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

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