Crater Lake and more, September 24-28

I don't remember how many times I've driven by the turn off to Crater Lake and not stopped.  It always seemed like I was on the way to or from somewhere and didn't have time to stop and explore.  This time, Joel said we could stop and do a day trip.  We parked the Beaver at Diamond Lake Junction and unhooked the car and continued on to Crater Lake.  The  road  around the lake is really narrow and windy in places, so unless you are planning to camp at the camp ground and stay a few days,  a car is really easier.

Unfortunately, the sky was really hazy and smokey from all of the forest fires near Klamath Falls, but the scenery was still spectacular.

 A nice overview looking south from the first view point we came to.

 Wizard Island.

Note the huge bluffs.

 And lots of stark peaks

Mt. Thieson, looking north

 More of the crater

 Wizard island from the south side of the lake

Lots of burls on the tree stumps..

The Lodge a Crater Lake is pretty impressive.  The other side faces the lake and the view are spectacular.

A nice cozy fire, which was welcomed as it was pretty chilly out.

An interesting interior wall, faced with bark.

 One of the views from the deck of the lodge

Another view of Mt. Thieson contrasting how steep the crater is.  

Phantom Ship Rock.  We hiked up a short trail to the over look.  

I think these were called the Castle Rocks.

The drive around the lake itself is only 32 miles, but the access road to the park road is much longer.  We ended up spending the whole day exploring around the lake before going back to Diamond Junction to hook up and continue to the casino at Chiloquin which is near  Klamath Falls to spend the night.

The next day (Tuesday) we continued towards Portola, California but stopped at Hallelujah Junction and unhooked the car for a quick trip into Reno to check out RV storage, complete our Amazon drug tests, and pickup mail.  Then we continued  on to Portola so we could get the Born Free ready for our  trip to Tucson for Joel's VA check up appointments.

It's really hard work moving stuff around and getting the BF ready for the road

but we managed get everything done; put the Beaver in storage; and left on Thursday for Tucson.  Joel needs to be at the VA by Wednesday for his appointments and it is over 900 miles.  Gas prices are less than Diesel (almost 60 cents less in some areas)  and the BF is a  more fuel efficient, and we figured that we would save $$$ by taking the BF and not hooking up a car.