The smoke from 50 nearby fires rolled into Roseburg as we
rolled out this morning . . . and right into the thick of it. Hazy skies and smokiness will accompany us on
and off all day today.
Apparently Roseburg is a world-class fishing destination –
who knew? The anglers of the world,
that’s who, but they still can’t support a decent restaurant. There is a fish ladder on the dam just
outside of town, but no fish climbing today.
It seems we have just missed the summer steelhead migration.
We have a gorgeous drive planned for today. Fire closes both shoulders on part of our route but we're told we can drive
through so we forge on. Note that we are
following an ambulance which could be completely unrelated but we also pass a
fire camp and a bunch of trucks clearly loaded with equipment. The air is quite close and very yellow. It gets more orange as we go farther along
the road. "Caution! Smoke ahead!" Now they tell us.
It is quiet in our car as we drive through an increasingly
orange atmosphere. We occasionally see
trucks pulled off at the side of the road, and firefighters standing around
looking dirty. There is a “thank you
fire fighters” sign at a mobile home park, and whole mess of trucks and people
milling about at a convenience store about half way through. Also, there is a Sysco truck delivering food
to a restaurant along the way, which causes Peter to shout “GOOD THINGS COME
FROM SYSCO!”[1]
Oregon, or at least this part of it, is a land of
waterfalls, and we emerge out of the smoke on route 138 just outside of the
Toketee Falls, which we wanted to see anyway, so that’s good. It still smells smoky but the sky is blue and
the water is flowing through a giant wooden pipe that sends it along to a reservoir
so we feel pretty safe. We are still
along the Umpqua River, and this falls goes almost 120 feet down, stopping
partway to bounce out of a pothole, which is pretty dramatic. We are going to see a lot of falls, get used
to it.
But we are packing in a lot because our destination is not
just some rando waterfall, but one of the big tourist draws in central Oregon,
Crater Lake. As the name suggests, this
is a lake that has formed in a volcanic crater.
It is the deepest lake in the US, and is impossibly blue and
pristine. It is also pretty crowded on
the Rim Road, because you can drive all the way around it (and of course we
do). While not the caldera on Santorini,
it is still incredibly dramatic. There
is a grand old lodge picturesquely situated at the top, where we lunch in some
splendor on more excellent Oregon smoked salmon and another entry in the
marionberry crisp cavalcade. We are
also entertained by Peter’s disquisition on the various types of sugars in
Swedish Fish (a surprisingly tasty gummi snack that has accompanied us from
William Lawrence Camp all the way here).
There are four different kinds of sugars in Swedish Fish, and they are
the first four ingredients, which tells you something.
As we complete our circumnavigation of Crater Lake, we
realize that the smoke from the nearby fires has rolled in. Where the day was crystal clear a few hours
ago, and we could take in the whole vista of the lake, now we cannot even see
the other side due to the haze. Just a
few days prior to our visit here, part of the Rim Road had been closed due to
nearby fires, and all around you can see the effects of fires in months and
years past: stem remnants of trees, no
green. Summer in Oregon = smoke and ash
and waterfalls.
We finally drag ourselves in to the Odell Lake Lodge, which
is an old fishing/skiing camp in the Deschutes National Forest, on the shores
of yet another picturesque lake.[2] The Odell is a fancy version of the beloved
Lakewood Camps in Maine, except that the cabins here have kitchens and
heat. And in the restaurant you can get
really good wine and - wait for it –
marionberry cobbler!
[1] At Peter's camp, all the food is created out of Sysco
stuff so every time the Sysco truck pulls up with a delivery, all the campers
shout: GOOD THINGS COME FROM SYSCO! or whatever slogan is on the side of the
truck.
[2] Do they have any ugly lakes here? I don’t think so. It must get hard to keep up with all this
natural gorgeousness. I’d have a complex
if I was a neighboring state.
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