June 16th, 2001 part two: Dams and Craters

After Silver Falls I passed through Detroit and took a peek at their dam. True, I was planning on seeing the Hoover Dam later in the trip, but still, this was pretty impressive. There were a lot of signs in the area saying "Save Our Lake". The Detroit Lake is a popular boating and fishing area and is usually kept full by the dam during the summer months but recently it has been drained pretty low, practically destroying a lot of tourism in the area. (The third picture below, with all the tree stumps showing, is normally mostly underwater.)

 
After hitting Bend, I turned south and reached Crater Lake just before dusk. What an impressive sight. The crater was formed by a volcano that erupted over 7,000 years ago. The crater contains the deepest lake in North America. I got out to have a look and nearly froze. Still in my bathing trunks from my earlier swim, I wasn't prepared for cold winds and patches of snow on the ground. Quite the shock to the system.



I spent the night at the Mazama Campground nearby. A little annoyed that I got to the campground a little too late to really enjoy it. Instead of having hotdogs and marshmallows over a campfire, I settled for some Pepsi and a bag of microwave popcorn from the camp store. Really roughing it!

 

on to Day Three...

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