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Crater Lake National Park
Snow!
After the McKenzie River Trail, our next stop was Crater Lake National Park. After a good night camping halfway up some deserted dirt road, we got up to slight rain and cold temps. As we went higher, that slight rain turned into a decent snowstorm, our first of the trip. When we finally got to the rim (Crater Lake is an old volcano filled with water. You can only drive to the volcano rim and look down at the lake), there was at least 5” on the ground, and more every minute. We did manage to incorporate our first time getting the van stuck with our first snowstorm. We got it out after a couple minutes of digging. Nate assured me there will be many more instances of getting stuck, and this one really wasn’t that bad. I can’t wait. After a fun hike along the crater rim, it was time to head back down the hill. On the way up, the road was covered in snow and treacherous. According the Jory-logic, this meant that it would be a whole bunch of fun to ride a bike back down. I suited up in all of my DH pads and jumped on Nate’s bike with the huge tires and suspension, ready to slip and slide all the way back down the road. It sucked big time. By the time we were leaving, there had been enough traffic that all the snow was melted into ice cold water, and the road was not nearly as steep as I remembered. It turned into a freezing cold, wet and miserable cross country ride. Oh well, maybe I’ll learn my lesson. But probably not.