Crater Lake National Park, Oregon…

Since we are being held somewhat captive in Klamath Falls (awaiting our RV tire lost in transit) we decided that we might as well make the 1.5 hour drive over to one of our favorite National Parks. Crater Lake National Park is one of those truly stunning parks to visit and we have never visited it this late in the season. After reading the web page we discovered that part of the western loop was closed for road repairs but the the eastern loop was open, so off we went.

Driving north along Lake Klamath made the drive seem shorter as the scenery along this 1.5 hour drive was  wonderful in itself. As we entered the park we presented our annual parks pass to gain entry ($30 per car without it). We decided to first go as far as we were allowed on the west loop which as it turned out wasn't very far. However, that same initial feeling of magnificence overwhelmed us once again at our first glimpse of the lake.

Words really can’t describe Crater Lake and although we have never seen it with as little snow as there was this year it was still absolutely beautiful. Of course the cameras were on clicking mode and we enjoyed the views despite temperatures hovering around 50 F. From the west loop we headed back down the road and drove the eastern side of the loop.

Our first stop was at the Sun Notch trailhead where we parked to hike the short but beautiful trail. At the various overlooks on the Sun Notch Trail we had great views of the island known as the Phantom Ship. This natural rock formation indeed looked like a ship especially with the fir trees resembling its masts. Pretty cool!

We then continued our drive stopping at all the other pull-outs. The most notable one was the one called Cloudcap Overlook. It is here that we discovered that we were at the highest paved road point in Oregon. Also about this time the weather was looking more ominous and the temperatures dipped into the 40’s as in addition, the wind began to pick up. Since we were still in “winter denial mode” we were wearing shorts and this change of weather signaled to us that it was time to head back to Klamath Falls.

What a great day we had at Crater Lake National Park and a great way to end it was to visit the only craft brewery in  town called Klamath Basin Brewing Company. Sharon enjoyed their amber ale while I chose the hoppy and slightly bitter IPA. We toasted in the hope our RV tire would arrive soon as the weather is about to take a turn for the worse…

NOTE: Sigh, we are still in Klamath Falls Oregon where we will stay until we can get a new tire for our RV, hopefully soon as bad weather is rolling in and we hate bad weather…