August 14-16: Medford, Crater Lake, McMinnville

Ahh, back to civilization (and internet access).

Since we last left you, we were in Medford, Oregon relaxing after three long days in California's Lost Coast. In Medford, we met up with one of my friends, Bryan, who recently moved up to Medford, and all three of us headed out to Crater Lake. Through some dumb luck, we went the wrong way to Crater Lake and ended up going all the way around to the north entrance of the park, even though our campsite was in the south part of the park. However, this mistake paid off as we got some great views of the area and the lake as we drove back down to our campsite at Camp Mazama.

We spent the night at Mazama relaxing by our fire. The next day we woke up planning to circumnavigate Crater Lake.

We first stopped at the Crater Lake Lodge to hike the short 1.7 mile hike to the top of Garfield Peak (8,054 ft) for a great view of the landscape. Then we hiked down and drove around the west side of the lake to Cleetwood Cove, the only place on the lake where you can actually get down to the eeriely clear blue water and touch it. We got down there and found people jumping off a 25 foot jumping rock, which we all three did not hesitate to dive off as well (check out the pictures on photobucket, link is below).

After an envigorating dip in the cold lake, we completed our circumnavigation of Crater Lake by driving around the east side of the crater. We got back to our campsite, armed with marshmallows, and enjoyed a night of smores by the fire. Great way to finish off a weekend at Crater Lake.

This morning we parted ways with Bryan, after he graciously loaned us his binoculars and a book of maps for our continued journeys. Matt and I headed north to Oregon's wine country, via Eugene.

We stopped in Eugene to check out the University of Oregon. Matt proudly wore his California Blue & Gold for the tour, just to let those ducks know we come from better stock.

After Eugene, we continued north with no real destination. We made some scenic detours and stumbled upon a little winery called Hauer of the Dauen (pronouned "Hour of the Dawn"). We tasted some Oregonian wine and got some tips from the guy behind the counter. He suggested we check out McMinnville, a few miles away, so we took his advice. And we're glad we did. McMinnville is a chill little town, a little like Sonoma, with a beautiful liberal arts college, Linfield, which we checked out.

Anyway, we're now back at the motel excited that we have HBO so we don't have to miss Entourage this week. So, goodnight all, I'm off to watch the best show on TV right now.

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Oh yeah, here's the link to the new set of photos from the past few days.
Here's the link to the previous set of photos as well, if you missed them.