Canada Trip - 7-18

It was a full days drive to reach Crater Lake (my route was Hwy. 58 east from Eugene to Hwy. 97 south and then into the park on Hwy. 138).  It might seem like the long way around but it these were roads that I had not traveled.  Got to the park about 7:00 PM and secured a camping space.  No reception of either cell phone of 3G device for computer access. 
In the morning I headed up to make the drive around the "rim" road.  The day started out to be nice but a storm was visible coming from the southwest.  With the "rim" drive being above 7,000` elevation I could see cloudy weather a long ways off in the distance.
How about some pictures of this large collapsed volcano and the water that filled it in?  Below is Wizard Island which is a secondary volcanic eruption in the middle of Crater Lake.

This is one of the widest views available of most of the lake.  Wizard Island is in the distance just to the right of center.

There was still some snow but off to the sides of the road.  The next shot is a different look at Wizard Island with a little more sun.  The rain clouds had by now passed to the south and were gone.

Next is a view of the island from a point about 400` above the rim drive road.  It was a hike up to a fire lookout tower that had a commanding panaroma of the lake.

Just to give you some prospective of the size of the island, that white streak at the lower left is one of the lake tour boats.  I think it holds about 20-25 people and gives tours around the lake and even lets people get off and hike on the island.  Unfortunatly it was booked up for the next several weeks. 

This gives you a look at the fire lookout tower on top of this hill - it is the square form at the top of the right most peak.  It was about a 30 minute hike up and well worth the time.

Here is the plaque about the hike up to the tower.  The next three pictures are view panning from right to left around the lake from the top of this highest vantage point.

You can see my truck and other vehicles at the left, giving you an idea of the spectacular view from this peak.

One last look (from the top) panning a little farther to the left showing some of the patches of snow.  I recomend a trip to visit Crater Lake and see it for yourself. 
When I woke up  the next morning at Crater Lake and decided that I was "done traveling".  So, after breakfast, about 9:30 AM, I started driving towards home.  After a stop at the factory where my camper was manufactured near Sacramento for about an hour, I got home at 11:30 PM that same day.  About 15 hours of driving and I was home - sleeping in my OWN bed. 
It was a good trip and I covered almost 6,000 miles in about 6+ weeks.  Got to see a lot of beautiful country and made many new friends.
I hope you had as much fun following my rambelings as I did recording them.  Below is the camper cleaned / waxed / vacumed out and covered up until the next trip.  That`s the best "sad" face I could come up with!!!!

And now for "winter" in Santa Barbara!
Carpe Diem