Waking up to the sounds of the forest and the filtered early morning sunlight is very soothing. By 7am Rocky cannot wait for breakfast any longer so he jumps on the bed with a wagging tail and quick kiss. He eats while I dress then the two of us go on a walk. Today we walked along the Paulina stream. The freedom and isolation of National forests is glorious. It is strange to has so much free time. The more relaxed we get, the worse I sleep. I also dream vividly about friends in SA – how I miss them. After a mid morning snooze we packed up and moved on. We had a quick swim in the river. Rob and Mike were brave enough to submerse themselves in the water, while I just sat on a submerged rock. We cannot get Ant to stop reading, as a result he does miss out on many of our stops.
The drive south to Crater Lake was short but hot. Driving up to the rim of the caldera in no way prepared us for the incredible view we got once we could look down onto the lake. The water is an incredible indigo blue and the sides into the caldera are shear. It is almost like a fairy tale. We drove along the west side – roads are narrow with shear drop offs. I was pleased to get off the rim and drop the trailer off at the campground. Unluckily, this is a Xanterra run resort – staff with bad attitude and badly maintained facilities. During the last month we have met so many friendly, helpful state and federal employees. Xanterra really ruins the image of the National Park system. The mosquitos here are awful. The campground location is great. Many sites are close together but ours is curtained by trees. After dinner we returned to the rim to watch the sunset. We were all in bed before dark, so that we did not need to switch on lights – our battery is flat again. We kept the slide in, so that Rob and Mike could sleep in their ‘fort’ under the table and bed.
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