The drive today is taking us from sea
level to 8,000 ft on the rim above Crater Lake. But it could have
been a lot worse... We decide to check all the engine fluids this
morning. We end up adding a little bit of oil to the motor, but a lot
of fluid to the transmission, as the level is, once again, very low.
In addition to that, the brake fluid is slowly reaching its low
point, while we discover that we are running out of coolant. We leave
at 10am and stop in the next town, Reedsport, OR. There, we buy brake
fluid and coolant and bring all the fluids at good levels. Even more,
we check the tires and refill them with air, and we fill up the gas
tank. Now, we are good to go!
We drive then to Roseburg, OR, through
the Umpqua River Scenic Byway. The Umpqua river is at the center of
the byway, with wide expanses of slowly meandering water first
followed by cascading waters with rugged rapids surrounded by dense
forests, almost ripe for fall colors. We stop in Roseburg for
groceries at Fred Meyer and for free wifi at McDonald’s.
We follow our journey along the Umpqua
river – this time along the Rogue-Umpqua Scenic Byway – from
rolling, oak-covered hills to towering coniferous forests, and from
roaring whitewater rapids to incised inter-canyon lava flows. Red
even sees a jumping salmon! We stop at Toketee Falls, a waterfall
carved from ancient columnar basalt, dropping approximately 120 feet
in two stages.
And that’s when another drama
happens. As Yellow goes to the pit toilet, he places his camera on a
surface that is not as stable as it seems. And the camera falls to
the ground with a distinct sound. Not the first time it falls, but
this time, it is too much. It take only blurry pictures. It is the
end. For 4 years, Yellow and his camera have been traveling the world
together, after his older camera died on an Australian beach. Bought
refurbished, the Panasonic camera took almost 30,000 pictures in its
life. Time to get a new one!
The drive to Crater Lake is long, as
Bertha is going very slowly on the windy, steep road. The temperature
is dropping and the clouds are multiplying. It gets actually cold and
very windy once we reach the rim surrounding Crater Lake. The
landscape is pretty desolate, contrasting with the gigantic blue
lake. We stop at some viewpoints on the west side of Crater Lake,
before going down to Mazama Village to get a campsite, electric if
possible so we could get some heat in the morning.
As we didn’t make a reservation, we
wait in line for a while, chatting with other travelers. Of course,
there is no electric campsite available. Plus lots of rodents are
hanging around. The low for the night is foredcasted at 34°F,
meaning another night spent in the sleeping bag. We settle at the
campsite at dusk, eat our Ethiopian dinner with some local cider at
the glint of a flash light, treating ourselves with some ladyfingers
after this tough day. And, after studying and blogging for a bit, we
get inside our sleeping bags at 9:30pm.
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