RV Travels: Weekly Wanderings #24 – Central Oregon, Crescent

We've been spent the week visiting the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway and Crater Lake area.

I've got one word for this region:

MOSQUITOES

Okay there are a couple more words: lakes and lava.

But seriously, the mosquitoes! They are the size of house flies and everywhere!

My parents and I (okay, maybe it was mostly me) made fun of Mr. Misadventures when he bought these geeky anti-mosquito contraptions (shown on my hip below), now I could kiss him!

Some spots are worse than others and we have to bring out the nets! The latest in beachwear!

I kid you not.

I still have bites. All over. I just have fewer bites than I would if I didn't have this stuff. I swear to you they swarm you as soon as the car stops. I have never seen anything like it!

There aren't that many RV parks in the area that can accommodate an RV our size so we are an hour away from Crater Lake and an hour and 1.5 hours from some of the Cascade Lakes like Sparks Lake where the hubby wanted to do sunrise shots.

We scouted Crater Lake, and it was a bit of a disappointment. The east access was still closed due to snow (crazy to me as its the beginning of July!) and what we could see on the west was super hazy. Plus there was lots of roadwork being done.

You can tell they get a lot of snow, the road markers are like 12 feet high! We really need to visit much later in the summer or fall to get better access.

On Wednesday we got up at 3:00 am (I thought getting up at 4 for Yellowstone was bad!) to go to Sparks Lake for sunrise.

And while there were no mosquito swarms, it was still a bummer because the sky was flat without any clouds, so Mr. Misadventures was disappointed with the results. 3 am was somehow way different from 4 am, and we've been sort of jet-lagged since then!

Thursday we went to Waldo Lake (out of control mosquitoes) and Wikiup Reservoir where there are hundreds of white pelicans. We saw a single white pelican couple in Yellowstone, but at the reservoir, there are tons, it is just difficult to get to them by car or on foot, a boat would be the best option.

Yesterday we drove to Proxy Falls. We should have gone while we were staying in Redmond, but it is what it is! The waterfall is gorgeous and no mosquitoes! It was a nice hike in the pines to get there, cool and refreshing among the trees and along the water.

Last night we did head back over to Crater Lake for sunset and Milky Way shooting. The east side was open and we found a spot, but I could not bring myself to get out of the car, call me a wimp, I'm okay with that!

The mosquitoes buzzed around outside trying to figure out how to get inside and eat me!

Even Mr. Misadventures has a breaking point! He gave up the star shoot after his sunset shots, he couldn't take anymore!

It is so random how one lake or trail is totally fine while another is inundated.

We're over it, plus the crowds have shown up for the 4th so we're playing hermit the rest of the weekend! Season 2 of Marco Polo has arrived on Netflix, we have a 12-pack of Redd's cider and food, we're not leaving!

Current location:

Big Pines RV Park – Crescent, Oregon.

Well, that was my week, how about yours?

Save

Save

Save