Oregon and Washington

OK first a correction before I continue. It is Capit"o"l Reef NP, not Capit"a"l-I guess I should use my reference material before speaking!

After our brief stop over in the Lake Tahoe area we continued north and west heading toward Crater Lake NP in OR. On the way there we attempted to get to Lassen Volcano NP in CA but we were too early in the season and the snow prevented us from seeing/doing anything there. Another quite spectacular site as viewed from IH 5 was Mt. Shasta. We only viewed this from a road side pullout but it was impressive none the less.

Mt. Shasta from the rest area

 

It was a couple of days from Lake Tahoe to get to Crater Lake but it was an amazing place especially with the snow cover still on the ground. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the US at about 1950ft. The lake is a "caldera" lake formed by the collapsing surrounding volcano and is also unique in that the only sources of replenishment are snow and rain-there are no rivers, tributaries, etc. that flow into the lake.

Visitor center at Crater Lake

Crater Lake w/reflection

After a morning in and around Crater Lake we moved on looking for a campsite for the night and we ended up in a NFS CG along the North Umpqua River. Unique in this area are the Umpqua Hot Springs, a series of natural springs fed on the hillside of the river with several pools of varying degrees of hot to warm water. Although a spectacular place the crowds are well, "interesting", and some may feel uncomfortable there but hey, what the hell!

Umpqua Hot Spings Pools overlooking the river

 

Also along this route are several waterfalls, the highest of which is Watson Falls.

Watson Falls

The next morning we continued along the scenic byway and decided to go to the coast for a few days. Unfortunately a new weather system was coming in, i.e. RAIN, thus ending several great sunny days. Our first state park was in south central OR then we moved further north for the second night. There are still many (semi) funtional lighthouses all along the coast. My term "semi functional" means the lighthouses still operate and can be of navigational assistance but their functions have been replaced by GPS. One great idea used in OR state parks are the rental of Yurts, small house/tent like structures used instead of tents. Here are a few photos from the coast.

Remeber these?

Yurts for rent

View along the coast

Heceta Head Lighthouse

Inside the lighthouse

Tusnami's are taken seriously!

 

Cold and wet are not our favorite conditions so it was now time to move inland and get to the Hood River, OR area. We actually ended up in Underwood, WA which is directly across the Columbia River from Hood River. Our good friend Lynn (from our photo workshop days back in Virginia City, NV) lives here and has a spectacular homestead high above the river with a direct view of Mt. Hood. It is incredibly relaxing here-cool breezes, little to no road noise along with calming views (and a great dog, Nicky!). We did spend yesterday in Vancover, WA visiting our friend from the island, Evalyn, who moved away a few years back. A very nice visit indeed. I was also finally able to get in a good MTB ride here, just above the house is timber company owned land that has some very nice single track along with great views (on the backside) of Mt. Adams. All in all a very relaxing stay.

Views of Mt. Hood from the front porch!

Nicky

View of Mt. Adams (as in Ansel) from the trail

 

Tomorrow is time to move on again. We are planning a few days on the Deschutes River about an hour east of here. This is a very good fishing river so Cynthia will try a few days of fly fishing and see what happens there. After that our route is somewhat up in the air as we would like to visit family in Seattle but the route may take us too far north. We will see.

 

Until the next Wifi!!!

 

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