Unbelievable Umpqua!

We finally left California! We entered California April 23rd and left and entered Oregon on the 9th of June.  Wow!  California is one big and beautiful State.  While we could've spent much more time here, we were ready to press on.  A big reason is monetary.  California is expensive!  We talked about the possibility of making California our new home but, that is just not doable financially. The 17th of June marks our 4 month anniversary "out on the road"!  It is hard to believe. Our first stop on our "Oregon Trail" is the Crater Lake area.  Enjoy!

We camped within the Umpqua National Forest (named after the native Umpqua Indian people) right on Diamond Lake, which is about 4 miles North of Crater Lake National Park.  You can find Diamond Lake on the map above.  It is between Mt. Bailey and Mt. Thielsen.  Our camp was on the East side of the lake.  It was absolutely beautiful and quiet.  We practically had the place to ourselves.

Our "Urban Assault Vehicle" campsite on Lake Diamond.

View from the campsite down to Lake Diamond and Mt. Bailey!  Can you say...AWESOME!

A short bike ride down from our campsite and you get this view of Diamond Lake and Mt. Bailey.  Diamond Lake is considered to be Oregon's premier Rainbow Trout fishing destination.  

Lake Diamond not only is renowned for it's fishing but, also a wide-range of outdoor activities.  The lake has a gorgeous trail that loops around the entire lake, through meadow, forest and shoreline.  In the winter,  it is maintained as a cross-country ski trail.  In summer,  it is used for biking and hiking.  We biked around the entire lake.  What a great way to spend the afternoon and get some good exercise.  Here you can see that the trail needed some clearing.  A fallen tree across our path caused us to haul our bikes around it.  Snow has just now recently been melting and trail clearing is beginning and we encountered our fair share of snow still on the trail.

Heidi and Hailey dismount their bikes on a bridge along our bike trek and explore a crystal clear, ice-cold stream.

Back at camp, I provide some "survival" instruction to the girls.  Here you can see me showing the girls how to prepare to start a fire using nothing but a pocket knife and a magnesium stick.  You can see my survival manual on the table by my left arm that shows some illustrations and you can see me demonstrating.  I'm proud to say that a rip roaring fire ensued.  The next night is the girls time to do it all by themselves...if they so choose!

This is a picture I snapped of a Forest Service road that Heidi and I took on our quest to find the Lemolo Falls Trail.  This road led to another more narrow gravel road, which in turn turned into a VERY narrow and rutted dirt road.  I was wishing I towed a Jeep instead of the Saturn!  I'm glad we took the time to find this place because the falls were truly magical.

Along the Lemolo Falls trail, Heidi points out some animal scat.  For you non-outdoorsie types, that means animal poo.  

One of the six waterfalls along Hwy 138 that we explored.

Heidi and I hiked right up to the base of this waterfall.  Good thing we packed some ponchos because we got DRENCHED in ice-cold water!  Heidi shows her joy at being here!  It was roaringly loud at this point, due to the water hitting the rocks at the base of the falls!

Hailey loves flowers and fauna of all kinds.  She was enthralled by the green mosses and ferns that were everywhere.  It was like a carpet of green that was so vibrant that it dazzled your eyes.  Almost as pretty as the green in Hailey's eyes, as you can see quite clearly in this photo.

Yet another National Park visit by the girls of Team Breitmann!  We just so happened to arrive on the opening day of the North Entrance.  It is closed all winter due to snow and we had the privilege of being one of the first to enter the park from the North this season!

Holy highway snow, Batman!  This is what greeted us as we soon entered Crater Lake North entrance! The park Rangers  had just recently completed snow clearing of the north entrance and this is June!  

The girls and I pose along side the North entrance road to Crater Lake to give you an idea of how high the snow is within the park!

Our car parked at Crater Lake Rim Village visitors center.  

The Florida gal, Hailey, can not resist breaking out my camp shovel and attempting to dig into the snow to build a snow fort!  We learned that Crater Lake averages 44 feet of snow every winter!  Yes, that's right...FEET...not inches!  This year they ONLY got around 33 feet! The park rangers said they routinely see 50 foot snow drifts and they are happy if they can get all the roads and trails cleared by 4th of July! When we were here, none of the foot trails were open and only the west rim drive from the North to South Entrance roads were passable.

Here it is!  Crater Lake.  Absolutely, awe inspiring!  This lake is a caldera left over from a massive volcanic eruption and is what's left of what used to be Mt Mazama.  The lake is formed from rain and snow melt.

Crater lake contains an estimated 5 trillion gallons of water and has an estimated depth of over 1,900 feet deep and ranks as one of the ten most deep lakes.  The water in Crater Lake comes only from rain and snow melt and is not fed from any other source, making it more pure than what you can get from your house tap water!

In the center of this picture you can see Wizard Island.  It is actually a small cinder cone volcano that formed as a result of a subsequent eruption, following the one that formed the Crater Lake caldera.  It is believed that this later eruption helped cover the floor of the caldera sufficiently to seal the caldera enough to allow for the containment of water.

Here Heidi and Hailey pose along the West rim of the caldera.  Beauty among beauty!

Hailey, our National Park Jr. Ranger, surveys the view from Wizard Island Overlook. She was, again, on the hunt for another Jr. Ranger badge to add to her collection!

If you believe in God as creator, this place certainly drives home His greatness! I have to borrow from Jon Bloom's,  Let Wonder Lead You to Worship.
"All the senses that God has given you are telling you about God today. (Romans 1:20)...listen to creation tell you about the glory of God(Psalm 19:1).  One of the healthiest things you can do for your soul after prayer and reading God's living Word is experiencing God's creation...know that each thing on which your eye rests has a story that stretches back, back into ancient ages before all memory except the Ancient of Days. Every living thing you encounter is a descendant of the Adam of its kind.  Open your mind and listen.  Every sound is telling you something about that story.  Every smell too. Get out into the sun or rain, heat or chill, wind or still and feel the REAL.  And wonder. Let yourself wonder.  Let it lead you to worship the One who created it all (Colossians 1:16) and who is at this very moment upholding it all by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:3)  But expect a fight. The devil wants you stupid, distracted from wonder, fearful of an imagined future, and deceived by his virtual, distorted counterfeit of God's true world.
Don't be fooled.  All the awe and health and romance is in the REAL.  Get into the book of Scripture first and then get out into the book of nature.  Listen to them both tell you of the glory of God.  Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well(Psalm 139:14)

Hailey shows off her Jr. Ranger badge, which she earned over two days of completing her Jr. Ranger booklet.

The gals warm up by the fire in the Crater Lake lodge.  You can see Hailey sprawled out on the floor with her bare feet near the fire!  She about got frost bite, while digging in the snow!

Here is a picture of our "big map".  We use it to see the "big picture" of our trip! LOL!  Hopefully, you can see the squiggly blue line along the lower portion.  This depicts our actual route of travel so far, starting at Panama City, Florida and, at the time of this pictue, to the tip of Northern California, just before crossing over into Oregon.  We have trekked over 5,000 miles so far.  Our next stop is back out to the Oregon coast near Coos Bay.