Headed West . . .

We took a few days this summer and headed west to Oregon – Sunriver to be exact. It was a destination I had heard so much about, but had never taken the time to plan an adventure there. My family is currently living in the Midwest, and every time I started to plan our trip with the possibility of double-connection flights and long delays in airports with kids, taking an entire day to get there always stopped me in my tracks.

Well, this year a friend of mine made me an offer I could not refuse: “Come out and stay at Sunriver Resort. We will explore, hike, bike, kayak, and one day I will take you and your family someplace you would never be able to experience anywhere other than in Oregon.” So we packed our backpacks and carry-ons, booked our flight and off to Oregon’s Sunriver we went.

A little about where we were headed. Sunriver is bordered on the west by the Deschutes River and spreads over 3,300+ acres. The destination has 33+ miles of paved bike paths, stables, a marina, three pools (one with a slide), a nature center and even an observatory. Central Oregon is loaded with dozens of lakes and rivers, offering some of the best fishing in the world. There are breathtaking views of many Cascade peaks, including Mt. Bachelor, and world-class skiing. So even though we weren’t going to be there for ski season, we were sure going to take my friend up on a day of kayaking and fly fishing!

Our friend didn’t disappoint! We spent several days kayaking and fly fishing the Deschutes River (interesting fact about the Deschutes, it flows NORTH), and biking until our legs were going to fall off, and then we headed out for an experience that we could only do in Oregon – and one that my friend and his family wanted to share with ours. After about 90 minutes in the car, we all pulled into a National Park. We looked at my friend and said, “National Parks are in several states; what makes this one so special?” Well, little did we know we were about to see Crater Lake.

Some Fast Facts about Crater Lake: It’s the deepest lake in the United States, 1,943 ft deep, and second-deepest in the Western Hemisphere and the seventh deepest in the world. The Crater is five miles wide and surrounded by cliffs 2,000 feet high and the lake rests in the shattered remains of a volcano called Mount Mazama – which erupted 7,700 years ago.

Another interesting fact about the Crater I had to continue reminding myself: it is a closed system, meaning no stream or river runs in or out of the lake. From the beginning, there were no fish, but six species were introduced and now two remain: Rainbow Trout and Kokanee Salmon. The lake maintains its water levels through snow melt and rain. Amazingly, it was August and 90+ when I was there, and you could still see some snow that had not fully melted down by the water.

I was in awe of how blue the water was! It was the most beautiful shade of blue I have ever seen and prior to spending time on the crater’s rim, the only other place in the world I have seen water even close to this color would have been the South Pacific.

After spending some time at a scenic viewing spot and exploring “Discovery Point Trail,” we took off to drive around the “Rim,” which is a 33-mile road that encircles the Crater – it can be driven in about an hour but it took us almost 2 ½ because we stopped to take in the scenery. A couple of our favorite spots were:

• Watchman Overlook – You can see Wizard Island perfectly from here
• Pumice Caster Overlook – Cool view of a layer of orange pumice rock that looks like a medieval castle with an evil witch living inside
• Phantom Ship Overlook – This rock formation looks exactly like a small pirate ship. (This was the family’s favorite)

Thanks to William Gladstone Steel, who first visited Crater Lake in 1885, and was as awe-inspired as I was in 2010. He wanted to make sure people would be able to visit and enjoy the landscape for years to come, and because of his conservation efforts, Crater Lake became the second National Park on May 22, 1902, behind Yellowstone.