This trip occurred during a several year span where Jean and I weren’t able to get away for too many other vacation travels. We’d been thinking about a trip to the Northwest for a while and had looked at destinations including the Olympics, Oregon Caves, and Redwoods before deciding on a trip that would focus on Crater Lake and Mount St. Helens, with one day at Newberry Caldera. All three volcanoes had famously blown their tops, giving us the motto for the trip “Topless Tour 2013.” To keep things simple, we decided to leave the backpacking gear behind and just do a series of day hikes. Of our destinations all would be new to Jean, and I had only visited Crater Lake twice while in grad school, once on an overnight ski tour around the loop road, and another time on a shorter summer trip with my parents.
7-13-21
We
flew from Knoxville to Portland on Friday, got a rental car, and stayed in a
motel close to the airport. The next day we drove down to Eugene to see the
town where I had gone to graduate school. The campus was a lot prettier than I
remembered; the science complex then looked 1960s era-Soviet. We spent some
time at a new-to-me Natural History Museum before heading out on a walking tour
that included the Volcanology Building, and loop around Pre’s Trail across the
river near the football stadium. It turned out to be state fair weekend, so we
ended up staying in Oakridge (yes, one word in OR), which I remembered as a
dingy old logging town, but was now revitalized as a mecca for mountain biking.
Mount Hood from our flight in.
Wizard Island in March 1981.
 |
| Hiram on campus. |
7-14-2013
Crater Lake
The
next day was the big event, Crater Lake. Few parks have the impact that Crater
Lake does the first time you step to the rim and see the lake. The blue of the
lake seems too rich to be mere water. Next the sheer size hits you, how can the
lake be so large, and how can the walls be so shear?
Most
of the hikes in the park are relatively short, one reason the park is
relatively less visited by hikers and backpackers. It seemed hikers got a
choice of either long hikes in the deep woods, or short hikes out in the open
with views. For our first hike we picked Mt. Scott, the highest point in
the park. The trail had just been cleared of snow but was in great shape and
gave us tremendous views
Crater Lake at last!
After
our hike up Mt. Scott we continued around the loop road with shorter hikes at Sun
Notch and Godfrey Glen and stops at Lady of the Woods, Rim Village,
Crater Lake Lodge, and then Mazama Village. We got a brief scare when Jean’s
allergies flared up. Fortunately, we were able to control things, and the trip
didn’t spiral into coughing, wheezing mess. We spent the next three nights just
south of the park at an A-frame cabin at the Aspen Inn in Fort Klamath, a spot
that had been recommended by Jean’s sister’s family.
On top of Mount Scott.
7-15-13
Crater Lake
The Phantom Ship.
Our
big trip for the day would be the NPS boat excursion to Wizard Island, but the
check-in for our ride wasn’t until 11:30, so we decided to hike Watchman
Peak in the morning. Part of the hike is an old road which winds up to an
old wood tower. Again, we had great views and an abundance of wildflowers, most
of which we couldn’t identify.
The
Crater Lake Boat Ride is one of those iconic national park trips, but you
don’t know if it is going to seem too touristy, or if it can really live up to
its reputation. We found it to be wonderful. Maybe the one mile hike down to
the boat dock on the Cleetwood Cove Trail is enough walking to feel you have earned
your views. The blue water is every bit as amazing up close, and the views were
as spectacular as those from the rim. We went all in, booking the option to
explore Wizard Island. Though it took us a bit to find the right trail, we
hiked to the top of the island and then down into its own small crater. I could
not resist the opportunity to be in a crater in a volcano in a crater on a
bigger volcano. The day was so warm and sunny we dunked our heads in the lake
while waiting for our boat pickup, but still the water was far too cold for
swimming. Most of the lake tour came after the island, the old man, the phantom
ship, and some waterfalls. The scenery remained world class and was documented
on the 207 pictures Jean took through the day. We stopped and ate at Mazama
Village on our return.
Trail to Watchman Peak. 
We finally found the trail!
The top of Wizard Island.
Crater lake from Wizard Island.
7-16-23 Crater Lake
We
got up early for our day in the park’s backcountry, the hike starting on the
Pacific Crest Trail to Union Peak. The first three miles on the PCT were
really pretty, but the bugs were thick enough to distract us from the flowers
and forest. The final stages of the climb were steep, loose, and a little
exposed, but the views again well worth the effort, especially those of the
smaller peaks of the Cascades to the south.
The
return was unremarkable, except for Jean busting out the seam of her zippy
pants. Luckily, the Aspen Inn had fishing décor as a decorative theme, and we
were able to rob a little line from a decorative reel to repair her pants.
Union Peak. 
Along the Pacific Crest Trail.
Jean on Union Peak.
After
the hike, and an ice cream stop at Mazama Village, we made two short stops;
Castle Crest to learn some of the wildflower names, and Discovery Point.
7-17-2013
Newberry National Volcanic Monument
Another view of Wizard Island.
One
of the big changes in the area since my grad school days was the creation of
new national monuments at both Newberry Caldera and Mount St. Helens, but with both
areas managed by the Forest Service instead of the NPS. When I arrived at U of
O in 1980 it was just a few months after the eruption of St. Helens, and the
area around the mountain was closed. I remember going through drifts of ash on
my drive west to Eugene, but never got any closer to the mountain after that. I
remember visiting Newberry as part of a field trip for my volcanology class.
Newberry
is close to Bend, OR and has a selection of trails for hikers and mountain
bikers, as well as campgrounds and picnic area. Like Crater Lake the caldera at
Newberry is filled with water, but here it fills two lakes, Paulina and East.
The famous obsidian (volcanic glass) flows are the most recent of the volcanic
activity. We decided to hike the Paulina Lakeshore Loop, and at the
visitor center were advised to add on the Big Obsidian Loop.
Welcome to Newberry.
The
trails were well marked, in good shape and obviously well used. It was another
hot day and the campgrounds with their broad beaches and shady sites looked
appealing. I remembered the big obsidian flow from my field trip, it is really
unusual to see one that large, a monstrous jumble of obsidian and pumice.
The big obsidian flow.
 |
| View across Lake Paulina to Big Obsidian. |
7-18-13 Mount St. Helens
Perhaps
no other part of the country had changed as much in the last 30 years as Mount
St. Helens. What was once a devastated moonscape was now starting to heal from
the 1980 eruption. We started our trip at the visitor center off I-5. The USFS
did a spectacular job with their interpretation of the site. The displays and
the park movie do a great job filling in the history of the area, the eruption,
and the recovery.
We
decided to try the11-mile loop around Coldwater Lake for our first trip. For
the first few months of 1980 there was no Coldwater Lake. After the eruption,
Coldwater Creek was dammed by debris flows moving down the drainage of the
North Fork of the Toutle River forming the lake. Coldwater Lake was in the
blast zone and access was still restricted to day use only on trails.
Jean at Mount St. Helens.
We
started up Trail 230A. It was amazing to realize that all the flora we saw here
was regrowth. We passed some evidence of the logging that was in progress at
the time of the eruption, a destroyed pole loader and bulldozer. The force of
the eruption had mangled even some of the major structural parts of this heavy
equipment. Equally impressive was the jumble of trees on the far ridge, leveled
by the eruptive blast even though the mountain is still two ridges over. With a
hot sunny day, we struggled on the section back down to the creek elevation
where we finally stopped for lunch on the bridge over the inlet creek.
Damaged pole loader.
Trail
211 on the back side of the lake was level and easy. Forest sections alternated
with debris fields shed from the devasted ridge above the lake. There were a
couple of lake accesses, at the second I took a short swim, just long enough to
confirm the lake was correctly named.
Flattened forest near Coldwater Lake. 
Coldwater Lake.
Yes, it was cold.
7-19-13 Mount St. Helens
Our
friends Claudia and Dan had recommended St. Helens to us, and the hike they
most liked was the trip out to Harry’s Ridge for a view into the crater of the
volcano. The hike starts from the Johnston Ridge Observatory and climbs a ridge
above Spirit Lake to the site of one of the observation stations used to
monitor the 1980 eruption. The hike is amazing, 100% above tree line, with
great wildflowers, and even a surprise wildlife encounter. There was one
exposed section called the Devils Elbow that would be uncomfortable for anyone
with a fear of heights. Below us Spirit Lake was filled with a mass of floating
dead trees uprooted in the eruption. More than 20 years after the eruption, its
impact on the forests is still obvious.
Trailside at St. Helens.
The trail out to Harry's Ridge.
We
ate lunch the old USGS observatory site which we were lucky to have to
ourselves. We spent time studying the crater which showed the form of the main
eruption and the domes and other features that had emerged from the crater
floor since then. Though the crater is closed to all public access, there is a
climbing trail on the southside. However, the number of daily climbers is
rationed, and without an advanced permit, it hadn’t seemed prudent for us to
wait overnight in line for one of the daily first come, permits. On our return
we saw a herd of elk resting on a small bench above Spirit Lake.
Mt. Adams and dead trees in Spirit Lake. 
Elk at Spirit Lake.
Back
at the Observatory we spent some time watching their movie and browsing the
displays, which were as good or better than those at the visitor center by the
interstate.
Hiram at St. Helens.
7-20-13
Mount St. Helens
On
our last day we did two short hikes on the south side of the Monument to
explore the forested areas. Surprisingly, we found this area more crowded vs.
the more spectacular trails around the blast zone.
Lava
Canyon
was another geologic marvel. Here a lahar from the 1980 eruption scoured out a
deep narrow canyon that had previously been the path of a lava flow. The result
was an impressive series of falls and cascades that gets more precipitous the
farther you go downstream. We turned back just after descending a 30’ ladder.
Next
up was June Lake. An interesting hike, but when we got to the flats, no
lake! We wandered around a bit, found a side path and followed it to the base
of a 50’ waterfall feeding the lake. We stopped for lunch at this perfect spot
and another pair of hikers told us to go to another falls just a bit up the
trail, icing on the cake.
Lava Canyon. 
Waterfall near June Lake.
That evening we drove to the Portland Airport Super 8 and flew back to Knoxville the next day.
