The Mountains are Calling: Crater Lake

This is it!  We have finally reached the last stop on our summer road trip through the Pacific Northwest: Crater Lake National Park.  

Way back in June, Eric and I spent a couple of [largely rainy] weeks exploring the Pacific Northwest's forests, mountains, beaches, birds and historic sites.  As summer is rapidly fading away, I clearly need to get it together and finish this series of posts!  

Part I: Seabird Colony at Haystack Rock
Part II: Birding the Pacific Northwest Coast
Part III: Inland Valley and Lowland Forests
Part IV: Olympic National Park
Part V: North Cascades National Park
Part VI: Mount Rainier National Park
Part VII: Crater Lake National Park



We reached Crater Lake National Park after a long and rather soggy sojourn through Olympic, North Cascades and Mount Rainier National Parks.  After being rained on for at least part of the day for something like eleven or twelve days in a row (which, by the way, is unheard of for us Californians), we were eagerly anticipating the sunny, unseasonably warm weather in the forecast for the coming few days at Crater Lake.  While we had grand dreams of being able to sit around the campfire of an evening, rather than huddling in our tent listening to rain drops, what we did not have was... a campsite reservation.  Per their website, when we planned the trip, Crater Lake's Mazama Village campground was not accepting reservations until July 1, so we decided to wing it, show up early-ish in the day and snag a site.  But, times have changed, folks.  In fact, times changed so rapidly in this case that even we  relatively tech-savvy millennials failed to keep up: when we pulled in, to a very much full campground, we discovered they had opened up reservations just a few days before and promptly sold out - all while we were blissfully unaware, traveling in the mountains without much in the way of cell service or wi-fi.  

So, we were out of luck.  The campground and other nearby camping areas were full.  Disappointment was in the air.



But, hey.  The evening was young, we had plenty of food for a picnic dinner in the trunk, and we found ourselves face-to-face with one of the continent's natural wonders.  Oh, and there were birds!  So, we made the most of it.  After a few phone calls, Eric reserved possibly the last hotel room in all of Klamath Falls, an hour's drive away.  With that detail taken care of, we found a quiet spot, pulled out our picnic supplies, and settled in to enjoy an evening on the rim of Crater Lake.

Clark's Nutcracker


Gregarious and conspicuous, a pair of Clark's Nutcrackers hanging around the area offered us good long looks at these intelligent corvids.  Well-known for their habit of collecting and stashing pine nuts, nutcrackers perform a valuable service, dispersing seeds and, essentially, planting trees.  Though their memory is excellent and they are adept at relocating their buried caches, seeds that go unretrieved often germinate and seedlings grow where these avian foresters planted them.    

High above the blue water of the lake, Violet-green Swallows coursed through the air in pursuit of aerial insects, while Mountain Chickadees chattered and flitted in evergreen boughs and a Red-breasted Nuthatch hitched up a tree trunk, inspecting every crevice for invertebrate prey.

While we watched mesmerized from the rim, a mature Bald Eagle drifted effortlessly past, below us.  The eagle, its broad wings silent and strong, and brilliantly white head and tail feathers set against the incredible blue backdrop of Crater Lake, is a sight I will not soon forget.  



Not far from Crater Lake, I finally found one of my most coveted target birds of the trip: Red Crossbills!  A small flock of these weird chunky finches was hanging out in the pines around the parking lot of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument.  They taunted us with their distinct jip jip jip calls for quite some time before we at last managed to visually locate a couple of these neat birds!

Red Crossbill


After our stay in Klamath Falls, we made a brief morning stop at the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, expecting great things in the way of wetlands and wildlife.  However, the wetlands were completely dry and... very similar to our local Central Valley "wetlands" during the most dry and dismal peak of summer.  We didn't stay very long... but we did spot this adorably curious young coyote on the way out!



The nearer we got to the San Joaquin Valley, the higher the temperature climbed, reaching 110+ degrees Fahrenheit by mid-afternoon.  The cool, green, misty mountains of the Pacific Northwest were well and truly far behind us.  

At our last lunch stop, a blazing-hot rest area in Red Bluff, we were amused by this California Ground Squirrel, attempting to beat the heat by lying on his (or her) belly on the shaded cement... while munching on a chip.



We thoroughly enjoyed our adventure in the Pacific Northwest, and are already looking forward to going back!

It's been an incredible journey!  Follow along the whole way here:

Part I: Seabird Colony at Haystack Rock
Part II: Birding the Pacific Northwest Coast
Part III: Inland Valley and Lowland Forests
Part IV: Olympic National Park
Part V: North Cascades National Park
Part VI: Mount Rainier National Park
Part VII: Crater Lake National Park

Comments

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like:

Birds of the Desert: Residents & Spring Migrants

Image
Nearly everyone knows the desert as a barren, desolate land of extremes: high heat, low precipitation; little available food and water; prickly, spiny, unfriendly plants growing in a sea of rocks and sand as far as the eye can see.  But for those who stop and look closer, the desert reveals itself as the beautiful, incredible, mesmerizing place it truly is, teeming with unexpected life. Juvenile male Costa's Hummingbird visiting chuparosa blooms next to our campsite in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. I particularly love the desert in the spring, when the annual wildflowers, cacti, flowering trees and shrubs are all in bloom.  (I've experienced the desert in the searing 120 degree heat of summer, and the rainy, even snowy cold of winter... and spring wins every time!)  Eric and I just returned from a week in the Colorado desert, exploring the imperiled, accidental Salton Sea (more on that coming soon), the vital wetlands of the Sonny Bono Salton ...
Read more

A Shorebird Primer: Godwits, Curlews, Willets and Whimbrels

Image
For those of us living in the Great Central Valley, autumn is the time to head to the coast.  Of course, there is no bad time to visit California's magnificent coastline.  But as the heat and haze of summer drag on in the Valley, the sea becomes increasingly tantalizing: September and the onset of autumn bring sunny weather and an abundance of migratory seabirds and shorebirds to our coast. A new birder visiting California's Central Coast will undoubtedly be met with a splendid array of very confusing birds.  Among these are small shorebirds like  "peeps" (sandpipers), Sanderlings and various  plovers .  But the larger birds can be just as confusing, until you learn a few distinguishing features.  Four large shorebirds that are commonly seen (and commonly confused) along California's Central Coast are Godwits, Curlews, Willets and Whimbrels. Marbled Godwit (upper left), Whimbrel (upper right), Long-billed Cu...
Read more

Joshua Tree Woodlands: A Tale of Sloths, Moths and the Trees that Need Them

Image
In 1844, early California explorer John C. Fremont gave a somewhat scathing review of Joshua trees when he wrote, "...their stiff and ungraceful form makes them to the traveler the most repulsive tree in the vegetable kingdom."  Rather unkind, don't you think?  But when Joshua trees were formally described by scientist William Trelease in the 1890's, he noted that Joshua Trees are "the most attractive of all the Yuccas."  I am inclined to agree with this sentiment, and must disagree most heartily with Lieutenant Fremont! I, for one, adore Joshua Trees, with their whimsical shapes and great ecological significance!  If you struggle with plant identification, the iconic Joshua tree, hallmark of the Mojave Desert, is a good place to start.  With densely spiked tufts protruding from the ends of gangly arms stretched towards the heavens, this looks like a plant straight from a Dr. Seuss book....
Read more

All The Ducks!

Image
On a recent birding trip to Merced National Wildlife Refuge, I tallied up a list of sixteen different species of ducks.  Only a few more species, around twenty in total, are expected in the Central Valley of California's freshwater marshes during the winter, so I consider that to be an excellent day for ducks! North American ducks are broadly separated into two categories, largely based on their methods of foraging for food.   Dabbling ducks , also known as "puddle ducks," tend to frequent shallow water, where they are commonly seen tipping bottoms-up to feed on plant matter and invertebrates in the water and on the muddy bottom.  They are most at home in water, but walk easily on land as well, as their legs are positioned near the center of their bodies.  The wings of dabbling ducks are relatively large, which allows them to take off from the surface of the water, straight up into their air.  Dabbling ducks almost all nest on the ground, near water....
Read more

Birding in Adverse Weather Conditions: Wind and Rain

Image
Though I often extol the virtues and merits of winter in the Central Valley , especially when it comes to birding, the whole truth is that we experience "bad" weather also, just like anywhere else.  But even when the winter weather rolls in, the birds are still out there!  And sometimes, despite our best planning efforts, a birding day happens to coincide with crummy weather.   In that case, what's a birder to do?  Usually, we go birding anyway!   Birders far more intrepid than I regularly brave the ice and snow of northern winters to see their favorite birds, so perhaps you should look to them for real tips on winter birding!  For those of us in the valleys of California, the worst weather we see - wind and rain - is really comparatively mild.  Birding on an extremely windy day! I don't know of anyone who actually likes birding in the rain.  But I would argue that birding in the wind is just as aggravating as trying to bird in the rai...
Read more

Winter Gulls: The Great I.D. Challenge

Image
Gulls are a fun challenge for birders, from beginners to experts.  A few things make gulls an interesting study: they are large and conspicuous in their open habitats, so they are easy to see, easy to put a scope on, and easy to watch and study for long periods of time.  Furthermore, gulls are almost always identifiable as gulls; none of this confusing warbler/vireo/kinglet nonsense! And yet, gulls are almost impossibly difficult!  (Though perhaps not nearly as difficult as Empidonax flycatchers!) An intimidating scene to many a birder: a mixed flock of gulls.  I see five different species of gull here. Oh, and one American Coot in the background. One of the reasons they are so complicated is most gull species take two or three years to achieve adult plumage, and go through multiple molts in a year.  So, you may be looking at three or four gulls together that look like four completely different species, when they are actually just different ages (...
Read more