Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Our second stop this summer is for four nights at the Diamond Lake RV Park. We're about 6 miles from Crater Lake National Park - and surrounded on all sides by the Rogue and Umqua National Forests.

Our first full day here we rode 55 miles on the road, stopping at various scenic lookouts to check out the many waterfalls. We didn't take a lot of pictures because the mosquitoes were vicious; and every time we stopped we felt we were being eaten alive. We hate mosquitoes - and wish that those responsible for the prohibition against DDT spraying would be locked in a room with thousands of swarming west-nile-virus and malaria infected mosquitoes and bitten mercilessly. ;-)

Yesterday, Deb's sister, Leslie, and nephew, Jamie, drove up from Ashland to see Crater Lake for the first time.
Today, after applying copious amounts of "Bite Blocker" with the latest and greatest bug repellent "BioUd" (which smells like barf, but seems to work), we hit the road for a 70 mile loop including the climb up to the lake. We went downhill for the first 25 miles, then climbed over 5000' to the Crater Lake Rim Road.

Here's Brian on a bridge over the Rogue River.
Crater Lake is truly spectacular!

It's beautiful here at the RV park too. We're right across the road from Diamond Lake, surrounded by a wonderful pine forest. Life is good.

Mountain Biking In Ketchum

We returned to Ketchum this summer because the mountain biking is so great; and also, it's sort of on the way to where we're going the rest of the summer.

Muffy Ritz has been a wonderful tour guide for rides both on and off road. Yesterday we went over Galena Summit down to Stanley to ride the famous Fisher Creek Trail. The climb is mostly on a fire road. The descent was heavenly single track. The views were incredible.

Today we rode "Adams Gulch" which was especially challenging, including lots of stream crossings. The views at the summit were worth the suffering... and the wildflowers were incredible!

Our Summer Begins!

Getting out of town was a little stressful... We'd been home for only 3 days of the last 12; so things like housework, bills, mail, and Planet Ultra office stuff got piled up. We were up early and went to bed late trying to get organized enough to leave for 8 weeks. It was exhausting. We'd hoped to leave Wednesday evening - but it was quarter to 10 before the RV was loaded and ready to roll. So we went to bed at home and got up early Thursday to hit the road.

It was an all-day drive from St. George to Ketchum, Idaho. We were rewarded with a delicious home-cooked meal by our dear friends Muffy & John. We did a great off-road ride on Friday. Then it started raining. And raining. And, well, raining. So we got to hybernate for two full days. We read, watched too much tv, and definitely caught up on sleeping. When it's quiet and dark in the RV, we can sleep a long, long time. And so it was.

And then the sun came out and all was beautiful!!! We've been riding and enjoying the incredible outdoors of Ketchum - and will post more photos as soon as we get to a place with decent wifi (definitely not here).

Here's Deb & Muffy just sitting around in town...
So welcome to our summer! We're already loving it!