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?

What Happened to Posting?

Well we've been camping since Monday on Diamond Lake near Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.  We thought we'd only be here a day or so...wrong!  So many hikes and fantastic weather.  The campground has everything including showers...only missing Wi-Fi.

So posts are going to be late...have posted a few shots on Facebook though since we do have 3G.  That's amazing considering the nearest grocery is over 50 miles away.

Mount Thielsen

Mt Thielsen ahead

After a couple of days hiking to water falls today was The Day.  From the first day of our arrival to Diamond Lake we noticed Mount Thielsen.  We found out that it was an extinct volcano and that there existed a trail all the way up to the peak.  One of the summer interns told us that 'the adventurous can hike all the way to the peak'.  He added that a rope would be helpful for the last 200 yards or so...that's when he lost Cindi.  'No way' was her reply to going to the top. 

A little rub here

We headed out a bit later than planned, but hit the mountain at 9:30 AM.  At the 2 mile mark we were feeling pretty good.  Our time wasn't too shabby considering the elevation.  Cooper was doing his part carrying most of the water.  Since he was such a good sport we let him cool off in the first batch of snow we found on the trail.  He loved it a bit too much.

A bit more there

One more spot needs dirt

Devastation

On we went hiking through sections of forest that had been devastated by something...at the time we had no idea what had knocked almost all of the trees down.  One side of the mountain had been hit hard...later we found out that a huge summer storm had hit the area.  It looked like Richmond after Hurricane Irene a few years ago.   Once past the downed trees we once again entered the forest of large trees. 

It's getting closer

Where did he go?

The trail continued up and started getting more difficult as we headed toward the tree line.  Cindi and Cooper stopped just before reaching it.  The trail was getting more difficult...rocky and footing was getting somewhat 'slippery'.  I continued on towards the top.  While I headed up Cindi and Cooper entertained themselves best they could:

Yellow snow

Flies

Naptime

Bill's between the 2 top bushes

Crazy shoeless people

At one point a father and son stopped to ask Cindi for a band-aid...the son was wearing crocs and had a blister.  Bad news on this hike.  Later I noticed this kid walking in only his socks...all of us were wondering what was up with him.  On our trip down the duo passed by us at the end of the trail...both in their bare feet!  We wonder sometimes about people.

Only 200 feet away

I tried really hard to get all the way to the peak.  The last 200 feet was just not possible without a rope.  People claimed that you could climb hand over hand up the face of the peak, but I was unwilling to risk it.  The scree was like boarding on snow...heading down was a lot of sliding and reaching for the ground to try and maintain some balance.   The views were spectacular, but 24 hours later my knees were not quite sure it was worth it.

 

Views

More views

Trail down

Not alone

Diamond Lake and Mt Bailey

Three Sisters

                       





As it turns out this hike was the longest we've ever done...Cindi and Cooper managed 8.5 miles at a elevation of 8400 feet.  My hike was a mile or so longer and over 9000 feet.



*click pictures to enlarge

It's Been Awhile, but We've Been Busy

In the trees

It's been a long time since we've posted hasn't it?  Miss us?  Probably not, but we've been super busy since the last time we had Wi-Fi.  We somehow were able to get 3G and a phone signal while in Diamond Lake Campground...weird, but true so a few posts went up on Facebook while we were 'roughing it'.

We left Seattle over a week ago and headed towards  Crater Lake National Park.   Crater was on 'the list' of places we felt we should visit since we were "close".  After driving on yet another Scenic Byway we landed at Diamond Lake, OR.  Literally.  We never thought we'd stay over a week in one spot, but we did.  The weather has been absolutely perfect since we arrived in Oregon...low to mid 70's to 80's and nights have been pretty cool in the mid to upper 40's.  Before the computer batteries ran dry we wrote about our first few days...here's what we've been up to:

Arrival Day 7/23/2012

We had not figured we’d be in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains past one day much less eight.  We had been looking for a drier area since leaving Seattle and Mt. Rainier behind on Sunday.  After spending the night in Portland, OR our sights were set on a scenic highway to Crater Lake National Park and the surrounding Umpqua National Forest in the Cascade Range.  It was chosen mainly due to the local weather forecast…mid 80’s with low’s mid 40’s and ZERO percent chance of rain.  It has been dead on correct with bright blue skies since our arrival and it’s supposed to remain so for the next 10 days.   Not sure we'll ever leave.

Cooper and Cindi's Mornin' Coffee

We pulled into Diamond Lake Campground late in the day.  It’s a very pretty lake with snow-capped Mount Bailey across the lake from the campground.  After wandering a bit we picked out our site by the lake and set up camp.   Once that was done we decided to make our neighbor Tom jealous by sending out a picture of us enjoying a Foster’s Extra Special Bitter in the late day sunshine.  Who could resist.

As the sun got a bit lower we discovered the second most hungry mosquitoes of the trip…tops still go to the Beartooth, WY ones.  We decided that in order not to be entirely covered in bites we’d need to use our screens on the canopy.  Thank goodness we decided to bring them along so we could enjoy our evenings without the smell of Deep Woods Off.

Day 2- 7/24/2012

Today we discovered that the area we've chosen is chock full of waterfalls.  Who knew?  After our breakfast we headed out to see what kind of hikes were available.  Thankfully the Ranger had several brochures...but honestly who can resist the “Thundering Waters” brochure.  The surrounding area boasts over 24 water falls…located on the Row River, North Umpqua River, Little River or South Umpqua River.  Today we hiked two:  Toketee Falls and Fall Creek Falls.  Tomorrow our plan is to hike Grotto Falls and at least 2 more in that vicinity.
 

Toketee Falls

 'prevention device'

Our first hike today was a really short warm up hike for us…at only ½ mile it was a fairly flat, easy hike along the water.  The picture we had in “Thundering Waters” was sad to say misleading.  It looked as if we could hike out to the base of the falls.  Nope…well if you had a death wish you could probably get all the way down the mountain side and climbed out.  Maybe.  The trail took us through an old-growth forest along the North Umpqua River.  After getting past the 200 steps we arrived at an overlook from which you could see the falls, but not really tell that it dropped over a sheer wall.  That was a shame because the brochure’s picture showed the rock face and surrounding greenery.   Sadly from our perch above you could not appreciate its true beauty.

Toketee Falls

 

Tight fit for 2

Don't look up

The next hike took us further down the road to Fall Creek Falls.  The hike was over a mile through more old growth forest.  Massive trees, huge ferns and some type of moss were all along the creek and trail.  Very lush feeling exactly how we imagined a rain forest.  The trail passed through a very narrow crevice and opened up as it ascended up the mountain side.  The actual water fall reminded us of Cascades out in Giles County, VA…same basic shape, but not quite as wide with far larger trees.

Fall Creek Falls

He'd rather jump it!

Cooper needs help

At this point Cooper decided that he needed to dip his toes in the cold water at the waterfall’s base…except the crazy dog wouldn’t actually go for a true swim.  The trail wandered all the way to the top of the falls and once again we tried to get Cooper swimming in the deep pool.  The dog figured out he could go around the edges rather than swim across so Bill took off his socks and shoes to drag Crazy into the water.  Coop must be missing that particular Lab gene because after 2 swims he figured out he could leap to shallow water.   He’s still fascinated by the creeks, lakes and rivers just not so much when he can’t feel the bottom.

Happy Hour was spent once again on the shore of Diamond Lake looking across to Mount Bailey's snowy top…a perfect ending to our blue sky day.

Day 3  7/25/2012

Rainforest hike

Another day another set of waterfalls…Yasko and Grotto.  These were quite a distance away from our camp site.  As we were heading down the road we came up with our new motto:  "the journey is the destination."  It seems a good way to explain our love of driving back roads…or any road really.  We seem to discover something entertaining or interesting on all the roads we travel.

Timber

Today’s road out followed along the Umpqua River until we reached Glide, OR.  We drove out 16 more miles when we hit the National Forest Road which surprisingly was paved for a few miles before becoming gravel.  It went through a good portion of recently cut timber…and almost got ourselves clobbered by a lumberjack and his HUGE delimber.  He was so busy he did not notice our presence.  Thankfully we noticed him.

Huge trees

Yasko Falls

Finally we reached our first destination at the Lake-in-the- Woods campground…Yasko Falls.  The map claimed it to be a moderate ¾ mile hike which seemed simple enough.  The trail moved through yet another old growth forest of huge trees.  Virginia does not grow these behemoths…wow, no way could we take a chain saw to them.  It was an absolutely beautiful trail- various flowers, ferns, mosses and so much green.  The trail ended at the bottom of a 60 foot waterfall which cascaded down a set of huge boulders.  It looked like thousands of miniature falls all hitting the pond below.

Swimming finally!

We were so far off the beaten path that we had the area to ourselves.  Cooper even got to practice his swimming off leash...don’t tell anyone that we broke the rules.   He’s still missing that Lab Gene, but he did take 2 passes across the pond before he called it quits.

Grotto Falls

Averaging almost 200 mpg!

Once back in the car we retraced our path out to reach our second falls…Grotto.  One of the Park Staff told us about this one yesterday.  She claimed that she thought it was the most beautiful and you could walk behind the fall.  It was mentioned that it had a cave behind it that you could explore.  We had to do this one…it’s not often one can walk behind a wall of water.  Of course Cindi became 'concerned' about the car's gas situation since we were well under her comfort zone of a half a tank of gas.  'No problem' was mentioned quite a few times as we coasted back down the road...conserved quite a bit according to the car's computer.

View from behind

Walking behind the falls

Shower time

The Grotto Falls was really off the beaten path, but it was well worth the drive.  As you see the falls you realize that you can indeed walk behind them.  The water was really cold...although if the campground didn't have hot showers we may have been tempted.

Tomorrow we tackle Mount Thielsen.

Cooper's Personal Assistant

Cooper in Jessi's car

As everyone knows we bought Cooper along for the ride.  He's been a most excellent traveling companion.  Coop has it all figured out.  He goes to sleep as soon as the car's speedometer hits 55 MPH...almost catatonic he'll doze until we stop.  As soon as the car decelerates he pops up and is ready for whatever is about to occur...whether it's a hike, a picnic (his most favorite 'cause it involves food) or just a potty break.  We get back in the car he assumes his position and sleeps until the next stop.  Even hotel rooms have gotten routine for him.  We do wonder what he thinks about all this moving from place to place.

Anyway while we've been in Seattle he's found a new favorite person, Jessi.  She is one of those special people who loves dogs and works for a company called  Fetch.   Over the weekend while we attended to the wedding festivities of Gabe and Leanna she took care of him.  We could not believe how quickly Cooper took to her.  He jumped right into her car...didn't really look back.  As you can tell he chose his most favorite spot and promptly went to sleep.

Treat time at Jessi's!

"Zyborg Eyes" per Jessi

A bit unusual for Cooper to walk away from us so willingly.  Jessi introduced him to her GSD and sent us a few pictures.  It would seem that Cooper has made a few friends while visiting Seattle.  He has never been so calm as he was when Jessi brought him back.  She must be another dog whisper.  

We can't say thanks enough for taking such good care of Cooper.  Thanks Jessi for making Cooper part of your family...if we are ever in the area we will be sure to call.  If you get stationed in Virginia give us a shout we'd love to hear from you!

Jessi and Cooper

*as always pictures to enlarge