Crater Lake

For the 5th consecutive year I organized a Diamond Lake/Crater Lake weekend where we'd camp at Diamond Lake and ride to and around Crater Lake on Saturday.  After having nearly 30 people last year, this time around there were 7 of us.  27 was too many, with 7 we could have used a few more.
We were small in numbers, but we were going to have fun!

Prior to leaving home I noted that the weather forecast called for a chance of afternoon thundershowers. I put my clip on fender on the back of my carbon bike, and packed a raincoat and rain pants.

We took off from Diamond Lake, at an elevation of just under a mile high, and went up from there, to nearly 8000 ft.

After 15 miles of climbing we reached the caldera rim.

We continued on around the lake counter-clockwise, putting us to the Crater Lake Lodge in time for lunch.

The clouds were building as the day progressed, and it became obvious that someone was going to get wet, we just weren't sure if it would be us!

Following lunch our group scattered a bit.  Paula and I took a quick tour of the lodge.

The others missed the memo and rode on. We never saw them again, we presumed they figured we were ahead of them.  We continued to stop at photo opportunities as we made our way around the lake.

As we made the last climb a few large rain drops began to fall.  I stopped and put on my rain gear, not so much for the rain, which did not amount to much, but for the added warmth as I was about to descend 17 miles.  Paula and I noted the black sky in the direction of Diamond Lake and commented that our faster partners might just be getting wet. As I went down the hill at 35-40 mph I got to areas where the road was quite wet.  I was glad I had my rear fender on.

I rolled down the hill well and arrived back at camp a bit ahead of Paula, but waaaaay behind the others, who were full of tales of feeling like drowned rats.  Depending on exactly where they were, the storm was a deluge as they rode.  Julie was the first back in camp, and she reported that there was water running across the campsite.  She moved a few things up off the ground and put them under the canopy I had set up over the picnic table.

Paula had stopped at the South Store on the shore of Diamond Lake and had some ice cream.  I  guess you can say the rain missed us and we weren't nearly as cold as our friends!

It was a good ride.  I had left my back pack at an overlook and had to ride back (and UP) to retrieve it, so I got a bonus 2 miles. 6412 ft of elevation gain, 42.3 mph maximum speed, 13.1 mph moving average.

...............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today...............64...........0................0............0.............64 Jan..................93..............0...............0.........0..............93 Feb................411..............0..............0.........0............411 March.............653.............0..............0.........0............653 April..............696..............0...............0.........0............696 May...............900...............0...............0.........0.............900
June..............484...............0..............0..........0...........484
July..............1300................0...............0..........0.............1300
 Aug................137.............0.................0..........0.............137
Total...........4430.............0...............0..........0.............4430