On the Road Again, In Oregon

Tags

camping, Covered bridge, Crater Lake, Crater Lake National Park, Gorge, National Park, Oregon, photo, picture, prolite, Rogue River, snow, south, travel, United States, water

As we hit the road again, I find myself searching my I-pod for Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again”.   Apparently I don’t have that song, so I make do trying to sing it myself.

Washington State passed by with nothing to report. We departed the I-5 in Eugene and headed east on US-58 towards Crater Lake National Park. Who knew this area of Oregon was popular for sheep farming….. field after field full of sheep passed us by..

Built in 1945

We then stumbled upon this old Covered Bridge, built in 1945. Not terribly exciting, but worthy of a 15 minute stop to stretch our legs.

Fact: Covered bridges were built to protect the wood beams / trusses from the weather. The Roof and walls could easily be replaced / repaired – the trusses were much harder to repair.

the last selfie- we now have a tripod!

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The next photos are what we discovered along the way to Crater Lake. Crater Lake is 3 hours off of the I-5, so we had some ground to cover. In Winter, the North Entrance is closer, so the trek to the south is much further. You may say Winter is over, its mid April, Crater Lake is still full on Winter.

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On a daily basis, we are confronted with the “Where are we sleeping tonight” discussion. We always check for free sites first. BLM (Bureau of Land Management), Walmart, Rest stops, other retail stores with free overnight parking. Next on the list is Passport America sites (50 percent discount), then as the last option, we will pay close to retail.

On this occasion, we are essentially in the middle of nowhere. There is not much man made stuff out here, just water, trees and blacktop. We drove past at least 10 State Campgrounds with “Closed for the Winter” plastered across the locked gate. The other options were $50 per night Resort RV parks. This just does not jive with our financial situation.

After passing another closed State Campground, Tyler notices a small sign that says USFS Camp Williamson 2 miles. USFS, meaning United States Forest Service. Well USFS is different from the State of Oregon who has conveniently decided to close all of its campgrounds. so we proceed down a potholed gravel road into the unknown to check out Camp Williamson. Well sometimes hunches pay off!

Free Camping!!

Free Camping is always the best

So Electricity is not available, but we have a generator, no issues here. We have lots of firewood, food and beer.  The only hiccup, was the Water was still off for the Winter. We had one Liter of drinking water to share. Tyler made a trip thru the forest to retrieve some river water to heat up for morning showers. And all for no charge. Just if our plans allowed us to stay longer……

Finally made it

As you can see, no snow here….

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Beautiful day!

The deepest lake in North America according to the National Park Service.

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Usually Crater Lake has 13 feet of Snow in April. This Winter has been very mild, and they only have 7-8 Feet.

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If it was not so cold, I could dive in.

Crater lake is not fed by any Rivers or Streams. This is all made up of melted Snow and Rain. Because of this, the lake has the cleanest water going. We tasted it and tend to agree- its delicious. Crater Lake is a collapsed Volcanic mountain for those of you wondering how this happened.

“the back forty” Looking away from the Lake, there is another lake visible

Relaxing with a hot drink

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Time to get away from this Snow! We came south for warm sands…..

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Another sign on the side of road convinced us to check out the Rouge River Gorge.

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We are continuing South! Next stop is another National Park, Can you guess which one? (California has many) leave your guess in the comments.