The Ben Vacation 2015 – Crater Lake

Crater Lake

Ben & Crater Lake

I keep referring to our former vacation 7 year ago as write these posts (hopefully you’re not sick of it), but that trip back in 2008 is the genesis of this trip—it colors much of the things we’ve done so far.  I have also mentioned that Ben chose our destinations for this vacation.  Of all the places we’ve visited over the years, Crater Lake is Ben’s favorite.  Consequently, many of the places we have visited this year were dictated by his true desire to see Crater Lake again.  I guess if Carlsbad Caverns or Arches National Monument had been Ben’s favorite place, we would have traveled there and memories of our 2007 or 2006 vacations would be seeping into my memory banks.  One way or another, I’d be reliving memories of one of our previous vacations.  Actually, as I think about it, the 2008 vacation was the one that almost didn’t happen.

Originally, the plan had been to pair up with the Grahams.  We'd flirted with the idea of going together on vacation in 2007, but we actually were moving forward with plans for 2008.  By that time, my parents were serving their first mission.  Making a pilgrimage to Wyoming wasn’t something I was considering that year (no sense in driving to Cokeville just to say “hi” to the house J), so going together made sense.  As I recall, we had a little over a week time frame to work with and I started thinking about Northern California because it fit within those time parameters.  Plus, there were places in that direction that I’d never seen before (or had been too young to remember seeing).  I recall asking the Grahams if they had ever been to Sequoia National Park.  At the time, I don’t think they had.  We had visited the park and enjoyed our 3 day visit.  Using Sequoia as my springboard, I began searching for other places neither family had visited.  Mount Lassen was chosen because the information I read explained that the area had some similar qualities to Yellowstone—paint pots and minor geysers; not a lot of them, but enough to give the Grahams (who had never been to Yellowstone) the “flavor.”  I had always wanted to see the Redwoods, so that was a no-brainer as far as I was concerned.  As I recall, those were the main places I chose and everyone was in agreement.  I believe I had made a couple of reservations and was starting to put the logistics together when the Grahams had a unexpected expense rise up and bite them and then some other situation came up which unfortunately forced them to pull out of the vacation plans. L  By this time, however, the idea had captured my imagination.  As I reluctantly cancelled their reservations, I also realized I could expand the vacation a bit since I had already taken two weeks off from work.  With this in mind, I began to look for an extra destination, within range of those already chosen, that might be fun to visit; that’s when Crater Lake appeared on my radar.

Wizard Island

I was adding LDS temples along our route to the itinerary when I came across the Medford Oregon Temple.  I didn’t know a temple was located in Medford, but wouldn't you know it, not only was there a temple in Medford, but a national park called Crater Lake wasn't too far away either!  I remember telling Jennifer that I wanted to add it to the itinerary because it seemed like a fascinating place.  Traveling into Oregon would work because it wouldn’t add a huge amount of travel time to the trip.  Medford would serve to fill a gap between our time at Lassen and Crescent City—plus I found a great deal at the local Ramada Inn.  With this last piece of the puzzle, I solidified our final reservations and the vacation was set.  But as July of that year approached and gas prices started soaring toward $5.00 a gallon (I recall the worst fill-up was in the neighborhood of $4.78 somewhere between Redding and Mount Shasta L) and the economy was imploding over the popping housing bubble.  Suddenly, it appeared that it might be better to scrap the whole idea.  Jennifer’s parents had suggested a “local” vacation to save money and I did think about it.  But the more I considered it and prayed about it, the stronger my desire became to execute the plan I’d already made.  The reservations were set, logistics considered and the money (for the most part; the volatile gas prices made it difficult to nail down an exact amount) had been allocated.  As we talked about the plan again one night, Jennifer and I came to the conclusion that we didn’t know when we’d have the opportunity to go on another big vacation (the answer: 5 years) and we might not have another chance to do the things I had planned.  Our final conclusion: why not just go, have fun and make memories?  Based on the memories that keep flooding back to me as we make new memories on this trip, I’m glad we decided to go on that vacation 7 years ago. J

Llao Rock

A view from the east side

So with this “origin story” as a backdrop, this morning we broke camp and drove to Crater Lake.  I've already shown a couple of pictures above, but, honestly, I'm not sure if pictures truly do the lake justice.  It's one thing to see the amazing blue of the water and to wonder at the fact that this lake is found in the caldera of a volcano, but actually seeing one of God's beautiful creations in person surpasses any picture by a hundredfold. J How the lake came to be is interesting in itself.  The theory is that the volcano that once loomed over this area (now called Mount Mazama) had a cataclysmic eruption that blew off the entire top half of the mountain.  Over the next few hundred years, smaller eruptions allowed lava to cover and seal the bottom of the caldera (two cinder cones developed within the caldera during these additional eruptions; one rises above the water and is called Wizard Island, the other is completely covered by the water).  This lava seal has allowed rain and snow run-off to collect and remain within the former volcano.  The vivid color comes because the lake receives its water from the rain and snow melt instead of from streams or river feeders.  The absence of major amounts of sediment clouding the water allows it to reflect the deep blue color back to our eyes and senses.

Pumice Castle

That's the scientific explanation for the lake.  While the “mechanics” of what took place is fascinating, I am reminded that the prophet Alma in the Book of Mormon testified that “all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it” (Alma 30:44).  One of the reasons I have enjoyed taking my family on trips to places like Crater Lake is because of the reaffirmation these have given me of the fact that this world wasn’t created by happenstance.  No coincidental cosmic concocting took place to spin the sun and the solar system into being.  Instead, creation commenced with the great care and calculation as unorganized matter was brought together under the authority and power of the priesthood to create an earth whereon we might dwell.  As a reminder of the planning that took place in creating our mortal habitation, places like Crater Lake were formed that we “might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25) during our sojourn here.  One of the information signs we read at one of our stops stated that the local Native American tribes considered the lake to be a sacred place.  In the scriptures when God does not have a temple to come to, He visits His people in high places; usually mountain tops.  I think this place would definitely qualify.

Phantom Ship

About a third of the way around the lake, we wanted to stop and eat lunch.  Jen and I looked for picnic places, but every time we spotted them they were either occupied or appeared too quickly to notice until it was too late.  Finally, we stopped at a turn-out with a thick rock wall about 4 feet high and I decided to stop there.  We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and passed out bags of chips and snacks (I shared a vegetable package of broccoli, cauliflower and baby carrots I’d purchased in Crescent City with Jen) and sat on the wall.  The terrain sloped downward fairly quickly and our vantage point gave us a nice view of the lake.  It was nice to talk and look out at the water and soak in the ambience of the area.  One of the things I tried to do was find turn-out areas that we had not utilized 7 years ago to try and give us some different perspectives of the lake and this spot definitely qualified. J  After about 30 minutes or so, we cleaned up our trash and continued on our way toward the turn-out near the trail down to the boat docks.

Vidae Falls

One of the things we wanted to do during our first visit to the lake was to go on the boat ride.  A landing has been built on the far west side of the lake and boat excursions leave the dock every 30 minutes to take visitors on about a 2 hour tour of the lake.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize the popularity of these trips and decided to come to the boat ride area in the course of our trip around the lake instead of heading to the dock trail immediately.  By the time we arrived, no more trips were available; all of the rides had been sold out.  This year, I researched the ride again, determining that I would go to the docks directly and then we could slowly make our way around the lake after the boat had returned us to shore.  Two problems immediately faced me as I reviewed the website for the boat tour, 1) the cost per person for the boat tour was $40—a grand total of $160 for the four of us—a bit rich for my blood; especially when I’m trying to keep costs down; and 2) in order to reach the boat docks, the trail we would have to descend and ascend is described as being the equivalent of 70 flights of stairs; with an average staircase having 12 stairs, this would mean Ben (as well as us, but worse for him) would be required to essentially walk down and up 840 stairs. L  As soon as I figured out those numbers, we nixed the whole idea.  As we traveled around the perimeter of the lake, Ben took some pictures of the boats as they traveled over the water.  That will have to do. J

Too Cool

Jen & Ben

We stopped at the picture area for the Phantom Ship and stopped at another turn-out that gave us a view of Pumice Castle.  From there, the road drops away from the lip of the caldera as it heads back toward the visitor’s center.  The last place we stopped was at the Vidae Falls before returning to the lodge.  Returning the the lookout area where we had begun our day, we took a few more pictures and prepared to move on to our next destination: Burns, Oregon.  I nearly made a huge mistake in my planning at this juncture.  My mantra is: always move things forward.  But in my planning, I think I warped back to 2008 and planned to return to Medford after visiting Crater Lake.  The idea worked in 2008 because our next destination at that time was Crescent City, but this time we needed to travel east from Crater Lake; not backtrack.  Two weeks from the time we’re were to leave, I felt prompted to “walk” through all my travel plans and found out that by returning to Medford our next day’s travel would be 14 hours to reach West Yellowstone.  Desperate to remedy my poor planning, I started looking for another place to stay.  The nearest KOAs were located in Bend, Oregon (not far enough along) or Boise, Idaho (too far to travel after leaving Crater Lake).  Burns became a “happy medium” between these two destinations and, after some internet searching; I found a reasonably priced hotel (The Horseshoe Inn) as our place to stay tonight.  As a small reminder of home, we actually connected with highway 395 about 15 miles or so outside of Burns.  The 395 travels through our area and we drive on this road every day.  I knew it wends north all the way to Canada, but it was nice to have a small connection to home.  We arrived at the Inn a few minutes before 10 p.m.  After several days of tents and air mattresses, a room and two queen sized beds were a welcome change of pace. J