Oregon’s Only National Park

 

Although Oregon is a state full of natural beauty, it is home to only one national park, Crater Lake. With a maximum depth of 1,941’, it is the deepest lake in the United States, and the clearest due to the fact that it has no inlets or tributaries but gets its water strictly from rain and snow melt. Its depth and clarity contribute to the deep blue color of the water. It was formed by the eruption of Mt. Mazama over 7,000 years ago, which collapsed on itself and left a caldera that eventually filled with rain and snow and formed Crater Lake.

Our first view late Wednesday morning under cloudy skies.

When we visited previously in mid July of 2009 we were able to hike some trails and drive around the lake. This time in early June none of the trails are open yet and the West Rim Drive is the only part of the rim road open to cars due to snow. After our hot week in Ashland it was hard to believe there could still be that much snow at 7-8,000’, but they weren’t kidding.

The only choice for a “hike” was a five mile portion of the East Rim Drive that is open for foot and bicycle traffic. We met Jeanne at the nearby parking area and headed off. We missed her dog Riley joining us, as the sweet boy died from his seizure disorder a couple weeks ago. Very sad.

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The forecast called for cloudy skies in the morning and partly cloudy skies in the afternoon. Since this was Jeanne’s first time here we hoped the sun would come out so she could see the spectacular blue color of the lake.

We walked 2.7 miles to the first overlook where we began to see some blue sky. It was in the upper 40s and breezy. No complaining about the heat here, and no mosquitoes.

This cute little golden mantle ground squirrel was working the overlook, begging from everyone who came by, even though nobody was eating.

You can see the line of pine pollen in the water.

With the sun starting to come out we decided to turn back at that point so we could drive down West Rim Road to Rim Village.

By the time we got there and wandered around the gift shop in the village the sky had cleared considerably and the lake was just gorgeous.

The small rustic rim visitor center is hidden in the trees and snow. We had to trudge through quite a bit of it to get there.

This Clark’s nutcracker was giving us a hard time. Don’t know if he was begging, too, or just warning us off.

On the way back to Diamond Lake we stopped at every overlook along the West Rim.

We even got to see some UFO-like lenticular clouds.

Crater Lake is definitely worth a visit. With its deep cobalt blue water it is truly the prettiest lake we’ve ever seen. If we come back it will be in the late summer to do some hiking on the 100 miles of trails after the snow has melted.

Last Days in Ashland and a Move to Diamond Lake

 

It got up to 96 our last couple days in Ashland, a bit too hot for us to hang out and enjoy our lovely view of Emigrant Lake, so we headed for the mountain. 7,533’ Mt. Ashland, that is, the highest point in the Siskiyou Mountain Range of southern Oregon. Primarily a ski resort in the winter, during the summer it’s a great place to get away from the heat.

The summit of Mt. Ashland as seen from the trail, site of a radome weather radar station.

It was 85 when we left Ashland Sunday morning, but 20 miles and many feet higher it had dropped to 70 at the trailhead. We parked in a pull-off 7.2 miles up Mt. Ashland Rd. at a crossing of the Pacific Crest Trail and hiked about 3.5 miles to Grouse Gap, where we turned back.

Over the years we’ve hiked small portions of the PCT in California, Oregon and Washington, but will never come close to doing the entire 2,650 miles of it.

The first part of the trail was mostly in the forest, but then it opened up to meadows full of future wildflowers with views of the mountains.

This is a fairly easy hike without too much elevation change.

There were many small stream crossings.

It’s hard to tell, but the white on the top of this hill is actually snow.

Another hot, hazy day.

At our turn around point we got one last view of majestic Mt. Shasta. It seems to be following us everywhere we go lately.

On Monday morning we joined the pickleball players in Lithia park for a couple more hours of fun. They are a really nice group of people and many of them are fairly new to pickleball, as we are, so we fit in well and had some good games. That afternoon Jim manned the laundromat while I got a haircut, then we picked up a few groceries. Anything to get away from the constant drone of our air conditioner running non-stop in the Lazy Daze and barely keeping it at 80. It finally cooled off enough by 8 pm that we were able to sit outside for awhile. We had a good time in Ashland, despite the heat.

Yesterday we were out by 10, taking a beautiful route along the Rogue River to Diamond Lake, just north of Crater Lake. We visited Crater Lake back in 2009 and this seemed like a good stopping point on our way to Bend. Our friend Jeanne is camped at a Sno Park near Chemult, and we considered joining her, but I wanted to ride the bike trail around Diamond Lake, something we didn’t do when we were here before, so we were driving by anyway and stopped to check out the campground. There aren’t many people here and there were lots of lake front sites available, so we ended up staying. Unfortunately the mosquitoes are out in force.

Lake view property again, our third in a row. Many of the sites are short or very unlevel, so we ended up in a double site for $27/night, but we only paid $13.50 with Jim’s senior pass. The single sites are $22, or $11. No hookups but there is water, decent showers, and a dump station.

 

Our view of the lake and Mt. Bailey would be so much better if they just cut down a few trees

We did get better views of the surrounding mountains from the 11.5 mile Dellenbeck bike trail that circles Diamond Lake.

Mt. Bailey.

It’s a nice trail through the woods, with lots of ups and downs, but we couldn’t stop for too long. or the mosquitoes would catch us.

Mt. Thielsen.

Today we’re meeting Jeanne at Crater Lake for a little hike. The high is only supposed to be in the upper 60s today, quite a nice change.

Emigrant Lake Park, Ashland, Oregon

 

We are spending a week here in lovely Ashland, Oregon, our first time in the area. There are not many options for places to camp, other than a few RV parks, but luckily Jackson County has numerous parks and campgrounds, with Emigrant Lake being just 6 miles from downtown Ashland. We’re staying in the full hookup Point RV Campground, a really nice location, and just about all of the sites have great views of the lake.

The RV campground from across the lake.

These cute coyote pups showed up in the campground the other night with no mother in sight. We later heard that wildlife rescue picked one up by the boat ramp because someone reported it as a baby fox. Not sure what happened to the other. We were hoping they just wandered away from mom and they were reunited, but don’t think there was a happy ending.

Although we have not met, I remembered that Raven and Chickadee Eric and Laurel are from Ashland, so I contacted Laurel for some advise on things to see and do. She emailed back with a nice list, which we are working our way through. One day we took a walk in Lithia Park, adjacent to downtown.

What a beautiful trail that runs right along the creek.

While we were there we saw people just leaving the tennis courts with pickleball paddles, so we talked with them about what days they play, and joined them yesterday morning for a couple hours. Even though we hadn’t played in almost six weeks, it all came back to us and we did better than expected. It is such a fun sport, and the group made us feel very welcome in joining in. We’ll go back for more on Monday morning.

After our walk we wandered the streets of downtown where Jim bought a new hat, then we had lunch at Louie’s, a nice restaurant with pleasant outdoor seating along the creek.

The extreme heat in the west has not missed Oregon, so temperatures are 10-20 degrees above average this week, which means mid to upper 90s. Luckily you don’t have to drive too far from Ashland to get up into the mountains, where we hiked to Grizzly Peak, at 5,922’.

Jim wearing his new hat that he bought the day before. The old one went in the dumpster.

We headed 1.2 miles up the trail which then intersects the 3 mile loop trail. We went counterclockwise to the summit, then continued around the loop.

Here I am taking a photo of the view from the top of Grizzly Peak.

This is it, not much to see, but the better views come later in the loop.

Unfortunately it was so hazy from the heat the views left a bit to be desired. Still a nice moderate 5.2 mile hike, with temperatures only in the upper 60s, which made it really pleasant. Part of the trail goes through a burned area from a fire back in 2002.

Mt. Shasta and Emigrant Lake through the haze.

Quite a few wildflowers were blooming, but it was a bit early for others. Trillium at the top, not sure about the other two.

We’ve gone to town several times, last night for the First Friday Art Walk, where shops and galleries stay open late and have live music and refreshments. It was hot but there were quite a few people and we saw some nice artwork that we have no place for. We also had a bite to eat and a couple of tasty beers at Standing Stone Brewing Co. This morning we went back downtown for the Saturday farmers market, where we got some good bread, kale and a cucumber. We had been shopping at the excellent Co-op and a couple other grocery stores a few days ago so didn’t need a lot, but they had some good looking produce, breads and pastries.

We really like what we’ve seen of Ashland, with its green rolling hills, tree-lined streets with deer roaming around, and a vibrant downtown that always seems to be full of people. Within 25 miles or less you can be up in the higher mountains to escape the summer heat, or to ski in the winter. Tomorrow we’re planning a hike on Mt. Ashland. With temperatures nearing 100 in town I have a feeling we won’t be the only ones up there.