Thursday, August 23, 2007

How is it that we find ourselves on this dark, winding road following the Rogue River, at 4:30 in the morning?! As it happens, we are enroute to a dental appointment in Grant’s Pass, and must be there by 7:30 a.m. I had relatives who farmed, and arose everyday at this hour. Trips into town had to be well-planned in advance. I think we are beginning to understand this planning skill that is necessary for living in the wilderness.

With Tom’s tooth all fixed up, and the rest of the day and the next free, we opted to drive a few more miles down the road to Ashland, a college town known for having the oldest Shakespeare Festival in North America. Ashland is settled in a valley – people here have taken a lesson from nature concerning living on the edge. Neighborhoods built into steep, rocky slopes on one mountainside, have stunning views of the mountain range across the valley. Some cling at precarious angles, like the tenatious trees and plants on the caldera wall at Crater Lake. Ashland is rather like a west coast version of Eureka Springs, Arksansas. But in Arkansas, people are generally midwest conservatives; in Ashland Oregon, liberalism is the mainstay. Most of the businesses appear geared to 1) World Peace; 2) Vegetarianism; 3) Acupunture and massage; 4) “Artful” (?) living, 5) Candles and “Aromas;” 6) Inner Psyche Evaluations; and ………theater. Ashland is renowned for its Shakespeare Festival.

We walked through the Elizabethan Theater, which was designed loosely on the Globe Theater in London, where William Shakespeare staged his plays. We opted to attend the play, “The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)” in which three actors attempted to perform Shakespeare’s entire works in just under two hours – with hilarious results. At one point the actors presented “Hamlet” in reverse –

“Yorick – poor, alas!”
“Be to not ......... or be to.”

After some walking around, a couple of garage sales, and a few errands, we left this quaint Oregon town, and returned home to our site in the woods. It was refreshing to leave the heat of the city (83°!) and the traffic, and the car lots and malls; the drive upstream along the Rogue River was a welcome sight.
As the moon waxes toward full, and the evening temperatures require a substantial jacket, we enjoy nightly walks to the amphitheater to hear the ranger programs. Tonight, Ranger David Grimes presented his topic, “The Wild Wild East.” It was an informative, creative “tour” of the East Rim Drive, which is experienced by fewer than 1/3 of the visitors to Crater Lake. His descriptions were right on; we have observed the wild beauty of this side of the lake from scenic viewpoints, on hikes, and from the boat.

Nature Note of the day: The white-bark pine tree can live 1300 years! Unlike other conifers, its cones do not open up. The propagation of this tree is entirely dependent on the Clark’s Nutcracker, a bird that drills the seeds out of the cones and buries them for winter meals. White-bark pine trees grow from the seeds that are not retrieved. They can be found at the highest elevation in the park; and the Clark’s Nutcracker is, fortunately, as ubiquitous as the ………………uh, the golden-mantled ground squirrel.

Road Report

Trajedy struck this morning when a golden-mantled ground squirrel ran under the right front tire of …… a jeep…….. enroute to Rim Village, and flattened the furry rodent. Although dozens, hundreds, even millions (it seems) of these critters cross the road every day, fatalities are rare. The driver regrets the incident.

Midnight on Wizard Island

Tom was really looking forward to 4 days off. The day before, he went to work as usual, at 6:45 a.m. He always returns around 7:30 p.m. but when 8: 30 came and went, I began to worry, and by 9 p.m. I had the jeep keys and was about to begin search and rescue. Right then the phone rang – it was the office informing me that Tom had radioed from Wizard Island where he and the mechanic and the boat operations director were completing repairs on the Rogue, one of the tour boats. They did not expect to be finished for a couple of hours.

Wizard Island, named for its resemblance to a wizard's hat, is actually a cinder cone on the opposite side of the lake from the boat dock. It harbors the tour boats over the winter. There is a trail leading up to the crater atop the cone, and a dock, but there are no other amenities on the island.

Tom said he stayed on duty to drive the crew out to Wizard Island where the new engine was awaiting installation. As with any repair, there are always unforseen problems that come up, and it always takes longer than planned.

Early on, the winch that secures the Rogue to the track in the shed, broke, and sent the Rogue sailing down the slope into the lake with an awesome splash!




After the work was done, they still had to drive across Crater Lake in the dark, (they had search lights), tie up to the “hook,” dinghy to shore, and then, of course, walk the mile-long trail up to the rim. Tom was one tired and hungry captain when he finally got home at midnight.


It took a full day for Tom to rest up, but the day after that we drove 5 ½ hours to Portland for a 2-day visit with our friends Peggy and Bob, whom we have known since the early 1970s in Houston.


We dined at Edgefield, a marvelous restored building that was the County Poor Farm in the early 1900s. The restoration was done by the McMenamin brothers, who have “saved” many old structures in Oregon that otherwise would have seen the wrecking ball.


The next day we drove along the Columbia River Gorge, made a quick stop at beautiful Multnomah Falls, and ended the drive at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood. From the highway, many miles away, the first time Mount Hood at 11,239 feet comes into full view, the sight is jaw-dropping. Peggy describes it well, saying Mount Hood is the definition of the word majestic.


Timberline Lodge is an incredible example of the 1930s W. P. A. projects. The building and décor were accomplished exclusively by local wood and iron workers and craftsmen. The Lodge is built around a massive hexagonal stone structure rising the full height of the building. The column houses six fireplaces on two levels. We walked around and around observing the unique details – woven drapes (using the colors of the wildflowers on the mountain), hooked rugs, rawhide chairs, railroad rails fashioned into andirons and quite substantial boot scrapers. The Blue Ox Pub on the first level has stained glass murals of Paul Bunyon and Babe.


Gnome door:

Timberline Lodge, on majestic Mount Hood is a locale not to be missed by travelers to the Northwest.


We packed up for our return to Crater Lake. Our gracious hosts fortified us with a scrumptious breakfast that included fresh blackberries from the patch across the street. And we have a list of many more destinations for our next visit here.



¬Giving Babe a pat.




There is nothing interesting or humerous to relate about a toothache, so I’ll not go into detail, except to say that Tom is in quite a bit of discomfort, and finding an accessible dentist in this wilderness is a challenge! Hopefully, it will all be taken care of by next week, and I’ll not need to mention it again.

Temperatures in the morning are now in the upper 30s. Locals are expecting the first snow before the end of the month. After dropping Tom at the operations center, I drove to the rim to hike Garfield Peak. Since I’d heard that Cleetwood Trail was the most difficult I did not expect this to be too hard. But it was. Beautiful, but long and steep. Seeing a hiker at the start of the trail, I thought I’d ask about the trail; as I approached, I saw it was just a white-bark pine sculture! Later I saw another “sculpture” that looked remarkably like an eagle.

The Garfield Peak Trail begins near the Crater Lake Lodge. The narrow, rocky path took an hour to negotiate. Of couse gasping hikers are rewarded with views that one can never grow tired of. And at the top two red-tailed hawks were seen riding thermals.

The hike down was rocky and slippery - it took more than an hour to descend. I would rate this trail equivalent to Cleetwood (the trail Tom climbs up at the end of every workday!)



Here is a photo of Rim Village from half-way up the trail to Garfield Peak (employee dorm, C. L. Lodge, gift shop above right):

Today was the annual “Rim Run”, a marathon that circumnavigates the lake. Even through binoculars on the mountaintop, I never saw the runners; the rim road is nestled in the woods, and on the backsides of the mountains. Although there are numerous scenic turn-outs, one rarely sees traffic driving around the lake. The park service has done a very good job keeping Crater Lake as natural as possible.

I would like to take some climbing hikes to other peaks in the area, with Tom. But after climbing up out of the caldera every evening after work, he is not all that eager to hike up mountains on his day-off! There’s still time, though. By the way,Tom had quite an adventure on the lake that I’ll describe in the next post.

We are getting used to the Oregon wilderness lifestyle, I think. Remember the fan motor that broke on the motor home just before we arrived here June 4? Well, Tom ordered a replacement motor, and it finally arrived August 8! We went to Klamath Falls to retrieve it, and while we were there, we bought paper towels, and other items we had been out of for a couple of weeks. Did you know that cloth dish towels are a great substitute for paper towels?

On a day off, Tom borrowed a couple of wrenches from Mike, down the row, and set to the task of replacing the fan motor. But it was another beautiful day in the low 70s, so Lynn went hiking.

The Pinnacles Trail takes some driving to get to (16 miles away); it is an easy flat path along the gorge, with some exciting views. These tall, delicate spires were formed during the volcanic activity thousands of years ago. Next I walked to Sun Notch, a trail through a sloping meadow ending above Phantom Ship, but the trees were obscuring the view of it. So I drove up to Rim Village and wandered around, observing people, who were observing the lake.

Today, there were several “contemplaters” just sitting on the wall, taking in the view. Ranger Brian and Ranger Mike were at the information center smiling, answering questions, and helping kids with their Junior Ranger activities.

The path along the rim up at Rim Village is another good exercise route, except if the views don’t break your stride, the people-watching will. First-timers are the most fun to watch. Families pile out of their car and walk the 20-yards or so to their first view of the lake. Expressions of awe fall into two categories: the verbal response (“Wow, “ “Oh My,” “Look how blue it is”), and the silent response, because they don’t have words to describe what they are seeing. Kids, and teenagers usually say, “Whoa,” “do they have jet skiis?”

Then the cameras start clicking, and families are posed in front of the magnificent backdrop. I’ve taken many pics of couples who are grateful to be photo graphed together. Most interesting was the Japanese family who asked me to photograph them together; the father spoke rapid Japanese to his wife and 3 children as he arranged them “just right” on the stone wall, got in his proper place (still giving instructions in Japanese), and as if on cue, they all smiled broadly, and I clicked away.

Tom tends to get the same questions over and over from his passengers: Where are the bathrooms? How do they get the boats down here? How deep is the lake? How cold is it? Why is it so blue?

One family got all the way down Cleetwood Trail and asked, “Do you have boat rides?” Another family stood in front of the “SOLD OUT” sign on the ticket shack (at the top of the trail) and asked, “Do you have any more tickets?” (They really tried to get on a boat – they said it was their last day, and anyway, little Johnny here really wanted to go for a boat ride. Little Johnny looked like it was the last thing he wanted to do.)

Mirror-image of Phantom Ship

Tom has noticed some major lack in parental control. He’s seen more than one tantrum staged by a child who wanted his/her own way – not wanting to wear a life jacket, wanting a cookie, wanting to stand up, lean out over the edge of the boat, etc. It took ten minutes to get one reluctant junior hiker off the boat at Wizard Island.

In contrast, we have both seen kids eager to learn all about Crater Lake. They are the ones asking questions, and answering the ranger’s questions correctly, and pursuing the activities to earn their Junior Ranger Badge.
Thankfully, the vast majority of visitors are very appreciative of the beauty surrounding them, and enjoy the experience with their families and friends. It’s been an interesting study of human behavior.

Although we were exhausted from our (shorter than it could have been) riverfloat, we attended the amphitheater program by Ranger Dave, his first presentation of the summer. And he did very well. The amphitheater is about a 10-minute walk away at the campground. There is a path through the woods that we sometimes take, but it’s not well-defined, and we exit onto the road in a different location each time. So coming back in the dark (note: with our flashlight) we take the road home.

It is now August. The daylight is starting later, and ending sooner. I take Tom to the “Operations Center” at 6:50 a.m.; the last few days the temperature at that early morning hour has been 36° ! – had to pull out the turtleneck and fleece. Could it be that Crater Lake’s “summer” is basically “July” ?

¬Watchman Fire Tower, from the east side

August 05, 2007 – The morning is cold, but clear and crisp, and it will warm up, so I’m going to hike the Watchman Tower Trail. No need for a flashlight this time; the sun is glorifying the mountainsides, and the sky is a brilliant blue.


The hike up took about 25 minutes. The switchbacks on the west side will slow down a hiker, but the rest stops are just opportunities to view the vistas. (I spotted the Wood River, about 25 miles away, and saw that it continued past our kayak “take out” locale through more flat pasturelands until it emptied into Agency Lake. I don’t think we missed anything by stopping when we did! )

At the top, the fire tower stood imposingly, like an eagle on his nest, with a 360-view that was breathtaking. The entire lake was in view, from Wizard Island to Cleetwood Cove, to Phantom Ship. I even spied (through my binoculars) “The Old Man,” that had drifted into the center of the lake, and was probably too far out for the tour boats to approach today.

Speaking of binoculars, the fire tower housed the biggest mega-pair of binoculars I have ever seen:

I wonder what distance can be seen through these 2 1/2-feet in length spec’s?

Eleven hundred feet below, on the lake, I saw the 10 o’clock tour boat approach; Captain Tom (I found out later) was at the helm – too far away to tell (bet I could see just fine through the mega-binocs!). The passengers disembarked at Wizard Island, and an hour later, hikers at the rim of the Wizard caldera could be seen.

I enjoyed two hours of relative solitude at Watchman Tower. As more hikers began to arrive, I left, but with a hope to find more views as spectacular as the one here. I just can’t seem to

get enough of this lake!

Annie Creek Gorge partially encircles the campground where we live; there is a trail along the rim of the gorge, and another trail going down to, and along, the creek. Trying to continue my walking routine, I usually start out the mornings walking the rim trail. I miss my walking group in Houston, but what a scenic change from the usual walking route!

Everyday, Tom returns with news from the boat scene. Usually it’s about the people on the tours, or in the dock area. A few days ago, a group of Amish came down the trail, not to take a boat ride, but to swim! They got in the water fully clothed, and swam around in single file. They walked ashore and hiked back up the trail.

Often Tom spots eagles either perched, or soaring over the lake. The baby eaglet is ready to try his wings any day now. The next major lesson will be how to hunt.
Tom always has his camera with him. He has snapped some awesome photos of the caldera casting a mirror-image on the deep, smooth water.

When the “Old Man of the Lake” is located, it is amply photographed. Once upon a time, according to Ranger Don, rangers from the boat tours stepped off onto the stump so people could photograph the ranger-on-the-stump-in-the-middle-of-the-lake, but that is no longer allowed. Every day, Tom is still amazed that the water remains so clear, so blue, and so am I, as I observe Crater Lake from the rim.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

("Here's another nice mess you've gotten me into"- Oliver Hardy)

Tom decided on his day-off today we would go kayaking on Wood River. This is a narrow, yet pleasant waterway that meanders through pasturelands from Ft. Klamath to Agency Lake. The internet describes it thus:

Wood River
"This small, spring-born river winds its way through pasture lands in the Klamath Basin before it empties into Agency Lake, approximately 30 miles from its source. Trophy-sized rainbow and brown trout in the 4- to 5-pound range and larger lay waiting for an angler’s fly. Wood River flows virtually entirely through private lands, necessitating a small boat, such as a canoe or pontoon boat to navigate it. A Wood River float trip is enjoyable in its own right as it meanders lazily through lush farmlands."

The river is shaped rather like this: SsSsSsSs. Captain Gene offered us his inflatable “2-man” kayak, so we were all set. At the Fort Klamath General Store, we paid $15 to have our jeep driven from the put-in site downstream to the second bridge, approximately a 4-hour float down river. (I had suggested that the first bridge at 1 1/2 hours would be a better choice - "No problem," Tom replied, "Look how fast the current is going!" )

When we unfolded the “2"-man kayak we found it smaller than our 1-man kayaks we had left at home. We had provisions, of course: sun screen, bug spray,air pump (just in case), sandwiches, carrot strips, chips, crackers, 1 bottle GatorAde, and 4 bottles of water.

It was a challenge to pack the provisions and ourselves in the water craft – Tom had to dangle his feet over the edge, and I had mine folded up under the bow, with my elbows on Tom’s knees. (Wish we had a photo of that!)The provisions, in Ziplock bags, and water bottles were interspersed between body parts. Somehow, we launched.

The scenery quickly took on the pastoral description we had heard about – and it never really changed. We did like seeing the water reeds and insect-life up close. Clarity was amazing. We followed the current, not paddling too much, except to keep out of the eddies. We had not been told the river was usually low in August, thus flow was slower.

This was pastureland, and there was no shade anywhere along the river, or places to stop and re-air the kayak (which we needed to do), or take a break. After 1 ½ hours, when we were supposed to reach the “first bridge” there was no bridge, no road in sight – just marshy pastures, and reeds, and insects. Scenic – in a singular fashion . I was re-applying sunscreen every 20 minutes.

We began to hear “lowing” in the distance, and soon we could detect the odor of …………… cattle. Then around one of the ubiquitous bends we saw the beasts, and they saw us. I knew that cattle generally are not known to attack, but this is a narrow river, and these animals, dozens of them, were so large, right there on the bank, looking suspiciously at us. I mentioned my concern to Tom, and he said, “Watch this.” He smacked his paddle loudly in the water. Have you ever seen a cattle stampede in a late-night western? This herd raised their heads, pivoted on their hooves, and in clouds of dust they did a 180 and thundered off! I was quite relieved, but in about 20 yards they stopped, and every beefy eye stared at us. We floated on. By the time we were at a safe distance, they had returned to the bank to munch grass.

After several more cattle encounters, we arrived at the first bridge an hour late, and at this point we felt like oven-baked sardines. At this rate it would be another 6 hours on the river before we finished our “float.” The Wood River is nice, but 2 ½ hours experiencing it, in the unrelenting sun, in a toy boat, is all the fun one needs. Providence intervened – the General Store crew crossed over the first bridge and spotted us about 100 yards down river. They honked, and we waved our paddles wildly. We turned into the current and paddled like madmen back to the “take-out” site. By “coincidence,” they had brought the jeep to the first bridge, at just the time we were still in sight. Another 10 yards, and we would have been around the bend.

So, if you have to be in a "nice mess," the Wood River is not a bad location, but only go to the first bridge.

Tale of the Night of the Full Moon

This is a story that is not a proud moment for us, but I’m going to relate it nevertheless.

Watchman Tower was built as a ranger station on a mountain, high above the caldera rim, and provides a complete view of Crater Lake. Often people hike up to the tower, especially on full moon nights, to see the moon rise over the opposite side of the lake, just above Wizard Island. On the night of the July full moon, we planned to park on the rim and walk the trail to Watchman Tower, and observe this event. The trail is 1.6 miles, ascending 420 feet (not quite as difficult as Cleetwood Trail).

We had our provisions: jackets, binoculars, camera, water bottle, wine bottle, pizza. At sunset, we parked on the rim, at the beginning of the trail, and began the hike up to the tower. The path was easy at first, and we commented how nice it would be to hike back down in the full moon light. Very soon, the trail began the steep switchbacks, on the west side of the mountain (opposite the moonrise), providing beautiful views of the sunset. About halfway, we came to a halt as we realized we did not have a flashlight in our provisions. Tom said, "No problem, the moon will light the path when we hike down the mountain." I commented that the steepest part of the path, which contained switchbacks and drop-offs was on the opposite side of the moonrise, and it would be midnight before it was moonlit. Tom said, “No problem, we’ll be just fine.” I considered going back to get the flashlight we always keep in the car, but Tom said it had been left at a rest stop during the drive up to Oregon.

We continued – the path grew narrower and steeper, and of course the higher we went, the sheerer the drop-offs next to the trail. Soon I said maybe we should turn around while there was still an inkling of daylight. “No problem,” Tom said, “We’ll make it just fine.” We met several people going down (while enough light remained to negotiate the trail fairly safely). Upon reaching the top we found three people there, so we thought surely they have a flashlight and we can return with them. But they were there to photograph the moon, and weren’t returning until hours later.

The fire tower was built decades ago with stones and logs, and windows in all four sides. The views are truly spectacular in all directions. It is “manned” during the day, and often the rangers provide the boat captains on Crater Lake with incoming weather information. But, I noted with dismay, it is locked at night. (I had thought, but not verbalized, that we might have to stay on the mountain until sunrise!) When we reached the tower, the sunset was waning, but still beautiful. We began to eat our pizza; and it began to get very dark. The moon had not yet appeared. After a short silence, Tom said, “I think we’re screwed.” I suggested we start back while there was still (barely) some light to see the drop-offs. Tom quickly replied,”Yeah, maybe we should.”

We did. After groping along, part-way down, we met up with two young men who had photographed the sunset, and were hoping to snap the moonrise – and they had a flashlight! They were brothers, from the Netherlands, here at Crater Lake for just one day. For the rest of the descent, we walked and talked with them. Their English was excellent, and we answered their questions about Texas, as they answered our questions about Europe. They were polite young men, and made no comments about our being on a steep mountainside in the dark with no flashlight.

We reached the base around 10 p.m. where the mother of our escorts waited. We thanked her for her sons who had lighted our return down the trail. At the base of the mountain we witnessed an incredibly brilliant moon rise over Crater Lake and Wizard Island, and cast luminescent shadows on the walls of the caldera cliffs.

A friend, who very recently visited me here, and whose name rhymes with “Whammy”, is a fellow Girl Scout, and will be chagrined to hear this tale of forgotten flashlights, but at least it ends well. At the base of the trail there was a lady from Canada, with her two teenagers, who had happened upon this spot after sunset, enroute to California. They planned to stay the night in their car (?!), see the lake in the morning, then continue on their way. It seems we were not the only unprepared people on the mountain that night – they had no food, and at 10p.m., many miles from any store, there was no place to obtain a meal; so of course we gave them our (cold) pizza that had only slightly been eaten due to our hasty departure from the mountaintop. The 14-year-old, who looked pretty hungry, said, “Oh, thank you, THANK YOU!” I thought he was going to hug us!

Our car, being well-provisioned with headlights, took us safely the 10 miles down the mountain to home.
Along the way, we saw two deer, bucks, who eyed us curiously, then loped down the slopes. Tom said, “Let’s do this again when the full moon comes in August.”

That night I put a flashlight in the car, and Tom put another one in his backpack.