Cascade lakes

Crater Lake National Park

~ randyaa ~ 1 Comment

deerWe headed to Crater Lake National Park early Monday morning from Bend Oregon.  To get there we took the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway which circles Mount Bachelor along alpine lakes and meadows.  It took longer than necessary, but we’re out here for the scenery right?  We saw great views of snow capped mountains, Deer (likely Blacktail, a sub-species of Mule Deer), old lava flows and beautiful lakes and meadows. If you’ve got the time it has to be the best way to get to Crater Lake.

Once we were through the byway, Crater was only about another hour or so.  Knowing that we’d be facing hefty prices for food and drinks once in the park (which were certainly confirmed, $9 for a cold 6 inch ham & swiss sandwich!?), we stopped at a convenience store and grabbed some snakes and liquid.

craterOnce you enter the park, the first view of the actual lake is about 9 miles in past a pumice desert and some beautiful scenes of snow capped mountains.  I knew to expect beautiful blue water, but I was still shocked when we finally walked to the rim and looked in for the first time.  The landscape in Crater Lake National Park is quite possibly the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen.  This is very cliche of scenic landscapes, but honestly pictures cannot do it justice, it’s just something you have to see to appreciate.

We drove the rim road stopping at several scenic overlooks, took a quick break at the visitors center, and took a short hike which we thought was going to lead us to a lookout tower.  Unfortunately, we missed a turn due to some snow on the trail and ended up hiking along the rim trail for a ways until we reached a beautiful overlook and realized we were on the wrong trail.  We spent about 4 hours in the park and then headed back to Portland.  I could have spent all day there (all week!) but Tess and Roger had to fly out in the morning so we had to get back to Portland so they could catch their flight.

On the way back we took the Rogue Umqua Scenic Byway.  Another absolutely gorgeous drive, although I was the only one awake to enjoy it.  We took no fewer than 3 different Scenic Byways on our short trip to Crater Lake, and we could have taken more had we really tried.  Oregon truly is a beautiful state everywhere you look.

2 of 46ers – Cascade and Porter

~ randyaa ~ 1 Comment

Cascade Mountain SummitThere’s 2 more people on the Trek to becoming 46ers.  We’ve only just begun but we’re in it for the long haul.

We were spending the weekend in Lake Placid due to a great deal on the High Peaks Resort.  We booked the trip a few weeks ago and while the weather was great Friday and Sunday, rain was expected for Saturday afternoon.  Despite that we decided to hike up some of the 46 High Peaks anyway.  After all, we were staying at the High Peaks resort.

To start our journey on the 46er goal we climbed two peaks.  We’ve climbed mountains before, Hunter mountain was the highest so far with an elevation of 4,040ft and that was last summer.  We’ve now successfully summited 2 of the Adirondack High Peaks, increasing our highest mountain’s elevation to 4,098ft.

We took the Cascade/Porter mountain trail up from route 73 just east of the mt van hoevenburg recreation area and just west of the Cascade lakes (in case you’re trying to find it).

Porter Mountain Summit

The trail goes steadily up for about 1.8miles where it Y’s.  From there it’s .3 miles to the summit of Cascade with an ascent of a 292ft and .7 miles to the summit of Porter with an ascent of 270ft.  While the rest of the Cascade trail was relatively easy, only a few hundred feet to summit Porter is a bit missleading.  First you descend several hundred feet through what can only be considered a mud slide, then you cross a valley and travel back up the hundreds of feet you descended plus the original 270ft.

The top of Cascade Mountain felt more like the top of Mount Washingtain than the top of one of the smaller Adirondack High Peaks.  Winds were constant at easily over 60mph with gusts probably topping 80mph. The wind caused the slight rain coming down to feel like your skin was getting sand blasted.  Porter Mountain wasn’t quite as bad since it wasn’t as open, but the wind was still incredibly strong.

This isn’t the first mountain we’ve climbed and it won’t be the last, but it is the first one we’ve hiked up and down in the rain.  Having the right gear is vital for hiking and we made use of some new equipment, our new Eddie Bauer RipPac jackets, for the first time this trip and it made our experience enjoyable despite the bad weather.  They will certainly remain a staple in our hiking packs.


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