Rivers because of the nearly head-on angle at which the streams meet, the only place in the state of Oregon where a river meets its tributary in such a straight angle – thanks Wikipedia!

Some local lads entertained us with cliff jumping whilst we had lunch and several more carloads had arrived to swim in this popular spot before we left.

The next rest stop had been recommended by Cody and saw us taking a small detour to Toketee Falls where a hike through Douglas Fir, western red cedar,maple and Pacific Yew trees to an awesome view of the falls.

Not quite as scenic but very interesting was the pipeline visible in the car parking area which is part of the North Umpqua Hydroelectric project – a twelve foot diameter redwood stave pipeline. This was completed in 1949 and is still (largely) water tight.

Back in the car it was another hour and fifteen minutes before we climbed the caldera that is Crater Lake and got our first stunning view.

Formed 7,700 years ago when a violent eruption triggered the collapse of a tall peak, the deepest lake in America was created. In bright sunshine the pristine blue surface looked surreal. It reminded me of my first view of the Grand Canyon, you had to remind yourself that it’s not actually a painting but the real thing!

Needless to say many photos were taken before we continued on to our accommodation for the next two nights, the historic Crater Lake Lodge which celebrated its centenary in 2015.

In an American National Park style that we had seen at Yellowstone and other parks previously it had the typical welcoming ‘great hall’ with fires burning and a myriad of tourists trying to find an internet connection (difficult) or book tomorrow’s excursions (recommended.)

We were advised to book dinner in the restaurant asap and despite following that advice were still pushed back to a 7.45 timeslot, plenty of time to take more photos and check out the souvenir clothing 😉

Dinner was preceded by a very civilised glass of Oregon Pinot by the fire and followed by a relatively early night.

Tomorrow, we plan to drive around the rim. 🌋