Kathy & Scott’s USA Tour along the Pacific Coast

Crater Lake

Heading north from California on July 25^th, our goals were to see volcanoes, the Pacific, and Kathy’s relatives.

Arriving at Crater Lake National Park, as experienced travellers we first secured a camp site and then proceeded to the Rim Village where we viewed the crater and lake. We were interested to learn that the collapse of Mt. Mazuma about 7,700 years ago has survived in native american oral history. This photo shows Wizard Island.

The second day, Scott hiked to the summit of Union Peak. Most of it was easy, but the final summit was steep and challenging, and the total distance was 13 miles.

On our third day at Crater Lake, we made the short hike to Plaikni Falls. This is just one stream of the many which radiate from outside the rim of the Crater. The water and spray feed a beautiful bed of wildflowers, and the the stream tumbles down into a forest of tall conifers. Enjoying the turbulent stream were two Dippers. These little songbirds dive under the water to feed on insects. This is our favorite spot in Crater Lake National Park.

This is us (not the two Dippers).

On our way out of the park, we caught a few of the famous features of the lake. Here’s the “phantom ship”.

A little later we took a short walk in the “wildflower garden”.

The Pacific Coast of Oregon

Visiting the Oregon coast was a very different experience from Crater Lake, as it had plenty of small establishments which catered to tourists. We enjoyed the Sea Lion Cave very much. In addition to the vociferous Sea Lions, we saw guillemots (Pigeon Guillemots), murres, Brown Pelicans, and added two species of cormorant to our life lists.

The coast also features antique shops. One of them suited us particularly well, with interesting jewelry as well as a designated “Husbands Waiting Area”.

Soon we found a beach to explore.

and Scott proved we had gone far enough west by dipping into the Pacific Ocean.

Later on, we found a camp site in a state park, and walked along the beach as the sun was setting.

Mount St. Helens

After our time on the coast, we headed for Mount St. Helens, passing Mount Hood on the way.

We skirted Mount St. Helens on its east, less accessible side. There was a lot of snow remaining on the mountain, in spite of the date being August 1.

We approached the volcano even closer on the twisty road to Windy Ridge (with no guard rails), where we had a good view of the crater and of Spirit Lake.

The Vicinity of Seattle

Leaving Mount St. Helens, we had a great view of Mount Rainier.

We visited Kathy’s relatives at Uncle Bob Prickett’s house. Sara’s three month old son slept but got a lot of attention.

Left to right: Valerie Ragsdale, Marlene Prickett, Carol Ragsdale, Kathy, Bob, and Gary Prickett.
Not shown: Scott Turner, Gina Ragsdale, Sara Witteman and son

We also visited Ruth Batchelder’s cousin, Marjorie Strong, and were glad to see that she is doing quite well on her own having healed from skin cancer treatment.