Sep 20: Portland to Crater Lake

This day was mainly devoted to driving from Portland to Crater Lake, our home for the next few days. I took pictures. It was another comfortable weather day.

The day began with a drive across downtown Portland, a drive which took all of 15 minutes, passing through Historic Irvington on the way. I thought the lawns in this part of town were nicely manicured, landscaped, and precisely and prettily arranged, but Di Yin said they were nothing compared to the area near Washington Park she went running in that morning. She promised to show me the area she was talking about on our return to Portland.

On a tip, we ate brunch at Helser's on Alberta, then began our trek southward. On the way, we stopped by safeway and radio shack to pick up supplies for camping, and, later, stopped by a camping store for a ground tarp when we realized it'd recently rained in the vicinity of Crater Lake.

Our long drive to Crater Lake brought us past fields (cows, sheep), farms, lakes, small towns, and through the Cascade Mountain range and various National Forests. Our path brought us occasionally along train tracks and on perfectly straight roads. We also passed a controlled burn of small brush piles. We almost outran the rain on the way to Crater Lake, but didn't quite; it caught up to us at points. Happily, the rain stopped geographically before Crater Lake, and we never saw rain in Crater Lake during our stay.

At the north end of Crater Lake National Park, there was a shockingly treeless (given the rest of our drive) pumice desert. It was pretty when we drove through during golden hour, but we decided we didn't have time to stop for pictures if we wanted to make it to our campsite by around sunset. Sadly, we never drove through the desert again.

The drive along the Crater Lake's Rim was majestic, both looking toward the lake and away from it toward the valleys in the other direction. It was also scary due to steep drop-offs and lack of barriers.

At the campground (Mazama Village, the park's main campground), we claimed a site and bought firewood. (Unlike some National Parks, it wasn't free.) We had trouble starting a fire and ended up getting help from friendly neighbors. (They let us light a log in their pit.) We ate a dinner of bagels (while waiting for our fire to start) and leftover pizza (which we warmed above the flame, but it wasn't good--it was soggy). Because we brought a lantern this time, we found it easier to cook at night than usual. Though better than nothing, I decided it wasn't bright enough and plan to get something better next time.

Bundled up, we survived the cold night. The inflatable 2.5 inch thick camping pads helped. They weren't great, but they weren't bad and certainly better than our usual sleeping pads.