We are on to our second stop in Oregon… this is to be the stop of Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake is five trillion gallons of water in a volcano caldera. We are planning some hiking and a boat trip . . . in the caldera. We’ve seen pictures of the stunning deep blue lake . . . however smoke from nearby Oregon forest fires threaten to derail our plans. . .
We are staying in Eugene, Oregon, which is not part of our original itinerary. We are supposed to be staying at an NPS campground in Crater Lake National Park, but our weather app warns of non-healthy smoke there . . . from forest fires. So we opt to stay well outside the park (away from the smoke) and just drive into the park for the day. So now we are spending three nights in Eugene.
We are at the Eugene Premier Resort. It is a bit of a parking lot, but our spot is enormous, nicely landscaped, and there is plenty of room between spots. We have full hook-ups and since we are generally out and about during the day . . . we happy with it. After getting docked we take a drive into Eugene to see the town. It is a college town with some cute areas, some a bit run down. More spread out than we expected. But Eugene has a Whole Foods!!! Our first one since we left Connecticut, so we are excited and stock up.
The next day we drive over McKenzie Pass (a mountain pass in the Cascade range) on our way to Bend, Oregon. We have heard Bend is an extremely livable town and we want to check it out. We drive up, up through the trees and tight ess-curves in the road, and then suddenly . . . there are lava fields and mountain views. Really lovely. We are now in the high desert – another new and fun experience. We continue on to Bend where we drive through town and have lunch. In the afternoon we meet some friends that have a vacation home nearby, and then return to Eugene via a more direct route (quicker but less scenic).
The next day we venture to Crater Lake – a two-hour drive from Eugene. As we got closer to the park we start to notice a haze of smoke in the air. We hope the smoke won’t be any worse when we get to Crater Lake – if the air quality is bad we’ll turn around. We see the lake – it is large and beautiful, but not the brilliant blue we’ve seen in photos. Because of the smoke the lake simply appears gray. We arrive at the Cleetwood Cove parking lot – haze in the distance and no smell of smoke. We opt to continue on with our National Park guided boat trip.
We check in and hike down the caldera on the Cleetwood Cove trail – a one-mile steep trail that leads down to the dock. It’s a very easy stroll down on the wide trail but coming up will take some effort. Fortunately it’s relatively short.
We board the boat and the captain allows the children to take turns in the co-captain’s seat. Elle really enjoys the view from the high perch. It’s fascinating and fun to be boating around the caldera. Close up we can see some of the brilliant blue color of the water. It would be beautiful views of a stunning blue lake if it weren’t for the smoky haze. We want to go back when it’s not smoke season. Apparently, smoke obscures the lake almost every summer now.
After the boat tour, we drive the circle tour around the rim, enjoy lunch at the lodge overlooking the lake (which is just a smoky abyss now – the smoke gets much worse in the afternoon) and Elle completes her junior ranger workbook and earns her badge. Then, exhausted, we drive the two hours back to base camp in Eugene.
Tomorrow we are headed to Redwood National Park in northwestern California. The park is supposedly free of smoke, but we will have to navigate through fire-infested areas to get there.