Crater Lake - Diamond Lake

[Oregon72]

We took a three day/two night trip to Diamond Lake and Crater Lake National Park with the family for vacation.

Sunday left home with bus fully loaded down I-5 to Eugene then east over Willamette Pass.

A stop at Salt Creek Falls, for one of Oregon's most beautiful waterfalls.

Willow -


We dropped down the east side and OMG found the engine stuck in near fully floored RPM - what the hell??? turned off key and coasted to the side of the road - somehow the throttle cable/linkage was hung up. Fiddled with it a bit and problem #1 solved

About a mile from Diamond Lake and road side fix #2 happens --- go to shift to 4th and gear shift flops over to the side - everythings all messed up in there. Kids and wife were not to happy about it. Took off the stop plate and find everything popped out but everything is still there - put it all back together and find that I put the stop plate in wrong, but shifts fine with a little finesse - Later cleaned regreased and reassembled correctly.

Tested the new dutch oven - Stew



and peach cake





Site A36 - there were a lot better sites around, but I made a reservation online so that is what I got -- powdery dust all over and on an incline so my 3 year old kept falling down









Mt. Thielsen


4 people + 1 dog in a 2 person canoe = fun (Mt. Bailey in the back)



Tuesday night, my daughter is cold in the upper single cot (over 5000 ft elevation so it was around 40F). So being a good dad, I switch places with her and climb up into the cot at which time, the 38 year old canvas decides it has had enough, rips end-to-end , and dumps me through as I plummet to my near-demise in a wad on the floor much to the entertainment of my family. My neck still hurts, cuz that's a long fall. Guess I should either lose some weight or pay attention to the weight limitations . Canvas is ruined, but I'm having a pro tarp place make a burly one that can hold more than an anorexic waif.

At any rate, I decide it is time to get up - it is Crater Lake day today and I'm stoked. Oregon's only National Park - a phenomal geological gem of a place. The park is made up of the Crater Lake caldera which is what is left of Mt. Mazama after a cataclysmic volcanic eruption nearly 7,700 years ago. The eruption that happened was said to be 420 times more powerful than the Mt. St. Helens eruption. The lake is the deepest in the US (1932 ft) and there are no inlets or tributaries for water, so all the water that is in the caldera is from direct rain or snowfall. This makes the lake incredibly pure, clean, and blue. The lake has incredible Native American (Klamath Tribe) significace as well and is view as a very sacred and special place. I agree.


not my pic, but shows the lake much better - Looks like it could be one of Glasseye's though


The water truly is that blue --- The bus was DRAGGING at the 7,500 ft. elevation -



Wizard Island





Cool old dude with a bird - they shared a sandwich






It was a great time -- more memories for the kids and good bonding time. Sure hope my neck heals up properly

[Bookwus]

Hiya Troy,

Looks like a fun trip notwithstanding falling outta bed. Of course you have pressed the wife into service, right? Somebody has to massage that sore neck.

[tristessa]

not my pic, but shows the lake much better - Looks like it could be one of Glasseye's though

Pictures don't do justice to Crater Lake. No offense to Glasseye or anyone else who's ever taken pictures of the place, it's just *that* beautiful.

[ruckman101]

I have to agree. Incredible. Finally made it up there this year after Maupin. Brrr.


neal

[Oregon72]

Hiya Troy,

Looks like a fun trip notwithstanding falling outta bed.

Major blowout - in a split second my face hit the lower bed, my ankle slammed into the sink faucet and my ass hit me in the back of the head.

[Westy78]

You do know that the cot was only rated for 90lbs right? You seem to be a little more stout than that.

Looks like a nice trip otherwise. How did the bus do on that long ass climb from 97 to Diamond Lake? Or did you come from the west and I-5?

[dtrumbo]

Great post, Troy! What a beautiful and tolerant family you have... and Willow, one of my favorite dogs ever (Wally and Josie, I love you too!). Sorry about the trap-door action. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished!

Thanks for the motivation to get my butt in gear and go on a camp trip with my fam now that summer has finally arrived. I drove the bus to work this morning and it seems like it will tolerate one more short trip before some well-deserved engine rehab that I promised him I'd do if he only got us home from Maupin/Wenatchee/Chelan which, of course, he did. Now I really need to make good on my promise!

[Oregon72]

You do know that the cot was only rated for 90lbs right? You seem to be a little more stout than that.

Looks like a nice trip otherwise. How did the bus do on that long ass climb from 97 to Diamond Lake? Or did you come from the west and I-5?

Yeah - I laugh at ratings and then complain when I exceed them and I get my lunch eaten because of it. I'm having Sharps Tarps in Vancouver, WA make me a new cot and they will be using this burly vinyl material that patio furniture is made of and heavy stitching - I think nylon or goretex. The place makes custom tarps and covers for semi loads and boat covers, and all kinds of custom stuff. Probably the first westy cot they've ever made though. Should be super strong and will cost me about 80 bucks material and labor.

We did come down 97 from Chemult and for the climb to diamond lake the bus ran OK - about 40 in 3rd gear and some areas where 4th was OK. In hindsight, I think I might have pushed it a bit hard with the heavy load of gear and firewood coupled with the 5,000 to 7,500 elevations. Up at the rim of Crater Lake, the thing was gutless. I adjusted my valves last night and 3 of my 4 exhaust clearances were tight around .003" on a couple so I guess I need to apologize to it. Still need to figure out the slight pulsing under load - somehow the elevation seemed to remove that a bit so I'm not sure what that means. It could just be in my head though.

[dtrumbo]

Not to be a Debbie-downer, but now that you have your super-strong canvas, are you sure the other support hardware can support the additional weight? I'd hate to hear of you falling from the skies again, this time because the poles had failed.

[patayres]

Sounds like a good adventure Troy How were the skeeters at Diamond Lake?

[covelo]

Not to be a Debbie-downer, but now that you have your super-strong canvas, are you sure the other support hardware can support the additional weight? I'd hate to hear of you falling from the skies again, this time because the poles had failed.

My thought exactly. That structure seems pretty sturdy but you may want to use a couple of bags of potatoes to try it out before you put yourself in there again. It is a funny story but that is not a small drop. You could have really hurt yourself. (Or someone sleeping below).

[Oregon72]

Sounds like a good adventure Troy How were the skeeters at Diamond Lake?

They were pretty aggressive. We kept applying repellant and burned citronella and that seemed to help. Willow was getting so pissed off about them biting her - no thick fur to keep them away.

[Oregon72]

Not to be a Debbie-downer, but now that you have your super-strong canvas, are you sure the other support hardware can support the additional weight? I'd hate to hear of you falling from the skies again, this time because the poles had failed.

My thought exactly. That structure seems pretty sturdy but you may want to use a couple of bags of potatoes to try it out before you put yourself in there again. It is a funny story but that is not a small drop. You could have really hurt yourself. (Or someone sleeping below).

The 38 year old canvas is really the weak link. The bars and mechanism are sturdy as hell.

Stupid hurts!! It is supposed to! my wife thinks I may be in the running for a Darwin Award.

[tristessa]

my wife thinks I may be in the running for a Darwin Award.

Nope. You survived, which takes you right out of the running...

Fortunately.

[glasseye]

not my pic, but shows the lake much better - Looks like it could be one of Glasseye's though

Pictures don't do justice to Crater Lake. No offense to Glasseye or anyone else who's ever taken pictures of the place, it's just *that* beautiful.

Jeez, Hal. None taken. Crater Lake has to be one of the world's most photographically challenging landscapes.

After six traverses of Oregon in June, I gotta say that's a gorgeous part of the world. Lucky us.

Peter