Author: Easin' Along

Crater Lake in Oregon was a “must-see” for Helen, and we booked a campsite well in advance of this trip. Our home for this leg of our journey is Diamond Lake RV Park in Diamond Lake, Oregon. The campground is adjacent to the Umpqua National Forest and Crater Lake National Park. Massive trees surrounded our campsite and gave us an authentic feel for life in the Great Northwest.

Crater Lake was less than ten miles from the campground. We rose early on our first morning there and drove northward to the first overlook above the water. The closer we came to the overlook, the more snow we encountered on each side of the road. Maintenance crews had cleared snow from the parking lot, but heavy, packed snow blanketed the ground between our truck and observation point. Helen, using a hiking pole, negotiated the distance carefully. A slip-up could prove costly!

We visited the overlook on two days during this visit. On our first day, we experienced cloudy skies, and we decided to return the next day, hoping for better weather. The second day was an improvement over the first, but I’m not sure that we needed better skies. Crater Lake is fantastic! Lake Tahoe is blue, but Crater Lake sets the standard for blue water.

Snow and rain are the only sources of water for Crater Lake–that’s it. No streams or springs add water to the basin, and the water accumulated is as close to pure as can be found anywhere on earth. The blue color of Crater Lake results when its pure water absorbs all the colors of the spectrum except blue, which gets reflected to the viewer. At 1949 feet in depth, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. I took a lot of pictures of both Crater Lake and Wizard Island.

Helen obtained a brochure at our campground and discovered that six waterfalls existed within about ten miles of us. We decided that we would visit them all for our next day’s outing. In the interest of full disclosure, some of the waterfall details came from Helen’s brochure. I added a picture of each one. The melting snowpack caused each waterfall to put on quite a show.

Toketee Falls
A tiered falls with the upper descent dropping 40 feet and the lower falls plunging 80 feet. The moderate trail is about a half-mile one way. “Toketee” is a Native American word for graceful.

Watson Falls
This majestic, plunging waterfall is the highest in southwest Oregon and drops 293 feet. The trail is also about a half-mile and is rated moderate. Watson Falls roared on our visit.

Whitehorse Falls
A punchbowl waterfall located next to a campground and required little effort to view from an overlook. Whitehorse Falls drops about 15 feet.

Clearwater Falls
We walked only 400 feet to this waterfall, a segmented fall that cascades over moss-covered rocks and logs. Clearwater Falls drops about 30 below the Clearwater River.

We visited the four waterfalls on the first day of our outing and saved the remaining two waterfalls for the following day due to the length of the hikes involved in reaching them.

Lemolo Falls
The word “Lemolo” is Chinook for “wild’ or “untamed.” It is a horsetail waterfall that plunges 102 feet into a deep pool. The hike to Lemolo is 1.5 miles, and we started under threatening skies and cool temperatures. The trail rated as “moderate” suffered from a lack of moderation. We went up and down many hills along the route, which followed a beautiful river. After about a mile or so, we hit a snag. A colossal tree blocked the remainder of the path to Lemolo Falls. Some helpful person had carved a step into the tree trunk, which allowed me to climb the structure, but it was too high for Helen to even think about. She pouted a bit but agreed that we had walked too far to abandon the mission. I went ahead and photographed the waterfall. The water volume was incredible.
I returned to the tree to find Helen pacing about, sure that bears lurked in the wilderness. I climbed back over the big tree, and we began our return to the truck…just as the rain started to fall. The further we walked, the harder it rained. By the time we reached the truck, we were soaked.

Our visit to the sixth waterfall will have to wait for another day.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Crater Lake and every place we visited in the State of Oregon.

We’re delighted to have you Easin’ Along with us. Come back next week, and we’ll take you to Depoe Bay for surf, sand, and oysters.

After a restful stop at Fort Bragg, CA, Helen and I drove 200 miles due north to Klamath, CA. Our home for the next four days is the Klamath River Campground.  Our mission was to walk among the massive Coastal Redwoods that have thrived in this area for thousands of years. Again, we were not disappointed by either our home or the trees.

I reserved a campsite at this campground many months ago, primarily for the favorable reviews on RV Trip Wizard. No one lied. The owner, an amiable fellow, assigned us to a grass-covered corner spot overlooking the scenic Klamath River.  During our stay, I had many opportunities to photograph scenes of the area and around the campground that should give readers an idea of the peaceful setting we enjoyed.  The owner also said I could use campground water to give Ruby and Dora the bath they both desperately needed.

Helen and I had two outings in Klamath.  The first was a drive to Klamath Beach Overlook to view the sea lions gathered there to rest and feed. These large mammals assembled on the sand in what appeared to us as a small convention.  Although we stood a hundred feet or more above their meeting place, we could hear them roar, grunt, and groan constantly.  The roar of the Pacific did not overwhelm the chorus. The drive to the overlook took us by a beach where several photographers stood on the beach to take pictures of waves crashing on the sea stacks.

Our second outing accomplished what we came to Klamath to do–stand under the enormous coastal redwoods. We chose Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park for our hike. The two-mile trail took us along a beautiful stream and through a fern-laden forest dotted with wildflowers. With the first step, however, the redwoods became the focus of our attention. Information posters along the trail told us that many of these giants are over two thousand years old. The trunks of many of them are over twenty feet in diameter and reach a height of 200 feet or more. It is almost impossible to photograph an entire tree from ground to crown. I tried.

At one point on the hike, we approached The Big Tree, a redwood used as somewhat of a display model. This impressive piece of flora measured 286 feet in height, 23 feet in diameter, and estimated to be over 1500 years old. Standing beside this redwood, I found myself wishing that this tree could talk so that it could tell me the things it had witnessed over those 1500 years.

Alas, the tree won’t talk to us, so we’ll be Easin’ Along…mission accomplished. Join us next week at Crater Lake.