Crater Lake

The first day of our trip was hastily planned at the last minute when I found out that I would have to leave the house earlier than expected. We drove down to Bend, which only took a few hours, and had a nice time browsing some shops there before having dinner at the Deschutes Brewery Pub and watching the Barca match. We camped at the nearby Lapine state park. A pretty relaxing start to the trip.

The following morning we woke up pretty early and set off for the first of our big destination of the trip: Crater Lake. Crater Lake is Oregon's only National Park. It is the deepest lake in the United States at a depth of a little over 2,000 feet. It was formed in the caldera created by the massive explosion of Mt. Mazama around 7,700 years ago. Over those years the crater slowly filled with water and left us with this gorgeous blue lake.

The approach to Crater Lake is nothing to write home about. There are areas of pumice desert, but nothing spectacular. The makes it all the more amazing when you reach the top of the ridge and this enormous, magnificent lake stretches out before you. It was absolutely stunning.



The road runs along the ridge all the way around the lake. We came in at the north entrance and drove down to the south, where the visitor center in located. The drive was gorgeous. The road was flanked on one side by tall trees and the last remnants of what must have been enormous snowbanks, on the other by the vast expanse of brilliant blue water. It is an amazing sight even if, like us, you only have a few hours.

The picture above is of Wizard's Isle, an island formed by volcanic activity that occurred after the initial eruption of Mt. Mazama. There is a boat trip that takes you out to the island, where you are free to stay and hike before picking up the next ferry back, but it costs $40 per person, so it was a bit out of our price range.


This picture is a depiction of a Native American legend regarding a giant crayfish that would pick unwary travelers from the rim of the crater.

The above picture is of Phantom Ship, a small island also formed by volcanic activity after the initial eruption. I didn't really see it, but they say that when there are strong winds on the lake, the island looks like a ghost ship breaking through the waves.

As I said before, we only had a few hours to spend at Crater Lake. Our final destination for the evening was a campground in Northern California on Shasta Lake, a few hours away.

We stopped for provisions at a local market and discovered this incredible product: Blanco Basura. For those of you that don't speak Spanish, this is bad Spanish for "White Trash." It is a box containing 5 beers and 5 shots (200 ml) of whiskey or tequila. We picked one up expecting terrible things to come of a $7 product containing un-branded whiskey and beer.


We were pleasantly surprised. Upon closer inspection, the beer was produced by Tecate, and wasn't bad. It was a bland Mexican lager, but it didn't taste bad. And the whiskey was actually pretty good. Much smoother than the bottle of Evans Williams we picked up later in the trip.

I don't think they can sell these in Virginia, what with all liquor being sold through the ABC stores, but I'm thinking of starting a petition.

Farewell to Oregon

This past Friday, the 29th, was my last day of work. I have really enjoyed my job and the chance to spend the summer out here in Oregon. It has been a great experience. I am quite fond of Oregon, but I am also excited to be coming home.

At the time that this posts, Becca and I will have already started the trip back to Virginia. Because we will be without internet, the blog will go quiet for a couple of weeks. But be sure to check back in mid-to-late August for a few last posts about the return journey. Here are the sights we are planning to see on the return:

Crater Lake
Yosemite
Sequoia & Kings Canyon
Las Vegas
The Grand Canyon
Canyonlands/Arches

After those, we will stop in Denver. Becca has to fly to NYC for some job interviews, and I plan to shoot across the midwest as fast as possible, so that I can be back in VA a few days before my next internship starts.

Other Breweries of Note

There are a ton of breweries in Oregon. I didn't realize this until recently, but since I got here, aside from the occasional Sierra Nevada or Alaskan, all of the beer I purchased was brewed in Oregon. This is particularly significant because I rarely revisited a particular beer.

Here are a few of the other Oregon breweries that I am fond of but I either already spoke about or I didn't think merited a full post:


McMenamin's: I only had McMenamin's beer a couple of times. McMenamin's is a chain of pubs, hotels, venues, and movie theaters started by a couple of brothers. They brew all of their own beer and also produce a variety of wines and liquors. When we first arrived in Portland, Becca and I went to a McMenamin's brewpub a couple of times, and all of the beer I tried was good. Unfortunately, they don't distribute outside of their pubs, so you can't pick it up at the grocery store.


Double Mountain: Double Mountain I have talked about as well. But I wanted to re-emphasize how much I like this brewery. They make some of the best beers I've ever had (not to mention a pretty mean pizza). If you ever find yourself traveling the Columbia River Gorge, be sure to stop in Hood River and grab a pint or a growler-full of some Double Mountain brew. My two favorite beers I've had in Oregon both came from Double Mountain; they are the Kriek and the IRA.


Bridgeport: Bridgeport is not my favorite of the Oregon breweries. I was not blown away by the first four beers of theirs I tried. These were their IPA, a mocha porter, the Blue Heron Pale Ale, and a Triple-Hopped Double Red Ale called Kingpin. They were alright, but not great. Their Hop Czar IPA was a step better. Their summer seasonal, though, was fantastic. It's called Summer Squeeze and is infused with lemongrass and yuzu, which is apparently an asian citrus fruit. It is light, crisp, and citrusy, a really splendid summer beer.


Ninkasi: Ninkasi is a brewery located in Eugene. The name is derived from the ancient Sumerian goddess of fermentation. They produce good, high-quality beers with such interesting names as Tricerahops Double IPA.


Rogue: I spoke a bit about Rogue when Becca visited, because we ate dinner at their brewpub in Portland. Rogue is a brewery that a lot of you are probably familiar with. They produce a wide variety of great beers, which are sold all over the country. Their Dead Guy Ale is the one you are most likely to have encountered. They also have a distillery, where they make a few whiskeys and gins. I bought a bottle of their Dead Guy whiskey at one point. It is made with the exact same grain bill as the Dead Guy Ale, and is quite good. I'd like to try their Gin as well.

Rafting and Camping

For our last weekend in town, all of the interns and one of our bosses, Mike, decided to go whitewater rafting and camping. We rafted on the White Salmon river, which feeds into the northern side of the Columbia River near Hood River. For camping, we headed into the Mt. Hood National Forest to Wahtum Lake, a small alpine lake off the Pacific Crest Trail.



Because my camera is not waterproof, I do not have any photos of the rafting. Natalie did have a waterproof camera, so some photos will likely surface on facebook eventually. The trip was great. The water level is high, so the river was moving fast and the waves were big. Our guide was a former SCA Intern and self-proclaimed bird nerd, so he shared a lot of interesting information about the geology, flora, and fauna of the river canyon during the breaks between rapids. It was good fun, and a chance to see the area from a different angle.


Wahtum lake was gorgeous. The water was crystal clear. In the morning, before there was a great deal of glare off the lake, you could see the lake bottom thirty yards away. I don't have a license, so I didn't participate, but a few of the girls were having great luck fishing in the lake as well.

It was a fairly typical camping trip. We built a nice fire, roasted sausages, and drank whiskey. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was perfect, so I just laid my sleeping bag by the fire and fell asleep under the stars.

Himalayan Blackberry

Himalayan Blackberry is an invasive plant here. It's actually invasive all over the western world including the majority of the United States. But as far as invasive species go, this one is probably on the lower end of concern. There are a few bushes around the dam, but they aren't choking out other life to the degree some invasive species do, and this time of year they are all bearing large, delicious fruit.


Not a bad snack for a slow July afternoon.

The Next Job

As you know, this internship is over at the end of July. Yesterday, however, I was offered another one. This new internship starts August 15th. I had been in contact with this fellow for two months, and he finally called and hired me without even really conducting an interview. I suppose I'd expressed my interest well enough already.

Anyways, starting the third week in August, I will be working at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. The position is Restoration and Maintenance Intern. My actual duties will be primarily controlling invasive plants through chemical and mechanical methods. There is also some GIS work, and I will be able to get certified for wildland firefighting. And it runs until mid-January.

I am excited. I think the certifications for herbicide mixing and application as well as wildland firefighting will be very useful to me in the long run. I am also excited that I will be so close to home.

Fort Dalles Day Rodeo

The past ten days or so have been Fort Dalles Days. I'm not sure of all that this means. What I know is: admission to Fort Dalles is free, and there was a rodeo.

My roommate Ryan is from Oklahoma and was pretty excited. Never having been to a rodeo myself, I was curious.


We arrived a bit late, but were still able to see a number of events including barrel racing, bull riding, and something I believe was called team tying in which two mounted fellows had to lasso the horns and hind legs of a young bull. They were able to do this in about 5.5 seconds. I was impressed.

Bull riding was the last event. The rules, as I understand them, are that the rider must keep their hand on a rope tied around the bull for at least 8 seconds in order to succeed. I believe only one rider was able to keep hold for the eight seconds, and most of that was spent sitting on the ground next to the bull. And I'm sure that was not easy either.

I had a good time, I'm glad Ryan dragged me out there.