US Trip 2019 – Day 11 – The big blue

The route this day took us from La Pine, Oregon to Susanville, California, via Crater Lake National Park. Another great day on the road!

Approximate time on road/out caching: 12 hours, 35 minutes
Total miles driven: 341.2 mi / 549,1 km
Total caches found: 29
Total DNF: 0
States visited: Oregon, California
Famous places visited: Crater Lake National Park
Most memorable cache: GC6MPMH Sugarman’s Corner
Biggest surprise: The low amount of people at Crater Lake
Weather: Sunny, light clouds, cloudy, light rain
Highest temperature: 86°F / 30°C
Lowest temperature: 49°F / 9,4°C

Almost straight to the lake

We wanted to get to Crater Lake as early as possible, so we didn’t have much planned along the way. But we couldn’t drive all the way without stopping a couple times, so the first stop was almost right after we left the hotel 😛

Finally got to see how blue it really is

Crater Lake was covered in smoke the last time we were here, so we didn’t get to see how blue it really was. So we were really happy when we arrived with no smoke in sight, and finally got to see how blue this lake really is. It’s amazing!

The pinnacles

Due to the smoke, we didn’t drive out to GC1CWYT The Pinnacles the last time. So we wanted to make sure we got to see it this time. No traffic, and almost no people out there either. The drive was shorter than expected, and the pinnacles amazingly sharp.

Where are all the tourists?

There was a lot of people everywhere the last time we were here, so it was a bit surprising to see how little people was here this time in comparison (still more than enough, though).

A couple virtuals in Klamath Falls

A couple caches later, we arrived in Klamath Falls. We didn’t do all the virtual caches in Klamath Falls the last time, so we decided to spend some time doing some now. We ended up doing a total of four virtuals this time.

California here we come

After turning an old DNF into a find, it was time to head towards California. It’s always a nice bonus when we can find a cache right at the border, like GC363DH Welcome To California.

The dark pages in the history books

After first getting another county checked off, we stopped at GC3QFC5 one of ten. This cache brought us to a small historical marker, which told a gruesome story about one of ten American concentration camps. Before we started geocaching, we had never heard about American concentration camps. Guess this is how it is when the victorious part writes the history books…

A lonely find

We don’t actively hunt lonely caches, but when we realized that GC4AMQ3 If You Hide Them They Will Come #17 hadn’t been found since 2017, we tried a little harder. And instead of a DNF, we ended up finding a very lonely cache 😀