Crater Lake and Rogue River May 5 - 6, 2011

Crater Lake was only a small divergence from my route to the Grants Pass area. It was a bit of a surprise. I had been thinking to myself that it might not be that snowy, as it is not that tall. Boy, was I wrong. The Crater Lake area receives an average of 44 ft. of snowfall per year. Ordinarily, most of the snow would be off the ground for about 3 months during the year. In the snow removal effort, which lasts about 4 months, the crew might move around 1.88 million cubic ft. of snow per day off roads. I found a very cozy spot to camp along the Rogue River, which runs off of Mt. Mazama (on which Crater Lake is located). There were no other people to speak of of, except for a well armed National Forest worker that questioned me about my activities there. That was odd.