Crater Lake and the Redwoods

We got up Monday morning and decided to head to Crater Lake. The road up follows the Rogue River. It was running swiftly with lots of small and large rapids.

This area is call "Big Rocks" for the obvious reason.

We stopped off at The Rogue River Gorge view point. As you look down you can see how the gorge deepens and narrows.

There is a walkway following the gorge. It was a very pretty area.

As we turned off on the road to Crater Lake we kept seeing more and more snow until it began to look like a typical winter day in the North West. The only difference was that is was May 11th.

This is a model of what Crater Lake looks like. The deep blue color comes from how deep it is. It was formed when a volcano exploded then collapsed over 7000 years ago. The visitor's center is approximately top center on the model.

This is a view from the second floor of the visitor's center. You entered through a tunnel on the ground floor because the snow was up more than half way up to the to the second floor.

Here are some pictures from the various places that we were able to get to. The island is "Wizard Island." We were only able to get up to Wizard overlook on the West Rim. They hope to have the West Rim Drive and the North entrance open by early June and the East Rim drive doesn't usually open until the middle of July.

Here is Wayne taking a picture of a bird.

This place was indeed a winter wonderland. On the way back down to Grants Pass we stopped at the Natural Bridge view point. Here the water goes underground for several feet before it emerges here where the water is gushing out towards the upper right hand side of the picture.

This is the natural bridge where the water is underground. The water you see here is the excess water from the melting snow that obscures the natural bridge. I am sure it looks a lot different later in the summer.

This is what it is supposed to look like.

Here is Marynelle walking back from the Natural Tunnel.

Here is Wayne on the pat to the Natural Bridge.

This is a picture of a lake that we crossed on the road to Crater Lake.

We got home in time to have cocktails before dinner with Ron and Carol who were at our campground. They are waiting from the north entrance to Crater Lake to open as they work at a campground at Diamond Lake which is just outside the north entrance.

Then after dinner Larry and Kathy, friends of ours from Lagoons at Rockport, came into the campground for the evening. They are also on their way to Alaska. We had a nice visit with them and hope to run into them again in Alaska after our caravan ends.

Tuesday morning, Larry and Kathy left and we headed out for the Redwood Forest in northern California. Highway 199 crosses the Illinois river in Oregon and then goes down through the Smith River National Recreation Area where it follows the Smith River to the coast.

When you reach the coastline there are several pull outs to take pictures.

We went to the Tour Thru Tree in Klamath, CA.

We took the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway through the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. We stopped for Wayne to get a better look at this fallen Redwood tree.

We stopped at the Big Tree wayside and Wayne got this picture of Marynelle in front of Big Tree. The size of this tree boggles the mind.

While we were in this area a couple of chipmunks came looking for handouts.

We had read the warnings about not feeding the chipmunks or birds. However, this Steller's Jay wouldn't take no for an answer and sat on our mirror until we rolled up the window and drove away.

We stopped at the Prairie Creek Visitor's Center and watched a herd of elk that were grazing in the pasture. A bunch of teenagers came in to picnic so the elk went over by the road. They weren't scared off by us when we drove by in the car.

On the way back to Grants Pass we stopped in Crescent City for lunch. After lunch we drove around and took this picture of the old lighthouse.

We made it back to Grants Pass in time for cocktails with Ron and Carol again. They have been very helpful telling us places to go and things to see.

Tomorrow will be a down day and then Thursday we will travel to Newport, Oregon on the coast. I'll catch up with you in a few days.