Rogue River
I had originally intended to spend a couple hours in and around Klamath Falls the next morning, but I was so nonplussed by my difficulties of the night before, and rather unimpressed with the town, that I decided to hit the road at 08:30. I took the scenic route to Medford, along OR-62. (Actually I’m sure all the routes are scenic, but this one is less direct than OR-140.) First I headed north on US-97 for a bit as I passed along Lake Klamath. There weren’t any good spots to pull off and photograph, so I don’t have any, but it’s a nice big lake. OR-62 splits off from US-97 and heads north, northwest, west, southwest, and then south into Medford, which otherwise would be almost straight west from Klamath Falls.
I stopped somewhere along the way to photograph a raptor nest atop a telephone pole. I couldn’t tell for sure, but thought it might be an eagle; the nest was pretty large. Obviously someone has lent a helping hand here, as the nest actually sits on a platform above the telephone pole.
My next stop was near the top of this loop, not far from the south entrance to Crater Lake. Here I paused to photograph and try to imagine 8000 years ago when Mt. Mazama stood almost 12,000 feet high, before exploding in a violent and catastrophic pyroclastic eruption.
Geologists say that about 12 cubic miles of magma came to the surface and six inches of ash covered some 5000 square miles of what are now eight states and three provinces. They believe it was one of the largest eruptions in the last 10,000 years; 42 times greater than Mt. St. Helens in 1980. The caldera was about 3000 feet deep after the eruption, but later small eruptions and falling ash filled about a third of that. Gradually over time, rain and snowmelt filled the caldera, forming Crater Lake. The elevation where I stood taking the photographs is approximately the same as the bottom of the 1943-foot deep lake. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and seventh in the world.
Rogue River Overlook
After that I headed to an overlook to the Rogue River. Here the river is squeezed into a narrow channel between the rocks, making for some impressive whitewater as the falls crash down below.
The river was interesting, but I was distracted by two corgies who were visiting with their owners. There was the energetic son and, as one owner said, “his paraplegic father”, a 12-year-old (human years). This poor little guy had a harness with training wheels in back to help him walk. He obviously wasn’t completely crippled though, as he tended to drag the wheels around like a sled about half the time. It was sad but bemusingly cute all at the same time.
Klamath Falls