Day Nineteen - Crater Lake +

We are at the approximate halfway point of the tour by miles and hitting our stride. Got an early start this morning at 6:45 AM. We would start out westbound on OR-140 looking to make Klamath Falls for fuel. Fuel in Lakeview was $4.18 but in Klamath Falls we could get it for $3.89. That stop was 91 miles away which would make nearly 1/4 of our miles for the day. It was 75 when we left town but the temps dropped as we got out into the country and it got as low as 60 degrees - which was right on the border of requiring another layer, but fortunately it was fluctuating up and down, mostly in a range of 64 to 70 so we managed to ride without stopping. The ride was enjoyable, though nothing real special as far as riding goes.

Day 19 Track

Right after our fuel stop we found a McDonalds at a Walmart so went in for a coffee break and Larry needed some incidentals so he got them at the Walmart and then we were on the road again. Not long after, we got onto OR-66 and crossed the Klamath River. As we were heading out of the small town of Keno, we spotted three deer grazing casually on someone's front lawn. Better there than in the road!

66 was a nice road, and we would be on it for 45 miles. It had some nice twists and turns, especially at the western end where it went through the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Along this road we did encounter another lone deer who bounded across the road ahead of Bill who was lead for the day. Fortunately it was well ahead and only caused a cautious slow down and there were no more following. This road was especially fun near the end when we descended 2208 ft in just 9 miles!

From here we would jump on I-5 northbound for a short hop of 10 miles to then get off on some named side roads that would skirt us around the western side of Medford, OR to get us to the town of Jacksonville - our first target wapoint of the day. This was an "I've been Everwhere" waypoint.

I've Been Everywhere - Jacksonville

From here was a bit of a slog through some heavily congested area of Medford on Hwy 62. It was along here that a truck coming from the other direction, hauling what appeared to be scrap metal, had a large piece fly off the back of the truck. Bill saw it and was ready to veer off but it fell directly behing the truck. Larry heard it and then saw it in his mirror so it wasn't a direct threat to us, but it sure made me glad we weren't behind that truck at that moment! We were headed for the road to go to Crater Lake and we knew there wasn't anyplace to eat so Bill ran a search and spotted a nice sounding place - "Ma's Restaurant. We like to try to get away from the fast food chains, at least for one meal a day and this sounded good. When we got there though, it turned out to be a chinese food place, but I was hungry so I dragged Larry in and we ate chinese. Larry said he's never had pork fried rice, but he did like it. We spent about 40 minutes there and then back on the road again.

Shortly after where we took the lunch break, Hwy 63 makes a right turn to head dead east and then bends gently more northerly, passing by the John Stewart State Park and running parallel with the Rogue River. This stretch is about 32 miles of pretty forest road. It was cool comfortable and scenic. At the end of that 32 miles, 62 turns east again at the intersection with 230 which continues in the northward direction. We take 62 as it takes us directly into the Crater Lake National Park.It's only 16 miles and before we are at the south western entrance of the park, but along the way we stopped for the required photo of the Crater Lake Park sign.

I've Been Everywhere - Crater Lake

After showing our park passes we are in and headed up to the lake. This is a nice twisty road and we make the best of it and the almost non-existent traffic. It is twisty because we are climbing in elevation again - we will climb some 3700 ft in 24 miles to reach the peak at the lake of 7668 ft. We stop for the following scenic photos.

Yes, that IS snow on the left side of the lake.

There was a surprisingly large amount of snow cover still on the ground, in some spots as much as 2 feet, despite it being July and the temp in the 70's. I couldn't get photos though because there was too much traffic to ride and take photos at the same time :-(

We then exited the park and turned eastbound on Hwy 138 which would take us over to US-97 where we would then head north. It got a tad bit warm here as we had dropped a lot of elevation and we were out of the forest for a bit, but just before it got too unbearable, we turned northwest on OR-58 which would take us into the Deschutes National Forest and back up in elevation, cooling things off nicely. This road was about a 93 mile stretch and was thoroughly enjoyable, even with the 55 mph speed limit. here again we had a nice descent near the end dropping almost 4000 ft in just 27 miles. Just before we get out of the forest area, we start paralleling the Willamette River. I managed to take the following shot of it while riding along - this is somewhere after we've exited the forest.

Willamette River just before it widens to become Lookout Point Lake

Day 19 Elevation Profile

As you can see from the above, we dropped back down to less than 1000 ft as we got to the end of the day and the temps went back up into the high 80s so it was warm, but still not uncomfortable, We got into the hotel in Springfield, OR (right next to Eugene, OR) at 4:40 PM.

Today's Stats: 404 miles in 9:54 elapsed time, 7:42 saddle time.