Not long after I moved to Reno several years ago, I took a long drive up through the Black Rock Desert of Northern Nevada and eventually came out not far from Crater Lake. It was early in the season, but not knowing the snow conditions, I decided to go ahead and visit the park. While I was unable to camp on that trip due to the snow, I was overwhelmed by the magnificent blue vastness of this natural wonder. As my wife and I have been on number of trips over the last couple of years, I wanted to share this beauty with her.
Leaving Lava Beds, we made our way to the city of Klamath Falls and while we had intended to camp this night, the extreme heat and my wife’s lack of sleep from the night before prompted us to get a hotel room before continuing on into the park. We had a wonderful dinner and rose early to finish the drive to Crater Lake, an hour or so beyond Klamath Falls.
Entering the park, it’s a very steep road up to the ridge of the collapsed volcano, which has filled with snowmelt to become one of the deepest lakes in the world. We stop at the visitor center to get a map and try to figure out exactly what we want to do, and then make our way up to the lodge, which sits on the ridge of the lake.
Upon one’s first viewing of Crater Lake, the extreme blueness cannot be over stated. Living near Lake Tahoe for many years now, I have some basis for comparison and there really is none. Crater Lake, as we are later told by a ranger, has been scientifically proven to be the clearest lake in the world, which also means that on a day like today the blue sky above gives the lake the most amazing color known. While always somewhat reserved, it’s pretty obvious that my wife is enthralled by the wonder in front of her eyes. We walk casually around a paved trail at the lodge and then down a steep path to the man-made Sinnott Memorial Lookout, which offers an unobstructed view of the lake. It is truly awe-inspiring.
After reviewing the map, we decide to take the short drive around the rim trail to the East to a spot called Sun Notch. It is our hope that we will be able to see the smaller of the two islands, Phantom Shop, from this vantage point. A short hike uphill puts us at a terrific altitude and looking down directly onto the Phantom Ship, which while small from this perspective is actually something like 5 stories tall above the surface of the water. How it got is name is obvious, as it has the general shape of a pirate ship sailing on the calm lake currents. Unlike the much larger and obvious at first glance Wizard Island, this little feature is tucked back into a quiet cove, which probably adds to it’s mystery.
We head back to the campground and begin to set up camp in the hopes of catching a quick nap before meeting some friends at the lodge’s dining room for a late dinner. We awake after an hour or so and drive back up to the lodge to enjoy a wonderful meal and some cheerful company. After dinner, we chat in the fire-warmed lobby of the lodge until nearly 1:00AM. Finally looking at the clock, I suggest we should head back to camp. We wish our friends a safe journey home and walk out of the warmth of the lodge. We are all immediately awestruck by the lack of artificial light outside and the multitude of stars above us. The Milky Way is clearly visible in the heavens over our heads, and with the lake in the foreground, I can’t imagine a more divine image. Truly, truly amazing to see with human eyes. If only, I had the camera equipment to capture the image . . .
Arriving back at our campsite, Cass and I bundle up for what will prove to be a fairly cold night in a tent. We awake the next morning, break camp, and begin the long drive back home. The trip was definitely worth it.
My wife and I had decided to take a weekend camping trip to Crater Lake, but I thought it would be a crime not to visit Lava Beds on the way, since it is only a slight detour. We got an early start and made our way up through Susanville until we reached the turn-off for Lava Beds. After a twenty or so mile trek down a poorly maintained highway, we saw a sign announcing our entrance into the National Monument and asking us to check in at the visitor center a few miles ahead.
Like all rangers in the service of the National Parks, we met some extremely friendly and helpful rangers at the visitor center. They provided some maps and asked us to check in at the White-nosed Bat Syndrome table outside, which we were happy to do. They asked the routine questions about other caves we had visited and I think were quite astonished at the number and diversity that we had been to in the last twelve months. We disinfected our shoes and gear and when on about our business.
Pulling out of the visitor center parking lot, we took a quick left turn to drive around Cave Loop, which contains the highest concentration of lava tube caves in the park. Not being thoroughly prepared for any difficult spelunking, we decided to stick to some of the easier caves.
My friend, Nick, recommended the first one we explored. Golden Dome cave is noteworthy for two features. First, it has a figure-8 configuration and secondly, the bacteria for which the cave gets its name. We parked the jeep and walked a few yards to an ominous steel ladder reaching out of a large hole in the ground. After making the decent into the darkness, we turned on our flashlights and began to explore this subterranean mystery. Remnants of cooled lava abound in this underground cavern, which as I understand it, was formed when the outer surface of the lava flow begins to form a crust as it cools. Later, the still molten lava at the core of the flow drains away leaving the negative space behind in the form of a tubular cave. We continue exploring the walls and ceiling, and eventually begin to see the golden coloration of the bacteria on the surface of the rock. It looks almost like gold dust and was very beautiful.
Moving on, we visited Sunshine Cave, which is named for two openings in the cave ceiling that act much like skylights illuminating the darkness. This one was a bit more challenging to make our way into due to some moisture on the surface and some steepness to the cave floor, but we persevered and enjoyed the cavern’s beauty.
Having a keen interest in Native American petroglyphs and pictographs, I couldn’t resist hiking out to Big Painted Cave and Symbol Bridge. Cass elected to stay in the jeep while I walked the almost two mile trail through the desert to the caves. Along the way, I was greeted with numerous collapsed lava tubes and a small cinder cone volcano in the distance, which served as a stark contrast to Cinder Cone in Lassen with the amount of vegetation growing on it. Obviously, this volcano had been formed somewhat earlier than the one I had visited only a few weeks ago. Upon reaching Big Painted Cave, I was surprised to find that it was much less of a cave than the others we had explored. While the entrance was much larger and required a little climbing to get to, there really wasn’t much more to the cave than this large room at the entrance, fully illuminated by the sun. I searched, but failed to find any pictographs here, though the coloration of the rock formations was magnificent.
Only half a mile further, I found the entrance to Symbol Bridge Cave. Much like its neighbor, the cave is little more than one large room at the entrance. However unlike it’s twin, the pictographs here are numerous and obvious. I hiked a rugged little trail through the rocks to approach the pictograph panels, which were some of the most visually stunning I have seen in my travels.
I returned to the jeep and we continued on our journey across the Oregon border to our next stop. Perhaps, I will return to Lava Beds someday with proper gear and explore some of the more difficult caves.
