Day 5 - Sept 12th

It was a bit cold in the morning, but not nearly as cold as at La Pine.  Plus, we’d be climbing almost immediately and it would warm up quickly.  Today was the day we’d be visiting Crater Lake.

Riders had several options today:  riding to and around Crater Lake, riding to and back from Crater Lake, riding around Diamond Lake, or no riding at all.  But of course we weren’t going to come all this way and not ride around Crater Lake.

We got a late start, around 8:50am.  They said they wouldn’t let anyone start the loop around Crater Lake after 11am, but we weren’t too concerned.  We climbed up to the park entrance, then continued on toward Crater Lake.  There was actually a short downhill before it started a steeper climb to the rim.

We eventually reached the rim a bit after 10:30am.  After a quick break at what would be our lunch stop on the way back, we turned onto the rim road heading clockwise around the lake.

The road goes up and down a lot.  Along the way are pull outs with views of the lake too numerous to mention.  We stopped at several of them along the northern side of the lake.  After a rest stop we continued along the route, stopping at more overlooks.

Eventually we decided there were just too many stops and we started skipping some, coming to the rest stop at the Phantom Ship overlook.  A park ranger had mentioned that the road on the southern side of the lake (past the Phantom Ship overlook) was in bad shape, but it wasn’t as bad as he made it out to be.  Nothing I would consider dangerous.  And there wasn’t a lot of traffic on the road, either.

I skipped Videa Falls and continued climbing as it grew warmer.  I was overdue for taking off some clothes, but kept going until I reached the next water stop, where I shed some more layers.  After stopping at an overlook near Rim Village, I skipped the remaining viewpoints since I’d visited them 3 years ago.  Soon enough I reached the lunch stop around 2:45pm

At the lunch stop, most people were near a fence, eating lunch while overlooking Wizard Island in Crater Lake below.  After lunch we started the descent back to Diamond Lake.  Back at camp I think I guzzled the chocolate milk in one big gulp.

It was positively hot back at camp, and all our clothes were dry now.