Lake Elizabeth and Crater Lake

On October 16th we traveled to eastern Washington and  on the way did some exploring in the area of Skykomish, Washington.  Our main destination was an old mine near the outlet of Money Creek, the Damon Pythias mine which was the subject of the previous post.

We met some friends there and while waiting for them to arrive, hiked around Lake Elizabeth, a small alpine lake that we had visited before and which is easily accessible from the same forest road that took us to the mine.  These first few pictures are of that lake.

the trail around Lake Elizabeth

Lake Elizabeth

When our friends arrived we went first to the mine and explored it.  When finished at the mine we hiked on down the road (now decommissioned by the Forest Service and impassable to vehicles) and went in search of a second alpine lake, Crater Lake.

I had searched for this lake once before on a wet and foggy day and had gotten lost but this time I had my GPS and the coordinates for the lake and we did make it to the lake but only after losing the trail several times and having to scramble up some steep slopes.

Losing the trail was not the worst thing that could have happened since we found a beautiful falls (unnamed as far as I know) that was on Money Creek, the outlet for the lake.  Eventually we found the trail again and were at the lake in time to eat our lunch there.

The trail, such as it was, was marked with bits of pink and orange ribbon but we had trouble finding them at times.  They were an improvement, however, on the previous trip when the only markers were bits of soggy toilet paper, many of which had disintegrated.

In spite of the difficulties we had this is a hike I want to do again, perhaps next summer.  It was especially interesting to us in that there was no one else in the area and we like hiking alone.  In any case we can now say that we visited Washington's Crater Lake.

the trail

an unnamed waterfall

Charlie

near the lake's outlet

Crater Lake

Larch Wax Cap

 Porcini

Crater Lake National Park

Our last stop on our trip to Oregon and California was Crater Lake National Park in Central Oregon.  We arrived there just before sundown and in spite of the mosquitoes managed to get a few pictures of the sunset before finding a place to park our van and sleep for the night.  We found a place not far from the west entrance to the National Park and went to sleep hoping the mosquitoes would not be so bad by daylight.

They were just as bad the next morning when we drove back into the park.  I have seldom seen so many mosquitoes, and even though we ventured out of the van only for a few hurried photos we were covered with bites and each time had to kill the mosquitoes that found their way into the van.  We were told that snow melt time is always the worst in the park and that later in the year they would not be so abundant.

West Rim

My Partner in Crime

That, of course, was little consolation to us, but in spite of them we did the West Rim Drive and then most of the East Rim Drive, enjoying the scenery and getting what pictures we could.  The place is stunningly beautiful, especially in the early morning light and we enjoyed the scenery from the protection of the van, the lake-filled crater, Wizard Island, the melting snow and the harsh outlines of the crater rim.

East Rim