Hiking the McKenzie River Trail

Good afternoon & happy Tuesday.  I’m wrapping up another two days off here in my work week.  Yesterday, I decided to spend my first day off by exploring something new–the McKenzie River Trail.  This trail is located east of Eugene and is known as the number 1 mountain biking trail in the nation.  It parallels the river for about 25 miles, going past some very pretty scenery. 

   
My roommate Karlie and I went together, and we set out at 7:30 am.  It was about a three-hour drive.  As we got toward the trail, we stopped at the Willamette National Forest Ranger Station for a map and some advice on which portion of the trail we should hike.  It was suggested we do the 3-mile loop that goes near two waterfalls and to go around Clear Lake, which is a 5-mile loop.  It wasn’t long until we came up on the first waterfall named Koosah Falls. 

   

  It was a beauty!  Within the next mile, we were already up to Sahalie Falls, which we climbed to to feel the refreshing spray of the falls.  Both of these waterfalls were huge and were surrounded by bright green moss.  The water of the river was so clear and blue that it made for quite the lovely hike! 

 After the falls, we headed toward Clear Lake.  It took a half mile or so to reach the lake, and the trail skirting it went through tall pine trees.  It was a calm day–not too hot– and it made for an enjoyable hike.   

 On the northeast side of the lake we discovered Great Spring, which was located under the most beautiful turquoise pool.  Quite breath-taking!   

  

 The rest of the lake trail followed some rocky lava rocks.  Then we made our way back to the falls section, going along the other side of the river.  All in all, we hiked a little over 10 miles, but what a gorgeous 10 miles it was!

On our way home, we stopped in Springfield for dinner, deciding on Fin’s diner which was like an old-fashioned 50’s diner.  A grilled cheese & crinkle fries sure hit the spot!  By 9:30, we were back home in Crater Lake.

Despite my aching feet, I got up early to hike with Heidi and Gabby.  We decided to leave at 7:30 to find Llao’s Hallway, a feature on the topo map that does not have a designated trail to it.  Following a dry creek bed, we found it in the pinnacle formations.  The pumic rock was quite unstable, so I was content to peer over the edge, while Heidi and Gabby were a bit more brave and hiked down into it.  Overall, we hiked about 3.5 miles.  A nice morning spent in the woods.    

  Tomorrow I’m back on a Wizard Island boat shift.  These days off sure do go by quickly.  It’s looking like my last day is going to be sooner than expected–Aug. 24.  So I’ll be back home in just two short weeks.  I’m looking forward to seeing Jeremy, my family, friends, and of course my critters!

Until next time from Crater Lake!

Just a Quick Update…

…because I’ve been working the past three days! Two days of boat tours, followed by yesterday and today on trolleys. The weather has been kind if odd here. Storms or threat of storms have been in play all week. Yesterday and today there is a lot of fog, making the lake nearly impossible to see from our trolley tours. It was also in the 50s yesterday!   

  Last night I went for a little hike with Heidi on the Lady of the Woods and Castle Crest trails. We saw three deer who didn’t seem to mind our presence on the trail.  

 Today I’m back on trolleys and we also have our Art on the Rim show going on. It’s a display of art from the artists in residence who have worked here the past year. I’m going to try to pop in before or between my tours today. 

Not sure what I’ll be working tomorrow as our schedule has yet to be posted, but I’m still planning on visiting the Redwoods Monday & Tuesday. 

As a PS, a big happy 4th anniversary to my husband Jeremy! Our anniversary was on Thursday & I couldn’t be missing him more. September seems like a long way off even though so far the time here has flown.   

 Good bye & happy weekend from Oregon!

Hiking Wizard Island!

  Today’s training allowed us to take a two-hour stop on Wizard Island, the cinder cone volcano in the middle of Crater Lake.  The tour boat dropped us at the dock, and I immediately knew I wanted to head up to the summit.  At the top of Wizard Island is a crater called the Witch’s Cauldron, and I just had to see what was up there. 

 The hike was pretty steep and over a lot of lava rocks.  It seemed like it took quite a while for me to reach the summit, but boy was the view worth it!  The Witch’s Cauldron is about 300 feet across and 90 feet deep.  Around it are a lot of dead trees, killed by something called dwarf mistletoe.  There were also a lot of pretty wildflowers growing right out of the rocks.  I even saw a hummingbird flying around. 

   The view of Crater Lake from Wizard Island was stunning as well.  In the shallow areas of what is known as Skell Channel, there are the aptly named Emerald Pools, which combine the blue water and yellow tree pollen to make a greenish color.  I sat in some shade and ate my lunch taking in all of the beauty around me. 

      

 By the time I hiked down, it was time to move on with the training, so I did not swim today, though some of our staff did brave the icy waters! At the end of the day, we all hiked back up Cleetwood.  From there, 11 of us drove to Diamond Lake which is about 20 miles north of us, to go out for pizza and ice cream.  It was a lot of fun and I’m really enjoying my co-workers. 

To show you how much fun my co-workers are , here is a photo of a “shark” placed on the Phantom Ship  by some mystery rangers.  Below is Ranger Dave using his lunch break on Wizard Island to his advantage. 

   Tomorrow is our last official day of training.  We will be doing safety drills on the lake, and I will be doing the “man overboard” drill.  Hopefully I can keep my wits about me and follow all of the proper steps.

Good night from Crater Lake! 

 

Happy Sunday!

First let me say a big Happy Father’s Day to my dad! I hope you had a great day, Dad & I miss you a lot.  Hopefully everyone had a nice father’s day and you were able to share it with your loved ones.  As much fun as I’m having in Oregon, I am truly missing all of my family & friends.  

Today was a little more difficult than normal because I didn’t have a whole lot of plans.  It’s easy to get homesick when my mind has time to think about all the people and things I miss. Movie night with the gals was fun last night, but we stayed up until after midnight.  Then I was awoken early this morning to a rogue mouse in the hallway and in our laundry room.  Long story. So I was pretty tired today, but tried to work on writing the program for my trolley tour.  I spent a couple of hours in our workroom, and once I got a few things written, I headed for home.  I spent an hour or so reading a new book I downloaded, but eventually I decided not to waste the day inside and went out for a hike.

Today I did two trails: Annie Creek & Godfrey Glen.  Annie Creek is about a two-mile hike behind the campground that made me pleasantly surprised.  A majority of the trail paralleled Annie Creek which had all sorts of little water falls along the way.  There were also a lot of pretty wildflowers out there, and I felt like a kid playing in the woods.   

       

After Annie, I stopped by the Godfrey Glen trail, which is an easy one-mile trail that goes above the Pinnacle lava formations.  I saw a deer and a really noisy squirrel, but was teased by a waterfall that you can’t see from the trail.  About the only way to see it is to hang over the edge of the cliff, which I’m not about to do.   I did find some big pinecones that compared to the size of my head!

     Overall, a pretty uneventful day, but I’m resting up for the next three days of training which will be taking place on the tour boats and out on the lake.  I hope everyone has a great week!

Lightning Springs

  It’s Saturday, which means it’s the weekend! I woke up early today and drove to Klamath Falls with Heidi.  She and I wanted to check out the local farmer’s market, which was fun but a little disappointing.  Nothing jumped out and said, “Buy me!” so we browsed and went on our way to Fred Meyer.  Fred Meyer is a grocery store chain, much like Michigan’s Meijer store…which was founded by a Fred Meijer…not to be confused with Fred Meyer.  Strange.  

We did a little shopping for a few groceries, including popcorn for a movie night we have planned with Karlie and Daphnie tonight.  On the way home we saw a bald eagle swoop down from a telephone pole, which was pretty amazing!

When we got home, I made some lunch and walked up to the post office located at our park visitor center.  Waiting for me there were two boxes from Jeremy!  Excited to open them, I hurried home.  As I was walking back, one of our maintenance guys said, “Get a care-package?” I nodded excitedly and realized how special I felt to be so loved 🙂  Inside the packages, were a beautiful flowered dress and a cute pair of heels.  Perfect for those days when I won’t have to be in park ranger clothes & want to head into town.  (Thanks Jeremy! You’re the BEST!!) 

 A little later in the afternoon, I headed out for a hike.  I decided to try the Lightning Springs trail, which is a trail that connects Crater Lake’s Rim Drive with the Pacific Crest Trail.  I was hoping to take it all the way to the PCT, but quickly realized that would be an 8 mile round trip, just to reach the PCT and turn around.  So I decided to go about half way before turning back.

On the hike, I passed through some sections of forest that had clearly been burned at some point in time.  Lightning is the main cause of forest fires in the park, but because fires are a natural part of the forest life cycle, the park tends to “manage” the fires rather than put them out immediately.  This allows the underbrush to clear out to allow for new growth both for plants and wild life. 

 The trail also paralled Lightning Springs which was a creek that babbled and strolled through the forest.  It was peaceful to listen to it on the solitude of the trail.   

   I think I probably hiked about 4 miles round trip, which was about 2 hours or so.  The trail started downhill, going into a valley, so it was a bit of an uphill climb on the way out.

When I got home, I was able to talk to my mom and dad on the phone.  It was the first time we’d talked in a couple of weeks, and it was so nice to hear their voices! I miss them so much and am very thankful for their support in my Crater Lake adventure.  (Thanks Mom & Dad!)

Tonight I’m off to watch movies with the gals and then possibly to do our part 2 of stargazing with Tom and Marsha if it’s not too cloudy.

Happy Saturday from Crater Lake!

Researching Frances & Hiking Garfield!

   The last two days have been a lot of sitting during training.  Yesterday, we had an all-staff orientation in the morning, and in the afternoon, another one of the volunteers, Tim, and I went into Klamath Falls for our drug tests.  When we got back, I was able to catch our park historian, Steve Mark, and I got to pick his brain about my ranger talk, “The Women of Crater Lake.”  He steered me in the right direction, and gave me some books on a woman named Frances Fuller Victor.Frances Victor traveled to Crater Lake in 1873, where she peered over a lookout that was then named Victor Rock in her honor.  Victor Rock is now known as the Sinnot Memorial in the park, which is the same spot where I’ll be giving my ranger talk.  But the coincidences do not end there.  Mrs. Victor and I share the same birthday, May 23, and despite spending most of her life in the Pacific Northwest, she spent five years of her early life living in St. Clair, Michigan, which is the city in which I was born.  I’m pretty sure I am the reincanation of Frances!  Do you see a resmeblance?

  
So last night was really research heavy, and then today’s training was a straight 8 hours of CPR training.  All day, I just kept looking out the window and thinking about what trail I was going to hike after work today.  As soon as I got home, I changed, busted out my park map and trail guide, and decided to hike Garfield Peak.  

The Garfield trail begins behind the Crater Lake Lodge and spends 1.7 miles going up over 1,000 feet.  It was a pretty challenging hike, seeing as the elevation gets up to just under 8,000 feet.  I was huffing and puffing and had to stop a few times to catch my breath, but it was a good excuse to stop and take a lot of photos.  The trail had some amazing views of the lake as well as the Cascade Range.  After about an hour of hiking, I made it to the snowy top!  I was pretty proud of myself and spent some time just doing some sitting and sight-seeing at the top. 

           The 1.7 miles down the trail seemed to fly by, and I was sure glad the downhill portion was on the way back.  Along the way, I stopped to offer my mosquito spray to a family from California who was very friendly (and appreciative of the Off!).

It was nice to do some more exploring in the park, especially after a long week of training.  I’m hoping to do some more trails this weekend, even possibly part of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Until next time…lots of love from Crater Lake!

  

Hiking & Exploring

Wanting to make the most out of what’s left of my weekend, I really wanted to get out today and explore some places in the park I had yet to visit.  I woke up nice and early, made some coffee (which I finally bought yesterday in Medford…coffee never tasted so good!), and headed out toward West Rim Drive.  I stopped at a  few overlooks, and drove as far as Watchman Peak, which is a peak with a fire lookout on the top of it.  The trail to the peak is still closed, but it was really neat to see it.  From there, there is also a great view of some other peaks in the Cascade Range, like Mt. McLoughlin.  Here are some photos from my morning exploration:

   
  When I got back home, I ate some breakfast, and made plans to meet Heidi at 9:30 to do some hiking.  My housemate Lise suggested we try the Sun Notch trail because of its beauty in the morning hours.  Heading out to Sun Notch takes you to the East Rim Drive.  Along the way we passed Vidae Falls (pronounced “Vita” as in “Vitamin”). This was a really tall falls, visible from the road, and requiring no hiking.

   

 Continuing on our way, we made it to Sun Notch which was a short hike to the Phantom Ship Overlook.   The Phantom Ship is a rocky little island in Crater Lake which kind of has the appearance of an old ship in the distance.

  While we were hiking this trail, we suddenly heard what sounded like a rock avalanche off the side of the cliff.  Sure enough, we could hear a boulder falling, and we even saw the dust from it.  We didn’t actually see the rock that fell, but it sounded awfully large, and I’m glad we were no where near where it landed.  Here is a picture of the cliff the rock fell from.

  Also on the Sun Notch trail, we encountered a marmot, who didn’t seem to mind us taking his picture.

   

 After Sun Notch, we took a side road that veers from Rim Drive called The Pinnacles Road.  Our first stop along this road was a short hike to Plaikni Falls, another gorgeous waterfall!  The trail was only about a mile and well worth it.

  Once we left Plaikni, we headed down to the Pinnacles Trail.  The Pinnacles are these unique lava formations that look like tall towers or spires.  They were formed when hot steam escaped from the volcano’s magma chamber, fusing ashes into solid rock, creating these chimnneys.
  As we continued down the Pinnacles trail, we actually reached the eastern border of the park, where there used to be an entrance to the park.  Now all that stands is a rocky post that used to once hold an entrance sign.  

  All in all, we hiked around 4.5 miles, and it was a lot of fun exploring some new places in the park.  Tomorrow’s training is going to cover trolley tours, so we’ll actually be taking two trolly tours around the entire rim  of the lake.   This will be the first time for many of us to drive entirely around the circumfrence of the lake, and I’m excited to see the north side.

Good night from Crater Lake!