Day 12: To Crater Lake

August 15, 2005

The temperature was 45F (7C) overnight but there was no dew on the grass. I got on the road at 10AM, I guess because I was still tired from yesterday. I headed south on Highway 138 then took the turnoff to Crater Lake. It's a long steady climb but the road is well graded. The climbing seemed difficult because I was tired when I started. I had to wait in a short line to pay a $5 fee at the park entrance. Then I continued the climb up to the rim. Crater Lake is the only National Park in Oregon. At 1943 feet (589 meters) deep Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and the 7th deepest lake in the world. The lake is in the crater of Mt. Mazama, a giant volcano that erupted 8000 years ago. The surface of the lake is 6173 feet (1870 m) elevation. The 33-mile rim drive varies in elevation from 6500 feet to 7700 feet and is very popular with day cyclists who arrive by car. Crater Lake became America's 6th National Park in 1902 and the rim drive was completed in 1918. I've been to Crater Lake before but this will be my first time to go all the way around the rim drive.

9182-foot Mt. Thielsen and the Pumice Desert.

I got to the North Junction of the rim drive at 1:15PM and took a long stop there to cook noodles for lunch. This is surely my most scenic lunch break ever. Visibility was excellent.

Wizard Island and 8126 foot Applegate Peak. View from the North Junction, looking south into the sun.

On the left is the north rim of Crater Lake. On the right is 8929 foot Mt. Scott.

After lunch I started riding clockwise around the rim drive. The road across the north rim isn't too difficult. There are numerous roadside overlooks and I stopped often to take pictures. The east rim has fewer lake views. And there was a 1300 foot climb to the Cloudcap Overlook. I took the spur road to the Cloudcap Overlook which at 7850 feet elevation (2380m) is the highest road on this tour. As expected the main view is looking into the sun. The view from Cloudcap would be better in the morning. Then it was mostly downhill to Kerr Notch with some great views in the late afternoon sun looking north at the east rim.

Whitebark pine trees. In the distance are Mt. Bailey (left) and Mt. Thielsen (right).

Colors show up in the late afternoon sun.

South rim of Crater Lake looking west into the afternoon sun.

At Kerr Notch I turned onto the Pinnacles Road and coasted 4 miles downhill to the Lost Creek campground at 5900 feet elevation. The campground has only 16 sites and it was already full. So I set up my tent in an empty area near site #1. Then I rode the unloaded bike 3 more miles downhill on the Pinnacles road to see the pinnacles area. Other people have raved about how wonderful the pinnacles are but I was disappointed. And it was difficult to take pictures of the pinnacles because of the huge contrast between sun and shade.

Pinnacles at the end of a long dead-end road.

After taking a few disappointing pictures I pedaled back up to the campground, arriving at 7:15PM. I had a homebrew shower, cooked dinner, and finished eating just after it got dark. Only then did it occur to me that I needed to find a bear locker to store all my food. It wasn't easy to find a dark-painted locker at night. The campground had more mosquitoes than any other campground on this tour. Fortunately at that elevation it cools off rapidly, so it's comfortable to wear lots of clothes to keep the mosquitoes away without overheating. The campground is in a remote corner of the park so there is no highway noise. But some of my neighbors were noisy late into the night.

I never felt very energetic today because I was still tired from yesterday's difficult ride. But today's ride wasn't too bad and the great scenery was a motivating factor. The weather was totally sunny with a high temperature of 80F (27C). It's nice to be at high elevation during the peak heat of summer. Crater Lake is a very special place. It was a thrill to finally see the remote parts of the rim drive.

Distance: 41.3 mi. (66.1 km)

Climbing: 4140 ft. (1255 m)

Average speed: 6.8 mph (10.9 km/h)

Maximum speed: 36.2 mph (57.9 km/h)

Hiking: none

Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 583 miles (938 km)

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