Day 44 - Can you hope that the day Craters (Lake)?

Today was a day that didn’t have an extremely full schedule other than to arrive at Crater Lake.  Because we had done a good chunk of the drive yesterday in our quest for A/C, it was an even more open day.  So, I decided to take advantage and drove back into town for some donuts and then because we didn’t know Rover’s maintenance history, we got an oil change done which should make Rover ready for the rest of the drive home.

Sebastian had noticed all the rafts going down the river from camp and he decided that it would be fun.  Since he pushed on it a bit and was actually excited for an aspect of the trip, we made a phone call and found out that a few groups had canceled so we could take their boat.  So quickly we went from no plans to needing to be at the tour launch in less than 45 minutes.  Time to put it in gear.  Amy, Sebastian, and I packed up while Robinson made a friend in camp and got to walk their chihuahua for them!  He was happy and apparently so were they.


While it was close, we made it to the river tour company just in time.  We gathered up some snacks and water and were quickly in a van heading upstream.  


The float was a 3 hour float which was mostly relaxing but did include a few short sections of class 1 rapids.  We got off to an auspicious start and within 2 minutes of being in the water (probably 30 seconds), we got ourselves stuck on a rock.  Once we saw rapids, we initially tried to avoid them, but after accidentally running into a few of the more intense sections, the boys decided they loved the thrill so we started to aim for the bumps in the river.  They were still fairly tame though at one point we hit a bump that got Amy, who was in the front of the boat, up and out of her seat.  Robinson particularly enjoyed that ride!  After 3 hours as was predicted, we saw the bridge and pulled over to the side of the river to end our float.  What a great way to spend the morning - great idea by Sebastian.





The rest of the day involved a short ride up to Crater Lake. 


It hadn’t rained in quite some time there and the ground was a fine black dust.  While we set up camp, the boys acted like chinchillas and took a dirt bath.  They were genuinely filthy.  So, we marched them up to the gift shop where showers awaited.  Unfortunately, the showers there get heavy use by Pacific Coast Trail hikers and of the 4, two were not usable.  One had no water and the other was only hot which was genuinely scaldingly hot.  Eventually they got one of the functional showers and were cleaned off.


We came back to camp for a dinner of mashed potatoes, corn, carrots, and beans and called it a night having not actually seen Crater Lake yet.


Finished at 6,723 miles

# States/Provinces - 15

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