Reflections From the Fence

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Rogue River Fun, The Gorge and Natural Bridge: The Estate Takes on Alaska

August 28, 2019

Today we will mosey down 260 to the Rogue River Gorge and Natural Bridge area. Its semi-cloudy, the all blue skies are gone.   Both the gorge and the natural bridge were delightful.  

On the way, I caught a good representation of the size of the trees. They literally tower over us, thus my slight case of claustrophobia.

Yep, I do love some geology. Look at the surface of that hillside.

This is the Rogue Gorge, Rogue River - -

This is called the "living stump". Trees grow in this area not as individuals, but as a group, the roots grow together sharing nutrients and water. In this case the roots of the tree that was cut were grafted to and shared with other trees. The Douglas Fir was cut down, but, the stump lives on.

The river comes down the gorge - - cutting stone, speeding down the pathway it cuts out of the landscape.

This is an example of what happens when stones get caught up in an area and the water spins those stones around for long periods of times.

Another shot of the same area, showing the river escaping the holes - - a mini waterfall of sorts - -

We had lunch at Becky’s, I guess, it is a well known place to stop, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the menu tells us they have been around since the 1920's. The food was a bit slow in arriving, however, it was pretty good.   And, inside it is packed with charm.

Next stop, Natural Bridge - - also on the Rogue River - - about two miles away from the "gorge" stop - -

This is called The Cave, formed of a lava tube, the water appears to go into the area, swirl around and come back out.

And, there are pools where the water is calm. Fascinating.

A bridge gives you access to the other side of the river and a great view of the gorge. At this point we have crossed the bridge and are upstream of it.

This is the actual area of what they call "natural bridge", you have no access to it, sorta a "no touch" situation, which is fine by me.

After that we drove down to Prospect to fill up gas and try to find a few groceries. It was a 11 mile one way detour, the gas was obtained, groceries, nada. Got some beer tho. LOL

One last stop on 260 almost back at camp, Mt. Thielsen. Yes, I take too many photos, hey, it's digital, and sometimes, my delete/trash key works - - sometimes - -

Back to Diamond Lake for some speedy internet at the south shore day use area. It spits a rain drop now and then, and then, nothing. Spit, nothing. The chipmunks are talking away and chasing each other round the picnic area. The lake is very quiet, maybe one boat out there.

It is warm, remember, we are at 5200 feet, at 7:30 PM is it 78 in The Estate.

Crater Lake National Park, Take Two, Still Blue: The Estate Takes on Alaska

August 27, 2019

Slower start than we had hoped, but, my allergies, Demon, altitude, and prior exhaustion, aka, current exhaustion, have me dragging.

Off to the park, East Rim Drive. The light is not as good today, it’s pretty much overhead, as it is a bout 11:30 when we hit the rim drive.

Look at all those "pine" trees. Millions of them. And, my allergies to them. All summer I have had no issues, however, this week - - sigh.

The lake is 1943 feet deep at one point. It is a little over 6 miles wide at the maximum and about 4.5 miles at the minimum. The Rim drive is 33 miles long. The blue color is because blue wavelengths are scattered by the lake surface, other colors of the spectrum are absorbed, therefore the human eye sees only the blue. And, as I have said, once or twice, it IS blue!

The reflections in the still water, almost every single photo - - And, look at that shade of blue in the lower left corner of this specific photo.

Little boy, 2 years, just let out of the vehicle. Of course he ran for the edge of the lake. SIGH. Peeps feeding the chipmunks. Going way tooooo close to the edge.

This is the boat you can ride - - and learn from. We considered it, until we read that it is a 1.1 mile hike down and of course, 1.1 mile hike back out. With an elevation gain of 700 feet, give or take, this becomes a real workout. Since we were unwilling to walk out 65 flights of stairs, we did a huge pass.

This is the Pumice Castle. It is not marked on the roadway, but, we were pulling off at almost every place we could This stop was awesome!

This is the Phantom Ship. The "little" island is about 16 stories tall!

With Sony III zoom, look at the reflections, both of the "ship" and the walls behind it. Reflections upon reflections. Wow!

These are the "Pinnacles". You reach them by driving about 7 miles one way in and the same 7 miles out. We were not sorry to have driven those extra 14 miles, give or take. The Pinnacles are "fossil fumaroles", stand about 100 feet tall. Over time they are eroding from the canyon wall.