An early start set us off driving north to Crater Lake. I was in a mixed state of eager anticipation and fearfulness.

Anticipation because this whole fly drive route was conceived to get us from San
Francisco up to Crater Lake and back down to San Francisco. This was to be a major highspot if not the major highspot of the holiday. The fearfulness was born of the thought that this eagerly awaited day would not live up to the high expectations I had allowed to build up.

The drive north was enjoyable though largely uneventful, 30 miles of which was alongside Lake Klamath with the one memorable period where we drove for about a mile through a thick cloud of insects. The front of van was coated in them, glad we were not outside.

At the entrance to Crater Lake National Park the Ranger said something along the lines of "you should be able to see the lake, its a little hazy, it will get a lot worse this afternoon". Not realising the full importance of his words we drove on.

The climb up the side of the crater is a twisting switchback through scenic wooded hillsides. On reaching the top we pulled into the car park (parking lot) and walked across to see the view.

Wow.............................................................I need not have been fearful of being let down. No matter how many stunning photographs you may have seen of this natural wonder, they do not prepare you to stand on the edge of this place and to drink in the view. If you like natural wonders, promise yourself you will go here one day.

The lake is some six miles across and filled with vivid blue water lapping against the precipitous sides of the crater. Like many of the national parks I have visited, people are quiet and thoughtful as they gaze at the view. There is even an island in the lake (Wizard Island) that seems to be placed solely to make the composition of the photographs everybody was taking absolutely perfect.

We had lunch in the restored lodge on the craters edge and then set off on the 33 mile crater rim drive. Its a magical drive with the road dipping down the outside of the rim to suddenly turn a corner and present you with yet another terrific view as the road swings back out to the very edge of the crater.

Just about two thirds of the way round, when the lake swung into view again, we could barely see wizard island because of fog/clouds down on the lake surface. By the time we got almost completely round to where we started, you could only just see the water at the foot of the cliff below you, the rest of the view was gone. Now I understood what the Ranger meant and boy was I glad we had arrived early enough to see the majestic sight. There were many people arriving and being bitterly disappointed with what they saw (or more accurately didn't see). Apparently in the summer months, a temperature inversion can form which traps clouds just above the lake causing the effect we saw.

Disappointed that we could not have a final look at the view because of the fog and mist, but delighted we had arrived earlier at the correct time to have seen it, we set off from Crater Lake.

In planning our holiday, we had originally intended to stay as close to Crater Lake as we could after seeing it. However, we had been unable to find anywhere to stay to the west of Crater Lake until you reached the I5. We had checked all of the books we normally consult and every internet site and search engine we could think of, all to no avail. Therefore we had booked a Motel 6 at Grants Pass on the I5. With that background it was quite a surprise to drive down the scenic Rogue River Valley and see plenty of places to stay at the side of the road where we had expected to see none. The information superhighway has obviously not reached this part of Oregon because none of them were on the Internet !

The river is the centre of attraction and fishing and boating was advertised everywhere. At Grants Pass you could go on a jet boat river tour but we did not have the time in our itinerary. Nor did we have the time to visit the nearby Oregon Vortex which looked fun from its web site.