Grants Pass is just 30 miles west of Medford.
The smoke blocks out the sun for most of the day and they're handing out free breathing masks in Grants Pass now. When we get up in the morning, the particles of soot etc are on most of the surfaces in the garden - they were even landing on me when I was lazing in the pool yesterday.
Jo and I were planning an away day on Monday and Klamath Falls was our planned destination, but the morning air quality reports on the TV showed that it was pretty bad there, so we decided instead to head a little further north to Crater Lake. Good decision - the air was clear there, although we could see the smoke approaching at the end of the day on our way back to GP.
We had a nice day at Crater Lake - the altitude meant the temperature was much more to our liking as well. No fear of triple digits there - high 70's, low 80's - perfect!
We started our day on the Discovery Point Trail, just to get a view of the deep blue lake:
We were never going to walk too far on this trail - we only had our flip-flops on and it was a little precarious and precipitous, so then we headed over to nearby Rim Village to grab a spot of lunch, after which we strolled eastwards down the pathway heading towards Crater Lake Lodge. It was at this point that we remembered where we'd been when we came to visit many years ago.
This time around, we wanted to see a bit more of the park. We didn't really have time to drive right around the crater - we knew there were roadworks going on anyway - and we wanted to see some of the regular stopping points and stretch our legs a little, so we decided to drive east, where our first port of call was Vidae Falls:
When we first parked the car there, we were immediately hit by mossie bites. A lady, spotting our predicament, immediately came to our rescue and offered us some bug spray. Too late for some, but gratefully received anyway.
Driving on, the next stop was Sun Notch, where we could stretch our legs a little to the top of the hill and look down at the "phantom ship" below:
That was two stops ticked off - next was the Phantom Ship Overlook, where you could view it from the other side. From there, it was a short drive down to the trail that led to Plaikni Falls, which we both thought was one of the most beautiful spots we'd seen:
and that was pretty much that - it was time to head back now, but here's an overview of the park, with the various stopping points marked:
When we got home, the newly shorn Buster, following his morning at the dog groomers, was waiting to greet us. He looks tiny now - especially next to Shelby, who has grown enormously in the last year. Poor old Holly is getting greyer by the day - and Tina is now indeed a (very) fat cat!
It's Wednesday morning now and I'm feeling a little delicate, so I don't think we'll be going anywhere today - not until this evening anyway, when we're heading over to Medford and a meal at Kaleidoscope.
Tomorrow, I go back to the dentist to have my temporary crown removed and the new one fitted. I'm still suffering pain in my gums and struggling to open my jaw wide enough to eat properly - a result, I suspect, of all of the injections I had to have in my 3 sessions there.
On Friday, Jo and I head to Portland and the Oregon Brewers' Festival. Then we overnight there and catch the plane to Maui on Saturday. Hope there's no smoke there! The weather there looks fine for next week:
The big difference from here in Oregon is the range of temperatures. There it only seems to vary 12/13 degrees day to overnight, whereas here we can awaken to temperatures as low as the 50's, before peaking mid-afternoon almost 50 degrees higher!
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