Day 5 and Day 6

[olivermoss]

Actually snowshoeing!

Day 5:

I checked out of my lodge. Going there was a cute idea, but I was glad to leave both it and also Route 58. Route 58 is one of a handful of options for getting from one side of the state to the other. Driving to Crater Lake took 4 hours. The roads were not great.

I had a reservation for a ranger-lead snowshoe trek. I can't even tell you how badly I've wanted to snowshoe at Crater Lake. I am glad I did this, but it was not enough for me to really cross it off my Dream Trips list. The trek was not only mostly away from the lake and she had up going at a light jog. Light jog, 2.5 hours, 7k feet altitude, on snowshoes. Stopping for pictures delayed the whole group. We had about 3 stops for breath and talk about region and it's ecology.



I am not used to ranger-lead activities being quite so physically intense. Towards the end I started to stop for pictures anyway. There was a ranger bringing up the rear who had to deal with my lollygagging, but he was only delayed by like 5 minutes since we were nearly back at the Rim Village.

I wound up with very few pictures up there. As you can see from the picture at the top, fog was coming in fast. I could have waited to catch my second wind and do some more exploring, but at 4 all the staff leave. Between that and bad weather coming in, I decided to head out.

I am glad I did it, but yeah, I want to go back, trek more and take more thoughtful pictures. This detour wasn't part of the original plan, if it was I'd likely have just focused on being there. I just found out about the ranger-lead treks there and tacked it on the day I was supposed to be heading to Portland.

I'd done hours of driving already on top of that trek when I headed out. I had a hope to make it back to Portland, but realistically that was never going to happen. I wound up stopping at a motel in the middle of nowhere. The outside was really run down and the lobby had garbage in it, but it's also the only option for a long time in either direction. I was too tired to keep going.

My room looked like this:




I spoke with the owner in the morning. She obviously cares about the place and I think it's seen better days. These roads in Oregon get way more traffic than they used, but a lot of places are run down or closed. I think it's the pro-militia and anti-BLM signs in places like Crescent that have people deciding to not stop for a nite or a bite. (BLM in this case being Bureau of Land Management.) I stop for supplies at a place in Fort Klamath because they have a rainbow windsock outside. Fortunately, they have a really well stocked shop attached to a cute motel. I really want to stay there someday.

It really makes me want to open my own traveler's rest stop. More people and more money are going through every year and most of Oregon totally lacks those friendly traveler's stops I saw all over Washington that I mentally refer to as Weed & WiFis.

I will spare you my market analysis, tho!


Um, Day 6:

I got up, and went back to bed as outside was a sheet of ice. I then got up again and spent some time chatting with the owner. She was really sweet and despite the somewhat distressing state of the lobby I am glad I gave her business. I hope she can turn the place around.

I drove to Bend, blindly assuming that if I drove down the main street I'd find a Chipotle's. I was right. I then picked 20/22 as my path back to the other side of Oregon. Tripcheck said roads were clear!

I drove back to the other side of the mountains via Santiam Pass. It was lovely, but as driver I could not get pictures. There is practically no shoulder. Even if I wanted to stop in a chain-up area and hike miles for a shot, the shoulder isn't even enough to safely walk on. I was just looking around and seeing lovely vistas to my left, tons of elk chilling in the woods to my right.

Driving it was a bit of a challenge, not only is it a windy mountain pass but I knew I was on a timer if I wanted to be out before it iced up. Being on a timer seems to have been a theme of the trip. A bunch of times I was hiking or driving I was all "I have until [time] and then I lose light and either fog or ice wrecks shit."


A few more trip pictures!



Near Rim Village



One of the shots I stopped for on the trek, just a quick snipe.



Ice covered baby pine.



Abandoned store between the pass and Salem.

Comments

[velithya]

um excuse you, that first picture after "more trip pictures" (this one) how dare you take such beautiful pictures I am OUTRAGED *goes to stare at the picture some more*

[olivermoss]

It's really lovely up there!

[sperrywink]

Wow, those shots are amazing! Some of them look so picturesque they look painted. I can see why you wanted to stop and take more.

[olivermoss]

Thanks! Crater Lake is amazing, but getting good compositions there is a challenge. Though at least the lake wasn't fogged in :)

[nywcgirl]

Wow...

[olivermoss]

Thanks!