I got up for sunrise and headed towards the east side this
time for a different perspective. I
backed up the camper and waited for the sun to wake up before I stepped out
into the 36 degree cold with wind. As I
sat in the warm camper, there were at least a dozen other people outside with
their tripods setup, parkas on, and
freezing; waiting as I was for the
light. ( I like the camper for these
moments). It was a nice sunrise.
Today, the wind was
down some and it actually warmed up to be a nice day. For my last day around the crater, I decided to take my time and go the entire
way around, stop at every pullout, and
see what the lake had in store for me today.
I wanted to go down and actually see and touch the
lake. There is only one spot around the
whole crater where you can do this. At
Cleetwood Cove Trail, there is a trail
down over 700 feet to the lakes edge.
This is also where you can take a boat ride (when in season, unfortunately, last weekend was the last time
they took out the boats) I would have
liked to take a boat ride to see the crater and lake from that perspective, but
maybe next time (I know I will come back here!)
The over a mile hike down was really easy and quick. I did not take any pictures on the way down
because I knew I would be needing the breaks (for pictures that is) on the way
back up. I got down to the lake and it
is so clear and pure ( see day 1 post).
The waitress at North Dallas Bar and Grill (Oregon) told me that I
needed to stick my face in the clear pure water and open my eyes just to
experience the lake (at 38 degrees).
So, I found a flat rock on the
lakes edge and did a pushup to dunk my face into the water. It was actually refreshing. Some other people were around and I told them
why I did it, and they decided to dunk their faces in too! If I would have climbed up to the lake
(instead of 700 ft elevation change down)
I probably would have jumped in for a very quick swim.
While we were doing this,
there were a couple of pesky/curious chipmunks climbing around on our
backpacks to see if they could get in for food.
I love the ash footprints they left on the top of my pack.
I stayed lakeside for about an hour and decided to start the
hike back up. Before heading out, I needed one more full head dunk into the
lake! (why not?) At the top they said
it was the same as climbing 150 flights of stairs (a 75 story building) during
the mile + walk back to the top. The
hike also started at over 7000 ft. It
really was not that bad. I took my photo
breaks and enjoyed the walk back up.
I continued around the lake stopping at every pullout. I even went back up to Cloudcap (where I
spent 8 hours the day before) and it was
nice and sunny with very little wind. I
actually just sat there for a while and looked (outside the camper). A few more stops around, and I decided it was
time for one last hike. There was a new
trail to a water falls over near the campground I stayed the first night.
Plaikni Falls was about a 2.2 mile hike through the old forests to the
waterfall. Snowmelt is the source of
water for these falls (not Crater Lake). It was a really nice, calm hike and was
interesting to be on a new trail (most trails are decades old).
I think that is going to be it for my stay at Crater Lake
NP. So I headed south towards Mount
Shasta in California…
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