We spent the last two days at Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon. This is a very remote part of the state and the closest town is some 50 miles away and that is not very big.

Needless to say, there was not any cel phone service nor air card service or wi-fi available. You really feel alone under those conditions.

On the trip up the last 14 miles was all up hill. we climbed to an altitude of 6000 feet at the park campground. The upper most portion of the rim drive is at about 9000 feet.


When we were nearing the top, my cell phone made some sounds and it indicated I had two voice mails. I immediately stopped at the first opportunity and sure enough, I could hear the two voice mails. I had brought the computer along and I was able to receive my e-mails. Many miles from nowhere, the signals are still there if you get high enough to gain that like of sight it takes to get the signals.

We were on our way to Canyonville, OR for the Handicapped Travel Club rally and there are 3 ways to go from Crater Lake. One is back south and west to I5 and back north, or you can go north and west and down I5, or you can go a little north and west across the mountains and save a lot of miles. We decided on the short cut.

As soon as you leave the park on sr26 you start down and you go down for 16 miles to the town of Union Creek. At that point sr62 turns south. The road from there is a narrow two lane road with little or no berm on either side and many curves at 25 mph, some up the mountain and some down.

When you get to the town of Trail, OR, you head west on sr 227 (Canyonville Pike) and the road widened out a bit and it was a good road, but it just took a lot of time with a big rig, fortunately there was not much traffic.

The road follows the Rogue River a lot of the way and past a nice sized reservoir where the river has been dammed up. The wood is so dense most of the way that the GPS does not have sufficient coverage to determine the altitude, however we went from 6000 feet to 700 feet in less than 50 miles.

The photos are of Crater Lake from various vantage points. It is a huge lake formed when a volcano collapsed and the lake is what is left. The island in the lake may be the top of the mountain before the volcano collapsed.

We are currently at Tri City Campground about 4 miles from the site of the rally. We will move there on Monday afternoon and help get things started.