day 19

it started out as a good day. i had gotten a good nights rest at rob and jolene's place, got a quick bite and espresso at the hideaway bakery (http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2006/07/20/chow/bakeries.html), as recommended by rob and jolene, and the weather was perfect.

i guess my attempts to stay off the main roads was a little too ambitious, though, as i spent over three hours going less than 90 miles through logging roads on my way from eugene to crater lake. the roads were fun to ride through, but there were so many twists and turns that it just took forever to get through. the scenery at the top of one of the mountains made it worthwhile.


view from southeast of london, or - 08/30/2006

everything i went through seemed to make crater lake national park (http://www.nps.gov/crl) that much more impressive. the first picture below is of of the pumice desert, formed from remains of pyroclastic flows of previous eruptions. trees still have difficulty growing in many areas. i believe that is mt. thielsen in the background.


pumice desert near crater lake, or - 08/30/2006

the next four pictures are all of the lake. after looking at the first picture, you can use the second to try get an idea of the size (five miles across). there is a relatively large boat on the lake on the right side.


crater lake, or - 08/30/2006


crater lake, or - 08/30/2006

this shows one of the secondary volcanic formations in the lake, called the phantom ship. the larger one, wizard island, can be seen on the far left in the first picture.


crater lake, or - 08/30/2006

due to its geologic isolation, the water is extremely clear. it is hard to describe just how blue it is. i don't even know if a picture can do it justice, but i will try. it was a relatively sunny day, and i think the green of the trees helps to contrast the blue. the darker shades are from clouds.


crater lake, or - 08/30/2006

i am sure my dad would be proud of me for this picture. i only took two, though!



part way through the park i saw two bikes by the side of the road, and it looked like one was having mechanical problems. i thought they looked like old bmws, but with the large fairings on them i couldn't be sure. i circled back to see if they needed any help (not that i could help them mechanically, but i could at least make an offer of some sort. coffee anyone?). it turned out that they were both old bmws (1970's) and they had come down from alaska. one of the guys had over 200,000 miles on his bike. we chatted for a while, and he gave me some pointers on where to go and where not to go in southern california. basically, i should avoid the sand (death valley, etc.) i was amazed to see others doing so much more than i am doing on bikes bikes amost 25 years older than mine.

the rest of the ride, as it was already late in day, was just to get to a campground in crescent city, ca. i came down the redwood highway and partially through the redwook national park. i wish i could have paid more attention to it all, but it was late in the day and the light was getting low. i will be spending more time in the redwoods tomorrow. it is scary enough to think of hitting a tree. it is even more scary when the tree is over ten feed wide.