Odell Lake to Crater Lake

It was going to be a shorter day. Really. But then, the north entrance to Crater Lake National Park is 15 miles from the campground, and you can't just ride to the campground when you've come all this way to see one of the wonders of the natural world. And there was a lot of climbing. Again. On this day, thanks go to Jay and Stephanie (and Sean, Rowan, and, of course, Django the dog) from Portland, and to Sheldon in the VW bus for the water and unexpected banana!

The Rim Road around Crater Lake isn't open fully yet, and one of the two campgrounds is still closed because of snow. The parts I rode, however, were spectacular. And hilly.

At the campground, I learned from my Sunset Cove experience and picked up some bug spray. It totally worked. The only niggle as I lay down at about 8:00 pm was whether my freehub would hold out until I reached Klamath Falls and a bike shop the next day. I thought it was unlikely, but I have been reading about the positive qualities of persistence; I would persist until the bike refused to pedal.

Mt. Thielsen across the Pumice Desert 

Somewhere around 7500 ft., you come across this scene...

And then you realize that everyone is looking at this.

Go there. You really can. It's incredible.

Relaxing, with new sneakers!