Day Drive On Hwy. 138 To Crater Lake

                                      Wednesday 7/11/2012

After our day drive on Hwy. 126 from Eugene, we went back to Davis Cabinets, to see how things were going. The owner Shaun, came out and told us that there was a mix up and the cabinet maker accidentally made all our cabinets in oak. We have maple wood in our coach. He said all the cabinets would have to be made over. He brought one of the piece's in, and put it in place, so we could make sure we liked how it was going to look.

                                     Wednesday 7/11/2012

This is a picture between Junction City and Eugene. While staying in Junction City, we made many trips to Eugene for groceries and such. Eugene is the 2nd largest city in Oregon. Eugene sits at the southern end of the Willamette Valley. This area is surrounded by mountains on the east, south and the west. Eugene slogan is, " A Great City For Arts and Outdoors". It also has the highest grass pollen count in the US and is the grass seed capitol of the world.

We decided to take a couple of days on the road without the Nest . We took Hwy. 5 south to Roseburg, OR. then turned east on Hwy. 138. We wanted to see Crater Lake before we left Oregon, and would have taken the Nest, if it had been economically to our advantage. Unfortunately, it was going to be cheaper to leave it behind, since Crater Lake was in the opposite direction of our route and we were going to be climbing to a much higher elevations. We left our Nest with Davis Cabinets, so they could get all the work done while we were gone.

Heading east toward the Cascade Mountains.

We were told Hwy. 138 was a scenic route, so we planned to make some stops on the way. Our first stop was at the Colliding Rivers Viewpoint.in the Umpqua National Forest.

It was a very short drive off of Hwy. 138.

Little River to the south collides with North Umpqua River, to the north. The river eventually empties into the Pacific Ocean at Reedsport, OR.

When we first arrived at this spot, I saw a guy jump from the cliffs. Then two different guys climbed to the top. It took both of them some time to mustered up the courage to jump into the rivers. I can understand why! One wrong jump could be deadly.

This guy jumped just before we headed back to the car. The other soon followed.

We continued east on Hwy. 138 for a while, and made another stop to get another view of North Umpqua River.

I convince Joe to make another stop at the Susan Creek Falls Trail. It is really hard to get Joe to stop and smell the roses. He always wants to get to his destination, and forgets to enjoy the journey along the way. He also is always so busy going to SEE, that he forgets to go and DO. He told me that I need to take the bull by the horn, and tell him, "this is what we are doing", if I want change. That is what I did to get this trail in for the day.

 The trail is very short and easy at .8 miles one way.  At least we got a little exercise! A sign stated that the Susan Creek Falls has a 50 foot drop.

We think this is Eagle Rock, because it was right next to Eagle Rock Campground in the Umpqua National Forest, as you drive along Hwy. 138.

We made very poor time because we had to stopped several times for road construction along Hwy. 138. I think you would make better time on the weekend with all the traffic verse during the week with the construction. We reached 5000 feet.

We stopped at Diamond Lake, which is just north of Crater Lake. Mt. Bailey in the distance at 8,363.

Diamond Lake is a natural lake and is 3.5 miles long and 1.5miles wide. It didn't seem as clear as most mountain lakes.

As we headed east we could see Mt. Thielsen that stands at 9,182.

We took Hwy. 230 SW, because I found a marker for Crater Rim Viewpoint on the atlas. It was suppose to be just a few miles on Hwy 230. We went about 10 miles and never found it, so we headed back. More road construction.

On Hwy. 230 we hit the summit of 5415.

I wished I had cleaned my windshield for this picture.

Our detour to Hwy. 230, in hunt for the Crater Rim Viewpoint, did give us a great view of Mt.Thielsen, that we would have other wise missed, as we headed back to Hwy. 138.

I guess the 10 miles detour was worth it after all. Just wish we could have found the Crater Lake Viewpoint also. Maybe it was a trail?

We arrived into the Crater Lake National Park. The entrance fee into the park was $10, which is $10 less than most National Parks. Of course we used our annual National Park pass and got in for free. It has been all profit since Yosemite National Park.

As you enter Crater Lake National Park from the north, you go through a valley that is devoid of much plant life. Joe said he read that this is because of the volcanic rocks that came through here thousands of years ago that created Crater Lake.

The weather had been much warmer from the time we left the coast and went inland to Junction City and Eugene, but in Crater Lake you will find snow even in July.

We decide to park and climb a snow mound before we continued our Crater Lake National Park visit.

Even with snow it was a warm day in Crater Lake National Park.

I can't decide which scares me more, those skinny legs or that snow balls! ( Long time joke between Joe and myself- and don't go thinking I was mean to say that- it was  Joe's idea for a punch line)