MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS AND LAKES

Saturday

I've spent a few days with my brothers and their wives.  We've shopped, we've hung out, we've played dominoes, we've eaten -- in short, we had a great time hanging out together.  And we have plans for next year in the making.

The brothers loved my new car.  It was their first opportunity to see it.  I ran it through the car wash and scrubbed off 3800 miles of bugs before I got here.  I wanted it to look perfect for them.  In the first few minutes after I arrived, they had the hood up and were examining the engine. It's what they always do. For those of you who care, gas mileage is 27.3.

This morning I am on my way to Crater Lake and saw my first snow-capped mountains.  The evergreen trees tower above me as I head into the mountains. Diamond Peak rises above Odell Lake.  The elevevation here at Willamette Pass is 5000 and this is just the highway; the mountains are much higher.

Before today it was the Pacific Ocean and the mountains that were so spectacular -- now it's the mountains and rivers and lakes.  The lakes are fabulously clear and the snow-capped peaks beyond towering evergreens create awesome landscapes beneath the clear sky.  What more could anyone want?  Every day seems better than the last.

Crater Lake is as I remember it from my early childhood.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.  Even though the road goes entirely around the rim, I only drove part of it, partly because of time constraints and partly because I didn't need to see the lake from every vantage point.

I took at side trip to The Pinnacles and for the first time on this trip I was a little frightened of the road.  I drove all the way to the top of the mountains and I could look across to several other rows of mountains in the distance.  The two-lane road was narrow with one side against the mountain.  My side dropped off immediately at the solid white line, with no guard rails or fences.  I drove very cautiously, hugging the center line.  Fortunately, there was not a lot of traffic and I could see oncoming traffic.  I was painfully aware, that if I zigged just a little bit I would be over the edge.  Done with.  Never to return again.  I love the drive and loved the view but I was a little anxious.

The sign of the day is "avalanche zone" which is primarily for winter, when the roads are piled with snow and the roads are often closed.

The Pinnacles are a geographic phenomena I have never seen before.  The look almost like the tall chimneys of an elfin village that were formed by lava and rock and steam interacting to allow the steam to rise to the surface.  Shawna, you may need to do a little research on this for your students.

On the drive back from the Pinnacles I was on the inside lane, against the mountains.  Much better. Many bicyclists shared the road, straining to make it over these mountains.

After a few hours at Crater Lake, I drove on to Grants Pass to spend time with friends.  Along the way I came to the Rogue River Gorge near Union Creek.  The gorge in places is only twenty-five feet wide, so the water rushes and crashes fast and deep through the rocks.  Above the gorge the river is not all that big and is rather calm, but everything changes when the water is forced into a narrow path among the rocks. I loved the sound of the water even more than view.  It brought back memories of camping beside rushing rivers in my childhood and falling asleep to the river sounds.  Shawna, the lava tube formations in this gorge are another feature for you to research.

So today I have traveled among evergreen covered mountains, clear long lakes, snow-capped peaks, and rushing rivers.  As I get closer to Grants Pass, the trees are more sparse with bald spots in between.

Diamond Peak

Odell Lake and Diamond Peak

Peak near Crater Lake

Crater Lake

Crater Lake

Crater Lake

Crater Lake

The Pinnacles

The Pinnacles

The Pinnacles

The Rogue River Gorge

Lava Holes at the Rogue River Gorge