Day 52: Chemult to Crater Lake to Chiloquin

August 12, 2012
83 miles

Accomplishment of making it to Crater Lake was overshadowed by cold and rain at the lake, and then by going the wrong direction down the mountain.  I had already descended 20 miles from Crater Lake, and then passed the next junction by over 10 miles so that I ended up 15 miles out of the way.

But before all that happened...

I woke up with little water so I drank the onion/garlic flavored water from last night's pasta. I gagged a little. Then I remembered I would have water in about an hour. Hydration could wait until then.

As I was about to leave, a fawn spotted me from about 10 meters away. It stood still and stared at me as I went to get my camera, and then moved in position to get a good shot of it.

Eventually it went away, but it's mother was nowhere to be found. How far do fawns normally stray from their moms?

Later on the highway I saw another deer amongst the trees. I could see its ribs. Must be a rough year for deer!



The ride had some unbelievably long straightaways, which was a psychological battle for me. At one point it is 12 miles of strait road. Past that is more climbing, but it is more interesting and fun.

Made it!

Crater Lake is known for being very blue in color, but it was cloudy today so the water was also gray. Bad luck! Still majestic.

I tried to recreate the photo from the touring website. How'd I do?

My stubborn self tried to out wait the rain and clouds in hope that I could get a good view of the blue water that the lake is famous for, but it got to be late enough that I decided I should get going. Looking back at the mountain, I think I made the right choice. Got out of the clouds and into the sun.

At the junction, I turned the wrong way on highway 62. I never stopped to check the map because there was nothing to check it against, and I was enjoying the downhill. By the time I suspected something was off, I had already gone 20 miles downhill, too far to be worth going back.

I ended up almost 100 miles away from where I can rejoin my route. I was mostly frustrated because I was looking forward to spending some time in Prospect updating my blog and maybe even going river rafting on the rogue river.

I decided to cheer myself up by eating a burger, so I stopped by the nearest bar and got two patty melts.

As I was leaving, I started talking with a man (I need to start asking for people's names). He has done motorcycling trips across the country, and was interested in my trip. Another Wisconsinite was with his party, and they offered to pay for my meal. I really don't need the money, but they insisted and told me to pay it forward. I really like that, so I will make sure to pay the favor forward and help someone else.

So many thanks to the bikers for being so supportive and helping to make a rough day a little better.