Location: Broken Arrow Campground, Diamond Lake, OR
We woke relatively early this morning (6:45) to another gorgeous day of blue skies. First in order was taking inventory of all our muscle groups...yep, everything still working and feeling good. After a quick yogurt, granola and nut breakfast we decided to do the 4 mile Rim Trail Loop. It was a gentle walk downhill to the lake and the pay off was the incredible views of the still lake water in the morning light. We took the lower Rim Trail Hike back to the bottom of the falls. Wow! Denise and I were reflecting on how great we get along and how my mom kept saying for 8 years, "you two really need to get to know each other." We were just reminiscing about her as we approached the bottom of the falls when a beautiful rainbow appeared. We both got teary eyed knowing mom was with us and we could hear her saying, "I told you so little Missy." Priceless!
We finally pulled out of the campground at 10:15 and headed for Oregon. Denise captained the ship today (drove Winnie) and took her over the border. The two took to each other like ducks to water. (No Oregon pun intended). Mmm, should I be a tiny bit worried about Denise absconding with Winnie and heading for the border? Denise had never seen Crater Lake National Park so of course that was a detour that we had to take. We entered the southern part of the park and were blown away by the canyons of Annie Creek! Wowza. We stopped the car and braved the cliffs to look down, down, down. Who knew Crater National Park had such a canyon? Our next stop was the Visitor's Center for an overview of the park. We watched a short movie about Crater Lake. Did you know it's the deepest lake in the U.S, has no inlet or outlet stream but filled entirely from snow melt and rain, and was created by a volcano imploding? Pretty cool. We then ventured on to Rim Village and took a short walk along the rim path to the Lodge and lookout tower. It's amazing how blue, circular and pristine this lake is - no concessionaires, homes or development around most of the lake. On our bucket list is a trip back to Crater Lake to hike down to the water and take a boat tour.
Fourteen miles north of Crater Lake is the Diamond Lake recreation area. Our plan was to stay in one of the US Forest Service Campgrounds. We had our sites set on Thielsen Campground on the Western side of the lake. We figured since it was the most remote it would be the least populated. On the Southern end of the lake, we decided to check out Broken Arrow Campground and much to our surprise there was hardly anybody here. The added bonus is that this campground has flush toilets and showers. Be still my heart. We camped amongst lodgepole pines and there is only one other camper in sight. It's not the most picturesque campground in the world, but shoot, we'll take a $15 campsite with amenities to ourselves any day! So anxious to check out our ride around the lake we set up camp pretty quickly and were gone...
The bike path is amazing!!!! It's a 12 mile paved trail around the edge of the lake that meanders through woods, marsh, beach, fern grottos, etc. About 3/4 of the way through the ride we biked into Diamond Lake Resort for provisions and you'll never guess what we came upon. The Square Dance Festival!!! Imagine an enormous wooden portable dance floor (the size of a basketball court at least) with lights strung overhead at the water's edge. This resort felt like we stepped back into time and were in the Catskills. (You young'uns, just google Catskill Resort 1950's). The men and women were in coordinating outfits of pink, lavender, red and turquoise. Even down to the matching two tone shoes. I kid you not. Denise checked out the raffle table and was going to purchase a ticket but didn't honestly see a puffy red, white and blue square dance skirt in her future, nor did the sewing basket or crocheted toilet paper holders catch her eye. We were only a few miles away from our campground and decided to venture back. After sharing a good bottle of red wine (nice find Chuck) and a lovely dinner, we are seriously considering packing up and pointing Winnie in the direction of the Square Dance Festival...Stay tuned.
Saturday night and what are two girls gonna do! Head to the Square Dance Festival at Diamond Lake Resort. Wahoo! This place is really a piece of Americana. Cabins, campground, several restaurants, marina, grocery store, and activities for all ages. It does my heart good to know places like this still exist. I'd love to chat more, but we girls got some dancing to do!
