Wanderlust - Day Two

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Day 2:

We didn't sleep that great on Saturday night. More like a series of catnaps as opposed to deep sleep. Turns out the tent was on a slight slope. We slid down towards the entrance of the tent and a little to the side. Only one venture to the facilities was needed during the night and Troubadour graciously donned his headlamp and escorted me. It was 3:30 am and the darkness had me a little freaked out so I didn't want to go alone.

We finally got up at 6:30. It was a balmy 48˚F.

Troubadour started another fire and put some water in the Jetboil for tea/coffee. That was followed by hot water for oatmeal for breakfast. I made small Ziploc bags of oats, cranberries, slivered almonds and cinnamon all mixed up before we left so we just needed to pour a bag in a bowl and add a cup of water. Ta da, a hot breakfast. We brought a few honey packages with us too to put in coffee so we were able to drizzle some honey on the oatmeal. Sorry no pics, too hungry.

After breakfast we tidied up, brushed our teeth, and decided to go for a quick walk to the Rogue Gorge. It was 0.3 miles from our campsite. The trail paralleled the highway.

The Rogue Gorge forms a chasm 500 feet long. 410,000 gallons of water per minute flow through the gorge. Enough to fill an Olympic size swimming pool - every minute.

According to the interpretive signs: On the flat surfaces of the lava flow the trees live as a group and their root systems grow together for survival and the sharing of nutrients. That is how stumps can be living and bark will grow over the wound from the cut.

We took a few more pictures before heading back to camp.

Troubadour took this picture of me as I was climbing over rocks and logs to get the above picture of the bridge.

We returned to the campsite, packed up our tent and bedrolls, put on our riding gear and headed out. We had to ride 10 miles South to Prospect for fuel. We found out while there that Mazama Village at Crater Lake had fuel. Doh! Oh well, it was only an extra 20 miles there and back out of our way. Good excuse for some extra miles on a cool, sunny morning in the mountains.

A bit of background on Crater Lake taken from their newspaper handout: " It is the deepest lake in the United States. It is fed by rain and snow, but no rivers and streams. The lake is considered to be the cleanest large body of water in the world. The lake rests inside a caldera formed 7,700 years ago when a 12,000 foot tall volcano collapsed following a major eruption. It may have been the largest eruption in North America in the last 640,000 years. The park was established in 1902 and it encompasses 183,000 acres. The lake is 1,943 feet deep and 4.5 to 6 miles wide. Annual snowfall is 44 feet. This last year was above average and Crater Lake saw over 50 feet of snow. The last time the lake froze over was 1949."

We arrived at Crater Lake at the South entrance and paid our entrance fee of $5 each.

We proceeded clockwise at the suggestion of RickRick since he had been there before.

Our first stop was just after the turn onto Rim Drive West.

This is the one time that the new Canon camera had us frustrated. We wanted to use the panoramic feature/stitch assist. We were able to switch it over to program and find the feature, but it just kept taking pictures. Rather than doing 3 in a row and stitching them we gave up after 8 pictures. We couldn't figure out what magic button to press to actually stop taking pictures and stitch them. I think I need to plug the disk into the computer and see if it tells me. The darn things don't come with a paper manual anymore.

Back on the bikes and around the rim we went. There were a lot of bicycles on the roadway as well as a lot of vehicles. The road itself was pretty good. A couple of tight turns at the beginning, but no worse than going up the Alsea twisties here. Troubadour set a nice a 35 mph pace after that. Some bumps and frost heaves and the occasional crack or pothole in the road but pretty good..

Here are some more pictures from Rim Drive:

Troubadour was cheeky and took a picture of me in his mirror while I was taking a picture of the lake in my mirror.

We were surprised to find a hillside of snow. It seemed out of place by the meadows of wildflowers.

And Troubadour decided to play a little.

The highest point around Rim Drive is just over 7600 feet in elevation. And at one viewpoint the mosquitoes were so bad we were glad we had on full gear. They were thick and persistent. Who knew they'd be pests way up there.

Back on the bikes we made it to the point of beginning. We needed to ride part of the loop again so that we could head out the North entrance/exit and up to Highway 138 towards Diamond Lake.

The lake was pretty, but we were happy to be leaving the tourists behind. It was mid afternoon and we still had to ride home. It was a swift ride to Diamond Lake for petrol and then East on Highway 138 to Roseburg. There were a few sections of road construction. The longest being 14 miles. There was some grooved pavement, a small stretch of gravel, sunken grades and more. The lower we descended in elevation the hotter it was getting. At one point Troubadour pulled over at a campground so that we could rehydrate and have a snack.

Finally we arrived in Roseburg. Luckily Troubadour has searched the GPS for the closest Starbucks and soon we were there. He found some shade and I went inside to use the facilities and purchase some nice cold yummy coffees. Troubadour pulled out the laptop and we were able to rest for a few minutes, cool off and catch up on some things happening at home.

We decided Max could make it to Veneta for fuel, same route as the way we took home from Wolf Creek. We needed to do a quick stretch of I-5 to get to our exit that would take us over to the west side and Territorial Highway. We ended up exiting one exit too early, but it was just a minor 8-10 mile detour and we were happy to be off I-5.

We arrived at the Shell station in Veneta with no troubles. Troubadour pulled up in some shade sideways in a parking spot and I followed. Then he moved his bike to park it properly over one spot. I didn't have enough energy at this point to move my bike. I shut it off and said 'screw it'. I was only taking up one stall and not over any lines.

I went inside for some cold drinks and we relaxed a bit. Refreshed, I had no problem moving my bike after our rest. We got back on the bikes, I filled up Max with petrol and we booked it for home. We were racing the dark at this point. We finally pulled in the driveway at 8:38 pm. I was worn out and tired, but exhilarated as I had done my first 300 mile day. Where to next? I think he's created a monster.

Things I learned on Day 2:

1) When placing your helmet on your right mirror and it is hooked up to your radio, make sure when you go to put your helmet on that you have not inadvertently turned your heated grips on to high. This is especially daunting when you have hand guards so the grips do not cool off very quick and it is a hot summer day. Oh yeah and you aren't wearing summer gloves, but winter Aquasports.

2) You may not like starting your bike on hills, but after stopping around a lake several times coming and going, you get used to it awful quick. You even get better at it.

3) If there is one feature you are really looking forward to using on your new camera, make sure you know how to use it properly before you leave on your trip.

4) When people tell you that your cornering will get better with practice, it is true. My cornering speeds have really improved after our last two trips. (1,000 miles)

5) Spouses make the best travel companions.

And on that note I say "Happy 15th Anniversary" to my wonderful husband Troubadour. How does that song go? "I love you more today than yesterday......"

Our Anniversary was actually yesterday, but I didn't have this post drafted in time. Here is a picture from our wedding day: August 10, 1996. We eloped at the Colonial Wedding House in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

- Au Revoir

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." ~ Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

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