Whilst the route map has us being deposited at Dutchman Flat SnoPark once again, driving the long uphill section some of us have twice come down, a bunch of us decide that we will get up it under our own steam this time. So, for some it is an early start, and it will be a nice ride before lunch: around 30km to the SnoPark (pretty much all uphill), and then another 46 (mostly downhill) to the lunch location.
The tandem terrors Amy and Steve have been up and gone before Murray, Elliot, Greg, Wilder, Robb and myself set off: what they gain on the downhills, physics claws back from them in the climbs.
The day is perfect: absolute clear skies, cool but not cold, and likely to warm into a something approaching hot (but that is later). For now, we amble off and start to warm up. It doesn't take long before the road commences to crank upwards – it never gets more than about a 6% incline, but it's a long climb best taken at a steady pace. I was able to get speeds of around 65km/h coming down it, so it's a nice little rise.
We need to get to the SnoPark soon after the van which is ferrying the others does, but it won't be an issue. I'm hoping to beat it there, but I don't quite make it: it passes me on the final short hill just before the turn-off! Bleh! Still, it was a great ride – a good warm-up for the climb up to the Crater Lake Lodge which awaits later in the afternoon.
Below is a pic of the van and riders at the SnoPark, with Mt Batchelor in the background:
From here it was basically downhill to the lunch site, and what a lovely downhill it was! Fast, smooth and wide roads. Almost perfect!. I say almost, because I've discovered the drawback to the compact crank I had installed. Going up the morning incline, it was great: gave me gears in reserve, and a much closer set of ratios out back with the front 34 set selected, so keeping up the cadence is fine. Downhill, the 3 less teeth on the 50 set makes an amazing difference in terminal pedaling speed – reaching 50km/h at 50/12 sees my legs going at what seems like hamster-wheel speeds, and a hamster on speed at that! The inclines aren't enough that I can just tuck and keep gaining speed, so the most I ever see is a 72km/h. Still, who's complaining? - I know I won't be when I do some of the climbs on the Volcanoes of Washington Tour.
There may have been a rise or two, but I don't really recall: the scenery (all woods and mountains) whizzed colourfully by. What I do know is that the lunch spot rolled around pretty quickly! At one point in the ride we passed a climb up to our left, and I was pretty sure I'd seen it before. I had – it was the hill I'd gone down when I rode the not-the-option option ride coming into Sunriver 2 days ago! Hmmm, so that's where I'd got to.
Arriving at Crane Prairie Campground (so named for its complete absence of cranes – either bird or machine – and prairies), I sniffed out the lunch table and charmingly harassed Stevie about food whilst she attempted to do her job, which is getting food. The guides are pretty much used to this stuff, and they circumvent these attempts at begging for food by putting out the "stuff which tastes good, but is bad for you", namely chips, M&Ms, anything which is 90% fat etc. So typically, gluttons like me fill up on the bad stuff and then suffer: there is method in their actions!
The day has warmed up nicely, and there is even talk of taking a dip in the lake, but having stuck my hand in, I think not: it's not THAT warm!
After lunch, we take 'the Boys' group and 'Sisters' group photos: the drag-queen group is ignored. Here are the sisters doing their thing:
Lunch having been and gone, we must hop into the van for a drive to our starting point for the afternoon's task: a climb up to Crater Lake Lodge.
According to the notes, it's a 13.7 km climb from the Northern edge of the Crater Lake Park boundary to the Crater rim, with a total elevation gain of 381 metres – a pitiful 2.8% rise. From the start point we travel on relatively flat ground for a while – in fact for what seems like quite a while! We pass an area of completely barren terrain which is the 'Pumice Desert': it consists entirely of pumice, the very light aerated rock, thrown up by the explosion of Mt Matazama (which was the mountain that blew its top to create Crater Lake) some 8000 years previous, and it looks dry, hot and eery.
The ground remains relatively flat for most of the route and only ramps up in the last 6kms or so, where it gets a little steeper than 2.8%! I still had a couple of gears in reserve on the rear cassette with the 34 up front, but I wasn't traveling at warp speed!
It is a wonderful ride, the views from the climb across the surrounding country are spectacular, and the views from the (close and unguarded) edge of the road down some fairly steep drops are also interesting! One would definitely not want to take a trip off the edge.
I was really starting to get into the climb, and when I crested a bend in the road, saw a slight downhill, and the familiar silver van parked in a lay-out, I decided to just keep going as there was some more climbing ahead. Not, as it turned out, a whole lot more. Another crest and bend and a second layout appeared. This one I decided to investigate, and was glad I did.
The entire brilliant vista of Crater Lake lay before me, and it was wonderfully spectacular. This layout was on the rim almost directly above Wizard Island, the new crater rim which is slowly growing out of the lake, and it all just looked so fantastic. Below are a couple of pics which don't do it justice, but shows something of what I gazed on:
Snapping photos, the time ticked past and I figured after a while I should get going. Walking back to my bike, a squirrel decided to check me out. I'm always fascinated with these things and tried to get a pic for quite a while, but the critter wouldn't pose for me. At one point he ran up a fence post and sat about 2 feet away, but scuttled down as soon as I raised the camera. Finally got a pic (below) of him peering at me from below my bike.
As I started to walk the bike the not inconsiderable distance back to the road, my roomy Robb trundled by, closely followed by the van. I caught up to Robb and we spun the last few minutes into the Crater Lake Lodge parking lot just behind the van, and scored ourselves a well earned beer.
The Lodge was a pretty typical style, with high entrance and wings running off to the rooms and the dining facilities. Quite grand and nice to look at, it is our home for two nights. Perched on top of the rim as it is, it has amazing views of the lake, and after having been to our charming room and showered, Robb and I caught up with some of the others on the 'esplanade' at the front of the place and watched the shadows play over the lake and the crater rim: very beautiful.
We soon were granted admittance into the dining room which was large, open and warm: like really warm! Had a great meal of venison served by a very charming Romanian waitress. Hmmm – hadn't I seen several of her fellow nationality in Sunriver just scant days ago? And amazingly enough, her name was exactly the same as one of the ladies at the Italian restaurant: Stefania! This was all a bit nefarious! Of course the far more boring and real-life explanation was that a bunch of them come over on exchange and work at resorts during the summer months – a likely cover story!
After the meal, and having acquired a considerable hike in body temperature from the general warmth of the dining area, Robb and I took a quick walk around outside before heading back to our room. With over 100kms travelled, and a fair amount uphill, I was looking forward to a long snooze in preparation for the ride around the rim tomorrow.
Anyone chasing some more info on Crater Lake can go here for starters: Wikipedia Crater Lake entry.
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