July 7 - Wizard Island - A volcano within Crater Lake

This morning we set two alarms to get up on time to make the drive to the boat tour ticket office. We couldn’t buy tickets in advance or make reservations so we just had to be there when they opened to make sure we got on the very first morning tour. We crawled out the of the sleeping bags, grabbed the things we needed, and made a dash for the car – remember we are trying to avoid the hungry swarms of mosquitoes.

I changed in the car so when we got to Cleetwood Cove Aaron dropped me off at the line and went to park the car. Then he changed and made the coffee so everyone else in line was jealous of the hot delicious coffee that was delivered to me in line. I was jealous of all the people wearing pants, because capris and the amount of mosquitoes did not mix so well. I had made friends with Russ in front of me because he thought it was funny to watch me swat mosquitoes.

Despite the length of the line, we were able to get tickets on the first bout tour and drop-off of the morning. We finished getting ready and packed our hiking bags in the parking lot despite the mosquitoes and surprisingly no mosquitoes tried to dive-bomb the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I made. We hiked the 1.1 miles down in twenty minutes because the trail was steep and pretty much down down down 700 feet to the water’s edge. While we waited for the boat to load we admired the difference in view of Crater Lake. It looks very different from the water’s edge than looking down on it from above.

Captain Joe had a walrus mustache and looked like Wilfred Brimley and Ranger Madeleine had a fetish for Indiana Jones – she even had a whip and sang the theme music as we looked for shark and snake shaped rock features on our ride over to Wizard Island. Wizard Island is a cinder cone within Crater Lake (kind of like the cinder cone we drove up at Newbury). They told us that we would only have time to hike one hike on the island, either the peak and crater or Fumarole Bay. We’re pretty motivated and decided we were going to try for both. As soon as we were off the boat, we set off to the left where we had been told the trail began and started hiking. It is amazing how many people got off and milled around fiddling with bags and sunscreen and bug spray. Russ was of a like mind so the three of us were pretty much alone as we traversed the lava rock – lava ash – lava gravel trail. Aaron called it a Carnival of Broken Ankles if you stepped the wrong way. Some parts of the trail were easier than others. The hike to the top was only one mile, but with the difficult footing and sparse shade, it seemed a bit longer. The mosquitoes were non existent along the crater rim, but I had to spray Aaron down mid hike because his neck was a line of angry bites. The mosquitoes like him a lot more than they like me, but they like everyone. Fishing Guy passed us, but we were still pretty much the only people at the top for a while. When we reached the top we were a bit surprised to find that Wizard Island also had a crater and that one side of it was covered in snow. After walking around half of the rim and snapping a dozen photos, Aaron decided he was going to be the first to descend the crater within the crater. As soon as he went down, some of the other hikers that had also reached the rim decided to make the trek as well, but Aaron was first!

Fishing Guy had told us that the local people had a legend of a monster crayfish snatching visitors to the rim and dragging them into Crater Lake and eating them. I had talked about how there should be a Loch Ness Monster in there. Russ, Aaron, and I spent a lot of the time discussing and bantering back and forth what kind of characteristics the Crater Lake Monster should have.

Because we were the first ones up, we were also the first ones down. Our timing was nice too because most of the others had reached the rim, we only had to pass a few small groups – which is pretty difficult on the narrow gravel path. About two thirds of the way down, Russ led the way and we left the path. We could see Fumarole Bay and decided that we were going to cut across and take a short cut there. It was pretty fun. At the base of Wizard Island is mostly big rocks so it was pretty easy to rock hop and descend to the bay. The water there was blue green aqua just like the Caribbean because it was more shallow. I found out later that this is a bit misleading. The water in Crater Lake is the clearest and the cleanest and you can see down about a hundred feet!

Aaron and I took a brief rest to eat our sandwiches and look for crayfish and then again took Russ’s lead and rock-hopped and scrambled around the edge of the island instead of taking the path back to the boat dock. Though we had beat Fishing Guy down the bay by taking the shortcut, he still passed us as we were scrambling around the edge. As we turned the corner and got close to the boat ramp, we realized we still had plenty of time, so we rested on the rocks and dabbled our feet in the water – a cool 38*F. I thought it was very refreshing… Aaron thought it was really cold and didn’t appreciate it when I splashed him. I even dunked my head and tried to give myself a Mohawk. We eventually finished hiking around and found a perfect seat under a shady tree to wait for the boat.

We had a new captain and a new ranger for the rest of our boat tour and a much longer trip around the circumference of Crater Lake to see. The ride was pleasant ad seemed really long. We stopped to see some snow-melt-created waterfalls, glided around the Phantom Ship twice, and stopped to get a look at the Pumice Castle – a layer of orange pumice rock that has been eroded and looks just like a sandcastle.

The Phantom Ship is a rock outcrop island that does look a lot like a pirate ship. It is the oldest exposed rock in the park. It’s also very phantom like because it easily blends in with its background even though it is 16-stories high. It is populated with all seven of the conifer species found around Crater Lake (Wizard Island isn’t), some birds, and some other small animals. I really thought it was cool and would have liked to cruise around it a bit longer on a boat with less than forty people.

Eventually the boat docked at the ramp and it was time to hike 700 feet straight up over the 1.1 mile trail. Aaron and Russ took the lead and charged up the hill. Of course fishing guy passed us, but I was surprised how long they went without wanting a break. Aaron said there was no pointing hanging around – might was well get it over with. Another couple told us the mosquitoes were a motivating factor. Russ and Aaron were convinced that this was a different path up than we took down, but that’s impossible because there is only one trail to the water’s edge. It did seem a lot steeper than I remembered as well.

At the top, we bid Fishing Guy and Russ farewell. Fishing Guy is on a more ambitious summer of national parks than we are and Russ was off to the redwoods. Aaron and I went to stop at some of the vistas to make sure we read all the signs and find a place to escape the mosquitoes. We found the legend of the crayfish monster and spent some time just sitting on the stone wall overlooking the lake. Sitting and doing nothing. I know you are all surprised. We searched out a shady vista that had enough breeze to keep the mosquitoes at bay, I sprayed Aaron down, and then we sat down to cook another freeze-dried dinner. They are actually quite tasty and it was obvious in the speed we ate the chili mac that we were both much more hungry than we let on. We stopped at a few more vistas and then made the most anticipated stop yet – the pay showers!

Seventy-five cents bought four minutes of deliciously hot water and we both decided that eight minutes was the way to go after several nights of camping, hiking, and no showers. While Aaron cleaned up, I cleaned up the car and went through some of the accumulated maps, papers, and receipts. Eight minutes was way more than I needed, but I enjoyed it immensely as I scrubbed myself clean. Feeling like new people, but with hours of daylight left, we went up to the lodge to hang out and drink a few cocktails. We played rummy and though we were even for a bit, Aaron eventually creamed me, much to his surprise.

When we pulled into the parking spot I asked Aaron if I was clear and he said yes. scrrescacjklchaskfghhhh. Was that my car? Apparently I was not clear and scratched the bottom of my car. I'll never let Aaron live it down. Then we tried to cool off some of our things by jamming them in the snowbank behind our tent (yes the snowbank), but it was jam packed so hard that it was impossible. Though giggling furiously we tried to scrape together enough snow to cover some of it. We had another mad dash to the tent to try to escape the mosquitoes and settled in for our last night camping at Crater Lake. We were still giggling for a while :)