Snow Bathers

This weekend promised to be one of the last beautiful weekends of the season, so Rachel dragged a reluctant Jake on another camping trip. Our first destination was Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States, formed in the caldera of an imploded volcano. The area is mountainous and thickly wooded with pine, and a slow ascent along winding roads finally reaches an elevation of nearly 8000 feet. Only at the top, within a ring of jagged peaks formed by lava and ash, does the immense blue lake come into view. Not sure how far it would be straight across the lake, but the road that rings the rim (currently closed, covered in snow) is 33 miles long. From the rim, the water’s surface lies about half a mile straight down. The depth makes the water appear blackish-blue, but supposedly it is some of the cleanest water in America. Snow has already laid claim to the land, and the six inches today will become six feet in another month. Still, the sky was clear and the sun shone warmly, and a few inches of snow can’t keep tourists away. A smattering of tourist lodges, a kitschy gift store, and a cafe form Rim Village at one end of the crater, where a few dozen dopey Oregonians and Asian tourists sucked down Mountain Dew, took a few photos, yelled profanities at their kids, and threw snowballs at each other. Imagine what a delightful place it would be in the midst of tourist season!



Most of the hiking trails were inaccessible, but we picked up one along the rim and hiked a couple miles for some excellent views. The only features in the midst of the lake are a wooded island called Wizard Island, and a rocky outcropping called The Ghost Ship. At any point, one slip near the edge would mean almost certain death, so it’s unfortunate that more tourists didn’t attempt it. The lake is remarkable, but unfortunately it had that Disneyland air that pervades most of our national parks and monuments with drive-up access.

Leaving the lake behind, we drove north along the Rogue River for another hour, then turned west along the Umpqua River in the Umpqua National Forest. Along the way there were massive mountains, vast lakes, staggering volcanic plugs, and scenic waterfalls every few miles. Jake would gladly have passed them by, and such a dense, creepy fog pervaded the area on Saturday that little was visible, but we managed to stop at a few on the way home—volcanic plug Mt Thielsen (shown first), Clearwater Falls, and Diamond Lake and the volcano behind it.

At 4 p.m. we reached our destination—Toketee Lake & Falls, home of the renowned Umpqua Hot Springs along the Umpqua River. The Falls were closed to hikers due to snow, the Lake was canvassed with pipes for some sort of electric and waterworks, and evidently it’s hunting season. But surely, the hot springs must not let us down! After some confusion and trial and error we finally located the parking lot below the springs at about 4:30. A map clearly showed the trail: cross the tumbling rapids of the icy river on the bridge, then follow the walking trail up to the springs. There were a few other cars and people setting up tents, so we set out from the car confident that we would return well before dark (~5:30). We hadn’t anticipated, though, that the bridge collapsed last autumn. The solution, as we finally discovered, is a felled tree lying across the river with some wet boards nailed to it, making a sort of boardwalk across.

We made it across, but then had to traverse a veritable labyrinth of trails through the dense pine forest. Some other people came along and showed us the trail, and we eventually emerged from the wood onto a smooth stone bluff, where centuries of water has carved seven shallow, steaming pools along the rounded face, high above the rushing river.

It’s a nude bathing place, so we’ll refrain from publishing most of our pictures online. The highest pools are the hottest, with the water cooling as it descends into the lower pools. The temperature evidently remains constant year-round, though the thought of soaking in scalding water in the middle of summer holds little appeal. Isn’t geology amazing?! It’s awfully strange to think that we were quickly overheated and welcomed the chance to walk around dripping wet and clothes-less, when it was only about 45*. Some of the pools have mounted candleholders, and several people were still soaking when we left. As dusk fell rapidly upon us, we decided to hurry back down the trail in the remaining daylight, because we hadn’t thought to bring a light. Alas, the waning light visible on the open bluff failed to penetrate the deep forest, and almost immediately we lost the trail and slid down a muddy slope. That’s about when Rachel’s hysterics started; you would not want to be lost in the forest at night with her, either. We slogged through mud pits, tripped on rocks, and stumbled over fallen trees, shuffling blindly through the woods as we tried to retrace the path that had been difficult enough to follow in daylight. After an embarrassingly long trek, bruised and muddied and mad at ourselves for making such a foolish mistake, we regained the log “bridge” and returned, shaken, to the far shore.



Then followed the coldest night Rachel had ever spent out of doors, and while Jacob nearly whined himself to an early grave and we woke up every half hour chilled to the bone, Rachel’s first thought each time was “Isn’t this fun?!” When we checked the thermostat at 7 a.m. it was 30 degrees, so it’s reasonable to assume it had been colder in the wee hours. Our sleeping bags may be rated to 20 degrees, but our toes and heads are only rated to about 60. We repacked the car with numb fingers and drove back to the hot springs to cancel out the traumatizing experience of the night before. The pools were deserted, and so deliciously warm that we were loathe to leave them.

But we did, stopping at the aforementioned side sights, and joyfully returning home to stuff ourselves with Mexican food at the restaurant down the street. Then Jacob went mountain biking and Rachel went to bed. More photos from the weekend are available in the Further Afield album. Also note that Jacob failed to upload his art photos last week, but they can now be found in the Art Works album.