Bend and Crater Lake

We went to the REI in Bend and bought new boots for Darryl because the soles on his boots were coming off.  The boots fit so much better than the last ones.  Ready for the rest of the trip now.  The Deschutes River runs through Bend and in the summer is full of paddlers and tubers etc.   We met up with Katheryn and Marshal in Bend - had dinner and breakfast - a really nice visit. 

Deschutes just outside of Bend

We drove to Crater Lake where we wandered around most of the day.  The lake was fantastic.  The color was sooo blue!  It surprised us that the elevation was 7 to 8 thousand feet - windy and cold with snow fields still all over the place.

From Crater Lake we drove to Klamath Falls where there are are several national wildlife refuges.  Most notable were the white pelicans that nest there and raise their babies.  We see the white pelicans in the Gulf of Mexico in the winter.  They are huge birds that dwarf the brown pelicans. 

Then we headed for Redwood National Park on the Northern California coast where we camped for three nights.  The Redwood park is just beautiful with so much diversity.  From the sea shore with Elk roaming around to the deep forests full of huge Redwood trees.  We felt like Hobbits wandering around in there.  We managed to get about 8 mile hikes in every day while there. 

Elk on the beach -- the beach is just at the horizon behind the Elk.

Camping on the beach with the waves of the Pacific as our background music.

Sunset

We have come over to Shasta and the Trinity Alps in mid state California.  The temprature is around 100+ and we're wimping out here and heading for Truckee - Lake Tahoe area via Lassen Volcanic National Park.

More photos to come