Crater Lakeanyth

As we left Roseburg we drove through undulating grass covered hills until they soon morphed into pine covered mountains. We followed the Umpqua River valley most of the time as as we headed toward it's source and the junction with the Rogue River. These are classic mountain rivers racing over rapids through rugged basault valleys churning through rapids as they wear away at the rocks in their path.
Unfortunately the magic became muted as we encountered heavy smoke and fire warning signs. As we drove we were wondering if we were going to get through to Crater Lake. When we were halted at by a woman waving a stop sign there was no effort made to tell us what was happening but after three or four minutes an escort vehicle appeared around the bend. After a brief chat with his co workers he lead us through the next 5 to 10 miles. This area still had the river on our right most of the time but the fire had been right down to the road with occassional jumps across. There was also occassional fire blackened debrie lying where it had been cleared away. By the time our escort left us we were quite a bit higher and the smoke had thinned. We drove on to Diamond Lake which is Crater Lakes neighbour.
We stopped for a break and to have a look at the lake which is huge and vanishd into the smoke haze. We chatted to a fisherman who had just pulled his boat out of the Lake and he told us that they had caught 18 Rainbow Trout but only kept four to eat as the others were too small. He said we could see them if we went ino the fish cleaning shed where his partner was preparing them. The shed turned out to be a very sophisticated,  fly screened building with stainless steel sinks and plenty of running water from well positioned outlets. The trout were beauties, by then all ready for the pan. The man described his boat as a "river boat". It was sturdy metal with a curved flat bottom to slide over river rocks. He admitted that it rocked a bit if the Lake was anything except glassy smooth. The breeze had come up and that was why they had stopped fishing,
We drove on  to the North entrance to Crater Lake only to discover it was closed due to the fire which was in the National Park. We then had to drive around to the western entrance which was fortunately closer to our overnight destination. When we arrived at the Park and stood on the caldera of the old volcano overlooking the Crater Lake it was all worthwhile. The Lake was 1900 feet below us, 4 miles by 6 miles in diameter, 1900 feet deep and clear blue. The smoke haze detracted from the colour slightly but couldn't spoil the effect. We couldn't drive around the West Rim due to the fire but the East Rim was accessible right around to where the Northern access road came in. We drove and walked taking in all the explanatory signs. The volcano has a history going back 400,00 years forming a mountain 14,000 feet high. 7700 years ago the accumulation of magma below was so great that when it erupted it blew the mountain away across about 6 states. The crater base solidified except for a couple of minor eruptionns  and gradually filled with snow melt and rain water. They receive at least 15 feet of snow per year so this plus rain keeps the water level stable.
When we headed to Medford we made one further stop at the Canyon of the Rogue River. This is near the headwaters and is where the water has forced it's was through old lava tubes on its way to join the Umpqua. The result is a fiercely contrained river which had earned it the title of the "wild" Rogue.
Our receptionist recommended the Irish Pub Downtown for dinner so we had a leisurely walk and a goood meal to round off the day