Lake Tahoe and Crater Lake

We spent 2 days in the Lake Tahoe area just relaxing. We thought that Lake Tahoe might be a tourist trap like Mammoth Lake but it turned out to be quite ok. The state campground we stayed at was very nice – we had a fair-sized site with a large picnic table, large campfire ring and hibachi. The kids had fun making s’mores using the backpackers stove I bought on Amazon.

All they needed was to collect kindling like twigs and pine needles along with some bigger sticks and they’ll have a fire going. The whole s’more roasting activity requires effort from the kids – we figured it’s better that it’s them doing it rather than the adults… Besides if we had a regular campfire they will be gorging on more s’mores than they should. Doing it this way in some ways controlled their pace as they had to tend the fire with every s’more. Despite that they had a lot of fun with this activity, no complains from the kids or parents.

We were not exactly walking distance to Lake Tahoe but our campground was right beside Fallen Leaf Lake. It is a smaller lake with warm and clear water where the big kid and little kids spent time at. We also visited the “downtown” area in Lake Tahoe. This is essentially the base of the ski hill with the gondola still taking tourists up the mountain. Don’t think it’s an worthwhile activity as the sky is still hazy from all the wild fires in the region.

We left Lake Tahoe for Reno to drop off Ashleigh at the airport and then onwards to Crater Lake, Oregon. Again, not really clear skies leading to Crater Lake. When we arrived in the late afternoon, we lucked out and was able to stake our claim on a powered site. This means we could turn on the A/C with the 34C heat. We also wondered where the crowds were on this long weekend…

The next morning we headed to the park’s Visitor Center to see if there are any fun ideas/activites during our stay. The drive there was not very good – we can’t see anything above the tree tops.

When we arrived at the Sinnott Overlook, there was no blue – no lake, no sky. The visibility and air quality were so bad that we decided against doing the scenic rim lake drive. We had planned to stay longer but with these conditions we decided to leave on Monday – Labour Day. If we could leave now we would but trying to find another camp spot along the Oregon Coast on a long weekend would be quite challenging. So, we’re making the most out of our stay and doing the laundry. So… while I was killing time at the laundromat, I walked to the notice board to read about the fire. Hmm… apparently Crater Lake is on Level 1 Fire Notice – which means that there is a possibility of an evacuation. Nice. This explains everything…

So… we woke up this morning and the truck was covered in ash but the visibility was a tad better. Along the way out of the park, we got a glimpse of Crater Lake through the haze. We were driving to Reedsport, Oregon but a wildfire further West along our route changed our plan. We were asked to drive further North towards Eugene and then onwards to Florence.