Day 18

Today was spent sight-seeing Crater Lake. Overall, it was a pretty relaxing day, as the main thing to do here is to drive the road around the lake, stopping at the viewpoints along the way. Unfortunately, there are some forest fires burning not too far away, so there was a lot of smoke in the air making the views of the lake and the surrounding areas a little hazy.

We took several short hikes, though they were pretty tough, as once again, the terrain here is very steep. One of the hikes we took brought us down to the lake itself. It's the only way to access the lake. It was a 1.1 mile hike, that covered approximately 700 feet of elevation! When we got to the bottom (the lake), Josh took his shoes off and waded into the 55 degree water. I chose to simply dip my hand in. There were lots of people who were swimming in the lake, though generally, just for a few minutes … better them than me!

It was a beautiful day, following a very cold night … it took a lot of courage to get out of the sleeping bags this morning! It's supposed to be pretty cold again tonight, with lows in the low 40's.

Tomorrow morning, we move on to Redwoods National Park in Northern California. It's hard to believe, but our journey is rapidly coming to an end. We have only two destinations left, with a total of four camping nights after tonight. Both Josh and I agree, that we could easily continue to do this for at least another week, maybe more. At this point two years ago, I think we were both ready to call it quits, but this time round, it seems to be a lot different. I think the plan to spend two nights at each park has been really helpful, in terms of keeping the pace a little more relaxed, which in turn, has translated into a less stressful experience overall. Definitely food for thought for any future trips like this.

Fortunately, today was a beautiful day, and this morning we were able to hang up our tarp that had gotten “trashed” in the thunderstorms we had at Mount Rainier two nights ago. By the time we got back to our campground this afternoon, the tarp was completely dry, and all of the dirt had just “fallen off” of it. This is great news in case we need it again.

Still without internet access here in our campground, so I'll have to put this post up tomorrow on our way to Redwoods National Park.