Lake Tahoe

We decided to stop at Lake Tahoe on our way to Yosemite National Park.   We spent our first day in Tahoe hanging out doing nothing during the day! We did go up to the casinos and walked thru the square in the evening.  It is quite an eclectic town.  It goes from casinos to upscale shopping square to camping area.  Reminded us of Delaware shore where the boardwalk is replaced by casinos.   It was the first time we were in campground where people tied their dogs to their 5th wheel and left!   They got a naughty note on their trailer (dogs howled the whole time) but it was a head shaker for sure.

While we were in town they had an antique car show.  We bought raffle tickets for a restored pick up truck with Harley Davidson motorcycle.  We anticipate getting the call to let us know when to pick up on the 14th of this month!

Saturday we decided to hike the Rubicon Trail.   What we read advised taking trail from Vikingsholm parking and hike to D.L Bliss State Park via Rubicon trail.   What they neglected to mention is Vikingsholm has approximately 50 spots.  No parking available.   We then drove to D.L. Bliss State Park to reverse route and pick up shuttle to take us back to our car.  D.L. Bliss State Park has less parking.  The parking for trailhead is within campground area which was closed early due to budget issues.   We ended up parking on the road and walked 2 miles to trail.  Definitely the town for head shaking.   It was a beautiful hike and worth the extra miles.

Sunday we were in a bar at 930AM to watch the Eagles-Ravens game!  It was awesome to watch football.  One of the things we miss from our old life is watching sporting events on TV!   I also miss my own washer and dryer.  The 3rd thing would be.... grass.  I am very tired of gravel and dust.  I never gave grass a thought but now it is a delight to my eyes!

Lassen Volcanic National Park

We stayed a couple of nights at the KOA in Shingletown CA.  It was a midway point between Crater Lake and Lake Tahoe.  We needed to do wash, groom dogs (oy-vey they miss their groomer!), and clean car/RV.  What a great KOA.  It was clean and we had the best spot in the place.  Totally awesome!

We decided to take a day and go to Lassen Volcanic National Park.  It was only 25 miles from KOA.   It was just a drive thru but we were there!

Last Days in Oregon

We decided to load up the dogs and travel Hwy 138.  There are 6 waterfalls along highway 138 near Diamond Lake and are in Umpqua National Forest.  Dogs are allowed on the trails in any National Forest but not in the National Parks.  It was a day adventure for everyone!

We visited Clearwater Falls, Whitehorse Falls, Watson Falls, and Toketee Falls.    It was very beautiful and minimal hiking.  Flash will never go hiking if stairs are involved!  He wanted to make his own path next to stairway and almost hung himself!  Not a good time. 

We spent our last day at Crater Lake hiking to Watchman Tower and to the Pinnacles Overlook.  The views from Watchman Tower were awesome.  The Pinnacles walk was interesting.  The overlook isn't marked and we just kept walking.  We ended up by a bullet ridden state park sign.  Very strange! 

Wizard Island

Thursday morning I spent updating the blog.   In the afternoon we drove the 33 mile loop within Crater Lake National Park.     Crater Lake is the deepest lake (1943 ft)  in the United States and is the clearest lake in the world.  If an item is dropped in the lake you do not lose sight of it until it reaches 142 ft.

On Friday we decided to take a boat tour to Wizard Island, a volcanic cinder cone.  The cone is topped by a volcanic crater.  We spent 3 hours on the island which allowed us to hike to the summit and to Fumarole Bay.  It was a great day with beautiful weather!   Finally, a boat tour where we got a round trip (no hike back and I wasn't swimming)!

The bad part of the boat tour was the Cleetwood Cove Trail.  In order to get to the boat you must hike Cleetwood Cove Trail.   It is 11% grade for 1.1 miles!  Not so bad going down, but not so great going up!

View from overlook

From Cleetwood Trail (boat dock way down yonder!)

Closer view of cove with Wizard Island in background

Wizard Island

Overlook of Fumarole Bay from Summit trail

Summit Trail picture

Fumarole Bay

 

Phantom Ship from roadside overlook (oldest rock in the caldera)

Closer view of Phantom Ship

Pumice Castle (volcanic formation)

 

Arrived at Crater Lake!

We arrived in Crater Lake this afternoon.   I spent some time updating blog today.  Still have a few more days of Yellowstone to go and then Grand Teton.  Hope to finish tomrrow!

AUGUST 16th!

I cannot believe I haven't updated the blog since AUGUST 16th!  WOW! I will update the blog with our visit to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park.   We left Grand Teton on Sunday.  We spent the night in Declo ID and headed to Boise ID.   We had an issue with the RV's generator.  It appeared to have a gas leak and the generator door popped off along the tough roads of MT.   Camping World in Boise fixed the generator but we won't be able to pick up the generator door until we reach California (can't run generator in Yosemite if we don't have the door!).  

We made it to Oregon today.  OREGON! I still can't believe I am on this journey and I'm sitting in OREGON and was in IDAHO yesterday!  Sad that WY and MT are behind us but Crater Lake here we come!

Grand Teton - Last Day

We had rain in the morning and threat of afternoon thunderstorms our last day.  We planned to try to get some hiking in between storms.  We got more hiking in than we thought (approximately 7 to 8 miles) but we also got caught in the thunderstorm. 

We decided to take a boat to Inspiration Point and Hidden Falls trailhead (shaves 2.2 miles off hike).  We hiked to Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point and then continued onto the Cascade Canyon trail.  We really enjoyed this trail.  Unfortunately, weather forced us back early.  Due to the storm we ended up walking the 2.2 miles back to the car (stopped the boats due to lightning).  This is the 2nd time we paid for round trip boat fare but only got one way trip.  No more boat trips for us..lol

Hidden Falls

Inspiration Point

Cascade Canyon Trail

View from Cascade Canyon Trail

Light is horrible but numerous falls on mountain side and glacier (I think)

Panoramic view of Teton

My elusive Moose!  He was big boy and very far away!

Blacktail Ponds Overlook