oka-dokie-days

today began with breakfast at the hotel. with a 3+ hour drive ahead of us, we were eager to get on the road to today’s destination: crater lake, oregon. (well, at least i know i was eager: having tried & failed twice to visit crater lake in the late ‘90s when i lived in oregon during grad school, it was a bit surreal that i was finally going to make it there!)

plus it was saturday, and nowhere was really open yet (such as the campus bookstore or buildings) – so that’s another reason that we decided to just head out. the temps overnight had dropped to 39° so it was still chilly when we stepped outside. by 8:15am, the van was packed & we were on our way.

we followed highway 58 from eugene and soon came upon a rather cool scene: lowell covered bridge on dexter lake.

i immediately decided to detour to see it closer. i was hoping to drive across it but was quickly disappointed to only be taken beside it along a separate road that ran parallel to the bridge. nevertheless, we parked and decided that walking across the covered bridge would have to do.

the lowell covered bridge is a bridge crossing the willamette river outside of lowell, oregon. the original bridge was built in 1907 and it was rebuilt in 1945, and rehabilitated in 2006. it currently is a self-guided interpretive center that gives visitors the history of covered bridges in oregon. the bridge is 165 feet long and clears the water by two feet.

as we continued our scenic highway drive, we meandered thru several forests.

a snow-topped mountain kept appearing when there were clearings in the forest that edged the highway. we stopped at a scenic viewpoint for a photo and got a glimpse of diamond peak with odell lake in the foreground.
diamond peak is a volcano in klamath and lane counties of central oregon. it is a shield volcano, though it might also be considered a modest stratocone. diamond peak forms part of the cascade volcanic arc, a segment of the cascade range. reaching an elevation of 8,748 feet, the mountain is located near willamette pass in the diamond peak wilderness within the deschutes and willamette national forests.

knowing we would not be able to enter the crater lake area from the north (due to roads being closed still from unplowed/unmelted snow), we continued to navigate our way to the annie springs entrance of crater lake national park. mount bailey (another shield volcano, elevation 8,376) soon came into view.

it was a winding, two-lane (slow going at times) path but we finally made it to the national park around noon. fairly hungry, we stopped just short of the ranger station entrance (where there was a line of cars) and ate a quick lunch at annie creek restaurant. lunch was not impressive, but it evidently hit the spot.

after lunch, we paid the $25 entrance fee & then failed in our attempt to check in to our cabin at mazama village (check-in wasn’t until 4pm). we drove a few miles inside the park to the steel visitor center. we looked around at the gift shop there & watched the 22-minute video that explores the park's significance and the lake's volcanic past.

crater lake partially fills a type of volcanic depression called a caldera that formed by the collapse of a 12,000 ft volcano known as mount mazama during an enormous eruption approximately 7,700 years ago. the climactic (caldera-forming) eruption of mount mazama changed the landscape all around the volcano. pyroclastic flows of pumice and ash devastated the surrounding area, including all of the river valleys that drained mount mazama to as far as 40 miles away, and a blanket of pumice and ash fell to the northeast of the volcano at least as far as central canada. erosion removed much of this material, feeding rivers that carried it far from its source, ultimately into the pacific ocean.

the climactic eruption was fed by magma that had accumulated in a chamber about 3 miles below the surface. as the enormous volume of magma (13-15 mi³) was rapidly removed to feed the eruption, the roof of the magma chamber collapsed, forming the bowl-shape depression known as a caldera. the caldera has a diameter of approximately 5 miles north to south and 6 miles east to west, with an approximate depth of 4,000 feet from the caldera rim to the lake floor. pyroclastic flows deposited pumice and ash on all flanks of mount mazama and in valleys below.

the landscape after the eruption was a scene of devastation. geologists have determined that the collapse was a relatively quick event during the eruption, occupying perhaps a few hours or days. all the valleys surrounding the volcano were partially filled with hot pyroclastic flows. the caldera was partly filled with pyroclastic materials and rock debris from its unstable walls. subsequent to the climactic eruption, all volcanic activity has occurred within the caldera itself. renewed volcanism built the postcaldera volcanoes of the central platform, merriam cone, and wizard island.

following the climactic eruption, it took perhaps 250 years of rain and snow accumulation for the caldera to fill to its present-day lake level. the lake level is maintained by a balance between precipitation and evaporation plus seepage. by that time, the postcaldera volcanoes, nearly all of which are hidden beneath the surface of the lake, had finished their eruptions of andesite lava. only a small rhyodacite dome was erupted later, about 5,000 years ago.

studies show that hydrothermal activities are present at the lake floor. chemical analysis of the lake water and hydrothermal studies indicate that warm water enters the lake from the lake bottom. the water is heated by hot rock beneath the fractured caldera floor. scientists are not certain whether any magma still remains underground, but it is likely that mount mazama will erupt again someday.

now that we all knew the history & origination of the lake, we continued a few more miles by car and finally arrived at rim village – where the lake is actually visible. of course, we were all impressed by the beauty of the lake and how blue it was! and we couldn’t have asked for better weather (low 41°/high 78°). it was hard to imagine that there had once been a towering mountain where the lake now resides.

the girls were (perhaps more) excited to see the snow banks piled up and even found icicles on a building’s north-facing porch. little sister spent most of her time walking in the snow, which made both daddy & i quite nervous if she was anywhere remotely close to the caldera’s edge….

we wandered into the lodge at rim village (partly to see inside it and partly to find a restroom) and were impressed by the rustic charm & spectacular views of the lake. this might have been a lodging option for us except there was no vacancy when i booked this trip. we considered making a reservation for dinner there at the lodge’s restaurant, but after viewing the menu and $$$$ prices we agreed it was not for us. we walked back to the rim gift shop and noted that we could probably find something for dinner at the café there.

tired and nearing 4pm, we made the 7-mile drive from rim village back to mazama village. our cabin was now ready, and so we attempted to settle into our room. daddy set up the portable dvd player since there was no tv in the room, but at least we had 2 queen beds and a private bathroom. (unlike the cabins we stayed in while on our way to yellowstone a few years ago…) we lost our phone signal about 30 minutes before arriving to the park, so the girls were starting to go thru technology withdrawals. the wi-fi we were able to join upon check-in did not prove to be very strong so it was still like having no signal at all. the girls played in the piles of snow that were scattered around and entertained one another.

ready for dinner, we first walked to annie creek restaurant because it was closest to our cabin, but seeing that it was the same menu as lunch, we decided to hop in the car and drive back up to rim village café. we took our food to-go and ate back in the cabin while watching a dvd. we settled in for the evening and mentally prepared for our next day’s adventure.

we’re off on another epic roadtrip for our summer vacation! first stop: the pacific northwest via one-way flight. after catching a ride to the airport, we checked our bags and checked in for our 11:55am departure to portland. we grabbed lunch and took it on the plane to make the most use of our 4-hour flight.

it was rainy and a cool 62° when we arrived, so we dug out our hoodies while waiting for the rental car. we were thrilled to be given a 2018 pacifica minivan at the rental counter, with GPS and satellite radio included at no added cost. the girls immediately laid claim to separate rows and we were on our way.

our first stop for the night was eugene, 119 miles south.

around 5:30pm, we made it to our hotel, then went in search of dinner. we drove around the UO campus a bit, which prompted many memories from 20 years ago to start flooding back! we let little sister pick our eating spot (chipotle) and then we made a quick stop at the grocery store for water & snacks for the van. then we drove around campus one more time until we found the UO monument sign.

***here's me in 2000 after having just walked the stage to receive my master's degree - can you tell i was happy to be heading back home to texas soon?!? ;-)