Crater Lake

I love Crater Lake. Even though the skies were hazy thanks to some smoldering forest fires, the views were spectacular. Crater Lake has a blue that is singular to it.

I made everyone sit for the obligatory family shot. They were unimpressed because the sun was in their eyes.

We opted to take the trolley ride around the lake, where a park ranger told the history of the lake and how certain events changed the landscape. I'm all about sneaking educational tidbits into our vacations.


I'm not sure all the other people on the trolley were as enthusiastic about having us aboard. Excited kids who like to crack jokes aren't everyone's cup of tea. Luckily, the ranger was a former teacher, so he had the kids enthralled.

They even got to be the live-action demonstration of how a volcano blows up.

Gracie's attention span wasn't much for history, so she had fun finding the chalk in the gravel and hunting down dandelions. Luckily, there were lots of dandelions.

Crater Lake : Hiking

We did as much hiking as we could while at Crater Lake. Much more than my heel would have allowed just a few weeks ago - thank you cortisone!

The hike down to take the boat tour was our first. When the ranger said Cleetwood Clove Trail was one mile down and 5 miles up, he wasn't joking! (actual distance 2.2 miles) It was quite steep in places, but earned it's moderate rating because of all the switchbacks.

Bayley is a champion hiker, waiting at the trailhead for the rest of us. Jeff was next, even with 30+ pounds of girl on his back. Hayden and I...we enjoyed the view and he scavenged snacks from the other hikers.

After we recovered, we drove the rim and took in more exploring. Lady of the Woods is an easy trail behind the Steel Visitor Center. The highlight is a sculpture of a woman carved right into one of the giant boulders scattered by the volcano blast. Grace did this .5 mile hike on her own.

Vidae Falls was fantastic. I had a hard time believing it was completely natural. It looked designed for the most splash possible.

Next we treked up Sun Notch for views of Phantom Ship. The views were great...and scary. No guard rail! We tucked a sleepy Grace in the backpack for this .5 mile hike , but she perked right up as soon as she saw that blue, blue water. It was bright blue! We also spotted bear and wolf tracks! Bears have seriously big paws.

Our final hike was Watchman Peak, another moderate/strenuous like Cleetwood Cove. After the less than stellar performance of...well, me & Hayden, I wasn't so sure it was the best choice for us. Still, Jeff encouraged us to go since it's shorter (1.6 miles) and does the uphill first, instead of 2nd.

I'm not saying it didn't earn it's rating, but it was better than the first one. See that little lookout tower way on the top? That's where we went. The view was amazing.

We even managed to get a family photo!

Crater Lake : Day 3

Our final day at the lodge, we had our best meal -- breakfast! The boys got chocolate syrup pancakes bigger than their heads! We packed up and headed out for the Watchman Peak trail (see the hiking post).

Once we got down from the high hike, we headed towards Medford. We stopped along the way to explor the Rogue River gorge (much smaller than the Columbia river version...but you can see the collapsed lava tubes.

Grace really enjoyed the waterfalls we saw on our hikes/boat trips. She would clap and yell waterfall until we clapped too.

A skip away from the river was Beckie's Cafe, a restaurant Grandpa Bill reccomended. We stopped in for lunch...and pie.

We climbed back in the car, and made it to Medford while Grace napped...

Crater Lake : Day 2

Grace has challenges sleeping in new places. After our experience in Newport, we were a little more prepared, bringing along our old TV/VCR combo player. Yep, VCR. We thought the videos would distract her and help us all get a good nights sleep.

Not so much.


Once I've been woken up twice, I can't fall back asleep, so as soon as the sun started to peek above the caldera, I was trying to take pictures of the sunrise with Jeff's dad's camera. He loaned it to me...and proved Jeff's point that I need something fast and easy. I loved all the options, but I could never get the lens clean (fuzz or lint in every shot) and I used auto for most things anyway. Still, I bet the pictures are much better than with our unreliable point-and-shoot.

Back upstairs, we ate a quick breakfast and headed to the other side of the lake for our boat tour. The hike down to the water was termed moderate/strenuous, but going down it only took about a half hour. The website said to plan for an hour, so we had some time to burn before we could board the boat. I tried to take a picture of a 3 foot trout, and Hayden tried to feed a chipmunk.




The kids were outfitted in the snazziest of life jackets, and we took our seats on the Rogue (seriously). Jeff & I loved seeing the lake from the inside looking out, but the kids weren't as enthusiastic.

They perked up when they could stand up in the boat and peer out at Wizard Island, Phantom Ship, and the Pumice Castle.

After the two hour tour (honestly), we had the priviledge of hiking back up the caldera to the rim... more on that in my hiking post.




One of Jeff's friends from work was staying at the lodge with his family, so Jeff & I traded time off from the kids so he could visit and I could watch the sun set and the full moon rise.

Crater Lake : Day 1

After leaving Rogue the night before for his turn at Camp Grandma, we headed south bright and early. We weren't even in Salem before we realized we'd forgotten 2 key ingredients to our happiness on this trip -- Mom's Nook & Hayden's blankie. Guess who was more upset?

I had to hide my frustration with having to go days with nothing to read.

We gave in and got a dual screen car DVD for the kids, which made the trip quite easy. The only issue was when we stopped, the DVD would reset. Much chaos and threats to toss the system ensued.

Once we made it to Crater Lake (without too much motion sickness) we were all impressed.

Water!

That's blue!

That's it?!

Isn't that amazing?

What time can we check in at the lodge?




I'll let you guess who said what.

The ranger station at Rim Village had a scavanger hunt (question & answer type) the boys did to earn a patch, and it got them to pay attention as we toured the lookout station and learn the history and facts of Crater Lake.