In League with the Greats - 28 June 2010

Well, we awoke after spending the night listening to some very noisy frogs. They made my nights sleep very fractured indeed. But, some amazing things awaited us and we departed our lovely little cabin in the Oregon south.

We had been given a brochure on the waterfalls of Oregon and had decided on two to visit. The first was Tokepee and was about 30 miles up the road. As we reached the car park, the first thing we noticed was the huge lake on one side of the road and the second was an enormous pipe on the other side of the road, that was leaking. There were about 4 small leaks and 1 large leak. The whole pipe was rusting and had ferns growing out of it. Looked pretty cool though.

We started our walk the way we have with many of our walks, with a chat to some people in the carpark. They were heading back north, to Canada, but wanted to see some of the falls first and then Crater Lake. They were from a town in Ontario that we had passed on our journeys. The walk to the falls was just lovely. Everything is so incredibly green and it was the perfect time of morning to be viewing the scenery.

The falls themselves were beautiful, they are called a Tier Fall. In some photos, in the brochure, you can see that they are and wish you could see it from where you viewed them. But, beautiful just the same.

We headed off again to go to Watson Falls. Yet again, we had a chat with a lovely couple who had a home in both the Florida Keys and the Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming. Two areas that we had driven through. They also had two incredibly gorgeous dogs, who we lavished some attention on.

The walk to Watson Falls, was quite a hike this time. It was a bit rugged at times and all uphill but well worth it. You see some of the falls for most of the walk. We followed the stream uphill past many smaller cascades and finally got to the main event. It was truly spectacular. It fills the soul to stand surrounded by such natural beauty as can surely exist anywhere on Earth.

Little did we realize…

After Watson falls, we continued up into the higher elevations of the Cascade Mountains. We stopped for lunch at Diamond Lake, which was truly spectacular. The colour of the water is so blue it’s unbelievable, and the snow-capped peaks in the background make a beautiful backdrop to a feast of soda and Cracker Jacks.

Soon after we left Diamond Lake, we were entering Crater Lake National Park. As we climber higher and higher there was a little snow, then a bit, then a bit more and before long, there was quite a lot of snow everywhere. The day was warm, about 85 degrees (27-ish) but the snow still on the ground from winter is over 20 feet deep in a lot of places. We could only drive around the western side of the crater because the other road is still too thick in snow to get a plow through. Midsummer, eh?

We were admiring the beautiful snowfields on our right side when suddenly we saw the view to the left appear from behind a crag.
You hear people say that a view is “stunning”. It is a common figure of speech. We’ve used the word in here quite a bit, I imagine, for the amazing scenery that we have seen.
But in this case, it is the literal truth. The first time you see Crater Lake, it is stunning in a physical sense. You just stop and stare, stunned as your heart and throat have palpable reactions to the majesty before you. It is emotional, even. You cannot believe that such place can possibly exist. It is beyond anything that the most imaginative fantasy writers or movie-makers could ever conceive of. And it is real.

Crater lake is an extinct volcano. Thousands of years ago, it blew its top and was left with a crater making up the top of the mountain. As happens in many volcano craters, a lava dome slowly built up. Eventually, when it became extinct, the rocks cooled enough for snowmelt to run inward from the surrounding edges and form a lake with water so blue that it really cannot be believed. The top of the lava dome is still above the water level, and is now called Wizard Island. There is still pine trees up here and plenty of snow. We looked at it a long time and dawdled awhile before, with a certain wrenching feeling, we headed onwards, down the other side of the mountains and towards the California coast.

We passed through the town of Medford, Oregon, and used the I5 north for a bit to get onto US 199, which joins US 101 closer to the border and they are collectively called the “Redwood Highway”. Is that a clue to our next destination?

US 199 was a real treat and the further south we went, the more Oregon tried to entice us to stay with the most lovely forest scenery. In the late afternoon we passed back into California, on our way to Crescent City. We followed the Smith River Valley, which was truly very beautiful in its own right. Then, unexpectedly, while driving through a section of dense fir forest, we became aware of the super-size of some of the trees. These are the miraculous Giant Redwoods of Northern California. They stand among the lesser fir trees, which are themselves (the smaller ones) bigger than any trees anywhere else in the world. And the Giants make the lesser trees seem like small children, standing next to their parents.

Adding to their enormous size, some of the Giant Redwoods, growing close together, will join trunks and graft themselves together. We stopped the car at the side of the road and went for a walk out into the forest for about an hour in the gathering dusk. We saw some that were about 100 meters tall and some that were about 15 meters around. It beggars the imagination. These are the largest living things on Earth. And they are Awesome.

Eventually, chilled and awed, we made our way to a Crescent City RV park to sleep well (rugged up), and bring to an end one of the most spectacular and exciting days of our lives. Speaking for myself (Mark), I hope that I can remember this day forever. Just close my eyes and remember the day we saw just how Magnificent and Awesome the world really is.

The amazing root system of a redwood

The just keep going up forever

Mark standing infront of a fallen redwood trees root base. OMG.

These trees are truly incredible. They look like two trees are connected. Even the dead frames are amazing

How small can a person feel?

Oh, the lake! These images are not photoshopped. The water is that blue and the snow is that white! Truly incredible.

Wizards Island.

Wizards Island

Old Stump on a precipice

Old stump

Beautiful fields, the lake is behind us at this point.

Ok, Mark is six feet, you do the math?

Mark and Pia and Crater Lake

Crater Lake

Watson Falls

Watson Falls

At the begining of the walk to Watson Falls

The base of the falls

Tokepee Falls

An Oregon Highway, how beautiful