Day 07 - Burney, CA to Crater Lake, OR

Today we rode entirely along parts of the Volcanic Legacy Byway from Burney, CA to Crater Lake, Oregon. What a fantastic scenery day. This morning was a bit chilly as the guys prepped the bikes. We braved it without heat knowing the sun would soon warm us.

Our first stop was to the base of Mt. Shasta on Everett Highway.

Mt. Shasta is a composite volcano and the largest in the Cascade Range by volume. The road had really nice sweeping curves. We stopped at a parking area at the base. A bunch of people in vans were boondocking.

While Rob was off looking for a great photo, Michele and Jerry each got their binoculars out and looked for mountain goats. No such luck. Michele was excited to see a coyote up the ridge, then realized it was just a guy's dog. The man and his dog drove down to the parking area. To Michele's credit, the dog could pass for a coyote from afar.

We made our way back down the mountain. We had to wait in the town of Mt. Shasta for a 103 car train to go by.

With the train out of the way, we put Mt. Shasta in our rear view mirrors and headed north to our lunch picnic spot for an early lunch at Grass Lake Rest Area.

 It was  really neat spot, the open grassy fields were actually lakes with thick grass growing in it. We found a nice picnic bench and ate our lunch while watching the birds and chipmunks. Rob researched good rest stops and this one was well maintained with nice bathrooms. Everyone else thought so too since it got busy closer to lunch time.

After lunch, we rode to Lava Beds National Monument.

This place exceeded our expectations. After a scenic drive to the visitor center, and a walk around, we decided to do one of the quicker lava cave walks. Michele's friend, Julie, from CA recommended visiting them. We chose the one closest to the Visitor's Center, called Mushpot, but there were 17 available all around the area from various levels of strenuous and upright walking conditions. We descended a short stairwell into the cave and were instantly greeted with cool air. The caves were formed by lava tubes. It was a very small area, just a narrow paved path with dim lighting, maybe 12 feet wide or so. There were textured ceilings and walls from where the molten lava had dripped, cooled and hardened. At one point we all had to duck quite a bit to get by on the path, but it added to the fun.

We finished in the cave and got back on the bikes to head out towards Crater Lake. We stopped within the monument for a quick picture in front of one of the lava flows.

The ride to Crater Lake took about 2-3 hours from Lava Beds NM.

We arrived at our lodge at 4:30pm. It was busy with activity and people checking in. We got our rooms without issue. Michele asked about dinner reservations at the lodge dining room and they were booked solid both nights! Our options were to walk to the cafe and get light lunch-style meals, wait until 8:45 for a possible seating, or order appetizers. We found the appetizer menu which had enough items to make a real dinner. Outside on the deck, the view of the lake was a tempting place to eat, but it was downright cold!

As we were trying to decide what to do, a man who just finished the entire Pacific Coast Trail was there having a beer. He walked 26 miles a day. Amazing. We went inside and found a table for three. It was hard to pin down the waitress, but eventually we ordered and the food came out quickly. We planned our hikes for tomorrow and had dessert. After dinner, Rob wanted to take nighttime photos of the lake. At 10:30 we all went outside and walked down the path a bit. It was so quiet. We saw a huge bullfrog and what we think was a badger running around. It was a full moon tonight so it obscured a lot of the stargazing, but Rob got a few cool shots, and one of the big dipper (seen in the upper left corner of the below night time picture).

Tomorrow we are hiking and seeing more of the lake.