Day 4: Ashland to Crater Lake - June 18

Our luxurious accommodations and unlimited supply of free scones and fresh fruit at our B&B in Ashland meant we got a pretty slow start this morning.  When we did finally get moving, we still had to stop at the Village Bakery (for Rachel) and the Juice Bar next door (for me).  

We also stopped at a grocery store to pick up ingredients for a picnic lunch and the new essentials for a campfire dinner – ears of corn and cans of soup.  The original plan was to take a longer route to Crater Lake through Klamath Falls because it seemed like somewhere we should see, but I couldn’t find one person in Ashland who thought that was a good idea!  So, I abandoned that plan for a more direct route through Medford – the land of the covered bridge.

When a second person (I really only need one) mentioned the great place for pie we’d be passing right by on our new route, the girls and I decided to save our picnic bread and cheese for another day.  The fact that we didn’t get a picture of the very berry pie a la mode that ended our lunch speaks to how quickly we devoured it!

We finally made it to Crater Lake in the late afternoon and had time for the explanatory movie in the visitor’s center, viewing of the lake from the Rim Village, and a drive along the west rim road to hike up to Watchman Peak.  

View from Rim Village

Heading to the top of that peak

Snowball fight in June

The hike took us up to the top of the hill around the back side which offered equally spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and forests...and we had to walk through a little snow too.

We didn’t get to our campsite until around 7 pm and Julia and I took on the task of putting up the tent while Rachel got the campfire started to cook dinner.  I always feel a little unsure about camping with the girls alone and some of that anxiety started to surface as Julia and I rolled out the tent and put together the poles and just stared and stared at the two unable to see how they went together….until we figured out that what we had rolled out was the fly!  When we laid out the proper tent, it went up in a flash! 

After another delicious corn, soup, smores night, Rachel brought out her guitar attracting the attention of Hal, our 60-year-old, motorcycle-riding, bipolar (all self-proclaimed) camp neighbor.  He builds his fire from the top down which burns longer and wanted to share his trick with Rachel.  I have no idea how many of the stories he told us are true (...it was his ship the Perfect Storm was written about, he used to be the Head Chef for the Alaska State Capital, he owns four businesses, he races 200+ mile bike races solo….) but I’m pretty sure the bipolar is accurate and I have been able to verify his caesar salad dressing on youtube.  Regardless he had some good life lessons for the girls – “always reinvent yourself” and “always be the best version of yourself” and “don’t do drugs” (though he seemed in favor of underage drinking) – but, more importantly, he had an ax!  [Rachel has been lamenting that we didn’t bring an ax along so she could cut her own firewood.]  Hal taught us proper technique (and assured us he also can do emergency suturing as well as any doctor if necessary).  We did eventually succeed in splitting the log and no blood was shed, so it was all good!