What's to Eat?

We certainly don't go hungry, by any stretch of the imagination.  With a bit of planning we eat about as good as if we were at home.

We forgo the trailer kitchen for the outdoor variety.  That kitchen is a bit more rustic but is much more roomy.  Equipped with a small BBQ, and 60,000 BTU dual burner stove, and a little butane burner, we couldn't ask for a  better set up!  The refrigeration is a bit more challenging and is where the fridge in the trailer comes in super handy.

Breakfast
What would you like?  Pancakes, sausage, corned beef hashed with poached eggs, breakfast sandwich or just plain ole cereal. A  bit of fruit and lots of cold milk and we have a good start to our day.

Lunch
This is a bit more blase as we are packing in a lunch, typically.  Peanut butter and jelly is a standard staple.  Dave, is a bit of a deviled ham fan, so he will pack in a small can of deviled ham and make up his sandwich on the spot.  Fruit, nuts, granola bars and even carrot/celery/radishes all make an appearance on the trail.  I would rather carry too much food just in case we get caught out on the trail late or longer than anticipate rather than run out and stumble on the trail  due to lack of fuel.

Dinner
Ah, what's for dinner?  So many options!  Marinated chicken tenders, flank steak, ribs all work fine.  The fresh green beans tossed with bacon bits and garlic herb wine marinade is outstanding. 

We bought a very small rice cooker so that we didn't have to rely on instant rice.  It has a vegetable steamer basket.  Oh my! It has become the indispensable kitchen tool for steaming up fresh veggies!  It works great for rice, too!  And yes, this tool is used in the trailer.  Electricity is required which can be challenging when we are camping without hookups.  Generator to the rescue!

I chuckle.  We are cooking in the same outdoor kitchen set up that we used while camping in a tent.  The difference is that we have a fridge with a small freezer which helps keep the food we brought cold without getting soggy (fridge powered by electric or propane), a very comfy bed (not standard equipment), and a place to pee in the middle of the night without having to unzip the tent fly and tripping over the tent stakes.  Otherwise we live outside. Life is good!

Destination Crater Lake!

Wizard Island

We left the dry and dusty camp of Trinity Lake for another dusty and green camp ground just North of Crater Lake.  But our goal was to explore and enjoy Crater Lake.  The last time we were here was over 12 years ago, when we circled the crater on motorcycles.  We weren't set up to enjoy the trails and other sites at that time.  We certainly came prepared this time.

The first day was more of an exploratory expedition to get the lay of the land and the roads.  A few pullouts, a few short jaunts up trails to the rim, and a brief visit to Rim village all whetted the desire to see what more could be viewed.

Water Falls 

Vidae
Falls

There are several waterfalls within the park, one right along the main road.  Vidae falls, while not the most impressive water fall we viewed this trip, it was still fun to see gushing water coming from the top of the hill.

The crown jewel for all waterfalls that we visited was Plaikni Falls.  Just a short drive down a side road (paved, no less), and a 2 mile easy hike brought us to a breath taking water fall. The wild flowers were beautiful.

Plaikni
Falls

A number of the trails are handicap accessible which is remarkable.  The one to Plaikni Falls meanders through the woods as a somewhat graveled trail.  We chuckled about someone being pushed along the trail when we happened upon a person in a motorized chair coming back to the trail head.  He made it up to the falls, which is a short climb.  The chair must have one powerful set of batteries!

Trails
There are a ton of trails within the park.  The two that we sought out were Watchman Tower and the Rim trail.

Watchman Tower is an old fire lookout built in 1932.  It is still used as for fire watch during the high fire season, although it was not manned when we arrived (and there were fires to the West clouding the view).  The beauty of walking to the top is the ability to look down into the cone on Wizard Island and the surrounding area.  It is a must see if you visit Crater Lake.



The Rim trail starts at Rim village and along the Crater's rim.  While not officially part of the Pacific Crest Trail, it does intersect and become part of the PCT at the beginning and the end of the official Rim Trail.  In addition, you will come across PCT hikers that are taking the "shortcut" through the park and enjoying the view along the way.

The Rim trail provides access to views not seen from the road or turnouts.  We enjoyed the stroll away from the hubbub of the crowds.  It also gave us the opportunity to leisurely view the various points of Wizard Island.  We didn't tread the entire trail but did mange to trek enough to be in awe of the clear blue waters.



Phantom Ship Lookout is a wonderful loop trail that overlooks a small island in Crater Lake.  The shape of the spires gives it the impression of a ghost ship, or so they say.  We enjoyed the calm water and reflection of the island.

Waterfalls!

Around Crater Lake there are two rivers - The Umpqua and the Rogue.  Both provide unparalleled beauty, but only the Umpqua touts "The Thundering Waters."  There is an entire brochure dedicated to getting the curious to 28 different falls.  We managed 4.  The intent was to go from the "lesser" water fall to the "best" water fall, thinking that we would not be disappointed once we came to the one considered ho hum.  Each has their own beauty that offers no competition to the other.

The brochure describes the different types of water falls, which is interesting.  The things you learn!

Clearwater Falls

This fall was not easy to capture in one picture as it is quite spread out over the mossy rocks and fallen logs.  It is beautiful.  Believe it or not, this is considered the less beautiful of the falls. It was incredibly easy to walk to as it was about 400 feet from the parking lot!






Whitehorse Falls
So easy to get to!  20 feet from the parking lot, there was a platform for easy access to the view.  However, we choose to walk down a trail to the water pool so that we could get a better look at the water as it spilled into the pool.







Watson Falls
The trail was a bit difficult but well worth the climb.  This 272 ft fall was a "wow" and the water wasn't even at full force! It is impossible to capture the beauty.  We tried!


















Toketee Falls

This is the most famous of the falls in this area. From pictures that we have seen, we expected the trail to end a bit closer to the bottom of the falls.  Not so, much to our disappointment.  The trail is actually quite nice with wooden stairs and fencing built in areas that would otherwise be impassable. The trail ends at a platform at least 200 feet in the air, above the falls. It is still a pretty view, but would be much more fun to photograph if we could have gotten closer to the mid-point or the bottom

We have to go back and visit the rest of  the falls.  They all cannot be seen in one day or even two.  If you have the opportunity to visit the Roseburg OR area, take the time to go up HWY 138 and visit a few falls!