Day 127 - Crater Lake

Whew!! I finally made it to the famous Crater Lake, nearly 130 days into this grand voyage. A jewel of our park system, Crater Lake is one of the deepest lakes in the world, set in a collapsed- volcano crater, and having stunningly blue, pristine water. Here she is:

That pano was actually taken on the last stop of the day, but it was too good to wait. Wizard Island is a new volcano crater that pokes 350 feet above the water's surface. Here was me after first seeing the lake in person.

A 33 mile road circles the lake and takes you to various breath-taking views.

Evidence of volcanic eruptions were visible throughout. These nearby pinnacles were formed during the Mount Mazama eruption that formed Crater Lake 7,700 years ago.

But the most fun was had hiking down 800 vertical feet along the Cleetwood Trail to Cleetwood Cove, then promptly passing by the onlooking crowds to join the handful of brave souls cliff jumping into the icy blue waters of Crater Lake.

After drying off, I completed the circle drive by hiking up to the watchman lookout, where that great panoramic photo of the lake was taken. Amazing view. Then I drove northwest for an hour in search of a BLM campspot. The forest narrowed into a canyon, making finding a level side road problematic, but I eventually found a side road and a great secluded boondocking spot.

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Day 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

We got our first glimpse of smoke far across the valley as we climbed higher. Up on a ridge after a morning climb, we followed a side trail to an open viewpoint beyond the trees. Selfie:) The smoke, while visible, seemed to give the mountains a blue glow-- like a highlighter to a sketch. You could still see the edges of the mountain ridges, the story of their creation. We could hike in this. But the smoke looked worse farther south. Or it was getting worse as time rolled incessantly forward. On day two we had ran into a northbound hiker we nicknamed Speedy Steve. Speedy Steve had hiked 18 miles a day through eight consecutive smoke-filled days, including atleast three "very bad days" when he couldn't see the surrounding mountains, the sun glowed a haunting orange and ash accumulated overnight. On the way to Purple Lake we ran into three dirty, beat up, tired north-bound hikers with a similar story. They had to spend one night in an emergency hut at Muir Pass to avoid the...

Day 41 - Escalante Coyote Gulch

This one or two night Coyote Gulch hike was an easy test of my newly learned navigation skills. Anxious to get started I awoke at 545 just as the sun was rising. I followed an obvious landmark, a tall thin spire called Chimney Rock, northwest to Hurricane Wash (a drainage running into Coyote Gulch). After a couple of hours of walking up over and around slick rock, I entered the famous Coyote Gulch. The walls around me raised up, darkened and th water flow increased--like nature hinting at the scenic beauty ahead. The normally crowded Coyote Gulch was fairly empty on this early Thursday morning, giving the canyon a very peaceful and quiet feeling-- fragile almost. Down steam, I ran into the famous Jacob Hamilton Arch and then thirty minutes further-- the Coyote Natural Birdge. Both were beautiful due to their see through the wall character, but both would be overshadowed in my memory by the Stevens Arch tomorrow. Pics. By 1pm, I had hiked for six hours...

Day 42 - Escalante Stevens Arch

The Stevens Arch is so massive that legend says daredevil pilots would fly through it. I was excited to see it! Having napped most of the afternoon, I awoke promptly at 545, packed up my things and hiked down to the Escalante River as the first morning light was pouring into the canyon. Hiking around more waterfalls and ledges and along the stream before anyone else was up was nice. My written directions said to look for sandy hill to my right which led up to my only exit from the canyon-- the Crack-in-the-Wall. I ran into the confluence of the Escalante River, a point which my guidebook noted was passed my exit route, requiring a ten minute backtrack. This was fine though because I had tons of time and wanted to see the Stevens Arch. I crossed the knee-deep Escalante River several times before the Arch came into view. Like a window in the Roman Colloseum, the Arch seemed almost engineered by man in this tall curving canyon wall. I hiked under the arch and couldn't eve...

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