| Campground: | Diamond Lake (site G29, nps.gov) |
| Total Distance: | 765 Miles |
| Traveled today: | 262 Miles |
| Key highlights: | Road 97 to OR (beautiful), Refresh in Klamath Falls, Clear Water Falls (road 138), White Horse Falls (road 138). Crater Lake in the Snow. |
Here comes the rain again. An unexpected late spring storm hit northern California and southern Oregon with a dramatic temperature drop
from 100F two days ago to 50F when we woke up in McCloud Falls. Despite the heavy clouds – road 97 to Oregon was beautiful.
The destination for the day was Crater Lake – a long-anticipated visit to this fantastic national park (after we missed it last year due to the snow)
As we got closer, the clouds at the top of the mountain were dense, and the lovely lady at the Crater Lake visitor center who answered our call advised
that there was no visibility. We almost aborted our original plan – and started heading towards Bend. a Last-minute inspiration of wisdom had us decide to detour and check our
The planned campsite for the night – was the Diamond Lake Campground. It took us one look to decide to stay. On the other side of the road, across the
campground gate – we entered small and resourceful tourist information operated by an older couple that was very enthusiastic about
the area. Their advice for the weather was to see the falls on the road 138. Last week, rain was setting the falls to flow at their peak water
capacity in years. …”Yet,”- the lady in the tourist info said- “if you came all the way here to see a national park, go there –
even in the clouds- there is always something to see”. We started to see the temperature dropping to 39F as we began to explore road 138, visiting 2
of its beautiful eastern falls. Ruti had her 2nd moment of inspiration of the day – and we decided to change the plan again – and try our luck
getting into Crater Lake. The 10-mile climb to the rim exceeded all expectations and was the day’s highlight. The snow was falling
from mile 3, and snowfall accelerated the higher we went as the temperature dropped to 30F (feels like 23F). The edge of the crater’s rim was the
only thing we could see, view-wise – but the snow formation and atmosphere made it a memorable visit. We head back to Diamond Lake. Site G29 is a fantastic site- just on the water (and 300 feet from a pizza house we did not try). Despite the cold, cold, cold weather – the outdoor grilled burgers were closing another great day.