Crater Lake and the Rogue River

October 16 - Our last full sightseeing day of this trip and our last National Park was to Crater Lake.  We drove the short distance from Diamond Lake to the North entry, passed the unmanned gate and south to the Rim Road.  We had one construction delay and several inches of roadside snow before arriving  at about 7,000 feet elevation.  At the junction with the Rim Road we saw that the Eastern turn on the Rim Road was closed for the season - snow has come early this year.  

We drove around to the Rim Village which is toward the southern side of the crater.  We parked near the Lodge and went in to check out having lunch or and early dinner.  Nope, the lodge was shutting down at 11:00 am.  They had served breakfast but that is it for the year.  The back deck overlooking the lake was closed as a precaution against "falling icicles."  We walk around the snow -covered Rim Trail to the Visitor Center snapping photos.  The weather was very clear, cool but warming and the lake was glassy-smooth, full of reflections.  A picture postcard kind of day.

Since there was no lunch in the Lodge and we could not walk very far and decided we had spent enough time at the rim, we decided to drive down off the rim to the lower Visitor Center for a brief stop and then to Union Creek.  This "wide spot in the road" is on the Rogue River and has a lodge and two small eateries.  We stopped at the Rogue Gorge Overlook - where the river goes through a ten-foot wide, steep walled canyon for a quarter mile.  It was created from an old lava tube.  

Partial lava tube above and a plugged one below

We then drove a mile or so further to another overlook featuring a natural bridge.  This also was formed by a lava tube.  Most or all of the flow of the river (depending on the runoff amounts and season) goes through the tube.  At both places there are many picturesque cascades and potholes (circular indentations caused by swirling water that uses small rocks to grind out the shape).

The inlet to the lava tube

We then stopped at Beckies, in Union Creek, for root beer floats.  We had easy drive back to Diamond Lake without any construction delays.