June 2. Crater Lake and head waters of Rogue River

We woke up to a beautiful clear day with blue sky and white fluffy clouds. Our motel person gave us suggestions of where to go to augment our time at Crater Lake. Over 40' of snow fell at the lake this Winter and a lot of it is still there. Only about 5 miles of the 33 miles of rim road are open. They are hoping to have it all open by the end of July. New snow generally starts falling again in October. Like in Yosemite, one enters the park and it is still quite a drive to the real points of interest. With all of the closings, I started to wonder if we would even be able to get close enough to see the lake. OMG! There it is! WOW! 

 Such blue water and the reflections are so perfect! Nick has a hard time pulling me away from that first initial viewpoint. We drive a little further to the lodge. Rocking chairs where you can sit and just imerse in the beauty. It is quiet except for a few birds. The smell of fresh air and pine. Oh, I'm in heaven. We decide to eat at the lodge restaurant. We were able to get a table right next to the window so I could sit and absorb more of the beauty while we waited for our lunch to come. The decor was rustic opulence. Stone walls with big wooden beams. The woodwork around the windows was bark planks. The fire places were huge. If there hadn't been a fire in it, I probably could have almost stood inside it.

 There is one more overlook that we can drive to. I think I may be ODing on beauty. There are kids climbing some of the snow banks and sliding down on their tusches. This is when the saucer sled from White Sands National Park probably would have been useful. The road is gated off but one can still walk past it. Rumor has it that if you walk about 4 miles down the road, you get to the point where drifted snow is blocking the road. We know we don't want to walk that far but there is a smaller lookout point about a mile down the road. That we can do. We're at between 7 and 8,000 feet elevation so the breathing is a bit harder than normal. We walk past a drift along the road that is abouut 15' high! It's a great view looking away from the lake over the valley and ridges of mountains on the other side. Just can't get enough of this! I've seen pictures of this lake since I was a small child and now I'm actually seeing it. Okay, time to move on or I will stay here for hours or days or maybe weeks or months or years.

 When we were on the coast, we were near the Rogue River. The river starts from the melting snow off of Mount Mazama, which is the mountain that holds Crater Lake. so now we're really at the head waters of the river. Here in the spring, the river is raging! At one point, it goes underground through pipes that were formed as the lava cooled. During the spring, those land bridges are covered with water too as there is too much water coming down to all go through the pipes. We stopped at 2 different places to view the river and they both had nice explanations of the geology behind what we were seeing. Not only is the river going REALLY fast but it is also really cold - 44 degrees. If you fall in, your chance of survival is close to zero. 

 We're staying in the valley near Fort Klemoth. What a difference from the topography of this morning. Here it is extremely flat and angus cows are grazing on the verdant grass. It is about 10 degrees warmer here in the valley that up in the mountains. Our motel has a nice playground in front and a gas grill that we can use. Even a tether ball.  Haven’t done that in years!  

 Nick had gotten a nice steak at the grocery store in Gold Beach so he grilled that and we microwaved a couple of potatoes. Top it off with a toll house chocolate chip ice cream sandwich from the motel office. What a wonderful day!!!