12 July 2012

We found sunshine after leaving the Oregon coast.  We estimate that as the crow flies about 20 miles inland, the grey clouds and marine layer were abandoned.  However it took us a while to get there.  From Florence we drove south along the coast to Reedsport.  Then we turned east onto Oregon 138 and found the sunshine.  Oregon 138 parallels the Umquia River for about 60 miles and is a pretty drive when you can see the river.  Otherwise you’re surrounded by tall lumber pines on both sides of the road, traveling in a green tunnel.  We thought the 150 miles to Crater Lake National Park would take under 3 hours, but we were not well informed.  Oregon 138 has a lot of stimulus money road improvement going on.  So several times we were stopped, engine turned off, waiting our turn across miles of one way roadway.  The good news is that the locals will have a much improved road once the roadwork gets finished, whenever that occurs.

Crater Lake is a volcanic lake.  It is the deepest lake in the USA at 1943 feet, third deepest in the world according to our Ranger guide.  We took the Trolley around the lake.  At least that’s the concept.  The trolley is supposed to go all 33 miles around the lake, but we were too early in July for this to happen.  The road connecting the North East part of the lake isn’t open yet.  It should be open next week.  The reason why it is currently closed is that the road crew is just now finishing up winter clean up.  As you can see from the pictures there is still snow on the ground throughout various parts of the park.  The park gets an average of 544 inches of snowfall/year (that’s about 44 feet.)  Of course this doesn’t occur all at one time, but throughout winter which starts the end of September and goes until late May.  The snow packs down over the winter leaving large icy piles of snow that will eventually melt off by the end of August. 

Below are just a few pictures that show the blues of the area.  The lake is a very beautiful shade of blue due to its depth and purity of water.  The blue wavelengths are the only ones that don’t get completely absorbed resulting in the deep blue hue.

 

Roger got to play Pooh sticks this evening. He is not fond of Pooh sticks, but it could have been a lot worse. The toilet is now back to full working order.  I was smelling the tank so I investigated and called in my resident plumber. With some imaginative equipment and triple flushing the tank, I'm a happy camper now. Roger was rewarded with the biggest double scoop of ice we've ever paid for. (Rose Mary I made Roger wash his hands before he got his ice cream, just in case you were wondering.) The flavors were bosenberry cheese cake and no sugar added black cherry. I hope Roger doesn't think fixing the toilet will always result in a big bowl of ice cream.

Tomorrow we'll be heading to Boise Idaho.