The Painted Hills & My Final Week in Crater Lake

Hard to believe, but I just completed my final week of volunteering at Crater Lake National Park.  This has been one of the most memorable summers I’ve ever had, and being here, I have been able to fulfill my dream of being a park ranger.  Not only can I now say I was a ranger, but I was a ranger at one of my favorite places in the country–Crater Lake!  What a privilege it has been to be able to work and live in a National Park for eleven weeks.

This past week, I went to the Painted Hills in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument with Heidi and Gabby.  We woke up early and headed out toward Bend.  We stopped in Bend for a great breakfast and then headed north to John Day near Mitchell, Oregon.  We first stopped at the visitor center, where we watched the park video and purchased some souveneirs.  Inside the visitor center is a museum of some of the many, many fossilized plants and animals that have been discovered there.  What a fascinating place.  We learned that Oregon once had a rain forest climate where bananas grew and relatives of elephants and rhinos roamed!   

   
After the visitor center, we went for a hot hike through the Blue Basin.  The rocks in this area were a mint green-blue color that were just stunning.  We also did a short hike that took us to an overlook of a high peak called Sheep Rock. 

    
 Next, we drove back toward the Painted Hills.  Luckily we got there in the afternoon, so the sun was hitting the colorful clay hills at just the right angle.  We could see reds, oranges, yellows and tans striped along the hills.  This is known as one of the seven wonders of Oregon, and I knew when I first heard of it that I wanted to see it before heading back to Michigan.  The Painted Hills sure were worth the wait!  I even ran into a couple from Wisconsin who had been on my Crater Lake trolley tour a few days prior.  Such a small world! 

    
   
On the way home, we stoppped again in Bend for dinner.  One of the most exciting parts of the day happened on our drive home, however, when we saw a mountain lion cross in front of the car! Such a rare sighting, and one I am so fortunate to have in my last days here.

On Wednesday, I was back to work for the week.  It was bitter sweet doing some of my last tours.  Saying good-bye to the trolley drivers and boat captains was sad, and it was also sad to give my last “Crater Lake Ladies” talk.  During my last day doing the ladies talk, my housemate Kristin, her boyfriend Ian, and Ranger Daphnie came to see my talk.  It was a lot of fun seeing them in the crowd that day.

I also was able to hike Crater Peak this week, one of the few hikes I had left to do in the park.  Again, such a treat when I saw two pikas–again, a rare wildlife sighting.  It was as if the animals here were all coming out to say good-bye!  I even saw a young fox again here in Sleepy Hollow and a last bald eagle on Wizard Island.   

    
 Last night, to celebrate my last days, and to celebrate the other volunteers Tim and Karlie, a lot of the interps and even some of the boat captains came out to dinner at Annie Creek Restaurant.  It was a fun way to wrap up the season, and the staff got me a nice card that certainly brought a tear to my eye.   

 Today, I worked the morning in the Steel Visitor Center, and am now spending the afternoon cleaning, packing, and doing check-out paperwork.   Tonight, I am planning on going up to the lake one last time, stopping to grab a few last-minute souveniers, and then playing one last game of volley-frizz.

Tomorrow, I’ll be headed out early to pick up my dad at the Reno Airport, where we’ll head to Salt Lake City for our first night of our three-day road trip.  

Looking back, this whole experience was rewarding, challenging, and invigorating.  The training was a lot of work, and some of the work days could be long.  The good certainly outweighed any of those challenges, however.  I have been so lucky to meet people from all over the world and from many different backgrounds.  It was very rewarding to be able to help people learn about this unique place, and also continue to learn about it myself, even up to my last days.  My co-workers were some of the most hard-working, genuine, and thoughtful people I have ever worked with, and I have such respect for our park rangers and park service.  I hope to some day come back to Crater Lake, as it has its own special place in my heart.  I also hope to continue to visit and appreciate all of the other special places taken care of by the NPS.  A huge thank you goes out to all of my friends and co-workers who made this summer so special, and all of you have a place to stay if you ever get a chance to visit Michigan.

A big thank you to all of you have been keeping up with my adventures  on this blog.  It has been so fun documenting my summer, and what a surprise at how many of you were interested enough to read it regularly.  I can’t wait to see many of you soon.  Another thank you to my husband, friends, and family who were so supportive in this endeavor.  Because of you, I have been able to do this crazy adventurous thing that I will remember and appreciate for the rest of my life.

Signing off from Crater Lake National Park,

Love, Nicky 

 

Exciting Changes & a Rare Fox Sighting!

Happy Saturday everyone!

This has been quite a busy week for me, with some exciting changes in store!  On Tuesday, I accepted an offer to move into the 8th grade English teaching position starting this school year.  That means I will be moving from the high school to middle school, and also involves a change in classrooms.  With that being a big change, I’ve decided to head home from Oregon sooner than expected, making my last day working at Crater Lake Monday, August 24.  My dad is going to be flying to Reno the following day, where I will meet him and we’ll drive back to Michigan together.  I’m really excited to spend this time with my dad and to head home to see Jeremy and the rest of my family and friends.   I am also looking forward to this new career endeavor.  I began my teaching career in middle school and really enjoyed that age group.  Teaching high school for the last six years has been very rewarding, but I also feel it’s a good time to make a change, take on new challenges, and do something different.

So as of today, I only have nine days left here at Crater Lake. This past week has been kind of crazy here.  We’ve had a pretty big fire going on in the park, which has made for some road closures and hazy conditions.  On Wednesday, I worked a long boat shift, and at the end of the shift, we had a medical issue that required a woman to be carried–via stretcher–up the Cleetwood trail.  Thankfully, the fire crew from Sequoia National Park was here assisting with our fire, and they were able to come down and help with the carry-out.

On Thursday, I worked on the trolleys and yesterday, another boat shift.  Yesterday was very windy and chilly on the lake, which made for a really tiring day.  When I came home from work, I was making dinner and looked out my window to see a fox near my neighbor’s house!  Earlier in the season, a Sierra Nevada Red Fox was spotted here as well, and we are assuming this fox is the same one.  This species is fox is considered critically endangered, with only about 50 of them believed to be left in the world!  Knowing how rare this animal is, I grabbed my phone and ran down the road (in my socks) to catch sight of it.  Meanwhile, Karlie and Tim, the two other volunteers, made their way out to watch the fox as well.  We probably saw it for a good 20 minutes before we headed inside.  Tim captured some nice photos as well!

After our exciting encounter with the fox, i basically locked myself in my room and read a book until I fell asleep.  Today I’m working on answering phones and posting flyers, so it’s nice to have a little break from giving tours.  I’m not sure what I’ll be working tomorrow, but Monday and Tuesday will be my days off.  On Monday, I’m planning to get some errands done to prepare to head home, like get my oil changed and clean my apartment.  On Tuesday, I am planning on going to the Painted Hills in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, one of the last places on my Oregon Bucket List to visit.

Have a great weekend everyone!  So long from Crater Lake!

Shift Work

Hello all!  I’ve been back to work the past few days after my fun two days in Lassen.  On Wednesday, I worked a trolley shift, followed by a very relaxing evening at home resting my legs and feet from all that volcanic hiking.  On Thursday, I worked the long boat shift where I spent three hours on Wizard Island.  It was a beautiful day on the lake, and the water was as smooth and clear as I’ve seen it all year.  Some smoke from the nearby fires crept into the caldera later in the day, but overall it was a great day on the lake.  Friday I worked trolleys again.  After work, Heidi, Kristin, and I drove to Klamath Falls for some great pizza at Old Town and a trip to the grocery store.  It was a lot of fun chatting and laughing with them.

Today I’m on the boat shift that is scheduled to begin at 10 am.  However, today is the day of the Rim Run, a marathon and half-marathon that’s taking place here.  The Cleetwood parking lot, which is usually full anyway, is going to be a madhouse because it is also the finish line for one of the races.  Therefore, I’m heading down at 8 with the rest of the boat shift.  I figured I can help direct people or at least cheer on runners before I have to head down to the boats.  

Tomorrow I work at the Rim Visitor Center where I give my Crater Lake Ladies talk.  Then it’s another two days off.  Not sure how I’ll be spending it, but I’d like to do something new.  I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far.  I also want to say thank you to Carol for the sweet card.  It sure brightened my day!

Happy Saturday from Oregon!

   
   

Visiting Lassen Volcanic Nat’l Park

It’s been almost a week since I updated my blog…yikes!  This past work week was pretty uneventful.  I did some off-trail hiking with Heidi one day (to a top-secret location) and another day, she, Karlie, and I went exploring to find an old emergency cabin located near the Wine Glass section of the rim.   

  

 We also had a movie night one evening in the visitor center auditorium where we watched Mad Max.  On Saturday, there were some thunderstorms which resulted in some nearby wild fires, which in turn sent hazy smoke into Crater Lake.  By Sunday, the lake was nearly invisible. 

 With that being the case, I decided to head far from the smoke, and spent my days off visiting Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California.   

 Monday morning, I headed south, and arrived in Lassen at around 1:00.  I registered for a campsite in the Manzanita Lake campground, set up my tent, then went off to hike Lassen Peak.  Lassen Peak is one of the largest plug dome volcanoes in the world.  Its last eruptions were between 1914 and 1921.  I drove up to about 8,000 feet in elevation to get to the trailhead.  To get the peak, I had to hike 2.5 miles up over 2,000 feet in elevation (that’s like 2 Cleetwood trails!), making it 5 miles round-trip.  The way up was quite daunting, and the higher I got, the more windy and cool it became.  Finally, after an hour and half or so, I reached the summit!  There was even snow at the top.  What a gorgeous view of the park below and Mt. Shasta in the distance.   

    
   
  Hiking down was much easier, and though I wanted to hike and explore more of the park, I decided to head back to my campsite.  First, I stopped off at a roadside to gather some kindling, then stopped at the camp store for firewood and some marshmallows.  I set to work building a little fire and roasting some ooey-gooey mallows..yummy!   

  

 Tired from the day, I headed to bed by 9:30.  For being in a tent, and with temps down in the 40s, I actually slept quite well.  Must have tired myself with all that climbing!

At 6:30, I was up and at ’em, breaking camp, and setting out to see the rest of the park.  I drove down to an area called Sulpher Works where there was geothermal hot spots like geysers and mudpots.  

  

  From there, I went to Bumpass Hell, which is a 1.5 mile trail to another geothermal area that has been called a mini-Yellowstone.  I felt like I had stepped into another planet! The air was rich with the smell of sulphur, and the ground had turned bright white and yellow.  A boardwalk went around the hot spots where pools bubbled, mud boiled, and the earth blew steam from holes in the ground.  It was really phenomenal.   

    
    
 Wanting to see more, I decided to hike another 2 miles to the Cold Boiling Lake.  I got a little too ambitious, not realizing how tired I was from my Lassen hike.  And when I got to the lake, it was merely a small pond that had little side puddle where bubbles came up.  

  It was neat because it was cold gasses coming up from the bottom, but rather disappointing and not worth the extra 4 miles of hiking it added to my trip.  By the time I got back to the Bumpass trailhead, I was tuckered out, but figured I’d be spending most of the day driving, so it was good to get a lot of activity in.

Before leaving Lassen, I had a few close encounters with the wildlife, like deer, marmots, and some weird quail-like birds I had never seen before.   

  

 I stopped in at the visitor center and gift shop, picking up some postcards and a souveneir for Jeremy.  I had a pleasant drive home, stopping in Klamath Falls for a few groceries before returning home.  

Tomorrow I’m back to work on a trolley shift.  My days off sure went by quickly!  Hope everyone is having a nice August so far.  Until next time, good night from Crater Lake! 

 

Hikers Overboard, Red Cone, & the Coast!

It’s been an eventful few days here at Crater Lake!  Where do I start?  On Sunday, I was prepared for an early boat tour shift of just two standard tours.  Little did I know that my first tour of the day would be quite the adventure!  About half-way through the tour, our boat captain and I noticed what looked like a log floating in the channel between the shoreline and Wizard Island.  As we slowed the boat and approached the log, I saw a head pop up out of the water!  It turns out, two Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) thru-hikers had decided to hike down the wall of the caldera, build a homemade driftwood raft, place their backpacks on the raft, and swim over to Wizard Island.  All of these things are strictly prohibited here for many safety reasons, so we had to pick up the swimmers in our tour boat.  I was finally putting my “man overboard” training to good use.  We gave them some emergency ponchos and blankets, and the other passengers on the boat kindly gave them food and water.  I had to call dispatch and have a law enforcement officer meet us at the docks at the end of the tour.  So we continued on with the tour, then the swimmers, who were very kind and compliant, were unfortunately issued citations for their daring feat.  At least they got a boat tour out of the deal!  The rest of my shift was pretty uneventful, and I made it home by about 5:30 after helping out for a bit in the visitor center.

Monday was my day off, so I decided to take care of some errands at the administration office, mail out some postcards, and then decided to hike on the PCT past a peak called Red Cone.  It was a beautiful, cool day, and it made for a lovely 8-mile hike.  Later that night, we met in Steel Circle to play a little Volley-Friz.  It was a bit chilly so afterward, Heidi and I had some hot cocoa and planned out our day driving to the coast on Tuesday.

Early Tuesday, Heidi and I left for the coast at 6 am.  We headed up toward Newport, stopping in Eugene for breakfast.  In Eugene, we saw a funky doughnut shop called VooDoo donuts, so we stopped and bought a dozen to take home with us.  We then ate breakfast at a restaurant called Off the Waffle.  I ate a savory caprese waffle with tomato, mozzarelladr. , avocado, and basil.  What a treat!  It was a great way to fill up for the rest of the day.

After Eugene, we drove to Newport where we walked along the beach.  It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and the salty air was so refreshing.  We saw jellyfish, crabs, and sea anemones in the tide pools. After the beach, we visited a hotel called the Sylvia Beach hotel.  I had seen this place online and instantly knew I wanted to see it in person.  At Sylvia Beach, each room of the quaint hotel is themed with a different author.  The owners let us wander through the halls, peeking in any rooms that were open.  My favorite rooms were the F. Scott Fitzgerald and Dr. Seuss rooms.  As an English teacher, this was a huge highlight of my trip!

From Newport, Heidi and I headed south, stopping along the way to see the beaches and any other places that looked worthy of stopping.  We went to Seal Rock, Thor’s Well (which I had seen with Allison last week!), and the Oregon Dunes.  We also saw some elk along the way!

At Reedsport, we headed back east toward Crater Lake, stopping in Roseburg for a delicious Mexican dinner and a grocery run.  Unfortunately, as headed home, we were detoured because of a wildfire, but we eventually found an alternate route and were home by 11:00.

All in all, it was an exciting and very full three days.  Now it’s back to work for the week.  I hope everyone is having a great week so far.  Until next time, good bye from Crater Lake!

My Adventures with Allison

I know it’s been a few days since I’ve updated, but that’s because I was so busy having tons of fun with  my friend Allison!  Allison lives in Indiana and she’s one of my best buds from back home.  She and I started getting into hiking a few years ago, so it was so exciting for her to come to Oregon to visit.

On Sunday, I worked in the main visitor center until 5 pm, so Allison met me there.  What a treat when at 4:30, a familiar face walked in the door!  Once I got off of work, we headed back to my house where we had some dinner. After getting checked into her cabin, the two of us headed up to the lake where we saw a bald eagle at the Sinnott Overlook.  What a great first impression to make on Allison who was seeing the lake for the first time! We then decided to get drinks at the Crater Lake Lodge.  It felt like forever since we’d talked, so it was really nice catching up.

After the lodge, we drove over to Discover Point overlook and watched the stars come out.  We have especially bright stars here since we are so isolated, and it was fun trying to find the constellations and to see the Milky Way. 

On Monday morning, we ate breakfast at my house with Karlie and Heidi, then set out for a day of hiking and sight-seeing in Crater Lake.  The first activity of the day was to hike Garfield Peak, a 3.5 mile round trip hike that goes up about 1,000 feet in elevation.  It’s a tough hike, but well worth the view at the top. 

   
After Garfield, Allison and I drove around Rim Drive, stopping at the different overlooks along the way.  We stopped for a picnic lunch about half-way around, then continued on our way.  That evening, Allison stayed at a different cabin, so after checking in, we made our way to a little nearby town called Union Creek where we got some dinner at a restaurant called Becky’s.  Becky’s is known for its homemade pie, which we ate for dessert, and it was delicious!  We quickly made our way back to Crater Lake to catch a sunset hike up to the Watchman Overlook with Heidi.  When we got to the trailhead, there was a man trying to para-glide from the parking lot, which is super dangerous! So Heidi called it into our dispatch so a law enforcement ranger could come to stop him.

After that little delay, we headed up to the fire lookout for a beautiful view of the sunset colors.  We also saw a lightning storm over the Klamath Basin.  We then headed home for some much-needed rest, since we were going to spend Tuesday driving the Oregon Coast! 

   
So bright and early Tuesday, we set out for the coast, making our way to Cape Perpetua.  Before we got there, we stopped at the Sea Lion Caves, where we could see over 100 sea lions from an overlook.  We then took an elevator over 200 feet down to one of the world’s largest sea caves.  There were more sea lions in the cave and we checked out some of the exhibits.   

  

 Next, we made our way up to Cape Perpetua where we found Thor’s Well. Both Allison and I had found this place on Pinterest and knew we wanted to check it out.  Thor’s Well is a deep hole in the beach, formed from a lava tube. It does this cool trick where it fills and empties as the tide comes in.  What a beautiful place to visit!  It was really neat to see this geological feature, so we were sure to get a lot of photos and videos. 

   
After Thor’s Well, we made our way down to a town called Bandon, home to Face Rock and Haystack Rock, both of which are iconic features on the Oregon Coast.  We ate dinner at a little Irish Pub, stopped in some of the cute little shops, and then made our way to the beach.  The view of the shore here was breath-taking!  The rocks that jutted up out of the water were enormous and we just couldn’t get over how beautiful the view was.  We even found a couple of little caves, filled with leftover shells from high tide.  

    
 With evening approaching, we set out toward Gold Beach where we wanted to catch the sunset.  Along the way, we stopped at an overlook at Humbug State Park, that once again, had an amazing view of the coast.  

   
When we got to Gold Beach, it had gotten really windy, so we decided to eat some dessert in a restaurant and watch the sunset from the comfort of a booth!  

 So after a long day, we headed back to Crater Lake.  It was another 5 hour drive to get home, so we were exhausted by the time we got home.  But seeing the Oregon Coast was well worth it.

On Wednesday, we decided to start our day a little later, since we were pretty tired from our late night.  Still, we were out the door by 9 am, and off to visit Newberry National Monument near Bend.  It was a 2-hour drive to Newberry, and we stopped for some breakfast along the way in Chemult.  In Newberry, we took a short hike to an 80-foot waterfall called Paulina Falls.  We then went to Oregon’s longest lava tube, where we hiked into the cave that was a mile long! 

    
 After a fun day at Newberry, we drove about 25 minutes to Bend, Oregon, where we did some fun shopping downtown and had some fantastic pizza.  One of the stores we stopped in was Powell’s candy store, where I found Faygo pop!  I had been telling my roommates about Faygo pop a week or so ago, so I decided to pick them up a few bottles of Rock n’ Rye and Red Pop–true Michigan classics! 

   
After Bend, Allison and I made our way back to Crater Lake where we said our good-byes.  I was really sad to see her go, especially since we had had three full days of fun talking and laughing during our exciting travels.  It was so nice of her to come out to visit, and I think she had a nice time in Oregon.  Seeing her made me miss home even more than I already do, but I know the next few weeks will fly by!

Until next time, good night from Crater Lake!

Happy Sunday!

Good morning everyone!  Things are going well here at Crater Lake.  The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous after a week of cool air, rain, hail, and dense fog.  On Friday, I gave two trolley tours that both went well.  I always meet such fun and interesting people from all over the country, and it’s quite rewarding to share the neat things that I’ve learned with them about this special place.  

On Friday after work, I went for a short hike along some of the nearby easy trails, just to get out and get moving after a day standing on the trolley.

Yesterday, I was on a boat tour day, and just gave two standard tours, so it was a pretty easy day.  I even think that hiking up Cleetwood is getting easier for me–Woo Hoo!

After my boat shift, I headed into Klamath Falls to buy some groceries.  Allison is coming in tonight & I’m going to make us some dinner.  I absolutley cannot wait to see her!  It’ll be a lot of fun catching up and seeing a lot of new Oregon sights with her.  This morning, I’m going to be working on prepping in the Crater Lake library, followed by an afternoon in the visitor center.  Should be an easy day, but I’m sure it’ll drag on since I’ll be counting down the hours until Allison gets here.

Before I sign off, I want to wish my husband Jeremy a happy birthday tomorrow and a happy birthday to my Grandma Smith who turned 90 a few days ago!  I miss you both and hope you know I’m thinking of you 🙂

Sending everyone lots of love from Oregon!!

   

Crater Lake Ladies!

Happy Friday everyone!  A few fun things have happened over the last few days.  On Wednesday, I was scheduled to give my first ranger talk at the Sinnott Memorial Overlook.  This shift means I give three 20-minute talks throughout the day while working in the visitor center when I’m not giving a talk.  I’ve been thinking about, researching, and writing this talk for a while now, so it was exciting to finally share it.  The title of the talk is “Crater Lake Ladies,” in which I talk about five different women who have left their mark on Crater Lake National Park.  At first, I think people were skeptical that I’d find enough material, but I was able to find so much interesting information, and I think the talk was a success! 

 On Wednesday after work, my roommate Karlie and I decided to do the ranger-led sunset hike up to Watchman Peak, a fire lookout that we have here in the park.  So at 7:30, we met Ranger Dave, a retired teacher who is so knowledgable and has a super funny dry sense of humor, and we made our way up the peak with a group of park visitors. It’s only 3/4 of a mile up to the lookout, and Dave stopped along the way to share information about history of the park roads, women who worked in the fire lookouts in the 40’s, fire ecology, and trees.  When we got to the top, the sunset was beautiful, but it was also a bit breezy and chilly.  Regardless, the view was totally worth it! 

    
   
On Thursday, I was on a long boat shift which means I did two full boat tours, plus a three-hour stay on Wizard Island.  While on the island, there are two trails: one goes to the summit of the peak, and one goes out to an area called Fumerole Bay.  I had never done the hike to Fumerole, so I decided to do it this time.   

   
There was another gentleman on the tour named Marshall who was also going that direction, so he and I hiked together and I enjoyed hearing about his travel adventures!  Marshall was in his 50s though I’d never guess it, and he’d been married for 30 years.  His wife isn’t really the outdoors-y type, so he travels to many national parks on his own.  He told me about hiking Half Dome in Yosemite, seeing wolves in Yellowstone, and volcanoes in Lassen.  Marshall also works in the NICU with premature babies at a hospital in California, and he was so passionate about these little infants who fight to survive and about the miracles he sees everyday.  It was a lot of fun talking with Marshall and we had a great hike.  He even braved the cold waters and jumped in the lake!  Being here in Crater Lake has really given me the opportunity to meet some pretty amazing people from all over the world, and I’ve been so fortunate to do this for the summer.

So after a long day of boats, it was time for the “White Bark Pint” party here in Sleepy Hollow where the seasonal staff lives.   

 White Bark Pint is a pun of the White Bark Pine which is a fragile tree here at Crater Lake.  So to celebrate this tree, and kick off the summer season, one of the other interps, Shawn, hosted this fun event.  People from many different divisions came to hang out, and it was a lot of fun chatting, dancing to 90s music, and seeing co-workers in a different setting.  I have a trolley shift at 8:45 this morning, so I had to leave by midnight, but it was a great time!

So now I’m off to do my trolley shift.  Tomorrow I’m on the boats again, and on Sunday, I’m in the visitor center for a half-day in the afternoon.  My friend Allison is coming to visit on Sunday, and I absolutely cannot wait to see her! 

Until next time, have a great weekend!

A Day in the Tall Trees

  On Sunday night, I was up past midnight working on my ranger talk program so that I could go to the Redwoods on Monday.  I packed up the night before and woke up at 5 am so I could get to the Redwoods Visitor Center in time to get a Tall Trees Grove permit.  The Tall Trees are a small grove in the southern area of the park that has some of the tallest trees in the world.  (The tallest tree in the park, “Hyperion,” is located elsewhere in a secret location in order to protect it!)

Only 50 people each day are allowed in the Tall Trees, so I made it to the Visitor Center by 10 am and was able to get a permit.  I receieved a special 4-digit code (that changes daily), that would work a lock at the gate to the Tall Trees access road.  The access road was a gravelly, bumpy, windy 7 mile road that lead to the trailhead, so I didn’t really get started hiking until around noon. 

   
The trail to the Tall Trees went down 650 feet in about 1.3 miles.  (I didn’t realize until the way up that this was the Redwoods’ version of the Cleetwood Trail!)

The Tall Trees loop is 1 mile in length, and it was breath-taking  just how big some of these trees are.  Photos don’t quite do them justice because it’s hard to put them in perspective, but take it from me, these trees were massive! 

  
   

  

 After hiking the loop, I headed down the Redwood Creek Trail which follows a creek in a valley of Redwoods.  Originally I wanted to camp down in this area, but warnings are out for two mountain lions seen in this camp, and I decided against it.  Besides, how much sleep would I get if I always had mountain lions on my mind?  

    
   
I hiked 3-4 miles down this path, had lunch by the creek, and turned back to head down to the Tall Trees.  I did another three loops of the Tall Trees before heading back up Cleetwood…I mean…back to the trailhead.  By the time I got back up to my car, it was about 7 pm.  Since I wasn’t camping, I wanted to get on the road because it was about a 5 hour drive back home.  Though it was getting dark, I did manage to snap a photo of the Pacific Coast on my way home.   

 Looking back, I wish I had planned on camping in one of the state parks there.  That way I had camp set up and I would’ve had Tuesday morning to stop at a lot of the overlooks along the way home. I also wouldn’t have spent time hiking down the Redwood Creek trail because it really wasn’t overly spectacular.  Still, it was a nice day and I’m glad I got to go in this special grove.  I definitely want to go again and plan my trip out a little better, especially when I don’t have a new program to prepare at the same time.  All in all, I hiked about 15 miles over the day.  I was so tired when I get home and my legs and feet are pretty sore today.

Now I’m kind of glad I came home last night since I have the whole day to finish working on my ranger talk and other errands I need to run before the rest of the work week begins.  Looks like I’ll be doing my new ranger talk Wednesday, followed by two days of boats, one trolley day, and one prep day where I’ll work in the visitor center in the afternoon.  A busy week ahead, but I’m looking forward to my friend Allison visiting on Sunday–Wednesday of next week!

Until next time, happy Monday 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!