I had two nice days camping at Crater Lake. It was nice not having to make the 52 mile (one-way) drive from Sunset Campground. Mazama Campground was nice. The trees are so thick that you rarely see the campsites on the next loop over. My first night was right next to the showers, which was less than ideal because it is a high traffic location. Had to overhear peoples small talk while waiting for a shower to open. But I was able to move to a better site for Monday night, which was great.
On both Sunday and Monday, I took my time at the different overlooks at Crater Lake just trying to soak in all the beauty. It’s a little sad that the pictures don’t do the place justice and my memory can’t hold all the details of what I see. It’s mind boggling that Mount Mazama might have been 12,000 ft tall and collapsed on itself forming the carter that eventually willed with snow and rain to form the lake.
On Monday afternoon, while driving up to the Cloud Cap overlook, I saw a large bear about 50 feet off the road. It was a big shaggy bear. Unfortunately, it took a moment to register what I saw and by the time I backed up the van to take a picture, the bear was gone. Dang, I would have liked to capture a picture of that beauty.
We are now back at Sunset Campground (with good Internet access), so I can research my drive up the Oregon coast. I’ve been having trouble getting campsites in the National Parks when I just show up, so I am doing a little more planning. I’ve scheduled two nights at the beginning of September in North Cascades National Park and four nights in Olympic National Park. So I won’t have to worry about being lucky when I arrive there.
I’ll still need some luck driving up the Oregon coast. In Brookings, campsites at Harris Beach State Park are first-come, first-serve. Hopefully, I’ll be lucky since I’m planning to arrive there on Thursday…
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