Oregon and Northern California Hybrid Road Trip-Day 6

View of the western slopes of Crater Lake National Park

www.dennismook.com is where my images can be found.

Phase II of the trip continued; Sacramento CA to Oregon Coast via a good old automobile-Day 2; Medford, OR to Newport, OR via Crater Lake National Park and the Cascade Range

This morning we arose early, ate a really good fresh cooked breakfast at the Courtyard Hotel (much better than the old buffet they used to have), went out to load up the car and found it was quite cold outside! Again, the day was crystal clear, not a cloud in the sky (it has been that way since our departure last Sunday) and we headed north and east.

We had a very pleasant surprise in that Crater Lake National Park was OPEN!  From what others had told me and from what I had read while doing research, the roads are normally closed due to snow by the first of October.  In fact, two weeks ago, it was closed, but due to the weather, but it reopened!  Much to our delight!

We left out hotel and drove north on Oregon Route 62, which paralleled the Rogue River.  A really scenic drive.  The color yellow was everywhere at the lower elevations.  Higher up, the conifers became the dominant species.  Both types of forests made for some really nice images.

Rogue River

As we ascended up the mountain, we saw a sign for Cascade Gorge so we quickly turned in and our effort was paid off well.  We saw the upper part of the Rogue River squeezed into a gorge, about 30 ft. deep and, in some places, only a couple of feet wide.  By the way, the thermometer in the rental car showed it was 37 degrees F outside!  After about 15 minutes of making images, both single and three HDR sets (for non-photographers, when one encounters a scene with more contrast than a digital camera's sensor can record, the photographer makes several exposures of exactly the same scene, not moving the camera, only with different settings so they can be later merged together and capture the entire range of tones from the high contrast subject), my fingers were getting cold!

From there we made the several mile trip continuing up the mountain to Crater Lake National Park.  We were glad we did as yesterday, we weren't sure whether or not we would go so far off our planned route and detour inland 75 or so miles.  As I exclaimed at the time when I first looked over the side of the caldera's cliff--unbelievable!

Oregon Forest

According to the literature, Crater Lake is the cleanest natural water source in the world. Also, it is the deepest lake in America. We stayed and we both made images for almost an hour, just in a few places around the south rim.

We proceeded on the West Rim Road as the East Rim road was already closed.  We traveled up and around the crater to the north side of the rim, stopping and looking along the way.

If you every have an opportunity to visit, do so. Don't hesitate. You won't be sorry for making the drive.  I would love to see it covered in snow! By the way, the ranger said they average 44 ft. of snow a winter!  The poles along side the roads to mark the road's edge are not just poles, they are small pine trees about 20 ft. tall.  Unique.

After we left Crater Lake N.P., we headed east, then north, then west on Oregon Route 58. The sky was blue, the weather was nice and the trip though the forests was pleasant.  There has to be hundreds of thousands of square miles of forests in the American NW that no man has ever set foot upon.  I suspect, for the animals that inhabit the forest, the known ones and the unknown ones, it hasn't changed in thousands of years.

Upper Area of the Cascade Gorge

As we neared Eugene, all of a sudden, a fog bank could be seen ahead.  From about 9 miles east of I-5, the blue sky disappeared and the sky was covered in a very heavy cloud (fog) layer and the day turned really dreary.  We proceeded on to Newport, Oregon where we would stay for the next two nights.  On Saturday, we will go north and visit as much of the coast as possible.  We have done a lot of research and have several things in mind.  We will return to Newport Saturday night, then head south on Sunday morning, exploring the southern Oregon coast.

By the way, we had a terrific meal at Georgie's Beachside Grille, right on the ocean.  It was recommended to us by the young man at the hotel's front desk and he was spot on!  Excellent food, plenty of it and great staff.

Thanks for looking.  Enjoy!

Dennis Mook


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