[A/S] Crater Lake and Gold Beach, OR - August 30, 2000

[hhamp5246@xxxxxxx]

Hi Gang,

Well, yesterday I was going to just come straight to the beach... but after 
Airstream Listie Doug and the owner of the park in Roseburg, and my friend 
Karin insisted... I decided to go up to Crater Lake National Park before 
leaving town.  I left the trailer and just took the dogs.

The drive up to the NP was gorgeous.... most of it was through the Umpqua 
National Forest....... along side the North Umpqua River.  The river is wide 
and very shallow alot of the way.  The water jumps over the river rocks.... 
making little waterfalls.

Many fly fisherman are standing in the water, the area is world famous for 
its Steelhead fishing.  I saw some teenage boys walking along with a huge 
fish they had just caught.  School has begun in Oregon so there was no 
traffic at all.  Sadly, I saw no wildlife...I expected to at least see some 
deer. I was climbing the whole time, about 6,000 feet but it was so gradual I 
hardly noticed...the only indications were the markers on the roadside.

I saw some signs for Diamond Lake, but kept on going.

I arrived at the entrance and paid my $10.00 and drove in.  I was in forest 
then all of a sudden it opened up into a barren wasteland.... a little sign 
said "Pumice Desert" It's ash from the eruption that created the lake... the 
ash is 50 feet deep.

The first viewpoint I saw was where I stopped.  The dogs attracted a crowd so 
it took me a while to climb up to the crater's edge...... I kept wondering 
what the big deal could be... it's just a lake.  Then I saw it, it's almost 
mystical. It's almost 2,000 feet deep, the deepest lake in the nation!!!  No 
water goes out, the same amount evaporates every year as snow and rain 
fills.....

7,700 years ago Mount Mazama blew with such a huge volcanic eruption that so 
much mass went out that the mountain had no support and collapsed.  The 
eruption was 200 times larger than Mt. St. Helens.... That blast created the 
caldera that Crater Lake now occupies.  The water is bluer than you can 
imagine.... 

Off to one side is a little volcano jutting out of the lake... it's called 
Wizard Island.

I got in the truck and drove around to view the lake from different 
viewpoints... it really is a wonder of the world.  

Finally, I was hungry and drove to the "Mazama Village" Parking lot, gift 
shop, snack bar.  Got a sandwich and sat out with the dogs.  A funny taupe 
grey bird with a big black beak and black wings came flying down for a piece 
of the sandwich. Saw lots of those birds.  Then I walked over for another 
view and an enormous Timber Tiger (chipmunk) ran out and almost touched noses 
with the dogs.  The dogs freaked and the TT freaked.  The people standing 
around all cracked up.  The crazy chippies kept running around the dogs and 
the people.... more of those taupe and black birds flying everywhere.

I finally got back in the truck and drove by the lodge and back for a few 
more lake views before I headed back down the mountain... all of a sudden a 
beautiful vista opened in front of me... down below was Diamond Lake.   We 
stopped there and  walked around the resort... even got a little Frisbee in. 
There was a marina and lots of rental cabins.  the opposite shores of the 
lake were wilderness forestland... no houses that I could see.

The drive back to Roseburg was just more national Forest and river........ (c:

This morning I set out for the beach, on hiway 42 which also follows a river 
in a forest........ It was slow going because the road is so curvy .... took 
3.5 hours to drive 100 miles.  

The drive down 101 was less populated than I expected.  It's cool because the 
ocean is on the right, a dark ocean with huge rocks sticking up as far as a 
couple hundred yards from shore.  The cliffs to the water are rocky... and 
have some trees...the water is grey. The left side is full of verdant valleys 
which turn into mountains. I stopped to grab some lunch on the side of the 
highway and picked a quart of wild blackberries...

I'm just north of Gold Beach for two nights in a funky little campground... I 
took the dogs down to a remote deserted beach and we played on the dark wet 
sand.  Our only playmates were a whole bunch of pelicans and some seagulls.  
It's windy and cold.  A damp cold, no sun just fog when I arrived. 

Then we quickly drove through Gold Beach to make a plan.  The plan is explore 
Gold Beach a bit tomorrow... hopefully we will get to see some otters and sea 
lions.  Then we will follow the Rogue River up to Agness.... the Rogue starts 
just below Crater Lake.

So, here I am.....I saw some expensive ocean front houses.... and directly 
between them and 101 is a large cow pasture.....  full of cows.  Imagine what 
that land is worth.  Apparently there are laws here preventing the land from 
being turned into housing.

More as it happens.

Hunter