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| Discovery Point on the rim of Crater Lake........or at least that's what they told us! |
After leaving Lassen Volcanic National Park we drove about 30 minutes to the small town of McCloud. Our hotel for the night was at the Shasta View Lodge. The lodge is appropriately named because it offers a great view of the 14,179 foot Mount Shasta. The mountain is listed as a "potentially active" volcanic mountain. Thankfully, there was no activity while we were there.
The parking lot of the Shasta View Lodge was full when we arrived. The lodge is small, with only seven rooms. It also has a restaurant that was doing a brisk business. After checking in at the restaurant bar, to what was a surprisingly nice, large room we headed back to the restaurant to see why it was so popular. The patio tables were packed, so we had to settle for the last inside table. The food was excellent and the portion was large enough that we split one entrée and still didn't finish it.
Shasta View Lodge
Our Sunday destination was Crater Lake, which was about a three hour drive. Once again most of the drive was on the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway, and again the drive lived up to it's billing as scenic. As we drove, we crossed over from California into Oregon. It was obvious that we were climbing much of the way. It was also obvious that it was becoming chillier and cloudier outside.
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| The drive from McCloud to Crater Lake took us through the town of Weed, California |
We arrived at the entrance to Crater Lake National Park to a temperature in the low forties, fog, drizzle and occasionally rain. A few degrees colder and it would have most likely been snowing. The park averages over forty four feet of snow per year, making it one of the snowiest places in the US.
The visitors center had a very informative twenty two minute movie on Crater Lake that focused on the lakes formation. The lake actually started as a volcanic mountain that was estimated to be in the 14,000 foot range. It erupted some 7,700 years ago with such force that the pressure change under the mountain caused it to collapse in on itself. The end result of this massive eruption, along with thousands of years of snowmelt, was the formation of what is now known as Crater Lake.
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| Crater Lake National Park! That's a "snow pole" behind us. It must be quite a site to see when the snow is that high. Sunny at this point. |
In addition to how it was formed there are several things that make the lake unique and such a popular spot to visit. The lake is located at an elevation of just over 6,000 feet, making it slightly higher than the mile high city of Denver. There is an island in the lake called Wizard Island. At it's widest points the lake is just over 5 by 6 miles wide. But the most unique feature of the lake is the clarity of the water. Because there is no flow of water into or out of the lake it is considered some of the purest and clearest water on the planet. The water clarity has been measured to a depth of 143 feet, which is the greatest depth of clarity ever recorded anywhere!
After filling our brains with all this knowledge it was time to pay the lake a visit and take in the wonder of it all with our own eyes. It was a few miles drive to the rim of the lake and we had in mind hiking the short (just over two miles) Discovery Point Trail. The trailhead for this hike is at Rim Village and turns around at Discovery Point, which is said to offer the best view of both the lake and Wizard Island. The good news was that we pretty much had the trail to ourselves. The bad news was that we had the trail to ourselves because of the rain, clouds and fog. As we hiked we would occasionally catch a brief glimpse of the lake. At one point we passed a group of hikers who were excited because they had been hiking all morning and they had just caught their first glimpse of the lake. At Discovery Point we discovered that on a super cloudy, foggy, and rainy day that there isn't much to discover.
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| A few shots from along the Discovery Point Trail |
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| A brief glimpse of the lake. You can barely make out Wizard Island below my arm. |
We were a little disappointed on the hike back. Especially me, since this was my first visit, but mother nature is going to do what she's going to do, when she wants to do it. After warming up a bit in the café and gift shop we headed to the lodge located nearby. The Crater Lake Lodge is one of the classic style national park lodges similar to those in many of the famous parks such as Yellowstone.
Because of the less than ideal weather outside, the lodge was crowded, but we found a couple of seats on one of the couches. Suddenly, magically, mysteriously we pretty much had the lodge to ourselves as everyone headed for the back exit. Not ones to be left out of the action, we headed out ourselves to discover that the clouds, fog and rain had disappeared and the entire lake was now visible. It was truly a site to behold. We, mainly Beth, since she is the better photographer snapped a few pictures but we mainly stood there and enjoyed the spectacle of Crater Lake, knowing that it was most likely going to disappear as quickly as it appeared. After around 30 minutes we decided to do the drive around the lake, which typically takes a couple of hours because of stops. We were about 10 minutes into the drive when the clouds, fog and rain rolled back it. We were satisfied with what we had seen and headed towards our hotel, the Union Creek Resort near the small community of Prospect.
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| It was a good day even before the lake came into view! |
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| Wizard Island |
True to it's word, the Union Creek Resort is located right beside Union Creek. A more accurate description might have been Union Creek Rustic Resort. The accommodations were clean, cozy and comfortable, but a little bit on the rustic side. There are around 30 cabins and additional rooms in the lodge. We stayed in a lodge room which was all that was available at the time we booked it. It wasn't bad at all, but as with many places in this area, the wifi was spotty so I've gotten a little behind on the blogging. Past guests have included author Jack London and President Herbert Hoover, who knows maybe they stayed in Lodge Room 207 as well!
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| The original lodge burned in 1937. It was quickly rebuilt and the one I'm standing in front of opened in 1938. |
On the grounds of the lodge is the equally famous Beckie's Café, which has been serving up "home cooking" and world famous pies since 1926. The food was really good, but if you go, make sure you leave enough room for a slice of pie (with ice cream, of course). They offer a wide variety of pies but are most well known for their Huckleberry Pie, which is a seasonal pie. Thankfully, huckleberries are in season and they hadn't sold out for the day. It was overflowing with huckleberries and absolutely fantastic!
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| This is the Rogue Gorge Near Union Creek Resort. It's a very short hike along the gorge rim. |
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| The Natural Bridge is another short hike near Union Creek. The water from the river actually disappears into a lava tube for about 200 yards. Water is flowing beneath this "bridge" |
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| Both the Union Creek Resort and Beckie's are on the National Register of Historic Places |
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| Save room for some pie! |
