Crater Lake day #2

After sleeping in, we got in the car and headed downhill, out of the park where Oso was welcome (sorry to complain so much about dogs not being allowed in National Parks, but its our blog, so deal with it).  Robbie stopped by a ranger station and found a handful of things for us to spend the day doing.  The first trail was pleasant and went along the Rouge River before ending at some huge boulders and a waterfall.  The ranger had said the other hike nearby just gave you a different view of the falls so we almost moved on but decided to check it out just in case.

It was true that it did offer a view downstream of the falls we had seen earlier, but after taking the right at a fork in the trail we found a massive waterfall just shooting out of the hillside.  Again, pictures do not do its beauty justice.  It was a very steep trail down that was interesting to tackle with an eager dog but being at the bottom of the falls literally took your breath away (Robbie thinks the word “literally” is overused, but it really was hard to breathe next to the pounding water and mist).  We also had perfect timing and had the entire base of the waterfall all to ourselves for at least 20 mintues so we could take all of the amazing pictures we wanted and Oso could frolick around in the mist and moss-covered landscape.

Here the Rouge River (which is roaring this time of year due to the snowmelt) dives into an old lava chute and roars underground for 200 feet.  The ranger told us how people and animals used to get sucked in until they updated the surrounding area and put in fences everywhere.  It is easy to see why and again (we will probably be saying this a lot over the road trip) the pictures do not do it justice.  Hundreds of thousands of gallons of 38 degree water was just rushing into a relatively small opening and then shooting out downriver.  Crazy stuff.

After surviving the water tube of death we got a huge ice cream cone and headed back into Crater Lake National Park.  We figured since we were sleeping in the shadow of this former mountain that exploded 7,000 years ago and left a beautiful natural wonder in its place we should check it out.  Again, TPDNDIJ (the pictures do not do it justice).  The water is like glass and is such a deep blue color it is insane.  Eventually we made it back to our campsite after a long day and played some games while dealing with tons of mosquitoes that are apparently breeding in the melting snow surrounding our tent.  Whew, that was an action packed day.  Goodnight.