Day 37 Crater Lake

We drove from the Valley of the Rogue State Park over to Crater Lake National Park, driving beside the Rogue River most of the way. When I looked up things to do in the park, the website indicated that some roads would be closed until the snow was cleared, which I assumed was an old notice. But as we entered the park, there was still significant snow off to the side, and a large pile in front of the Visitor Center. I assume a lot of it was snow plowed off to the side during winter that will take a while to melt.

We drove up and parked by the lodge and café and took the dogs out for a short walk and saw our first direct view of the lake. It was stunning, the prettiest view I have seen on the journey so far. It also adds to my “est” items, as Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the USA, at 1,949 feet, 300 feet deeper than number two (Lake Tahoe). We drove further around the rim to Discovery Point and took a few more photos.

We then drove west towards the coast to our campsite at Sunset Bay State Park, near Coos Bay, the hometown of my sister-in-law, Betty. We took a walk to the beach, and Gipper got very excited when he saw the water. Since there were very few people around, we let him off the leash and he ran straight in. This time, Madison finally got the nerve to walk a bit into the water. We walked back to the trailer, hosed off the dogs and settled in.