Crater Lake National Park – BOOTS on the TRAIL

Union Peak (Crater Lake National Park) 21-Sep-2021

2021-09-212022-04-10Posted in Hiking, Southern Oregon, U.S. National Parks & MonumentsTagged Beckie's Cafe Oregon, Crater Lake National Park, Day Hiking, Hiking, Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), PCT, Southern Oregon, Union Peak4 Comments

We said good-bye to summer with a hike up Union Peak (7,709 ft / 2,350 m) in the southwest corner of Crater Lake National Park. The peak is the eroded remains (the neck) of a much larger volcano and is the second oldest peak in the park. The views from its summit are spectacular – provided they aren’t obscured by smoke. Which they were for most of this summer. So when our recent rains cleared the air and damped the wildfires, we knew it was time to visit Union again after a six year 😲 absence.

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Spruce Lake (Crater Lake National Park) 30-Jul-2021

2021-07-302021-07-31Posted in Hiking, Southern Oregon, U.S. National Parks & MonumentsTagged Beckie's Cafe Oregon, Crater Lake National Park, Day Hiking, Hiking, Rogue River - Siskiyou National Forest, Southern Oregon, Spruce Lake Oregon5 Comments

Today emerged hot, cloudy, sultry, and hazy with smoke. Thunderstorms drenched us in the afternoon but the morning sprouted only a few pathetic rain drops. These only added to the sultry. A morning outside was about all we were up for. So we did two very short hikes which, when combined with a lunch outside at Beckie’s, made for a morning well spent. That there was pie 🥧 involved had nothing – Nothing I say! – to do with the quality of this day. 😉

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Boundary Springs (Crater Lake National Park) 26-Jul-2021

2021-07-262021-08-05Posted in Hiking, Southern Oregon, U.S. National Parks & MonumentsTagged Ashland Hiking Group, Boundary Springs, Crater Lake National Park, Day Hiking, Hiking, Rogue River, Southern Oregon, Upper Rogue River Oregon, Upper Rogue River Trail #103413 Comments

Boundary Springs – which emerge from semi-arid terrain in the northwest corner of Crater Lake National Park – are the source of the mainstem of the Rogue River. Many other tributaries and streams contribute to the Rogue before it reaches the sea at Gold Beach, but that river starts here. It’s tempting to think that these springs somehow tap Crater Lake itself but they are, instead, fed only by snowmelt.

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Fawn Butte – Blue Grotto Loop (Southwest Oregon) 07-Feb-2021

2021-02-072021-10-29Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Blue Grotto Oregon, Crater Lake National Park, Day Hiking, Hiking, Lost Creek Lake Oregon, North Shore Trail Oregon, Southern Oregon, William L Jess Dam6 Comments

The Blue Grotto is a geologic feature just above of the North Shore Trail on the north side of Lost Creek Lake. It’s where a seasonal stream has cut a 40-foot (12 m) waterfall through a greenish rhyolite formation that is ash from the eruption of Mount Mazama, the volcano that created the Crater Lake caldera. The Grotto is at its best in the late winter to early Spring when runoff brings the waterfall to life. We figured that rain and snow melt from a big storm a week ago had by now found its way to the Grotto’s waterfall, so we set off on our annual visit. In previous years, we’d simply hike out-and-back on the North Shore Trail from the Lost Creek Trailhead, which is a lovely hike. Then I discovered an old road that runs past Fawn Butte, above and parallel to the North Shore Trail. This makes it possible to form a loop that includes views from the hills, a visit to the Blue Grotto, and a walk along the lake.

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2020 ~ Adventures with The LovedOne

2020-12-312022-01-31Posted in Arizona, Hiking, Nevada, Oregon Coast, Other Stuff, Sierra Nevada (California), Southern Oregon, U.S. National Parks & MonumentsTagged Crater Lake National Park, Day Hiking, Death Valley National Park, Hiking, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas Nevada, Oregon Coast, Redwood National Park California, Southern Oregon, Tucson Arizona, Yosemite Wilderness California6 Comments

Oh, 2020. You seemed so nice when we first met. You were fun for two months, then you turned ugly. Real ugly. A plague and a recession and wildfires and an election and continuing drought. Yes sir, you threw quite a bit of hurt at us! Yes you did! But we survived. And The LovedOne remained photogenic while social distancing from others kept her within camera range.

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