Leaving San Francisco for the last time this year marked another step closer to finishing this tour.  Since it’s college football season,  there are plenty of events left, but that doesn’t mean there’s no time to squeeze in a little more down time.  On the way up to Pullman, WA, home of the Washington State University Cougars, we stopped in Chemult, OR, a small town in the southwest of the state, and a good jumping off point for visiting Crater Lake.  We arrived at Dawson House (built in 1929) and despite the noise from road and rail, went to sleep quickly in the Rose Room’s big, handmade pine burl bed.

An early morning arrival afforded spectacular views of Crater Lake through the morning mist.  It was so quiet, with just a few ribbon clouds striping sky and water.  We hiked the steep Cleetwood Trail down to lake-side and watched a dozen crayfish shred and consume a poor dead fish: fascinating but gruesome.  There aren’t any indigenous fish in the lake; it was stocked between 1888 and 1941 and the fish that are left have been sustaining themselves since.

Later in the afternoon there were some more nice walks and amazing scenes as we made our way around the 33-mile Rim Drive.  Crater Lake is a caldera lake, formed nearly 8000 years when Mt. Mazama collapsed due to ongoing volcanic activity.  It’s between 5 and 6 miles across, with an average depth of 1,148 feet, and a max depth 1,949 feet. It’s the deepest in the US, 2nd deepest in North America, and 9th in the world. From the shore you can see how crystal clear the water is, consistently between 80-115 ft of visibility from beneath.  We wondered what you might be able to see snorkeling or diving, but with water temperatures in the 30s it wasn’t too tempting to find out.

Crater Lake has long been the basis of lots of Native American history and legend.  The Klamath story of a battle between the spirit of the mountain (Llao) and the spirit of the sky (Skell)  reflects how people witnessed the eruption of Mt. Mazama and the creation of the lake.  In addition to the hunting and gathering bounty it provided it has always been a powerful and sacred place.  The NPS has a great brochure on the history of Crater Lake and the surrounding area. Read it here.

There was one Park building open, and a hot chocolate hit the spot.  We bough some huckleberry taffy, and hoped it was made with berries from Huckleberry Mountain, an important gathering site for the Klamath people, located south of the lake.  The ranger said that at this time of years there should still be bears out feeding in the late afternoon on the east side, so we opted for no more long hikes and finished out the day with The ranger said that at this time of years there should still be bears out feeding in the late afternoon on the east side, so we opted for no more long hikes and finished out the Rim Loop with late-afternoon-sun-enhanced views of the Phantom Ship, Wizard Island and the Old Man of the Lake.

Click HERE for photos.