Crater Lake National Park

June 20, 2018

As we were approaching Craters of the Moon NP, The truck decided it was time to change the oil.  It always seems to happen at the most inconvenient time, like in the wilds of Idaho. At least we had a reasonable cell signal so we could call around and find the nearest Ford dealer that could do the job within our time frame.  That happened to be Twin Falls, 90 miles from Craters.  As we were entering town the view of the below gorge caught us by surprise.  The Snake river winds it's way through southern Idaho.  In  some places the river bank is just a few feet above the water level.  In others it carves these impressive gorges.  There's a lot of features in Southern Idaho we need to come back and explore.

We spent the day in Twin Falls taking care of lifes necessities like laundry, food, haircut and of course the oil change.  Our destination this evening was another Wal-Mart, in Jerome, ID.

Since leaving southeastern Arizona we'd been dry camping, no electric or water hookups.  Our next destination was the small town of  Homedale, ID, just east of the Oregon state line.  They have a little city campground right on the Snake river with nice grassy sites, water and electric hookups for $15 a night.  Oh, by the way, they also had a bath house with LOTS of hot water!  We spent a couple days at Homedale just relaxing.

We had one more intermediate stop before reaching Crater Lake NP, Chickahominy Reservoir, a BLM site in a desolate area of central Oregon.  When we arrived it was a cold and windy overcast afternoon, we didn't even unhook from the truck.  Taking a picture of the campsite just didn't come to mind.

On the road to Chickahominy Reservoir.

Our destination was Diamond Lake Campground.  It was recommended to us as a good base for visiting Crater Lake National Park. This is where it really hit us that we weren't in an arid zone any more.  There were large pines and green bushes everywhere.

Diamond Lake campground site A22.  A bit slopey but we made it work.

The forecast was for rain in the afternoon of the next day, so we headed into the park to get some afternoon views.  The glassy water and clouds made for some interesting pictures.

Wizard island, the volcano within a volcano.

We wanted to spend more time in the park this afternoon so we decided to have dinner at the Crater Lake Lodge.

Joan (lower left) observing distant objects across the lake while waiting for our dinner reservation.

The next day started clear but building clouds foretold of the coming rain.

Vidae Falls

Phantom Ship

On the trail to Plaikni Falls.

Plaikini Falls

The Pinnacles.

More information on the formation of Crater Lake here.

This guy's been feed before!  But ain't he cute!

Even the Chipmunks enjoy the view. 

Coming next, On toward the Oregon coast.

Craters of the Moon National Monument

Here's the second try on the Craters of the Moon National Monument.

June 12, 2018

Looking at the map we decided to just blast through Provo, Salt Lake City, Ogden areas heading toward southern Idaho. Our first stop was a Wal-Mart in Springfield, UT just south of Provo.

As is our habit, we look for a local brewpub when we stop.  Low and behold, right across the street was the Strap Tank Brewery. Since we weren't driving any more today we walked over for dinner and some local craft beer.

Strap Tank Brewery

Their name sake, a replica of the rare early Harley Davidson motorcycle.

We try to travel only about 200-250 miles a day so we spent the next day traveling through the Salt Lake City area and on into southern Idaho for another night of Wal-Mart camping.

The next day, we moved on to Craters of the Moon National Monument.

Appropriately named, Lava Flow Campground, site # 35 - all those rocks around the campsite are lava.

Looking south from atop Inferno Cone along the Great Rift that formed the features of
Craters of the Moon Nat'l Monument .

Lava flow looks like it stopped yesterday instead of 2,000 years ago.

Ranger talking about the Limber Pine on the "Evening Stroll " program.

Wild flowers blooming on the side of a cinder cone volcano.

Dwarf Buckwheat

Dwarf Monkeyflower

Syringa

A blustery morning on the side of  Inferno Cone. 

Looking north toward the Pioneer Mountains.

Spatter cone.

From atop s Spatter Cone, looking into the "belly of the beast".

Coming next, Crater Lake National Park, Oregon.

Bryce Canyon NP, second try

OK, here's the second try on the Bryce Canyon post.

June 8 2018

Bryce Canyon National Park is one of those places that's so beautiful it speaks for itself. Here's some pictures and info from our visit...

Our campsite at Red Canyon National Forest campground, a few miles west of Bryce Canyon.

Red Canyon is a beautiful place unto it self.  It even has it's own Visitors Center.

As with the Grand Canyon, it's best to get below the rim.

Joan on the Queens Garden trail.

Natural Bridge overlook

View from Rainbow Point, 9115 ft.

When we arrived at the welcome center around 8 am, these
HUGE Solar Array was aimed to the morning sun.

In the afternoon they were pointing west, cool.
We need one of those on our camper!

Here's a link to more information about the Solar Array.

Coming next, Craters of the Moon National Monument, second try.

South Beach State Park

June 29 2018

I know I promised Bryce Canyon for the next post but we had an interesting walk this morning.  

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We're staying a South Beach State Park for a few days until our site is available at Beaver Creek.  It was a nice morning, mild temperatures and a gentle breeze.  We decided to take a walk to the South Jetty on the Yaquina Bay.

Someone said there was a "... spout by that boat"!  Sure enough, there was a small Gray Whale about a 1/4 mile into the jetty.  I'm not sure how common it is for Whales to be in the jetty but it was a treat for us today.

Gray Whale spout, left center.

Here's some pictures and info about the beach and the jetty... 

Looking south as we started walking back to South Beach State Park.

Looking north toward the jetty.

The dunes continue to build, even over the board walk and interpretative sighs.

Greetings from the Oregon Coast.

We're back at Beaver Creek Welcome Center, about 8 miles south of Newport OR. 

The last 3 post, Bryce Canyon NP, Craters of the Moon NP and The Great American Eclipse had problems!  Bryce Canyon and Craters of the Moon were posted through Bloggers Android app an all the content was erased when I posted them.  I'm not sure about the Eclipse post. I was working on re-creating the other 2 posts yesterday and for some reason the app re-posted the Eclipse post from LAST year.  I'll be looking for another app for making posts from our phones and maybe move by blog to another provider.  I'll keep everyone informed.  

With a reliable WiFi, I should get the blog up to date soon. 

Coming next, Bryce Canyon NP, second try.