Monday, July 30, 2007

Basically, we are totally incommunicado anytime we are on the ‘net. The blog can be written off-line, but editing and adding photos (each one takes several minutes) must be done on-line. I have come to dread the long box with the green line that crawls s-l-o-w-l-y left to right as items are downloading.

Since we cannot receive phone calls while we are on-line, these things must be done when I think we are least likely to receive a phone call from home; this is somewhat anxiety-producing, as we have had calls from our daughter about car trouble, and about bills due so our electricity service will continue – things we need to know. And we want to be available when our son calls as he finds mobile phone service to update us on his family’s adventures camping in New Mexico. But I do try to update the blog when possible.

On days off, we continue to explore the territory. On a short hike near Prospect, Oregon, about 30 miles away, we found “Avenue of the Boulders,” and spent the morning climbing over, under, and through these big rocks.

Then we drove to the remote location of “National Falls,” and were stunned to find this beautiful sight at the end of a ½ mile hike down a most verdant mountainside.

What amazed us almost as much is that this place is not swarming with people. We were the only ones hiking to see the falls. Of course it is nice not to have to contend with crowded trails, but this just reminded us of how off-the-beaten-path we are here.



Is it real, you ask? If it were, I would have a different expression on my face!

More wildlife, strolling by our home :

All too soon, Captain Tom starts his work week, and must get his uniform ready, attach his stripes to his epaulets, prepare for the daily walk down Cleetwood Trail, spend 10 hours on the water, and walk back up the 1.1 miles to the rim (never less than a 12-hour day).

Some photos of his work place, Cleetwood Cove:

Tom greets passengers: Tom counts passengers:

Tom announces safety requirements for the tour.

Sometimes on a tour, Tom spies “The Old Man of the Lake,” and steers the boat near it. The Old Man is a 35-foot tree floating vertically in the water. It has been observed in Crater Lake for over 100 years (it does not decompose due to the purity of the water). The tree moves constantly in the lake, and is not always seen on the tours. So it is a “coup” to find it. (The root system keeps the tree vertical.)

Bill, Madalyn, Prissy, David, Tom, Bill, Sammye, Lynn

On July 26, six friends from Houston came for a two-day visit to Crater Lake.

This was one of several northwest destinations on their trip, and it was great to see them. Highlights:

Hiked the falls
Cooked mega-steaks

Shared a hardy breakfast at their cabin at Union Creek
Went to the ranger program
Walked the rim of Annie Creek Gorge

And on their last day, we all hiked down the Cleetwood Trail, and took a boat ride with Captain Tom. The “Old Man of the Lake” crossed our path, and the fledgling in the eagle’s nest posed nonchalantly for excited bird watchers. And Crater Lake shined, as always, clear, deep, and so incredibly blue.

Afterwards, Bill Sykes took the challenge of diving 35 feet into the 55-degree water. He had about 5 cameras documenting the feat.

The hike back up Cleetwood Trail was another feat. By 1 p.m. the sun was high in the sky, and the path was dusty, and steep. Imagine climbing one mile winding up the distance of 2+ football fields. All seven made it, but it was iffy for some of us! My friends are a hardy group, but I confess instead of providing them with ibuprofen and linament, I sent them on their way sore, sleep-deprived, and exhausted – hopefully, they had some recuperation time before their next northwest adventure.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

It has been a couple of weeks since the last post. But new photos are forthcoming! Just a little time more is needed to prepare the whole post, which I will work on today. We have seen some more beautiful sights, and have had a visit from six friends from Houston. Check later today, or Monday for the next post.


These magnificent falls were found at the end of a ½ mile hike down a most verdant path, a short distance away from C. L. National Park.

It has been brought to my attention that the dates posted on this blog are difficult to follow. I know; I haven’t been able to follow them either. The blog website inserts the date I post it, and the post may include several past days of experience. Also, the reverse chronological order can be puzzling to negotiate.

Since it is easy enough to see that a new posting has been added, never mind about the dates. We’ve discovered in the day-to-day routine, deep in the Oregon woods, that we tend to remember the experiences, and not exactly when they happened. (Friends our age will recognize the convenience of this method.)

Yesterday, there was a forest fire between here and Chiloquin (where Tom bought the banana bread). Smoke did reach the park, but did not affect the boat tours.

Then late in the day, the sky turned the color of apricot sherbet. The wind whipped up, and everyone rolled up their awnings, and brought inside their plants, chairs, etc. Lightning and rain led us to think we were in for a major storm. But it never came, and this morning, the skies are clear blue again. Forest fires are plaguing the west, but none have seriously threatened this area.

FINALLY, the captains received the shoulder bars for their epaulets. This definitely gives them more of an air of authority, which is important safety-wise. And it does promote more attention when Tom walks in the gift shop or restaurant – he enjoys this attention from kids, and from twenty-somethings in mini-skirts! Captain Gene and Captain Tom→

On a day-off this week, Tom and I drove the road that encircles the lake. This is a must for everyone who comes to Crater Lake. Perfect photo spots abound. Tom has seen all this from the water, but now he saw all from atop. It was hard to photograph the baby eaglet in the treetop nest near the water, but we could see it well through binoculars.

Going clockwise around the rim, we often saw stunning vistas of the valleys and mountains beyond Crater Lake. It is truly a bird’s eye view.

Up here, interests and excitement are pursued differently, more simply, than in the city. There, we go to a concert, a party, a nice restaurant. Here, though, it is exciting to see an eagle's nest, to watch the stately trees dance in the mountain-top breeze, and to see how nature has made “sculptures” in the whitebark pine branches. And there is nothing quite like listening to the sound of wind blowing through a pine forest.

A friend mentioned to me that she was going to start worrying if I began to post photos of ferns. Not to worry - dead whitebark pine sculptures are much more interesting than ferns.

July 7, 2007

OPENING DAY

June 30 was the first day of boat tours, and Tom led two successful tours (no runnings aground, no crashes into the dock). At about 1 ½ hours each, that’s 3 hours. Add to that the hike down and then up the mountain – that’s another1 hour. Then there’s the time between tours, “dock time”, when a captain is on call for emergencies. That’s another 3-4 hours. Added to that is travel time to and from the boat trail (about 20 miles), and wait time for the employee shuttle, then walking-time from the shuttle to home; it is a 10-12 hour day. Some days, the captains have three tours, so that is a really long day.

Good friends Hatcher and Pat from Corpus Christi came by on their way to Portland, and took a tour on Tom’s boat. It's great to see familiar faces!

So far everything has gone smoothly on Tom’s tours, except for one mishap. A passenger’s hat blew into the water, in a shallow area. Tom had to explain that the wind and the shallow water prevented them from retrieving it.

July 4, 2007

INDEPENDENCE Day! And a day-off for both of us. Being a beautiful day, (clear, moderate temperatures, slight breeze), we drove into Fort Klamath to the cutting horse competition being held there this week. This is a huge event. There were people from Texas, Colorado, California and elsewhere. They came in horse trailers, campers, motor homes, and fancy rigs that housed horses, owners, and all their gear. We were among the few non-participants there, and among the very few who were not on a horse! From the arenas to the camp-pasture, guys, gals, and kids rode to and fro; we saw a boy, about 8 or 9, ride up to the concession stand and get a bottle of water – never got off his horse. “Cutting”, in which a horse and his rider are judged on separating a calf from a herd and keeping it from bolting back, is the only event in this several-day competition. The families and their horses live all piled in a pasture for several days, amid the dust, and sun, and the smells. We saw kids and babies playing under motor home awnings and screened tents, sleeping in strollers, and cooling off in a small creek flowing through it all. Horses that weren’t competing, or carrying their owners to the concessions, were being groomed or watered, or munching hay, tied to trailer bumpers.

A lot of effort goes into participation in this event, and top winnings are only about $800. So you know these folks have to really love this sport.

On the way home we stopped at Chiloquin, Oregon, a tiny little town with a lot of boarded-up buildings, and houses that look abandoned, but they’re not. Oddly, there was a nice hardware store, and there were people inside (we had not seen any other people around town), so we went in to buy some more mousetraps.

(I forgot to mention that Tom caught 2 mice in one of the motor home bays the first day after he set traps out. Ah, wilderness!)

Outside the store, a family was selling baked goods to help pay their daughter’s expenses to participate in a basketball tournement in New Mexico. Tom bought a banana cake. “There’s no one else here to buy their stuff!” he explained.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Tonight we hiked over to the campground amphitheater to hear Ranger Karen talk about Crater Lake wildlife. She is one of the “interpreters” on the boat tours, describing historical and geological information. Her talk tonight was on “predators” in the park. We knew about the bears and the owls here, but were surprised to learn there are also cougars prowling around. She said they could leap 45 feet horizontally from their crouched “stalking” position. Ranger Karen did not include information about the predator mosquitoes that are presently multiplying in the snow-melt. I wonder if Deep Woods Off works on cougars?

Friday, July 6, 2007

Enough is enough, so on Friday Lynn went to see a chiropractor in Klamath Falls. The office was in a 1930s building on Main Street, that appears to be completely original. The elevator had an operator, a real live person (“What floor, please?”). And above the elevator was a semi-circular dial that moved from 1 to 6. All the offices had glass doors, the old translucent kind, with black lettering on the glass.

←This businessman advertised the nature of his business and a few personal facts to boot.

The doctor’s office was like stepping into a time warp. The windows were tall, narrow, and open (no air conditioning in the building) with white curtains gently blowing in the afternoon breeze. High ceilings, wainscoting, tile floors; all the fine architecture of that era had been preserved.

The doctor’s computer and the new age music were definitely anachronistic, but she was helpful, and provided me with exercise advice, and some homeopathic medicines.

Right: A typical view on the rim. The blip on the water is a tour boat.