Crater Lake National Park

Our primary motivation in driving instead of flying to Washington was having a way to transport our bikes and the chariot. We have been wanting to ride around Olympia and Crater Lake National Park and figured this was a good opportunity. We made a detour through Oregon to spend a couple days at Crater Lake. It is about 6 hours away from Olympia, so after a good day of driving we arrived at the entrance of the park. We caught a glimpse of the lake as we drove to Mazama Campground and it was breathtaking. It was so vast, and so blue! We didn't stop to admire the sight as we just had time to set up camp, eat dinner and get to bed.

We woke up early and got ourselves ready as quickly as we could so we could be off on our ride on Rim Drive. It was 33 miles of beautiful views, intense climbs, white knuckle downhills, hot sun, lots of bugs and singing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" to help us get through through the long hills. In total, we gained 3,611 feet of elevation. This is a description found on the official park website: "Steep hills at high elevation may encourage even the most fit riders to pause at many of the road's thirty overlooks and pull-outs. The payoff, however, is spectacular scenery, viewed at a pace that few visitors choose to take enough time for." It also warns that "the road is narrow with long, steep grades". Oh how true that is. Also, Jeff was pulling Wendy in the trailer which is quite impressive. Wendy was a trooper as always and kept happy in the trailer with a little nap, some cheddar bunnies and some pretty gorgeous scenery to look at.

Our home for this stay was Mazama Campground. We snagged a beautiful site for our second night after staying next to some rowdy neighbors the first night. Wendy had a lot of space to explore and we enjoyed being tucked away from other campers. Besides an abundance of mosquitoes and other bugs, it was really nice being in the great outdoors. This trip was definitely an adventure, one that took bit of a toll on us. Sometimes we do crazy things, but in the end we are glad we do them because they always make for the best memories.