On to Crater Lake

I left California after spending the night in a pull off, finding rest in the bucket seat of my car. Northern CA is beautiful, largely for its giant trees and coastline. But, it was time to move on; Oregon was calling.

I knew I couldn't do another night in my car. I needed to find solid ground where I could pull up an air mattress and go completely vertical (getting old. it's a thing.). The day's drive was going to take nearly 8 hours, from the Mendocino area to Crater Lake. Knowing absolutely nothing about my destination and thinking it would just be a casual, non-impressive fly-by NP, I decided to get close to the park, find camp, and visit in the morning. I really wish I had known a little more about Crater, I think I would have made more efforts to spend time inside the park. That said, I remember the camp I found & stayed at, and I'm reminded that I made no bad decisions so far.

The drive was really nice. I stopped in this hole-in-the-wall town for a plate of eggs benny, which was super enjoyable. It was a sight of encouragement, to see a sign on the wall of the diner that proclaimed "regardless of your preference, origin, gender, identity, religion, it doesn't matter - you are welcome to eat here."

Making it to camp - this place was a real steal. I learned the hard way in Jacob's Lake that the first available campsite isn't always the best (flood lights from the gas station, remember?). I got there early enough that I felt safe to take a loop around the camp and see all the available offerings. Learning from my lessons did pay off, as I came across a site that was located very close to the river. In an unprecedented but perhaps unsurprising manner, my soul threw up its arm with joy and shouted, "Adventure!" Sure, I might have gotten over excited, but I set my tent up as fast as possible and then proceeded to jump in that ice cold river, over and over until my skin could no longer hold back the chill from reaching my bones. It was awesome. I slept well that night.

The next morning, I awoke as early as I could and jumped in the car to Crater. I was about 45 mins out, and made it to the park by 9. The drive up to the crest of the volcano was covered in these spire-like pines, posing as a natural gateway to some unknown location. Fast forwarding through to my first of many lookouts:

Approaching the lake

This was a volcano, days ago

This shoreline held the most radiant colors

Heading north out of Crater Lake

Crater Lake was a true wonder. I saw every conceivable shade of blue in the water, as the light turquoise shoreline fell into the darker abyss. Crater has a road that extends around the perimeter, with seasonal and weather based blockages to the east. I motored clockwise from the south and expected there to be a north exit. Luck would have it, the last picture above shows that road out of the park. I'm not sure what mountain that is, but I'll update when I do.

I wanted to stay at Crater Lake longer. I actually found this to be a trend at most parks. As I arrived, I learned that swimming is permitted at one location in Crater Lake, but it was a canyon hike to and from the parking lot (remember GC? That's gonna be a no for me). My plan was to leave the park by noon to reach an actual campsite that night, so it just wasn't built into the deck for me to enjoy Oregon swimming. I'll be back.

From there, it was arguably ten hours in the car to Kennewick, WA. From the looks of my map app, there were many campsites that existed in that area, and I had my eyes on one in particular. Windust Campground seemed to be a camp controlled by the national service, and it was just another hour past Kennewick. A good stretch goal, with some backup plans out there.

BEND! I published this post before talking about a little town called Bend, OR. If I were to move out to Oregon, it would be Portland or Bend. I spent the afternoon at Lone Pine Coffee Roasters, the cold brew was really good. Bend itself was so attractive by appearance and vibe; lots of pedestrians, the infrastructure looked new or well-maintained, and there was vibrancy that could just be felt.

I rolled up to the campground at 9:54PM. I found the first entrance that seemed to be gated off, but was enclosing a few campfires and RVs, so I was sure I was in the right spot. It took me another 5 minutes to find the non-gated entrance (it was dark!) before finding my way to an open site. It was late and some of those fires had gone out by the time I looped into the site area, so I left the car lights pointing on the patch of grass I claimed for myself and got right to work. Not 5 minutes go by, and a golf cart with 2 pairs of blasting headlights over the top of the carriage, approaches the site area from where I entered earlier. Now, I know what I was doing was perfectly fine - these campsites exist for those like me traveling through, no reservation needed, and I got lucky that this site had no fee! and yet, I saw those lights and immediately felt guilty. Brains are weird sometimes.

The hosts of the campground, a mature couple, might as well have been Santa and his wife in the off season. Couldn't be a nicer pair of people, and even congratulated me on my luck as they shut the gate at 10PM, just after I got there. They said they would swing by in the morning to take my name and information (for whatever reason), but I was planning to leave early in the morning and thus, never provided that exchange. I went to bed, thankful that I was flat on my back for the second night in a row.

Next up, Glacier!