Twenty-four Hours Later

View of Sun Notch

After our hike up Mount Thielsen one of us could barely make it uphill to the bathroom facilities much less get back to camp going downhill.  The decision was made that the next morning we'd drive over to Crater Lake National Park.  We could not hike at Crater because of Cooper...no pets more than 50 feet from paved surface and NO PETS ON TRAILS.  He became our excuse for a day of slacking off...it wasn't the knee or calf pain, really.

View of the Phantom Ship

So blue

Mt Bailey, Diamond Lake & Mt Thielsen

Unfortunately, the very first overlook was slightly uphill.  We made it up to the edge pretty well and took in our first view of the water down in the Crater.  It was  awesome.  The color is absolutely the most stunning clear blue.   It appeared to be totally clear although there seemed to be pollen floating on its surface.  After hobbling back down the hill we drove east on Rim Drive stopping at all of the overlooks.  Thankfully each and every stop the rest of the day was flat.  No hills to climb or descend for which my body was grateful.   It was such a clear day that we could see Mount Bailey, Diamond Lake, and Mount Thielsen off to the North.  Still cannot believe that we climbed Thielsen...neither can the knees.

The resulting flower shot

Stretching for flower shot

Cindi decided she'd show off a bit by stretching out to get her 'perfect shot' of the crater's blue water and a patch of flowers.  She later took off up a hillside to take pictures of even more flowers along with a nice waterfall.  At least one of us could climb up a hill and make it back down.  Personally I was thankful that the waterfall was right off the parking area.  Vidae Falls is a beautiful water fall that tumbled down 100 feet of various rock ledges.  We took quite a number of photos and even dropped back by it when the sun moved off the water to take more dramatic shots.

Falls and flowers

Vidae Falls

Dramatic shot

Did Dr. Suess plant these?

Since we'd been in the area longer than our food supply we headed off to find a grocery store to restock.  Guess what else we discovered?  Ice cream...poor Cooper got only a taste of waffle cone.  On the return trip back to Crater and Diamond Lake we noticed that the day had became rather hazy...or smokey.  We never smelled smoke, but the views to the west were diminished by the haze during the late afternoon. 

What are these?