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Going light and fast around the Crater Lake
Three weeks after our meeting it was time to leave town
with our gear loaded into the back of the van, direction south,
destination parking lot at the Crater Lake Lodge. It was mid May, the
rim road still covered under a solid layer of snow, in certain areas 15 feet
thick of heavy Cascade snow. The trip was
challenged by other factors as well, like Walter is well known for
notoriously breaking 20 year old cross country skis on day trips around
town, and
other material failures of his like skating poles or dead headlamp batteries. But
we are good in improving and making the best out of every situation. The
big surprise came on our departure day, he showed up with some spanking
brand new fish-scaled Rossignol cross country skis, unbreakable carbon
fiber reinforced nordic ski poles (big thanks to Shaun!) and some classic
vintage Asolo Extreme model year 1982. Walter noted with a grin, they are really
broken in, but his foot grew in the past 25 years, but what the heck!
We had a couple pit stops along our drive south on Hwy 97. I developed an urge for ice cream thus a layover at
Trader Joe's in Bend was in the planning, Walter needed some late lunch,
and a sandwich shop came in handy around Joe's neighborhood. The drive
continued south to the little town of Chiloquin turning off from the California
- Dalles Highway and going back north towards Fort Klamath. Remembering
from my last trip in the summer, this is the last settlement before
reaching the National Park, last chance to fill up on groceries and gas. The
local general store accepted only hard cash for the needed gas, we have
thrown our last remaining dollars together in hope we can make it in and
out of the park for 27 bucks. Our request for meat, like a nice fresh local
raised eastern Oregon piece of steak, the friendly lady referred us to Joe's Motel
across the street, guaranteed organic, and be aware of the $9 frozen burger patties!.
We altered over to the other side, entered the nice building
and browsed through Joe's freezer. No single piece of organic steak under
$20, frozen burger patties a little less. Fortunately the meat was frozen
very deep, to some -20F and we could use that as a good excuse to pass on the
purchase. Walter sorted through the beer cooler and he went for some
organic brew, not cheap but still under $2 per pint. So we left the store
planning for having only "brotzeit" and a couple beers that
evening.
The daylight vanished, leaving a beautiful sunset sky
to the west, temperatures declining below freezing point are calling for
the night. Walter decided to make bivouac on top of a little knoll above
the rim to catch the morning sunrise, I preferred to crash in the van in
hope of a more comfortable final night before our outing. The next morning
was spectacular as expected, thin crust layers of ice floating on the
mirror like waters of the lake, warm morning colors in the sky when the
sun rose above the horizon and signs of late spring in the air with the
chirping of many birds in the gnarly old growth trees surrounding our
camp. Not sure why it took us over 2 hours to pack the gear into our packs
in order to leave, maybe the spectacular nature scenery, laziness or just
being out of practice since the last backcountry adventure. The plan was
to start our ski trip at the ranger station and going counter clockwise
around the lake.
While asking for a place to park the van, we learned about the need for a backcountry permit for overnight parking and for
camping a night out in
the National Park. The friendly ranger helped us to fill out the
documents, gave us a few tips and wished us well. Finally at 9 AM we hit the door and on skis breaking trail.
A few minutes into our 2 day trip Walter mumbled
something about his heels blistering up already. An hour
later the fact was obvious, a quarter sized blister started to grow,
wisely he brought several packs of moleskin to tape the irritated spots.
Even surgery on his vintage Asolo's had to be done in the hope making it
a little bit more comfortable, but the cutting of the liner was not such a
great success. As painful as it was there was no solution to this
problem, he had to go through, and most of the time the incredible scenery
let him forget about the trouble and pain (I hope).
High above Danger Bay, the rim road comes close
to the edge of the crater for the first time was our chosen lunch spot.
The Phantom Ship, a little rock island formed by tall rock pinnacles was
to our left and across the lake the massive vertical shear walls of Liao
Rock marked the northern rim of this massive volcanic crater. The south
side of Crater Lake is formed by rugged and steep mountains with shear
cliffs towards the lake and deep valleys on the opposite sides. The road follows
the contour of the mountains moving away from the lake for a mile or two, turning
around and leading back to the rim. There are 3 of these switch-back turns to
travel before the road, which lies under a thick snowpack is following
more the actual rim and staying close to it.
Later in the afternoon we reached the top of Cloudcap,
a 8065 feet tall mountain, our high point on this circumnavigation. We descended
on it's north side through steep wooded terrain to an area known as Clover
Cove. We found spectacular places high above the cove making ideal camp
spots. Already tired from carrying the heavy backpacks, high midday
temperatures around 78F causing sun strokes and de-hydration as well as
difficult snow conditions for traversing we inhaled the spectacular beauty
of Crater Lake for some time in the warming afternoon sun from a viewpoint
along the rim road. In favor of shortening the following day's travel
distance we decided to make an other mile and a half before pitching down
for camp near Roundtop. We found a little viewpoint like a crow's nest on
top of a cliff, a half round masonry wall high above the water became our
shelter for the night. The surrounding area was snow free, a nearby snow patch
worked out as the source for melting water and an old tree further inland was
just right to hang our food supplies bear proof off the ground on a thin
string.
Enjoying the setting evening sun, preparing dinner, sorting
gear, taking photographs and just relaxing was the activity for the rest
of the day. After sunset Walter and I opened our half-liter beer beverage
(Carlsberg Elephant), cheered to the excellent trip we undertook and
witnessed the fading daylight and rising stars on the western sky. We
observed shooting stars, satellites and cruising jet airliners flying
north and south. The only animals out that evening were some bats
flattering above our heads and disappearing in the dark. Soon after the
malt beverage was gone we crawled into our warm sleeping bags and fell
asleep. In the middle of the night a loud grumbling and crashing
interrupted our sleep. It must have been a huge avalanche with massive rock fall
going down into the lake. We could hear falling rock and snow for some
time until the night became silent again.
The second day surprised us again with warm
temperatures and unfortunately the snow surface did not freeze overnight. It was pleasant to wake up with that, but
skiing conditions suffered from soft to almost rotten snow. We had passages
fighting ankle deep snow. Skiing was very energy
consuming, calling for a 2nd breakfast only an 1 hour and a half after
leaving camp. This breakfast was hearty, beef stew and chicken with rice
was on the menu at around 10 AM. We also boiled plenty of water to quench
our thirst.
The trail along the north side of the rim leads through
a thick forested area, hiding the view towards the lake, but allowing some
spectacular outlooks to the north over to Mount Thielsen, Baily and
Diamond Lake in the near distance, further out the 3 Sisters and Mt.
Washington are icons on the horizon.
Skiing became a monotone exercise, robbing energy,
causing pain on Walter's heels and building hope to reach the Lodge soon.
An other hour passed and we finally escaped the forest. At the junction of
the rim road and north entrance road the heavy snow removal equipment of
the park service was parked on that Sunday. The road is in progress of being plowed and a
10 feet average depth channel has been carved into the snow pack from the
lodge to here. The pavement in this section is already passable for
vehicles but closed to the public until the work is completed, estimated by
the beginning of July. We had to take our skis off for a while and walk
along the paved road, deep down below the snow surface. Some spots reaching
the heights
of 19 feet or even more. A tough part of our travels has been encountered in this
section, already tired after skiing over 20 miles, the radiant heat rising
from the pavement, hungry and thirsty, and still 10 more miles to go. The
only hope we had for the last section of our trip, that most of the
remaining distance does travel over level ground and contouring the knolls
on the west side. Grinding our teeth, telling jokes or just staring at the hot
and black pavement below our ski boots, we carried ourselves through all
the mental challenge which at that point overtook the physical pain. After
traversing Watchman Peak, our motivation got boosted, now back on skis,
faster snow and slightly downhill we saw the lodge moving towards us. A
couple people hiking along the plowed road were the first humans we have
seen since we left yesterday morning. A while later after some short ups and
downs we dove into the crowd at the lodge parking lot. Maybe 15 people,
but after being out there in quiet nature for some 24 hours it seemed very
crowded.
We passed by the closed lodge, actually skiing across the back
porch and over the wide open flat meadows behind the building, we reached
our last obstacle before closing the loop. To reach the visitor center we
had to ski a 1000
foot drop through old growth forest, actually not so bad to ski today in this
rotten snow followed by a few yards in the flats down below and at 4PM sharp we
reached the car again. Tired but happy.
Sunrise and Wizard Island ^
Above Danger Bay, absolute calm weather creates surreal
mirror images ^
No shortage on snow in mid May, Walter dwarfed by a
cornice ^
Absolute no air movement ^
Sunset in mirror ^
Breakfast with a view ^
Road maintenance in progress ^
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