Crater Lake

A trip I have been wanting to do while here in Oregon is go to Crater Lake and surrounding area. There is a lot of national forest in this area and some great mountain biking. I decided to make it a big trip. I loaded my road bike and my mountain bike along with all my camping gear and food in my car and headed out for the 5-6 hour drive. Long drive, but I knew it would be worth it! Umpqua National Forest is west of Crater Lake so I stayed there two nights. The first day I got there in time to set up camp, make fire, and eat some dinner. Someone had recommended to me to camp below some hot springs in the area. So I was driving around in the area, pulled off on a dirt road and found a nice little camping spot. There are many waterfalls in the area so the next day I did a waterfall hiking day. It was awesome. I saw 7 waterfalls that day. So pretty. Some of them shorter hikes, some longer. It was fun! Some waterfalls were small, some big. They are gorgeous!

#1: Toketee Falls

#2: Watson Falls

#3: Whitehorse Falls

#4: Clearwater Falls

#5: Lemolo Falls

#6: Surprise Falls (Good drinking water)

#6: Columnar Falls

Diamond Peak

The hike to the hot springs is about a twenty minute hike. For some reason I was oblivous to the fact that it was a hot springs, and most likely people would be there nude. It doesn't bother me of course, I'm a nurse, just kind of took me by surprise. I saw a sign at the bottom that said something about nudity, but I assumed it was saying no nudity allowed. Nope, it was a warning sign that there was nudity! haha. And then, awkward thing happened. The pools were small enough to be alone in, or for maybe about five people to sit in depending on the pool. Mine was comfortable for may four to sit in. I was sitting there, enjoying my book and my serenity, and this guy in the pool over starts asking me about my camera and what pictures I was taking, I had it sitting out next to me. Then he just keeps talking. He gets out of his pool, walks over to mine and asks if he could get in to mine. I said sure, mainly because I knew the pools got progressively cooler as they went down and his was really hot. Het gets in and just keeps talking to me. Kind of annoying, I was enjoying my alone time reading. I was obviously not into the conversation, but he just kept talking. And then he wasn't really sitting in the water, but not out of the water either. Just a kind of awkward in between. And the reason it was an awkward in between is because, yes, he was nude! I didn't stay much longer. I headed back to my campsite!

This is the luxury hot spring pool

That morning I was exploring and discovered the perfect camping spot not too far away. So that night I moved camp, moving most everything using my car, except the tent. I picked my tent up over my head and carried it down the road to the other camping spot. I am sure it was a very funny sight to see. Luckily, there was no one around, and most likely no one going to be coming around. I just didn't see the point of taking the tent down. My new camping spot was great! Had a homemade type picnic table and later I discovered someone had even made a toilet. It was interesting though because the toilet was facing the camp, kind of strange. And yes, I did try it out!

Toilet!

The second night was also the night I have had my first true scary moment camping. I have never gotten very scared camping until now. I was just laying there in my tent when all the sudden I hear this very angry sounding type bark. I shot straight up, heart racing, listening intently, trying not to make a sound. Then I hear it again. It is not right next to my tent, but not too far off either. I have no idea what type of animal it was, but it sounded either really hurt or really pissed off. But my heart was definately a racing! So I am sitting there in my tent, not really sure what to do. I don't really want to make noise because its not getting any closer, and I didn't want to attract it closer. So I continue listening to it, making sure its not getting closer. After verifying it wasn't I decide to dig my car keys out and my knife as quietly as I can and then bolt it to my car. The funny thing is when I got out of my tent I even took the time to zip my tent back up because I don't want it going in my tent. I get into my car, shaking, freezing, and scared! My car if facing away from my tent and away from the noise, so I can't see whats going on. I call Andrew and he gives me the great advice to turn my car around and shine my lights to make sure I don't see anything. I am scared to death to do anything, but I did it and didn't see anything. After I got in my car, I didn't hear the noise anymore, I was thinking it was just getting sneaky. I guess it decided to go away though because I sat watching in my car a while and didn't see or hear anything. I work up the courage to go back to my tent. Now of course, every little tiny noise is freaking me out. How in the world was I going to sleep. Luckily I get out the trusty ipod, crank up the sound, and after a bit was able to fall asleep. A little later in the night I hear another animal sound, but this one wasn't scary sounding so I just went back to sleep. Then of course in the morning I feel like a complete idiot! Also in the morning, I woke up with a swollen eye, the cause, I have absolutely no idea. I could not figure it out. Then I was showing the picture to a respiratory therapist I work with and he said it looks like the my whole left side is slightly swollen, which I didn't notice so I am not sure about that. It was very strange.

What I woke up to the next morning after the big scare, weird huh? Still do not know what happened with that!

Next day, I set off for Crater Lake. Only about a 30min. drive from Umpqua or so. It is 9 miles from the entrance until you reach the rim of the crater, where you find the first pull off to view the lake. When I got out of my car it was COLD! I didn't even think of how it was probably going to be cold there. Guess the highway going around the lake is the highest paved highway in Oregon. Had no idea. And it was windy, making it more cold. Needless to say it was kind of making me unsure of whether or not I wanted to embark on attempting to bike around the whole thing. Anyway, when I walked up to the viewpoint, is was amazing! People had told me it was very blue, but until you see it you cannot grasp the beauty crater lake has to offer. It is amazing!

Crater Lake, Oregon

Some info about Crater Lake:

• DEEPEST LAKE IN THE NATION!
• Crater Lake is known for its extreme blue coloured water and fantastic scenic views
• It was formed after the collapse of an ancient volcano, named Mount Mazama
• Mount Mazama volcano violently erupted around 7700 years ago (or so they say...) The eruption was 42 times as powerful as the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens
• The caldera was formed after the top 5000 feet of the volcano collapsed (only 1000 ft collapsed off of Mt Helens in 1980)
• Following this, lava flows sealed the bottom, allowing the caldera to fill with approximately 4.6 trillion gallons of water from rainfall and snow melt
• It is the seventh deepest lake in the world at 1,932 feet.
• Lava dome soon built up to what is known today as Wizard Island

Wizard Island

After scoping out the area, I park, get out my road bike, and set off for the 33 mile ride around the lake! I'm excited because it will be gorgeous but also a little nervous. The information I received about riding around the lake was saying how it was very physically strenuous of a ride and even those riders who are used to road traffic and expert riders would find themselves pulling over on climbs to catch a break. So I am a little intimidated, not only for the climbs but also for dealing with traffic. I'm a newbie road biker, and I don't like traffic. The highway around does not have very good shoulder room.

But off I go. The beginning part is supposed to be your toughest climb of the ride, if you go clockwise. It also is the most heavily trafficked part of the ride. So at first I was wondering why everyone loved doing this bike ride so much. At one point I was flying so fast and the wind was so strong that it was shaking me side to side. My helmet almost came off too but that's what the chin strap is for! I took my first break after I was pretty sure I conquered the first big climb to get a view and to put on the windbreaker!

At about halfway I stopped to eat and look at the view. There were a bunch of other bikers stopped. They took off a little before I did, and I ended up passing them while they were breaking later in the ride and finished before them. I was excited about this because they were all decked out in their riding gear looking all professional and I am a rookie! The last 8 miles were the easiest. Lots of speedy downhill sections that you could get going so fast on it was crazy! And then I was done! It was a great ride, gorgeous views. I was riding on a Monday so the traffic wasn't too horrible. I would definitely like to do it again sometime!

After my ride I took some time to read and relax and then I did the only hike with access to the shore of the lake. It is a decently steep hike down the crater rim to the water, but not too terrible. And being up right next to the clear blue water is amazing! It is so blue. I was tempted to drink it but decided not to. Some people were jumping in to the water; can you say FREEZING! Actually I would have if I had thought to bring a swimsuit or extra pair of clothes. That cold of water would not be fun to have lingering on your clothes!

That night I decided not to camp in Crater Lake, but just outside at Diamond Lake. Pretty, but nothing compared to Crater Lake. In the morning I drove up about 2 hours north to Oakridge area to meet John for some mountain biking. First day we decided to do a 22 mile mountain bike ride around Waldo Lake. This single-track trail is rated very difficult in his biking guidebook. I thought it would be fun to mountain bike around a lake this time! It turned out to be a very fun trail, had some tough sections and some good climbs, but overall an awesome trail for the both of us. But man was it long! By the end we were both extremely tired. but we made it! It was an epic ride. I just had my little camera, so sorry, no pictures on here. Darn. We didn't even get done with the ride until about 8 or so at night and then it was a 30 min drive back to town, and we were starving! So we got something to eat, then had to figure out where we were going to camp. I figured out my idea of the perfect campsite is a lot different than others'. Someone had told us that this one campsite was great, very pretty and fun to even spend the day at. Turned out to be just campsites next to each other and that's about it. My ideal campsite is off all by itself, off some random dirt road with no one around, close to a river or stream. Very serene and full of only the noises of the land! But we got there so late it didn't matter a whole lot. We set up our tents and I was ready to read and sleep! In the morning it turned out it was a pretty area. Just behind our campsite you could get to the river and enjoy your breakfast and a good read. I just like not seeing anyone around you when camping. But that's ok, it was fun.

Since I had thoroughly worn my legs out by this point, the last day we decided to do a little shorter of a ride. We did about an 8 mile ride on single-track along a river that looped around and came down the opposite side. This ride was really fun! I could tell my legs were not 100% on some of the climbs so good thing we did a shorter ride. It was rated difficult and discovered the difficult part of the trail on the opposite side coming back. Just some steep climbs with lots of roots and rocks. But the downhill sections were really fun. It was a great ride, even saw a little waterfall at the top!

All in all a very fun trip filled with many waterfalls, sunshine, and lots of biking. Great trip and I am so thankful for being able to have the opportunity to enjoy things like this!

New Friends

Co-workers (pic is missing some other great co-workers)

There are many things I am enjoying as a travel nurse, and one of them is all the great friendships and relationships I have developed. In Wyoming, I worked with some great people and developed a few connections. I never stayed around on my days off and most everybody just works there, so I didn't do much with anyone outside of work. But I am still glad I was able to meet the people I did there. Here in Oregon, however, I have met so many people and developed some great connections. It is not just because I have been here for almost six months. I grew close to many people here long before my first 3 month contract was up. It is going to be really hard on me when I have to leave. They would want me to stay for sure, but I can't, have to continue on with my goal of travel nursing and moving on to new and exciting places!

Nancy and I (she is truly an amazing woman!)

Jennifer, Liane, and I (going away party for Jennifer)

Travel Nurses!

I am saying all this now because I had an awesome time camping at Detroit Lake last week with co-workers and their family. No, Detroit Lake is not in Detroit! It is about 3.5-4 hrs southeast of Seaside. It is gorgeous down there! The weather was perfect. Hot during the day so the water felt great and warm enough at night to not get cold. In Seaside, we have not had too many sunny days and only one really warm day, but it hasn't bothered me too much just because I have been able to go East of the coast and enjoy the nicer weather. Most of the time, literally all you have to do is drive 15 minutes east and you are in the sun! It is so weird! The clouds and colder weather just get bogged in right on the water.

I ended up getting to go to the lake a day early, not for good reasons though. I had some problems with my company last week and lets just say I got a longer stretch of days off than I was supposed to. But no worries, things are worked out now and good to go after some big frustrations. Life is so annoying sometimes in things that could be so easy, but are made so complicated. But that is part of living life I guess, learning to deal with frustrations that come up and moving on.

The first day at the lake we found our campsite and set up camp. Myself and two others went a day early before the rest of the family arrived so we could get set up. It felt so good down there. Got in the lake then had dinner and hung out at the campfire. The next day I woke up early and went on a hike by myself. Even though the temperature was great for hiking, I was still sweating it up, of course! At the top of the hike, I was a little confused because I didn't get to anything momentous. You know, a lake, incredible view, something like that. I ran into someone at the top and asked him if there was something down the other trail and he said it just went to the other trailhead you can park at. Disappointed, I headed down the trail. Then I decided to take a little side trail that led up to this rock. And this is where I discovered the great views are! It was nice. I could see Detroit Lake, Mt Jefferson, and all the other little mountains. Took some pics then headed back down to meet the rest of the family back at camp.

Can you spot Mt. Jefferson?

Right away I discovered how different it is not only camping with other people and other people that you have never camped with, but also camping with little kids. Its an experience for sure! You definitely have to learn not to try and keep them decently clean, this task is next to impossible! My new motto is with kids and camping: the dirtier, the better! The family I was camping with consisted of the mom and dad, son (20), nephew (18), foster daughter (11), and the two adopted babies (2 and 3). The babies are so cute, keep you busy, but fun. They brought their kayaks and boat so we did a lot of kayaking, tubing, and wake-boarding; along with keeping the babies happy and safe! I am so excited every opportunity I have to go wakeboarding because ever since I first tried it last summer it is high on my things that I enjoy doing list. I have only been three times though, it's hard having to have a boat to do it! haha. Didn't get to go too much at Detroit Lake, but I am glad I at least got to do it a little. And the waves were really bad, so it was hard to try to do anything except stay up! Fun times. And kayaking was really fun. I was able to take Izzy, the older baby, out on the kayak with me. She really enjoyed that. It was so fun to get to be around and play with little kids, I miss that!

I took Nick and Brittney, the nephew and 11 yr old, on about a six mile hike one day. It was a great hike. I had to encourage Brittney to keep going. Her legs were hurting her or something. My great life lesson I use when doing things like this is that once you start something you cannot give up, you finish it! And she did! She did great. We made it to the top with some awesome views. It made me so mad. For some reason we passed some people that were coming down and I guess they said something to us like we weren't going to make it to the top. I was so mad. Why would you say that to someone? I don't understand why some people have to be so rude sometimes. So of course, there was no way I was going to not get Nick and Brittney to the top!

Gabby

Izzy (I am not sure what happened to get this face!)

At one point when driving around the lake we found a bridge with some rope swings next to it. It was great. I always enjoy me some good rope swinging! Then a boat drove by and was telling us how deep it was under the bridge. It was deep enough, so of course, I decided to jump off the bridge! So fun! I would say about 50 feet high, definitely not as high as I have done before. Cody is afraid of heights and I got him to jump off the rope swing! I was excited because he really enjoyed it.

Cody doing a flip

Playing patticake!

Nick and Philip. Nick is doing the cooking!

When we got back from hiking we get to camp to find out the dad had attempted to wakeboard and hurt himself on the first attempt. They took him to the hospital that night and he had a really bad torn hamstring. He could barely walk. He is doing better now but can't return to work yet, he works at the hospital. All in all a great trip with great people!

Can't believe I got one with them both smiling, amazing!

Izzy and I kayaking!

Nick and Brittney on top of hike

Detroit Lake with island

For my birthday, I was afraid I was going to have to spend it alone at first. But then Andrew came up for a few days. It was great, we had a lot of fun. I suffered from major sleep deprivation because I worked a night, drove to Portland in the morning to pick him up, hung out in Portland a little, then drove back and worked that night. It was crazy! I still am not quite sure how I survived that and was still somewhat functioning and decently nice to those around me, but I did! Thank you God! The night he was in town and I was working he visited me at work, surprised me with my glasses he had fixed for me, some chips, and he baked me a birthday cake! It was great! Actually the first home-made cake I have had in a while.

After catching a bit of sleep we made some breakfast, yummy fresh home-grown eggs, then went boogie boarding, played frisbee, and hung out on the beach. We went to my favorite beach, Crescent Beach, where we were the only ones on the whole beach most the time. It was fantastic! The water was crazy cold, but we had on our wetsuits. Its crazy how weird the waves are here. They are hard to boogie board on, I can't imagine surfing on them. It's hard to explain how the waves are, they are just different! And the pull of the current is really strong, you have to keep watch that you aren't about to go into the rocks!

The next day, my birthday, we decided to bike around town. He ended up taking me to play mini golf, where I kicked his butt! Then I ended up taking him up this long climb on the bikes! He was riding my road bike. I think I got him liking road bikes also. They are very addicting once you try them out! We made some hummus and spaghetti squash for lunch, yummy! To wear ourselves out even more, we rode our bikes and played some tennis, where I kicked his butt again! After relaxing a bit, like 10 min, haha, we got ready for dinner. We went to this great place, the Baked Alaska, in Astoria for my birthday. I got Halibut and he got Tuna, which I tried. I liked them both, crazy! Neither tasted fishy at all. He told me after dinner that his tuna was raw, YUCK!!! Then 1/2 Baked Alaska for dessert, yummy! It was a great birthday, I enjoyed just kind of chillin and not going all out camping or hiking, which is what I thought I would do. Thursday morning we had to get up at 2:30 to drive to Portland so he could hopefully catch a 5:30 flight. So of course, more sleep deprivation! But no worries, I don't know if I caught up on lost sleep, but I have slept and feeling good! The sun was out the past few days, amazingly, so I took advantage by taking a long bike ride and hanging out on the beach. It was great!

My new sleeping bag, super excited! Thanks dad!

Enjoying the sunset

Thank you God for such a great birthday and for all my amazing family and friends! Mom, I love you and miss you so much! Thank you for birthing me, for all you give me, and loving me!