Our 2017 Northwest USA Adventure
We drove back to Crater Lake NP to take on a mid-morning hike at Annie’s Creek, which was billed as a moderate trail graced by tall pines along a creek side loop. We walked 1.5 miles just trying to find the trailhead (there happened to be lots of construction going on, or at least that’s the trail guide’s excuse). With no luck there we returned to the car and drove up to Crater Lake Lodge at the rim for lunch.
After lunch and a little more walking/sightseeing, we drove to the other side of the lake to Cleetwood Cove, which is where the Crater Lake Boat Tour embarked. The cove itself was accessed by a 1.1-mile switchback trail from the rim of the crater down to the lake I signed up for this months ago because well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. The hike down and back were strenuous because of the elevation drop, but we managed it fine. The boat tour, however, was a different story. If you’ve seen pictures of migrants packed into open-air boats in the Mediterranean, you get the general idea, except most of us were Anglos. The sun beat down on us (we never thought they’d not have roofs), and we started looking at the clocks on our iPhones about 20 minutes into the two-hour trip. The captain said very little but the park ranger narrated the tour, with almost every sentence referring to some geological fact going back millions of years. That’s okay for about 10 minutes, but after that we had the urge to take up a collection asking him to stop talking. About 90 minutes in, we saw the light at the end of the tunnel as the cruise began to finally make its way to the docks. But noooooo --- the captain whispers something to the ranger who then announces we are going back to help a boat in distress, which happened to be another Crater Lake Tour Boat. It was bobbing up and down against the crater wall and everyone on board was wearing life jackets, prepped for the worst. Our captain threw them a line and we towed them back across the longest section of lake at about 2 MPH. So the two-hour tour became a three. We half expected them to charge us more for the extra time, but they discounted our fees by half, so we thought that was the best part of the day.
Other than that, another day in paradise, as Crater Lake National Park was one of the prettiest of the eight we’ve seen so far.
On to Bend, OR.
Patricia Rowlands
110 chapters
16 Apr 2020
Day 42 - A Three-Hour Tour
August 11, 2017
|
Crater Lake National Park
We drove back to Crater Lake NP to take on a mid-morning hike at Annie’s Creek, which was billed as a moderate trail graced by tall pines along a creek side loop. We walked 1.5 miles just trying to find the trailhead (there happened to be lots of construction going on, or at least that’s the trail guide’s excuse). With no luck there we returned to the car and drove up to Crater Lake Lodge at the rim for lunch.
After lunch and a little more walking/sightseeing, we drove to the other side of the lake to Cleetwood Cove, which is where the Crater Lake Boat Tour embarked. The cove itself was accessed by a 1.1-mile switchback trail from the rim of the crater down to the lake I signed up for this months ago because well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. The hike down and back were strenuous because of the elevation drop, but we managed it fine. The boat tour, however, was a different story. If you’ve seen pictures of migrants packed into open-air boats in the Mediterranean, you get the general idea, except most of us were Anglos. The sun beat down on us (we never thought they’d not have roofs), and we started looking at the clocks on our iPhones about 20 minutes into the two-hour trip. The captain said very little but the park ranger narrated the tour, with almost every sentence referring to some geological fact going back millions of years. That’s okay for about 10 minutes, but after that we had the urge to take up a collection asking him to stop talking. About 90 minutes in, we saw the light at the end of the tunnel as the cruise began to finally make its way to the docks. But noooooo --- the captain whispers something to the ranger who then announces we are going back to help a boat in distress, which happened to be another Crater Lake Tour Boat. It was bobbing up and down against the crater wall and everyone on board was wearing life jackets, prepped for the worst. Our captain threw them a line and we towed them back across the longest section of lake at about 2 MPH. So the two-hour tour became a three. We half expected them to charge us more for the extra time, but they discounted our fees by half, so we thought that was the best part of the day.
Other than that, another day in paradise, as Crater Lake National Park was one of the prettiest of the eight we’ve seen so far.
On to Bend, OR.
1.
Two More Days
2.
The Travel Plan
3.
Day 1 - We're off!
4.
Day 2: Cheesehead Country
5.
Day 3 Lots of Corn!
6.
Day 4 - Row-lands in the Bad-lands
7.
Day 5 - H-O-T!!
8.
Day 5 - Badlands Pictures
9.
Day 6 - Incredible!
10.
Day 6 - Mt. Rushmore Pictures
11.
Day 7 - Custer's Last Stand
12.
Day 7 - Pictures from Little Bighorn
13.
Day 8 - Dam!
14.
Day 9 - Touring
15.
Day 9 Pictures
16.
Day 10 - Touring
17.
Day 10 - Pictures
18.
Day 11 - Touring
19.
Day 12 - Touring
20.
Day 12 - Pictures
21.
Day 13 - Touring
22.
Day 14 - Touring
23.
Day 15 - Touring
24.
Day 16 - Goodbye Yellowstone - Hello Grand Tetons!
25.
Day 16 - Grand Teton Pictures
26.
Day 17 - Chipmunk in a Canoe only $249
27.
Day 17 - Pictures of Jackson Hole, WY
28.
Day 17 - Pictures of Jackson Hole, WY
29.
Day 18 - Wayne
30.
Day 19 - Our Glacier Park Arrival
31.
Day 20 - Food & Forests!!
32.
Day 21 - Yodelayheehoo!
33.
Day 21 - Logans Pass & Many Glaciers Hotel Pictures
34.
Day 21 - Logans Pass & Many Glaciers Pictures
35.
Day 22 - Oh Canada!
36.
Day 22 - Waterton NP Canada Pictures
37.
Day 23 - All Aboard!
38.
Day 23 - Lake McDonald Boat Ride
39.
Day 24 - Whitefish Revisited
40.
Day 24 - Pictures of Whitefish, Montana
41.
Day 25 - The Gem State
42.
Day 25 - Pictures
43.
Day 26 - Hard-hearted People
44.
Day 26 - Pictures
45.
Day 27 - Change of Plans
46.
Day 28 - Crossing Washington
47.
Day 29 - Our Sixth National Park
48.
Day 29 - Pictures
49.
Day 29 - Pictures
50.
Day 30 - Our Airstream
51.
Day 30 - Sleepless In Seattle
52.
Day 30 -Pictures
53.
Day 31 - Jimi would love it!
54.
Day 31 - Pictures
55.
Day 31 - Pictures
56.
Day 32 - Park #7
57.
Day 33 - Hoh my, this is different!
58.
Day 33 - Pictures
59.
Day 33 - Pictures
60.
Day 33 - Pictures
61.
Day 33 - Pictures
62.
Day 34 - Stinky Sol Duc
63.
Day 35 - We finally see Mt. Olympus
64.
Day 35 - Pictures
65.
Day 36 - Checking Out the Falls
66.
Day 36 - Pictures
67.
Day 36 - Pictures
68.
Day 37 - 9 Hours Later
69.
Day 37 - Pictures
70.
Day 38 - We gotta get outta this place……
71.
Day 38 Pictures
72.
Day 39 - R & R
73.
Day 40 - Anything is a Blessing
74.
Day 40 - Pictures
75.
Day 41 - Beauty Spot
76.
Day 41 - Pictures
77.
Day 41 - Pictures
78.
Day 41 - Pictures
79.
Day 42 - A Three-Hour Tour
80.
Day 42 - Pictures
81.
Day 42 - Pictures
82.
Day 43 - Beer Here!!
83.
Day 43 - Pictures
84.
Day 44 - Lazy Sunday
85.
Day 45 - High Desert
86.
Day 46 - Central Oregon
87.
Day 47 - Just Around the Bend
88.
Day 48 - Back Into Idaho
89.
Day 48 - Pictures
90.
Day 49 & 50 - Heading East
91.
Day 49 & 50 - Pictures
92.
Day 51 - A Real Surprise!
93.
Day 51 - Pictures
94.
Day 51 - Pictures
95.
Day 51 - Pictures
96.
Day 52 - Rocky Mountain Fever
97.
Day 53 - Changes in Altitude
98.
Day 53 - Pictures
99.
Day 54 - Hittin' the Trail
100.
Day 54 - Pictures
101.
Day 55 - Smokin' Dave
102.
Day 55 - Pictures
103.
Day 56 - Travel, Traffic & Costco
104.
Day 57 - Highest yet!
105.
Day 57 - Pictures
106.
Day 58 - Bad Karma
107.
Day 58 - Pictures
108.
Day 59 - In Heaven
109.
Day 59 - Pictures
110.
Day 60-66 -The Journey is its Own Reward - Homer
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