Rain today so we had a very long morning meeting with all sorts of administrivia and acknowledgements. Really this event has a lot of meetings...
Then I decided to make the most of the day by doing a sightseeing trip to the Crater Lake on the other side of the Medford valley. Although, given that the day was cancelled by rain, it was a somewhat dubious idea as the Crater Rim is at 7000ft!
The drive was spectacular, apart from needing to pull over and let a enormous empty Kenworth logging truck pass me. It seemed that 60mph on a winding mountain road in the rain was not fast enough, and he stuck on my bumper for at least ten miles in intimidation tactic straight out of Steven Speilburg's Duel.
I stopped at the Natural Bridge, an amazing lava pipe that 95% of the Rogue river disappears down into a lava core for hundred meters only to reappear in a foaming pool.
Then I drove up from magnificent fir forests through Crater Rim National Park to the Crater Rim at 7100ft. The rain and sleet were coming down, but the mist did clear enough for me to look down nearly 1000ft into the famously deep blue water, and see the much photographed Wizard island clearly. Winter snowfall up here: 22 ft!
Last stop was Lake in the Woods on the way day down for an afternoon icecream during a short break in the rain...
With all the rain and fir trees I think today was a true Oregon experience...
Then I decided to make the most of the day by doing a sightseeing trip to the Crater Lake on the other side of the Medford valley. Although, given that the day was cancelled by rain, it was a somewhat dubious idea as the Crater Rim is at 7000ft!
The drive was spectacular, apart from needing to pull over and let a enormous empty Kenworth logging truck pass me. It seemed that 60mph on a winding mountain road in the rain was not fast enough, and he stuck on my bumper for at least ten miles in intimidation tactic straight out of Steven Speilburg's Duel.
My Oregon Logging Truck Experience...
A little hard to see, but the river dissapears into a cave...
And re-appears 100m away (the frothy water in the distance)
Then I drove up from magnificent fir forests through Crater Rim National Park to the Crater Rim at 7100ft. The rain and sleet were coming down, but the mist did clear enough for me to look down nearly 1000ft into the famously deep blue water, and see the much photographed Wizard island clearly. Winter snowfall up here: 22 ft!
Wizard Island
Last stop was Lake in the Woods on the way day down for an afternoon icecream during a short break in the rain...
With all the rain and fir trees I think today was a true Oregon experience...