The ride out of Joseph Stewart to Crater Lake was a simple two lane road, and I stopped at a joint called Becky's for lunch. Their woodchuck burger was good, but their "famous" pie was shit, consisting mostly of whipped cream and some nominal amount of (good) jam.
Crater Lake was the highlight of my day. The winter was long and it snowed hard, so there was still plenty on the ground, even near the entrance to the park.
The lake was ringed by a lot of tourist photo op spots, but even with extra effort clambering around I found it really hard to photograph the lake with an 18mm lens. It's truly massive. It's wide, deep, and full of vivid blue water. It's beauty never really comes through well in photos.
Lots of snowshoeing and XC skiing still in the backcountry.
I arrived an hour and a half after the north entrance opened, so I got to go about halfway around the lake. Somehow I felt unsatisfied with the experience, as if the majesty and power of the place hadn't really made its mark the way I had hoped. It seemed too easy after two days of riding paved roads to just roll through the place. I was going to leave and looking back I spotted something that gave me an idea.
I put on my tinted goggles and set off in my motorcycle boots.
Looking back down to the parking lot, center.
I needed to traverse on all fours to make the final stretch, kicking one foothold at a time in the slope. Finally I made it to the foot of the topmost spire and edged up to the cornice.
Looking over the edge. It's a long way down.
Looking out to the northwest. You can see the parallel lines of footholds and handholds from my traverse below.
I cautioned myself, you've never done this before. Oh, what the hell...
At first I slid with my heels down to slow my descent, but after a moment I got the feel of it and laid back. I rocketed down the slope for a few seconds, hollering and hooting like mad.
My track was visible for miles around and I felt pretty good about life.
I rode out of there to the north, passing through the Pumice Desert. The whole area is very volcanic, and this is the remnant of a pumice flow that is so inhospitable to life that it hasn't be recolonized in 7700 years.
I rode out to Bend.
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