Saturday 3rd June – Crescent City to Union Creek

The forecast was for cloud all day so Les didn’t bother wearing shorts. This was a mistake as it soon became sunny and hot and at one stage the car showed an outside temperature of 83F. Les did put some suncream on during the day.

Standard continental breakfast (American version) in the hotel but it was well organised. We were quite early so back in our room we managed to Skype Tracey briefly. She was out with Niamh spending her birthday vouchers at B&Q. Filled up at an adjacent gas station before setting off. Quite a performance as you had to input your zip code or phone number before using the pump, and of course we couldn’t do this.

Set off back up the US-101 but saw a Safeway so pulled in and bought cheese, cold meat, salads and beer so that we could eat in our room. Couldn’t find a cheap cool-bag but decided to take a chance on it staying cool enough in the car.

Turned off the US-101 onto the US-199 to Grants Pass. Stopped for photographs amongst the coastal Redwoods and then a little later on stopped at the Visitor Centre and watched a short film about the redwoods and the preservation movement that ended up with the creation of the various National Forests and State Parks. There didn’t seem to be much on the road onward so we stopped for an early lunch at O’Brien. There was a typical shop/cafe and the whole place was a bit downmarket and rundown.

Carrying on a few miles we were really annoyed with ourselves when we got to Cave Junction (the turn off for the Oregon Caves National Monument). This turned out to be a very smart small town with several of places where we could’ve eaten.

Carried on through some nice countryside to Grants Pass. This is a very large town - about 36,000 population. We had imagined that we’d be going over a pass but in fact it’s just a town in the river valley. We turned east onto the I-5 to head towards the OR-234 to Union Creek. At Rogue River we came off the Interstate and went into the town to Rays Food - this is a chain of grocery stores - inside it was almost identical to Safeway. We found a polystyrene carrier which seems to be intended for ice and beers but we think will serve us well enough as a cool-box, and as it was only $4 we won’t mind leaving it behind.

Back on the I-5 we turned off accidentally earlier than we’d meant but this took us through Gold Hill and we saw our first Oregon winery and vineyards. We now followed the OR-234 up the Rogue River for many miles - an interesting drive with lots of tempting lookouts etc. At one point we saw a sign for Butte Falls. Foolishly we thought that this would be a scenic waterfall but after driving a long way we got there to find that it’s a tiny town and although it showed a waterfall on the town sign there was no indication of one anywhere. We followed the minor road north from Butte Falls to Prospect back on the OR-62. In fact, this detour was not much longer in length than sticking to the OR-234 and then the OR-62 and the roads were virtually empty of other traffic, although they were quite winding at points.

From Prospect we went straight up to Union Creek where we checked in. Our cabin is quite tiny and seems all the more so after last night’s massive room. However it has all we need although there is no wifi or phone signal. We went into the shop and finally managed to buy a reasonable sized portion of butter to put onto tonight’s bread. All the supermarkets seem to sell a minimum pack that must be a kilo. We checked out the onsite restaurant with the thought of eating tomorrow night. Sadly it’s the usual fare - not a huge choice for Anne and everything else seems to be deep fried with chips. We had a nice meal in the cabin with our salad and Les even had a beer. Afterwards we looked at the Union Creek Trail which runs upstream from the resort. It obviously isn’t used very much and after a few hundred yards it was starting to get quite difficult and there were lots of flies/mosquitoes. Les had already got a few bites by the time we had decided to turn round and come back. Perhaps it was a blessing that he didn’t have his shorts on.

We knew there would be no phone signal here and we’d been warned that the internet connection (which comes by satellite) could be intermittent. Couldn’t get a connection but typed up a draft email anyway.

Sunday 4th June – at Union Creek, visiting Crater Lake

Slept well. Up around 7.45 - nice to have a cup of tea with real milk from the shop. Breakfast was a banana, a pot of fruit in syrup and a Danish pastry with coffee. To our surprise the internet must have connected overnight as we had messages. Unfortunately one was from an unknown number with a photograph of a waterfall and comments. Being suspicious we deleted it only to find from our email that it was from Robyn and Len who have been on holiday near Darwin and the picture was from Kakadu.

We were going to set off for Crater Lake, but immediately we left the Resort we saw parking area for the Rogue River Chasm and pulled in there. The car park was completely empty and we were entirely on our own as we walked to the viewpoint and back. A terrific sight with the Rogue River pouring through a relatively narrow channel. We realised that the river must be nearly at its highest, full of meltwater coming down from the mountains.

An easy, leisurely drive to Crater Lake. It was quite pleasant as we set off with bright sunshine although we’d both put sweaters on. About half way along the Crater Lake road we suddenly spotted some snow on the roadside. We then realised that the road had been climbing very gradually all the way. For the rest of the journey the snow gradually increased. To start with it was small isolated patches in the woods and at the roadside, then these joined up to become a continuous thin covering of snow. Then this got deeper and deeper the higher up we went. When we reached the park entrance the snow in the car park was 12ft deep in places.

We stopped at the entrance and bought a multi-agency annual pass. We were going to have a coffee in the restaurant but they were only serving full breakfasts so we went across to the shop and bought a take away coffee. It was bright sunshine so we were able to sit outside while having our coffee.

We carried on along the road 4 miles to the Visitor Centre where we went in and watched a 20 minute video of the formation of the Lake.  It was then another 3 miles on to Rim Village. This was quite busy and it took us a little while to park. It may be that there was a lot of parking under the snow. We got a space after two circuits of the car park and then walked the few yards for our first sight of the Lake. Absolutely amazing. It was just a shame that there was a slight wind causing ripples on the surface so we didn’t get the perfect view with reflections.

It was about 12 so we decided to have an early lunch. Surprisingly for such a remote place they did a hot meal of rice and vegetables. Les decided to try an authentic American hotdog. Both quite good. We spent some time looking in the shop and buying a few bits. We then set off and after a slight detour took the road to Discovery Point which is far as the road is open. We parked and just stood looking at the wonderful view and taking photos for quite a long time. We then decided to walk along the next section of the road, which is closed to traffic. At the start of the walk we went through snow at the side of the road which must’ve been 40ft deep. We walked for about a mile to the next viewpoint where we took more photos before walking back. All this was done in bright sunshine and most of the time it was pleasantly warm, although the car was registering about 10C or 11C. We saw several Clark’s Nutcrackers and a beautiful blue Stellar Jay.

Eventually we tore ourselves away and drove back to the Resort. Interestingly we barely needed to touch the accelerator as the road seems to be one very long gradual descent. Had a cup of tea in our cabin and downloaded our photos. We were about to start typing the diary when we remembered that immediately before reaching the resort yesterday we’d passed a sign for Natural Bridge. Looking at the Resort info we found that it is possible to visit on a 3 mile loop track from the Resort but we didn’t quite feel up to that so we drove. We’d imagined that this would be a stone arch over a chasm but in fact the river goes underground for 200ft through a lava tube. In times of low flow the entire river goes through this so it is possible to walk across the flat rocks that form the river bed. At the moment of course the river is in full spate and the entrance to the lava tube is underwater, but it is possible to see huge amounts of water spewing out of the exit. It must be interesting to see the river disappear but on the other hand nothing can compare with the sight and sound of it tearing through in full flood. Spent about an hour walking the small trail to the various viewpoints before coming back and downloading more photos.

Went across to Beckies for a simple dinner. Found out that Beckies is not named after a woman but after the original owner in the 1920s/30s - Ed Beckelhymer.