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 Crater Lake Summer 