2014 Big Truck across the NW, Day 16

Day 16 started with the sea lions barking us awake, and after a brief but failed attempt to find them, we encountered one of my least favorite things about Oregon. Full service gas stations.

It makes no sense, and reading the arguments for it (one of 2 states remaining, along with renowned bastion of reason New Jersey) will make your head explode. Either way, at least I get to share the experience of blowing past the limit on the gas pumps (somewhere between $75, $99, $125, or $150 depending on the station, who will all blame it on the credit card company) with the gas station attendant.

We were headed through SW Oregon, which looked a lot like this. What you don't see are cell towers. There is no phone or internet allowed in Oregon, which is why there will be a binge of these posts as soon as we re-enter civilization.

On the way, we passed a cinematic landmark, the Dexter Lake Club - site of this memorable scene.

It wasn't long and we were almost to Crater Lake. As we drove the North Rim road, we could see some jagged formations and started matching them up to the brochure map, and then we got to an overlook that gave us this teaser view.

All excited, we jumped back in the RV, started back on the road, and immediately ran into a construction stoppage with Kimberly's side of the road having nothing but a sheer dropoff.  Not ideal, especially since we sat here for 22 minutes.

When we got going, we saw the reason for the delay. Huge rocks were falling on the road. Seems justified now.

We made it down to the campground (lucky for us we had reserved ahead, as it was full), found a suitable site, and headed back up in the Jeep, stopping first at the visitors center.  Jordan had to trace our route, and we decided after 27 National Parks that now would be a good time to buy the passport book to start tracking our visits.

A quick trip up to the top gave this family selfie opportunity (I'm 5 feet behind them to keep my head to scale with theirs)

and allowed for this ridiculous panoramic view, which is actually insulting to what it looks like in person. I've been wowed by a lot of these kinds of sights, but this one kind of stopped me cold.

If it looks like a fake Hollywood backdrop, it also felt that way from the lookout point. Here's Jordan trying to figure out why Dad has been frozen in this spot for 10 minutes.

Just inside, there were a bunch of educational exhibits describing how the volcano imploded on itself, creating this crater. Here's Jordan learning how the ash likely spread all the way to our previous campsite north of Olympic.

Before we headed around the Rim Road, we noticed this group of bikes, including 6 identical brand new Harleys. Must have been quite the spectacle watching them all get unloaded from whatever trailer brought them up here.

At the next scenic turnout, we encountered this couple from British Columbia & chatted them up about their bike. Turns out they have put 80k miles on it in 2 years (!) of visiting parks all over North America. I'm sure these past 2 paragraphs are not showing any BMW bias I may or may not have.

Jeep poser shot on our way around the crater. You may notice a slight change in the weather.

On our way around the crater rim, we saw this in the distance.

I'm sure you had the same reaction I did.

Around the east end of the crater, we saw the Phantom Ship formation, which seems small but is actually 16 stories above the lake surface (nerd facts you certainly need).

Here we stopped to do a short hike at the Sun Notch (liars) viewpoint. We made it unscathed, but there were some rumblings in the distance and a few flashes that we tried to keep from a certain 6 year old's peripherals.

After we arrived safely back at the campsite, I fired up the grill, made some quick dinner and cruised back up to the top for a sunset view of the lake. I was a few minutes late, but still got an amazing view. Again, crappy cellphone pics do this no justice - the blue of the water is like nothing I've ever seen before.

In the Big Truck, Jordan and Kimberly had successfully completed the National Parks puzzle Jordan had picked out in the gift shop.

While admiring their work, we pulled up the GPS track of our trip around the crater.  More nerdery, but one to save along with the Going to the Sun Road from Glacier and Hurricane Ridge from Olympic.

This campground has multiple bear warnings, so after explaining the bear box to Jordan, it was time to fire up movie night. Tonight's choice - Despicable Me 2, which had our whole RV doing impressions of Kevin til bedtime.

Tomorrow - we attempt the Crater Lake to Craters of the Moon challenge. 12+ hrs, spanning Oregon into Idaho.